Part Three PETER, PRESENT TIME

Peter dove into the blue water and grabbed the dwarf the two men had thrown into the lake only moments before. He grabbed him by the arm, hoping he was still alive, then pushed down against the rocks on the bottom to get himself up to the surface. They broke through the top, both gasping for air. Peter sighed in relief, then helped the dwarf towards shore.

Peter looked over and saw Edmund leading the boat to shore. Peter nodded once to him to show his approval, but Edmund just turned his head away from his brother, pretending he hadn't seen anything. Peter sighed internally. It had been like this for years- and it had started that day…

Peter was walking through the gardens when he heard the sounds of someone crying. Curious to who would be out this late, he peered around the tree and then frowned to see the dark brown hair of Alyssa, his brothers best friend.

"Alyssa?" Peter asked softly, moving to sit beside her on the ground.

Alyssa glanced up quickly, then stood clumsily, bowing low. "Your ma-"

"What's wrong?" Peter cut her off mid-sentence. She didn't need to bow to him. For some reason it just seemed…wrong.

Alyssa looked away and a fresh wave of tears came over her. Peter looked at her in alarm, hating the redness that had overtaken her eyes, then hesitantly leaned over and put his arm around her shoulders. "Hey, hey. It's okay."

Alyssa turned her head and buried her face into Peters shoulder, still sobbing. Peter winced slightly when he felt her tears soak his tunic. "He doesn't love me." Alyssa murmured into the young king.

Peter blinked, then pulled away so he could look her in the eye. And, for the first time, he noticed her eyes were a dark blue. A beautiful dark blue. "Who?"

Alyssa shook her head slightly, tears still running down her face. Then Peter understood what had this girl so shaken. "Ed."

She started sobbing once again, and this time Peter didn't even think before he pulled her against him, no longer caring about his tunic.. "Forget Ed." Peter said savagely, not for the first time thinking bad thoughts about his younger brother. "If he doesn't know how great you are, then he isn't worth it anyway."

Alyssa shook her head against his shoulder, her voice chocked when she spoke. "He is worth it. That's the problem."

Peter scowled and pulled away from Alyssa and looking once again into those eyes. "Listen to me. You are going to go to your room and get a good nights rest, then tomorrow morning you're going to meet me for breakfast. Then we will go riding. And that's an order."

Alyssa smiled slightly, a sad smile really, then curtsied lightly and turned back towards the castle. Peters eyes followed her the entire way.

Peter snapped out of his daydream as the dwarf started yelling at Susan. "Drop him?!" He snarled, glaring. "They were doing fine drowning me without your help!"

"Maybe we should have let them." Peter snapped, not liking the tone the dwarf was taking with his sister. The dwarf glared at him and Peter just ignored him as Susan handed him back his sword. Now the dwarf had a tint of green on his face.

"You have got to be kidding me." He muttered. "You're it? You're the Kings and Queens of Old?"

Peter smirked. Finally, someone who knew who he was! "King Peter, the Magnificent."

Peter saw Ed role his eyes and Susan shook her head. "You probably could have left off the last part." She murmured.

"Probably." The dwarf smirked, still looking a little sick. Edmund chuckled beside Peter and Peter had a sudden thought.

"Fine then." He unsheathed his sword and the dwarf raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, you don't want to be doing that boy."

Peter shrugged. "Not me. Him." He gestured to Edmund, who gave a small smile in return as he unsheathed his own sword. It was known to everyone that when it came to sword fighting, Edmund was the better of the two…. But he dwarf didn't know that. To him, Edmund was just a little boy with a sword over half his size.

The dwarf nodded, accepting the challenge, and Peter gave him his sword. It was a short fight, and although Ed was rusty, he still won.

"Maybe that horn worked after all." The dwarf muttered.

"What horn?" Susan jumped in, suspision in her voice. It was then that Peter remembered his sisters gift was missing.

The dwarf went on to explain about Queen Susan's horn and the magic it possessed. Then they all understood why they had come back. They were all looking at each other in understanding when the dwarf questioned, "But where is Lady Alyssa?"

Everyone froze, not knowing what to say. Lucy and Susan looked at each other in horror, while Peter and Edmund slowly turned to look at the dwarf "What?" Peter finally questioned, his voice hard.

The dwarf took a small step back, now realizing he had said something wrong. "Lady Alyssa? The High Kings wife and King Edmunds best friend-"

"We know who she is." Edmund snapped impatiently, his face grim at the words. "But why are you asking us where she is?"

Now the dwarf frowned. "But the Lady Alyssa disappeared from Narnia on the same day as the rest of you. We always assumed she went with you."

Peter sat quickly, feeling a dizzy sensation overtake him. He saw Edmund put his head in his hands, then he spoke, his voice muffled. "Yeah, well she didn't."

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At the same time, on the other side of Narnia.

A girl fell down a hill, hitting her head and other limbs on branches and rocks on the way down. Finally she stopped, and stared up at the sky. She groaned as she started to move and felt pain shoot throughout her body. "What on earth-"

She sat up and looked at her surroundings, then her eyes went wide. "Oh, hell."