A/N: Hi FanFiction Readers! This is my first ever "What If?" fanfic, which I thought of the first time I watched Prince Caspian. This is for those few people who saw the scene in the film where Ed nearly gets shot by arrows and it cuts off, and thought "OMG what if Ed got's captured?!" then this is for you. :) I'm afraid some people may be OOC and there will be some Peter and Caspian bashing (because they were such jerks to each other in the movie!) but apart from that I hope you enjoy this chapter! I plan on extending this into a story, but only if I get enough interest and reviews, so please R&R!
Disclaimer: I don't own Disney, Walden Media or anything to do with the film, and I don't own the books either. I don't make money out of this and I don't plan to. End of story.
"Ed!"
Edmund Pevensie snapped out of his momentary daze as he turned sharply to find a row of Telmarine archers, and they were aiming for him. He reacted quickly; he ran into the tower and ducked and fell as he heard the arrows fly past his head. He recovered from the fall and managed to kick the door shut with his foot, before breathing a loud sigh of relief. That had been almost too close for comfort: he had seen the soldier aiming for his brother as he had been watching from the rooftops, and without thinking he had dive-bombed him from the back. It had been a miracle that he had actually been able to escape. He was about to get up when out of the corner of his eye he saw a shadow engulf the floor.
"I wouldn't be lying down there if I was you"
Edmund lunged for his sword, which had scattered a few feet away from him, but a large steel capped boot shoved it aside. He found himself being pulled to his feet by two burly looking guards, both carrying weapons. He tried to struggle, but the elder of the two punched him, and he tried not to gasp as a rush of pain began to throb throughout his body. He instead let himself go limp in his captor's grip, staring vehemently at them as they began to drag him into the tower.
Edmund noticed as they led him further in that he had unknowingly broke into one of the many armouries that he remembered Caspian telling them about. It had surprised both him and Peter at first that Miraz had so much military power at his disposal, as when they had been Kings of Narnia themselves they had only had a small number of soldiers, and even then they hadn't been needed that often. Perhaps that was one of the reasons that Peter had decided to lead this raid in the first place, thinking that all of Miraz's army would still be trying to cross the ford at Beruna, but he had been wrong. There was definitely a good number of men in the citadel; all Edmund could do now was pray that he had done enough already to ensure that Peter could escape safely, for he loved his brother and wouldn't forgive himself if any harm came to him.
The two soldiers suddenly stopped and roughly pushed Edmund downwards, shoving both their left boots onto his arms and effectively pinning him down onto the cold, hard floor. He cried out in pain as he felt one of his bones snap under the weight of the bigger soldier, and they laughed as he tried to wriggle and thrash out with his other available limbs in order to escape from their grip.
"What shall we do with you eh, Spider?" one of the men gloated as he grabbed his legs and held them down, "You and your scum would kill us if it were the other way round, wouldn't you?"
"We can't kill him," the other guard interrupted, "I know Miraz gave orders to take no prisoners, but this boy is obviously not an Old Narnian, nor is he of Telmarine descent. I suspect he may be one of Caspian's leaders or something."
The two soldiers both turned their attention back to a squirming Edmund, who had been listening intently to their conversation. He knew that if they captured him and he told them who he was, Miraz would most likely use the dark haired youth against his brother, leading to the imminent downfall of their army. So when the two guards said this he decided to risk his own life, knowing that if they thought he was worthless to their king they would kill him. He spoke up.
"I'm not a Narnian leader. My name is Caleb, and I come from Archenland, from over the border. It's true that I heard about the Old Narnians and decided to join them, but I'm just a common soldier"
The two guards looked at him, confused. "How come you decided to join? Archenland hasn't been involved in Narnia's business for years." Before Edmund could answer the other guard muttered, "If Archenland is involved then the King must know. We'll take this boy to the dungeons, and alert his Majesty after this attack is over."
Edmund gasped in relief as he felt his injured arm being released, but before he could do anything he was pulled to his feet and marched forward. He heard the noise of a sword being unsheathed and a blade was pressed to his back. "Move scum or you'll never see daylight again."
The dark haired boy had no choice but to walk forwards into the castle, his captors following behind him. He heard from far away his brother's voice yelling to call off the attack, and hoped that everyone had a chance to get away. All he could do now though was lie in wait and hope for rescue, although from the state of the army as he last saw it that was looking very unlikely indeed. He would just have to try and keep up with the pretence.
Lucy Pevensie stood frozen outside the How, looking upon the remains of Caspian's army in horror. There was barely half the amount that she had witnessed leaving their headquarters this morning, and many of them looked bedraggled and despairing, sporting numerous wounds. She saw Peter and Caspian approach and ran out to meet them, before stopping as she saw the cold, angry look that was plastered over their faces.
"What happened?"
Peter looked at her as he heard her voice and answered briefly, "Ask him."
"Peter!" Susan, who had been following close behind, warned her brother but the damage had already been done. Caspian turned to face the High King, blood boiling to his cheeks.
"Me? You were the one who could've called it off, there was still time…"
"No there wasn't thanks to you. If you had stuck to the plan, those soldiers might still be alive right now."
"And if you had stayed here like I suggested they definitely would be!"
"You called us remember?"
"My first mistake."
Lucy could see the anger and frustration in Caspian's eyes as he said this, and realised what had truly happened between them. The trust between the two kings had practically broken, just like she thought it would…if only Peter had listened to her at the council! He was just too used to being the one everybody listened to, and it had just cost a lot of Narnians their lives.
Her brother stalled for a moment, then retorted back to the unfortunate prince, "No, your first mistake was thinking you could lead these people."
"Hey!" Lucy saw Peter swerve round in shock, surprised at the sudden rush of anger coming from the usually calm and laidback prince as he spat, "I am not the one who abandoned Narnia."
"You invaded Narnia. You have no more right to lead it than Miraz does!" Lucy could hear the malevolent hiss in her brother's voice as Caspian pushed him aside, heading back to the How. She prayed to Aslan that in this situation Peter would keep his head straight, but her heart sank as she realised that this was one fight he wasn't going to back out on.
"You, him, your father! Narnia's better off without the lot of you!"
Lucy winced; she knew that Peter had chosen to hit a soft spot in Caspian's heart, and that those words were meant to hurt. Something seemed to snap inside of the Telmarine and he lunged back at Peter, unsheathing his sword and raising it threateningly above the boy's own.
"Stop it!"
The two of them turned to see Susan Pevensie glaring at them. She walked over and shoved her brother aside, scowling at him. "That's for starting another bloody fight! You know that this is as much your fault as it is Caspian's! You're just too proud to admit it!" she yelled fervently at him, before turning on the bemused Caspian. "And as for you…!" she slapped him across the face, creating a loud gasp from the watching army, "You know I really thought that for once I'd actually met a decent guy. Guess I was wrong." She stalked over to Lucy, taking her hand and leading her back in the direction of the How.
"Susan, wait!" Peter saw Caspian leave after them and was just about to run after him to apologise for turning on him when he heard a loud caw come from behind, which he then noticed had stopped Lucy in her tracks. He turned to see one of the Gryphons flying at a fast pace towards them, landing with a large boom and dislodging most of the grassland in the process. The three Pevensies ran torwards him, not noticing Prince Caspian stop and creep slowly back into the How alone.
As they approached the Gryphon they could now see that it was carrying in its talons a wounded and bloody figure, which was deposited on the grass at their feet. Lucy gasped as she said, "It's Trumpkin!" before rushing to his aid, reaching into her belt for her cordial. Whilst she was doing this, the Gryphon managed to get back onto its feet and spoke quietly, "Your Majesties. King Edmund has been captured."
"Captured?" Peter's question came out as a whimper as he sank down onto the ground, his mind drowning in worry. What on earth had he done? He looked up and saw Susan's face for the first time. She looked like she was about to cry.
"Peter this is your entire fault!"
He turned to see that Lucy had burst into tears and was now yelling wildly at him, all her thoughts finally being heard, "I told you to wait for Aslan but you didn't listen, because you never listen!"
"The Queen's right." Trumpkin sat up and Peter swore he saw a flash of relief cross his sister's face as she embraced the dwarf, almost suffocating him with her hugs. When she let go he smiled, and he said to the group, "There's no doubt about it, we're in a pretty big mess now and so far you haven't exactly helped it. What I suggest is that you (he pointed to Peter) and Caspian settle your differences, and then maybe this time we can actually come up with a decent plan to rescue your brother."
Peter listened intently to the dwarf, all the while nodding as he spoke. When he finished speaking he got up, and it was then that they first noticed that the prince himself was missing.
"God, where's he gone now?" Peter moaned, only to be hit by a cacophony of glares coming from both his sisters and Trumpkin. He sighed, and began to run back, Lucy soon following behind him and Susan watching them as they did so. As soon as they were out of ear length she turned back to the Gryphon and commanded, "Go back to the citadel. Scout around as much as you can and try to find out news about my brother." The bird nodded and took flight, whipping the Gentle Queen's hair into her eyes as he soared back into the sky.
She turned and saw that the dwarf had now managed to stand up, and was about to try and go back to the How. She caught his wrist. "Trumpkin, where do you think you're going?"
"I have to follow them. I've got a feeling that Caspian's about to do something very stupid." He said to her as he freed himself from her grasp and bolted, leaving Susan with no choice but to follow him.