"This is a terrible woman," thought Polly. "She's strong enough to break my arm with 
one twist. And now that she's got my left hand I can't get at my yellow ring. If I tried 
to stretch across and get my right hand into my left pocket I mightn't be able to reach 
it, before she asked me what I was doing. Whatever happens we mustn't let her know about 
the rings. I do hope Digory has the sense to keep his mouth shut. I wish I could get a 
word with him alone."
    
    The Queen led them out of the Hall of Images into a long corridor and then through a 
whole maze of halls and stairs and courtyards. Again and again they heard parts of the 
great palace collapsing, sometimes quite close to them. Once a huge arch came thundering 
down only a moment after they had passed through it. The Queen was walking quickly-the 
children had to trot to keep up with her but she showed no sign of fear. Digory thought, 
"She's wonderfully brave. And strong. She's what I call a Queen! I do hope she's going to 
tell us the story of this place."
    
    She did tell them certain things as they went along:
    
    "That is the door to the dungeons," she would say, or "That passage leads to the 
principal torture chambers," or "This was the old banqueting hall where my 
greatgrandfather bade seven hundred nobles to a feast and killed them all before they had 
drunk their fill. They had had rebellious thoughts."
    
    They came at last into a hall larger and loftier than any they had yet seen. From its 
size and from the great doors at the far end, Digory thought that now at last they must 
be coming to the main entrance. In this he was quite right. The doors were dead black, 
either ebony or some black metal which is not found in our world. They were fastened with 
great bars, most of them too high to reach and all too heavy to lift. He wondered how 
they would get out.
    
    The Queen let go of his hand and raised her arm. She drew herself up to her full 
height and stood rigid. Then she said something which they couldn't understand (but it 
sounded horrid) and made an action as if she were throwing something towards the doors. 
And those high and heavy doors trembled for a second as if they were made of silk and 
then crumbled away till there was nothing left of them but a heap of dust on the 
threshold.
    
    "Whew!" whistled Digory.
    
    "Has your master magician, your uncle, power like mine?" asked the Queen, firmly 
seizing Digory's hand again. "But I shall know later. In the meantime, remember what you 
have seen. This is what happens to things, and to people, who stand in my way."
    
    Much more light than they had yet seen in that country was pouring in through the now 
empty doorway, and when the Queen led them out through it they were not surprised to find 
themselves in the open air. The wind that blew in their faces was cold, yet somehow 
stale. They were looking from a high terrace and there was a great landscape out below 
them.
    
    Low down and near the horizon hung a great, red sun, far bigger than our sun. Digory 
felt at once that it was also older than ours: a sun near the end of its life, weary of 
looking down upon that world. To the left of the sun, and higher up, there was a single 
star, big and bright. Those were the only two things to be seen in the dark sky; they 
made a dismal group. And on the earth, in every direction, as far as the eye could reach, 
there spread a vast city in which there was no living thing to be seen. And all the 
temples, towers, palaces, pyramids, and bridges cast long, disastrous-looking shadows in 
the light of that withered sun. Once a great river had flowed through the city, but the 
water had long since vanished, and it was now only a wide ditch of grey dust.
    
    "Look well on that which no eyes will ever see again," said the Queen. "Such was 
Charn, that great city, the city of the King of Kings, the wonder of the world, perhaps 
of all worlds. Does your uncle rule any city as great as this, boy?"
    
    "No," said Digory. He was going to explain that Uncle Andrew didn't rule any cities, 
but the Queen went on:
    
    "It is silent now. But I have stood here when the whole air was full of the noises of 
Charn; the trampling of feet, the creaking of wheels, the cracking of the whips and the 
groaning of slaves, the thunder of chariots, and the sacrificial drums beating in the 
temples. I have stood here (but that was near the end) when the roar of battle went up 
from every street and the river of Charn ran red." She paused and added, "All in one 
moment one woman blotted it out for ever."
    
    "Who?" said Digory in a faint voice; but he had already guessed the answer.
    
    "I," said the Queen. "I, Jadis the last Queen, but the Queen of the World."
    
    The two children stood silent, shivering in the cold wind.
    
    "It was my sister's fault," said the Queen. "She drove me to it. May the curse of all 
the Powers rest upon her forever! At any moment I was ready to make peace-yes and to 
spare her life too, if only she would yield me the throne. But she would not. Her pride 
has destroyed the whole world. Even after the war had begun, there was a solemn promise 
that neither side would use Magic. But when she broke her promise, what could I do? Fool! 
As if she did not know that I had more Magic than she! She even knew that I had the 
secret of the Deplorable Word. Did she think-she was always a weakling-that I would not 
use it?"
    
    "What was it?" said Digory.
    
    "That was the secret of secrets," said the Queen Jadis. "It had long been known to 
the great kings of our race that there was a word which, if spoken with the proper 
ceremonies, would destroy all living things except the one who spoke it. But the ancient 
kings were weak and softhearted and bound themselves and all who should come after them 
with great oaths never even to seek after the knowledge of that word. But I learned it in 
a secret place and paid a terrible price to learn it. I did not use it until she forced 
me to it. I fought to overcome her by every other means. I poured out the blood of my 
armies like water-"
    
    "Beast!" muttered Polly.