Traitors Arc: Traitors Army
A/N: This is a long one. I warn you now; this will not be as quickly updated as the others have been. This one is going to be a long, long process. I'm hoping to have quite long chapters for this one. This has been recently inspired by the song 'I stand Alone' from the Quest for Camelot. I just have visions of Edmund standing at the head of his army, tall and proud, with that song playing in the background just before a huge epic battle begins. So I've chosen it to be my theme song for this story. This one is also going to be a bit different from its predecessors, but you'll see how as it goes along, so I won't bore you now. This is a short one, and is the prologue.
Traitors Arc: Not everyone is as forgiving as Aslan, Peter, Susan and Lucy, and Edmund has spent a lot of his time proving his worth as King to the Narnian's. He has begun to assemble Fell creatures that once fought for the Witch, into an army under his command. But when the Ettins attack Narnia, Edmund and his army find themselves shunned by the Narnian's, so they march out to face the Ettins alone, determined to protect Narnia, and prove that they are no longer 'evil'.
Please Enjoy
Traitors Arc: Traitors Army
It was a sad procession that made its way through the gates of Cair Paravel. Where before they had left Peter and Edmund had rode side by side, the division between the Narnian's and the Fell only a short distance. Now the division was painfully obvious. The Narnian's rode ahead, in their protective ranks was a litter that carried High King Peter, who had been terribly wounded, and lay dying. His only hope was Lucy's cordial.
Edmund and the Fell followed behind, looking just as weary and battle worn, but in comparison with the Narnian group they seemed pristine. The gap between the groups was large, and to anyone who saw, what had happened was obvious, and the fragile trust that Edmund's army had garnered in the two years since it was set up was shattered.
x
Susan came out of Peter's room, her face strained, terrified and angry. Terrified for Peter, because Lucy was not here, and it would take a few hours for her to get back. Angry at Edmund, who was waiting outside the room, having the nerve to look concerned. Had she not let her worry for her older brother cloud her judgement, she might not have said what she did next to her younger one. She might have taken more care to watch his reactions.
And maybe what happened afterwards could have been prevented.
"What were you thinking Edmund!" she exclaimed when she saw him, not giving him a chance to ask how Peter was doing. "Why weren't you there?!"
Edmund blinked, but accepted the harsh words. Someone had said something to Susan, and while he had hoped for a better reaction from his sister, he had not expected it. He stood silently, his mind going back over what had happened, and it sickened him all over again.
"What could possibly have been so important that you left him to fight by himself? You know what he's like Edmund; you know he doesn't look after himself in battle! You're supposed to be there! Whatever happened to 'Back to Back'? Why weren't you there?"
At this point, had she given him the time to reply he would have said. "I was dealing with a surprise attack. I know now it was only sent to distract us from the main battle, but I didn't know it then. Do you really think I would have left Peter without backup if I'd had the choice?" but she didn't give him the chance, instead continuing on.
"He's dying Edmund! If Lucy doesn't get here soon then he will, and it will be all your fault!"
He knew she was just worried, frightened that Peter would die. He knew that later on, after Lucy got back and Peter was healed, that she would come to him, all apologies. He knew she didn't really mean it. But knowing did not stop the stab of pain that shot through him. He knew it was his fault. He should have known, somehow he should have known!
But he had made a mistake, and Peter had paid the price for it.
Bowing his head he turned away from her, he heard her call after him, getting angrier, and angrier as she did, until finally, just as he had reached a bend in the corridor she yelled. "Go on then! Run away! Don't even face what you did!" and he heard the door to Peter's room slam.
Edmund sagged against the wall, clenching his eyes shut, and forcing the tears down. No, he wasn't going to run away. He was going to face up to his mistakes, and he was going to d what he should have done to begin with. First things first, he needed to find Maxus.
x
His search was short, but quiet whispers and rumours assailed him, and he knew what the Narnian's thought of both him and those he commanded. They whispered the word 'Traitor', and it tore Edmund up inside because in this at least he had betrayed no one... or, at least, he hadn't meant to betray anyone.
Peter's trust in him was sure to irrevocably shattered, there was no getting around it, and nothing he could really do except try to regain it. And the first step to regaining the trust of Peter, and the Narnian's was at hand.
"Maxus." He called softly, coming up beside the Minotaur.
"Sire?" Maxus rumbled.
Edmund did not look at him, instead looking at those of his army that had remained milling about in the courtyard. "Call up everyone, have them here in an hour, and send messages to the smaller communities asking for any warrior willing to fight."
Maxus did not question him, and he was glad. The Minotaur nodded. "It will be done."
"Thank you." Edmund turned away; he had an hour to prepare himself. He had yet to remove his armour, so all he needed to do was restock his supplies, but he needed as many to assemble as possible before he addressed them, and after that they needed to move out quickly. He could not afford to meet Lucy as they were leaving. She just wouldn't understand.
x
An hour later found Edmund standing before his entire army at the castle, which made up almost 300 fighters, there were only a few Narnian's among them, those that had sworn total loyalty to him, and did not feel that the Fell were traitors. Maxus stood on his right, towering over him. Bright-spark stood to his left.
He knew his people were weary, and he would allow them the rest they deserved when they were far enough away from the castle so that when Peter was healed he could not immediately come out after them. He had already left a letter in Susan's room, knowing she would not go in there until at least tonight. It eased his guilt of leaving so suddenly.
"As you all know, the Ettin's have amassed on the borders of our country, they have, with those of the Witches forces who went to them, marched into our forests, and have terrorised the people of Narnia. As you also know, when we last went out The High King was badly injured." He paused for a moment, remembering how terrible a sight it had been when he had finally reached his brother.
"I will not place blame where it is not. We were late in joining the battle, through no fault of anyone here, save me, and because of this, it is up to me to go back out and drive the Ettins from our land and back to their own, thus averting anymore loss of life of my people. I will not make you come with me. You have the choice. Some of you have families and you may wish to remain here, I will not force you to come."
He was silent for a long moment, he felt it their right to know, after all, his mistake had cost them the trust of Narnia as well. "Rumour has already begun to spread about our whereabouts in the battle, and though I would wish to spare you all, I cannot. You are being called Traitors once more, though you have done no wrong. I intend for this campaign to allow for the chance to regain the trust of the Narnian's. But I cannot promise that if you come with me it will be given upon our return. I cannot promise you that the rumours will ever die down, or that you will ever be accepted.
"But I can tell you, that whether you join with me or not, you all have my trust, and my love, and that you are My people. If that count's for anything. And that doing this will prove your own worth, to yourselves. You, who are the most important right now to consider. So if you join me, we shall go, without promise of gratitude, or forgiveness, and we shall fight, for Narnia, for Aslan, and for Ourselves."
It was not the best speech he could ever have come up with, but he thought it got his point across. If he survived this, he made a note to seek someone out to help him when he was giving speeches. On his left he saw that Bright-spark had bowed his head, nose touching the ground before straightening to his full height, looking determined.
Edmund smiled, Bright-spark would always be the first of his people to offer their services, if someone ever got there faster it would be the day Bright-spark died. And Edmund hoped that would not be for a good many years yet.
Maxus was the second, he did not drop to his knee, but he did bow his head, offering himself and his strength. Edmund smiled at him gratefully before turning to the sea of faces before him. There was no whispering, as he had expected, but one by one every person there nodded to him, and he felt his insides warm at the sight. If it were not for him, they would be still trusted members of Narnia's army. He owed it to them to win this campaign.
"Thank you." He told them all sincerely. "We will meet two days from now at our private training grounds. No one must know of this or we would be stopped." He did not need to say why they would be stopped, it was fairly obvious. "Go, say goodbye to your families and ready yourselves for the march. I will see you two days hence."
They left a slow but steady trickle until only Edmund, Maxus and Bright-spark remained.
"Sire?" Maxus asked, and Edmund knew it was for orders.
Edmund nodded to him. "We will leave immeadiately if you are ready."
Maxus nodded.
Bright-spark looked up at him, a hint of amusement in his eyes, tempered now with maturity, but he was still the same little Bright-spark. "I think your forgetting something Edmund, Sire." He nodded behind Edmund.
Edmund tensed, but he turned to look, half expecting to see his sister there, or Oreius, which would have possibly been worse. Instead he found Philip, who was looking at him with such a disappointed expression, Edmund wanted to cringe. "Yes Philip?" he asked.
Philip shook his head, his mane flying, his tail swishing in a way that told clearly of his annoyance. "Your Majesty, you were intending to leave without me?"
Edmund cringed. "Well, I didn't want to make you feel that you had to come. You don't really need to Philip."
Philip gave him the horse equivalent of a glare. "Do you really thin k I'm going to let you go off on some suicidal campaign without me?" the horse asked him.
Edmund realised, that no, he hadn't actually expected Philip to just let him go into battle alone. He reached out and gave his neck a pat. "Thank you Philip." He said.
"Sire." Maxus said behind him. "Should we leave now?"
Edmund smiled, a little sadly. "If you're ready." He said.
"Always!" Bright-spark answered.
It took a second for Edmund to get onto Philip, but once he was mounted he nodded. "Then let us go."
x
They had managed to get outside Cair Paravel without being noticed, and were now on the road towards their private training grounds. Peter did not know about them, as Edmund had begun to practice some manoeuvres that he knew his older brother would not have liked. This gave them something of an advantage to get to where the Ettins still lurked before anyone really realised what they had done.
"Pride is not the way to win a battle, son of Adam."
Edmund jerked his head to the left at the sudden voice, to find Aslan standing upon a small rock outcropping, the great lion was watching him with sad eyes. Edmund held his gaze for a long moment before he was forced to look away and answered honestly. "It is not for Pride that I do this."
Aslan nodded. "No, you do not, but guilt is also not a good trait for a leader of an army to carry with him."
Edmund shrugged, not bothering to deny it, knowing that Aslan would already know. "Perhaps not." He conceded.
"You go without your sibling's knowledge."
"I do." Edmund said, then looked at Aslan. "Please don't tell them what I intend to do Aslan."
Aslan gazed at him for the longest time, before nodding. "This is a battle you must fight alone. I understand this. I shall do my best to let your brother know this. But they will worry for you."
"I know."
"Good speed dear one, and good luck."
"Thank you Aslan." Edmund said, and he smiled, taking strength from Aslan's warm eyes, he nudged Philip into moving once again.
"He's gone!" Bright-spark said in awe, and Edmund glanced back, and Aslan was indeed gone, disappeared. "Was that really the Aslan?" the wolf asked, his tail going a mile a minute at the excitement of having actually just see the Aslan.
Edmund nodded absently, his eyes riveted on the last glimpse of Cair Paravel. Any further ant they would be unable to stop it. He thought of his brother, hopefully healed... they had been travelling for hours; surely Lucy must have been there. He thought of Susan, who, if Peter was healed would probably be trying to find him to apologise for the things she had said. And Lucy, dear sweet little Lucy.
Edmund closed his eyes, and turned back to face forwards. He had to do this. And he would do this. Aslan was right. This was a battle he had to fight alone.
Cue, 'I stand Alone' from Quest for Camelot. Lol. Right, I'm not too happy with this, I might have to go back over it again at some point, but consider a teaser for the rest of the story, which will take a while to finish writing, as it is a long one.
Please review and let me know what you think.