The Curse of the Orthana by Nick Tamboia

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Chapter 1: Of Jadis and Coranith

Shortly after the world of Narnia had been created, Aslan the Lion directed the boy, Digory to plant an apple beside a river, which he did. This apple promptly grew into the Silver Apple Tree, a tree so beautiful it was almost hard to describe. The fruit of this tree, which were apples of course, where silver in color, and seemed to give off their own light. This Silver Apple Tree became known as the Tree of Protection

So long as this tree existed the White Witch, Jadis, would not be able to harm Narnia.

Her evil repelled by the Tree of Protection, Jadis fled to the dark woods and cold mountains of the north where for a long time she remained in exile, hiding, thinking and plotting a way to destroy the Silver Tree of Protection and take over Narnia.

In the beginning of her exile, her powers were diminished, not at all as strong and fearsome as she would later become. Yet, even as weak as she was in those early days, she managed to draw many evil beasts, among other things, to her.

One of these was, Coranith, the self-proclaimed Goblin King. Much about him and how and where he came from I honestly don’t know, but what I can tell you is that he wasn’t really a goblin. Not in the sense as you might think of goblins.

He was more like a cross mixing of a giant and troll, and some believe that Jadis herself might have created him. If that is true or not, I cannot say. He was tall, much taller than most goblins are, larger even than Jadis the witch who was huge by most standards, which is why many believed he was part giant. Yet he was fairly obese as trolls tend to get, with a very large and rounded head that sported two large, floppy ears and a large, blubbery nose. His eyes were large, dark black in color, with sagging bags beneath them, and he had a triple chin that sagged down to his chest and was covered over with short, wiry, black hairs.

Coranith was also known as the Three Eyed Giant, not because he actually had three eyes, but because his large, fleshy forehead had a huge wrinkle in the middle of it which actually looked like a closed eyelid.

The reason I am telling you about Coranith is because he is important to my story.

In the beginning Coranith served Jadis, and was put in command of many of the goblins, trolls and some of the others who served Jadis. He also had some limited magic of his own, mostly over stone which he could craft into stone giants.

Realizing this, Jadis commanded Coranith to create an army of stone giants, and march them south into Narnia, which he did. However, the power of the Tree of Protection was strong in those days, and shortly after the Army of Stone Giants passed beyond the Northern Border and entered into the main part of Narnia, they froze in place and crumbled into rubble.

This is why you may find huge mounds of stone rubble and boulders piled randomly in some of the northern areas of our world. Those are the remains of those stone giants who fell due to the power of the tree.

It is said that when Coranith saw this, he came to realize that Jadis was not as powerful as she pretended to be, at least not yet, and so he broke from her and became her rival for power in the north.

After declaring himself King in the North, Coranith moved to the North West and entered the Red Stone Canyons, where he eventually crafted his own fortress there, and with him many goblins and mountain trolls went, and to this day remain in his service, seeing him as their true king.

Outraged by this betrayal, Jadis went to war with Coranith, although for the most part this was pointless, as Coranith fortress was deep in the Red Rock Canyon, practically impenetrable and there were only two ways into that place, one being the Southern entrance, which was guarded by a host of goblins and trolls, and the Western Gate, which was guarded by two huge stone giants Coranith had crafted with his magic.

Despite this, over the ages, Jadis launched several attacks on Coranith’s fortress, and each time they were repelled, and Jadis would withdraw back to her own growing fortress and wait for a time.

I personally believe that these attacks of Jadis’s were not meant to defeat Coranith, at least not at first, but rather this was a way for her to grow her power and test her abilities and new magic she was learning in secret. She in effect was using her attacks on Coranith to improve her growing army’s ability to wage war, and to grow her own powers stronger.

What better way to train for combat with Aslan and all of Narnia, then creating a conflict with a rival and then fighting him.

Maybe that had been Jadis’s plan all along.