A/N: third part and I think the last part (as I write it now) I know you were all worried about Ed, and little Bright-spark. Well here we are, Edmund shows us what he's really made of, and so the beginnings of the Traitor's Army are made known.
Traitors Arc: King Edmund the Just.
Edmund struggled back to wakefulness, forcing his eyes open despite the pain he felt, knowing only that the longer he spent in this darkness was longer not knowing what had happened after he had fallen. He prayed that Peter had stopped the battle, that he had stopped the slaughter. His eyes opened, squinting in the light, to see his brothers blond head, concerned eyes looking down at him, and he found himself missing the little wolf cub suddenly.
"Peter..." he began, cutting himself off with a hiss of pain as he moved his arm, "Peter, what happened?" he asked, voice hoarse.
Peter looked very relieved that he was awake, and helped him drink some water, which soothed his throat immensely. "You're ok. We weren't sure when you would wake up."
Edmund frowned at him, that wasn't what he had meant, surely Peter knew that. "What happened Peter, Swiftwind, is she alright? Are the cubs ok? Was anyone killed?" he demanded to know, worried about his newly made friends. "You didn't have them killed did you? Peter there were children, people who had nothing to do with the witch!"
Peter looked a little uncomfortable, and Edmund felt some dread well up in him at the sight. It must have shown on his face, because Peter was quick to reassure him. "No, no, they're all alive. They're being guarded now. Edmund, what happened? I was told you'd disappeared during the fight, no one knew what had happened."
Edmund was sure someone had made a comment on it, probably citing him as a coward who had run. He hoped that if such a comment had been made that Peter would not have believed it. "I fell in the river and was carried downstream. I don't know much else until I woke up; I think I hit my head on a rock. Are they being looked after Peter? They saved my life; I don't want them to be treated badly."
Peter once again looked uncomfortable, and Edmund could not understand why.
"Peter, what is it? Just tell me. Now." It was not a request.
Peter got to his feet, looking at Edmund. "Ed, they're Fell beasts, they worked for her. Why are you suddenly defending them? How do you know they saved you? Maybe it was all part of some plan. I don't like it Ed." He said.
Edmund was silent for a long moment, looking at his brother, wondering if he had felt like that before he had met this ragtag group. He knew he had, and it made him feel horrible. "Peter," he began quietly, gaining his brothers full attention. "You did see the children right? You saw how young some of them were. There was no way their mothers fought in that battle, and there is definitely no way the children fought. Fell creatures or not, they cannot be tarred with the same stick. It would be wrong."
"Just because they're children, it doesn't mean they couldn't have agreed with her." Peter pointed out.
Edmund thought quickly, and finally came up with what he thought was a good argument. "I chose to follow the White Witch in the beginning. Does that mean that you, Susan and Lucy should be called traitors of Narnia as well?"
Peter looked horrified, though whether it was at the thought of being called a traitor because of what Edmund had done, or at the fact that Edmund still referred to himself as a traitor was anyone's guess. Edmund tried not to think about what it meant. "Ed!" he whispered.
"You know I'm right Peter. If I can admit I was wrong and try to change, why can't they?" He gave his brother a significant look. "Have you spoken to any of them? Or did you just order them trussed up and watched carefully?"
Peter coloured slightly at that remark, and Edmund sighed. Shoving the blankets sown and off him, swinging his legs off the cot to the ground. Peter squawked, much like a mother hen as he did. "Ed, get back into bed, your hurt!"
"So are those you have under guard, I'm sure they haven't been tended to yet." He ignored his brother's hands and stood. "I'm going out to see them. You can either help me or not." He reached for a shirt that had been left out for him.
In the end Peter decided to help him, only to make sure his little brother did not do himself anymore damage.
x
Edmund strode as quickly, and as kingly as he could towards the prisoner, hiding a relieved smile when he heard little Bright-spark yelp out. "Funny Creature!" he was hushed quickly by the others around him. Edmund came to stand in front of Maxus, who watched him warily. Edmund was unsurprised by this.
"I'm sorry." He said sincerely. "I didn't know it would happen. I'm going to try and get you released."
Maxus shook his head stiffly. "I will not get my hopes up. Though I think you will do your best."
That was a compliment that made Edmund even more determined. These were his subjects, just as much as the Narnian's who had fought with them against the witch. In fact, these people were even more his people in a way he could not explain. And he would not fail them, not in this.
He was called King Edmund the Just, and by Aslan he was going to start living up to that name.
"I will see you freed, and when you are, I would ask you something. I will not ask you to do it out of any gratitude, but because I believe you, all of you, will benefit from it just as much as I." He told them determinately, his eyes sweeping over the whole downtrodden group. He nodded sharply and turned on his heel, and marched over to where he had left Peter. They had a few quick words before Peter called Oreius, Killian and a number of high ranking soldiers towards the High Kings tent.
x
"I am not going to negotiate this Peter. They need to be set free. They haven't done anything wrong." He held up a hand to forestall any objection from anyone. "All you have to do is talk to them for only a few minutes and you will see that all they want is to be left in peace. I want to give them that."
"King Edmund, surely you cannot mean that you trust them?" Killian looked scandalised at the very notion.
Peter snorted. "Edmund trusts too easily. That's what got him into this mess to begin with."
Edmund stiffened at the comment, and from the way Peters eyes widened and he looked so apologetic, he knew that it had not been meant in quite the way he had taken it. Edmund ruthlessly pushed aside his own feelings. Now was not the time for him, now was the time for his people. "What makes them any different to me Peter? Why is it I deserve Aslan's forgiveness, and they do not (he did not really feel he did, but saying that would not prove the point he wanted). They have told me that they no longer follow the way of the witch, that they wish to avoid conflict like that in the future. I believe them. Those in that group who did not work for her, the children, they don't deserve to be treated badly just because they happen to be the same kind of creatures we fought against."
He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. "There were draids, satyrs, even fauns who fought on her side, and yet we don't declare that all fauns must work for her, that all draids are secretly evil and must be treated as such. Yes, so none of their kind fought with us, but that doesn't mean that some of them didn't fight for her. We need to stop looking at this in terms of black and white, good and evil. Because it's anything but.
"If everything was black and white, if everything was written in stone, I would have been killed as a traitor on the stone table." Edmund looked at Peter imploringly, seeing his brother was wavering. "Please, just give them a chance. I have an idea, that I hope works."
"Idea?" Peter asked faintly.
Edmund half smiled. "I was thinking they could come back to Cair Paravel with us. That way you could keep an eye on them, and I can start some type of programme that will help all those who wish to join us do so. Think about it Pete, this way we can at least make sure that those that can be saved don't cross the Ettin border thinking it's their last hope for acceptance, and we lessen the chances of invasion, at least a little. Am I right Oreius?" he looked to the centaur.
Oreius appeared thoughtful for a long time, considering the idea carefully, before he finally nodded, a faint proud gleam in his eyes as he looked at Edmund. "It could King Edmund."
Peter looked between them, and finally threw his hands in the air. "I'm not going to win. Fine, have them released, but Edmund, any threat against you, us, Narnia, or our people, except for self defence, and I reserve all rights to shut this idea down." He was a fair person; he would not hold self defence against anyone.
Edmund grinned, and so happy was he that he had actually managed to do this, that he gave Peter a one armed hug before turning to leave the tent. He paused at the flaps though, as a thought struck him. "Peter... they're our people too... Or at least, they're mine." And he left. If anything else was said in that tent after he was gone he would never know of it.
x
"Release them, all of them." Edmund said, his eyes daring the guard to try and refuse his orders. "On orders of the High King."
The Faun looked a little nervous, shooting a look to his centaur companion, but he turned and did as he was bid, and freed the prisoners.
"Funny Creature!" Bright-spark, once freed, darted to Edmund, pausing hesitantly at his feet and looking up. "Are you ok? You were bleeding! Mum said you saved her! I never got to see, and then they didn't let me sit with you till you woke up. Why wouldn't they? Milrina let me watch you. Will you be able to play with me, or is your paw too hurt to? Why did all these people come? Nobody will tell me, and why did they keep us all here? My sisters were scared, but I wasn't. I'm brave. You believe me, don't you Funny Creature!" it was said in a rush that Edmund needed to take a moment to work out, but when he did he smiled.
He bent over to scoop the little wolf up into his good arm. "It's Edmund Bright-spark, remember. And I know you're very brave. You looked after your mum and sisters when they were scared right?" The little wolf nodded. "I should be able to play again soon. I promise. Now I need to talk with Maxus, I think you should maybe go make sure your mum and sisters are ok." He put Bright-spark back on the ground, the cub darted back to his family.
Edmund turned his attention to Maxus, but his words were for all those he had freed. "I would like for you to come back to Cair Paravel with me. If you do not wish to, I will not force you. But I have been considering setting up a personal guard, my brother already has a small one, and it is apparently a custom, and I would like to have you be a part of it. Those of you who do not wish to join the guard, or be part of the army, under my command, will be offered a place to live and a job if you wish it." He was making it up as he went along, but he would make it work.
His eyes focused more sharply on Maxus. "I would be honoured if you would consider being the head of my guards Maxus. You command great respect from those who follow you, and you do it without the threats and manipulation the witch employed. This alone sets you well apart from her, and I believe you could do much good for Narnia, if you wish that is, I don't want you to feel that you have to... I mean..." he shut himself up; afraid his sudden bout of nervousness would ruin what he was trying to do.
Maxus studied him for the longest time, and Edmund fought the urge to fidget under his gaze, he could feel Peter and Oreius somewhere behind him, watching the proceedings carefully, worriedly. He was aware that the whole camp had tensed up, but he couldn't begin to wonder why, and really, he was beginning to get to nervous to wonder why.
Why wasn't Maxus answering?
It came as a shock then when Maxus dropped to one knee before him, still taller than Edmund even then, and bowed his great bull head. "It is I who would be honoured, King Edmund the Just." It was gruff, and full of unspoken words, but Edmund understood.
And he smiled.
"Can I be in the guard too?" Bright-spark yipped suddenly, breaking the somewhat solemn mood in that way children have.
Edmund laughed and answered. "Maybe when you're a little older." He turned to look at Peter, and he basked in the proud look his brother graced him with, able to ignore the whispers that were spreading around the camp.
He thought that he understood it now. What it meant to be Just.
It meant giving second chances.
It meant letting the person prove themselves.
The End.
There we go, see, I was right, last chapter. I'm rather proud of this little story. I think I've captured all I wanted to in it. As to what Peter, Oreius and everyone else actually thinks of what Edmund's doing, well, I couldn't very well switch pov to them, no matter how much I wanted to. It would have messed up the flow I was trying for. But I'm sure you could guess what they said in the tent after Edmund left.
Please review, and keep a look out for the next story. Loyalty.