Disclaimer: I do not Narnia and the characters (well, probably some who aren't in the books). They belong to C.S. Lewis.

Author's note: Actually, this fanfic was originally posted last year in April or May, but I left it unfinished. Then after almost a year I reread my fanfics and I decided to continue this one because I believe it's good so yeah, I've edited the published chapters which are the first, second and third chapters. Nonetheless, the storyline is still the same.


The Lost Monarch by beyondthewardrobe


Chapter 1


Edmund was terrified.

He was in a room; the four walls were made of clear glass, although beyond these he couldn't see anything but darkness. The floor was made of white surface made of marble. He was standing at one corner, facing the empty space of the room. No one was there but only him.

Then, the real nightmare came. Coldness was everywhere. He could feel it with his bare skin. It was getting too uncomfortable when suddenly a ball of white light appeared at the center of the room. Edmund stepped backward, touching the cold glass behind him with his palms. Despite of the cold surface of the glass and the coldness brought by the light, Edmund was sweating, beads of it running down his face.

"Edmund."

Edmund jumped. The voice. It was familiar. Very familiar. The voice was cold and soothing that it sent shivers down his spine. No wonder why because it's the voice of…


"King Edmund, there's something wrong with the ship!"

Someone – a crew maybe - was shaking the king away from the dream. The nightmare. Edmund responded quickly by abruptly getting to his feet and picked his sword on the table beside his bunk.

He stood there for awhile, feeling that he had just been in another world awhile ago, but he couldn't figure it out. Then something clicked in his head, and his nightmare came rushing inside his mind.

But he cleared his head. Edmund was on a mission – to capture the bandits on the lone islands. The bandits had been capturing animals, dwarves and young humans for them to catch the monarchs' attentions. They were doing this for the monarchs to give them their power and authority to rule. Peter was supposed to go with his brother, but Edmund said that it was better for him to stay there. News travelled quickly than men and the bad people would know that the monarchs were looking for them, if the news that the High King's gone reached their environment. It was better that Edmund would do this alone so that what their mission would not spread like wildfire, since he wasn't usually the target of the news.

"Why, what happened to the ship?" Edmund asked the crew.

"I don't know, sire. A sea serpent attacked the ship from below. There is a big hole near the bottom of the ship and not more than an hour, this ship might sink," the crew replied with a shaky voice.

"Oh no." Edmund ran for the door and went out of his cabin. His crews were everywhere – some were running. Some were shouting words he couldn't understand. Some were crouching over the left side of the ship, where the hole might be.

Edmund ran to those people and looked below. The hole was bigger than he expected. The man who woke him up might be wrong. This ship would sink in no more than quarter of an hour.

Edmund straightened and stepped back. He faced the panicking crowd.

"People, ready the life boats, please, as fast as you can! Or we'll drown with this ship!"

Edmund, then, ran towards the ladder that led to the bottom part of the vessel, where the other cabins and rooms were.

"King Edmund, the others were already preparing the life boats but I think it's not enough," said a crew by the time Edmund set foot on the floor.

"It doesn't matter. We will try to fit ourselves in those. There might be an island near here anyway. Others will just swim toward that island and we could wait until help comes to us," replied Edmund in a hurry.

Edmund couldn't believe this was happening to him right now. If this ship sank, what would happen back at Cair Paravel? His sisters and brother, what would happen to them? Narnia needed him. His siblings needed him. He couldn't die.

Suddenly, the whole ship shook. The whole vessel went silent and Edmund stopped in his tracks. Then, someone screamed "Sea Serpent!", and everyone went berserk again.

"No," he whispered. "Oh, no no no no no."

Edmund ascended again and was surprised to see the sea serpent. It had an arrow in its eye; someone might have shot it, and it was brilliant. They would quickly finish the serpent with it not having the ability to see clearly. But the lifeboats…

"Give me your crossbow!" said Edmund to a man in a shaky tone. The man handed it to Edmund.

"Now die, you ugly creature," mumbled Edmund as he lifted up the crossbow just in front of his face, point the tip of the arrow at the creature's head, and praying the arrow would sink deep into it.

As he pulled the trigger the ship shook again, this time much stronger that half of the crew went down on their knees. The arrow took off somewhere but to his target. Edmund's knees buckled but managed to stay on his feet. He was about to make his target once again when a big, dark figure appeared at the corner of his eye. Edmund suddenly looked around and his eyes widened.

There was another sea serpent at the other side of the ship. This one's even bigger and wasn't as damaged as the serpent with an arrow on its eye. Edmund was about to shoot an arrow on its forehead when the tail of the undamaged sea serpent rose up and floored the vessel, splitting it in two.

This time, Edmund grabbed the railing at the edge of the ship using his right hand since he's holding his crossbow on his left. Both halves of the ship were slowly going down. He sent an arrow again at the serpent but it missed. Another, missed. Another, missed.

Edmund dropped the crossbow when there were no arrows left. He was already holding onto the railings with his own hands to prevent him from falling from his shaky legs and sliding down the surface of the halved ship. The two halves of the ship were already angled and most of the personnel were just clinging to anything with their bare hands. Those with crossbows were still shooting while those with swords were moving their blades to and fro, cursing at the ugly creatures before them. All Edmund could hear were people screaming everywhere and the sound of arrows being sent toward the creatures. The sea serpents continued to growl. All these gave him a headache.

'What am I going to do now? Peter, Susan, and Lucy. They might be worrying right now. I'm already too close to the place where the bandits stay. No way am I going to give up. Narnia needs me. I need to get going.'

But it was all too late. The damaged sea serpent's tail flew across the surface of the half of the ship where Edmund was, sending a man flying towards Edmund. Edmund, who was unaware of what had been happening, didn't have time to avoid the man. The man's head hit Edmund's and with the poor man, Edmund was falling into the sea.

The noise was all muffled and blurry by the time he united with the water. His head was aching from his and the man's head's collision. He opened his eyes and saw the wrecked boat beyond the shining surface of the water. He also saw dark stuff swirling from the side of his head towards the surface. Blood. He tried to swim upward but he just realized that his foot was wrapped around a rope with a heavy object tied at the other end. He tried to crouch down to untie the rope but he had broken his arm badly.

He was going to die. Without even the knowledge of his siblings and loved ones back at Cair Paravel. Without even the knowledge of those who inhabited the country of Narnia who had trust on him, the just king. Edmund could only imagine his sibling's reactions when the news that their brother didn't survive the attack reached Cair Paravel. Susan and Lucy weeping, holding onto each other as they cry his name. Peter hastily ordering his subjects to prepare another vessel, wanting to avenge his brother's death.

He was going to die.

Peter. Susan. Lucy. Help me.

Please. Anyone.

Aslan.

He couldn't breathe. His eyelids began to droop. He was already seeing the boat beyond the water through his eyelids when he thought he heard something roar from afar. The last of his breath went out and everything went black.


A/N: Yay! Did you like it? If there are comments and suggestions, review this chapter! Also don't forget to Fav or Follow this fanfic. Just give this fanfic a shot. I promise to make this one better.