The day the world changed was bright and sunny. The white sands of the coast warm and inviting beneath my bare feet. The waters crystalline blue, gilded in shimmering golden sunlight. Soft music floated on the warm breeze from the pavilion to the water edge. Sweet sounds of harps and lyres.

I remember my mother's voice most, more than I remember her face. Her voice tinged with the accent of her faraway land. The land of her forefathers before her marriage to my father. I remember the way her voice would slip over words in the old tongue, too difficult with her ridged accent. My father would laugh when she misspoke, when her jumbled words would turn a greeting into an insult. He would tease her jovially until she cut him one of her looks. A look, my nursemaid would say, that could cut down a man faster than any sword.

My brothers splashed in the water that day, full of life beneath the summer skies. My eldest brother - Eroan - the crown prince of our lands was ten years my senior. He was my protector, but not even he could protect me from this day.

Eroan was trekking up the beach to fetch me when the horns blew. Had the great warning horns not sounded that day perhaps everything would have been different.

Perhaps Eroan would have picked me up and swung me over his shoulder. Perhaps he would have taken me to the water's edge to collect shells. Perhaps he would have waded into the water, holding me against him so I could go deep enough to touch the pearl fish that swam lazily through the clear waters.

But none of that happened, those warning horns did sound, and my life fell apart.

We were swept away in a flurry of activity. My nursemaid had bundled me up and ran. Eroan shouting orders behind us. I couldn't remember how we had gotten from the beach to the palace. All I remembered of that frantic run was the boats.

Great ships sailing quickly through the quiet bay, faster than ships should have been able to sail. Teaming with armed creatures unlike any my young eyes had seen before.

The sounds of shouting and crashing feet echoed through the marble halls of the palace. Our forces were not strong. Certainly not strong enough to beat the army rapidly coming ashore. Our naval power was strong, but it was too late to engage the invading ships. Our water wielders defended the castle but not even they could stand against the might of the foreign queen.

My father's eyes were full of anger as the woman stalked the dais of his throne room. She stood at an enormous height, towering over my father and brothers. Her skin pale snow, her lips blood red and eyes as dark as coals. Her gown was made of plated metal, the silver shinning in the late afternoon sun. How out of place she seemed, dressed for war while walking the halls of our summer palace.

The throne room had no walls, only open arches covered with gauzy white curtains to let in the cool sea air. The curtains didn't move in her presence, as though even the wind itself was afraid to gust for what she may do.

Her dark eyes turned on my mother and her chilling voice boomed across the room,

"You thought you could escape me, traitor."

"I have not betrayed you." My mother set her jaw, staring daggers at the woman.

"How you discovered this land I'll never know but I can't say I'm surprised."

"Narnia deserves to be free."

"So, you intended to come here and convince the good-hearted king to free my people."

"He does not know of my peoples' plight, if you must take retribution take it out on me."

"It seems to me, based on how your husband stares at me like he wishes to slit my throat, he knows exactly of this supposed plight." The woman mused.

My father was shaking mumbling against the gag between his lips. I had never seen my father like this, his knees pressed onto the floor, his crown nowhere to be seen.

"My retribution could be taken against you, your blood would satisfy the old magic, but we are not in Narnia I may take retribution of my choosing." The woman laughed.

She cut her dark gaze to me, my heart threatening to beat out of my tiny chest.

"A mother's love is such a beautiful thing isn't it."

"Don't touch them, don't you dare touch them!"

"I will take my retribution, you should have thought of the consequences before you crossed me."

My mother cried out with a string of curses before a gag was tied around her mouth. The pale woman stalked down the stairs of the throne dais, her armour clinking as she walked. I watched in frozen terror as she moved down the line of my siblings.

She passed me first, quickly and without much thought, more interested in my five brothers. She reached Eroan and stopped, towering above him as he knelt on the floor.

"Look at me boy." She commanded.

Eroan kept his head bowed, I could see his jaw clenched tight. The muscles of his face quivering.

"I said look." She repeated with a growl.

Still Eroan refused. The woman threw out her hand gripping Eroan's face with her long pale fingers. Her sharp nails digging into his golden skin, wrenching his face up to look into her dark eyes.

I tried to shout around my gag, attempting to throw my body forward. The woman's gaze snapped to me, a dark smile spreading across her face.

"Have something to say little one?" She laughed.

She motioned for the guard to release me. A large fur covered hand pulled the gag from my mouth as my bindings were sliced. The guard pushed my shoulder, sending me sprawling to the protest of my family.

"How old are you girl?"

I pushed myself up on shaking arms staring wide-eyed at the woman.

"S-seven, please," I stammered, "let my brother go."

"Seven, Your Majesty, at your age, you should know how to address a queen."

"But you are not my queen, just please let my brother go."

"I am your mother's queen, thus I am yours."

"My mother is queen of this land; let my brother go."

"Your brother seems awfully important to you," the woman crooned, "what if I slit his throat, would you weep for him."

"You can't that's not fair!" I cried out.

"Not fair?" She asked, "Life's not fair, little one."

She drew a knife from her side pressing it to Eroan's throat.

"Stop!" I threw out my hand, golden light erupting from my tiny fingertips.

It had happened before, the magic, but never like this. Like an explosion, a wave, a tiny sun. The woman staggered back as magic enveloped the spot where she had stood only moments before.

My brother's eyes were wide with shock as the golden light dissipated, only the discarded knife left in its wake. Red hot, the metal handle melted and broken. The pale woman whipped her head to my mother.

"Magic? How many of your children have magic?" She demanded.

The gag was ripped from my mother's mouth, yet she did not answer.

"Answer me, harlot."

"I don't answer to you anymore." My mother heaved through gritted teeth.

The woman's dark eyes narrowed to near slits. The gaze was sharp and deadly. My stomach twisted with dread, I knew to be terrified of that look.

"Cut out the King's tongue."

"No!" My mother shrieked.

"Then start talking." The woman offered coldly.

My mother looked to me, her eyes full of hopeless sadness. "She is the only gifted one."

"That's all you had to say." The woman smiled, the curve of her mouth catlike. "Bind her."

The dread-woman's soldiers grabbed me roughly, rebinding my hands and feet. Covering my mouth in the same scratching fabric. The queen stalked her way to me, purely predatory. She hooked a single finger under my chin, her skin cold as ice, hard and unyielding.

"You'll make a lovely prize."

"No!" My mother cried, "No, you can't she's mine."

"And you were once mine; your girl shall remain alive to pay your blood debt, traitor."

"Don't do this, please, please don't." My mother begged.

The woman didn't give her a second glance before stalking towards the door.

"Jadis, please." My mother begged. "Your majesty, I beg of you."

I tried to scream as I was tossed roughly over the shoulder of a large, fur-covered creature. His breath stunk, and his hide was matted with all matter of grime, his armour cold, reflective, and unforgiving. I watched my family as I was carried from the room, tears blurring my vision. As the grand doors closed behind me, I watched Eroan thrash against his bonds, trying to reach me.

The day the world changed was bright and sunny. Before my life became a prison of ice and snow. A prisoner to Jadis, Queen of Narnia. The White Witch herself.