Chapter 4

Lucy played with her oatmeal, stirring it around and making figures with the cinnamon at the top. She wasn't hungry, yet Mrs. Beaver insisted on placing food in front of her. She knew Mrs. Beaver had the best of intentions, but she how could she eat at a time like this? It was late afternoon and Peter still wasn't back yet. The idea of a surprise attack would not leave her alone.

The door to the dining hall opened and Susan came in with several scrolls in her arms. Lucy could tell from the worried look in her eyes that she hadn't heard anything from Peter either. "Have you started eating yet?" Susan asked quietly, standing over Lucy.

Lucy looked down at the oatmeal, scooping some up and tilting the spoon over so it could plop back down into the bowl. "I'm not hungry, Susan." She murmured.

"You have to eat something. Please, Lucy. You're going to feel horrible later if you don't eat something." Susan sat down placed the scrolls down in front of her. She opened one of the scrolls and began reading intently.

Lucy wondered why Susan was doing work in the private dining hall. She always insisted that work should never come into the private dining hall. She assumed it was because Susan didn't want to be alone either.

"Have you eaten something?" Lucy asked instead.

Susan pursed her lips and looked back at Lucy. She attempted a smile, but it faded quickly. "You know how my stomach gets when I'm under pressure. Once Peter comes back with Ed, then I'll eat. Can you promise me you'll eat too?"

There was a quick rap at the door before it opened and Mr. Tumnus came in. He bowed quickly. "My Queens, High King Peter has returned."

Lucy's face lit up with hope. "Is Edmund with him?"

Mr. Tumnus shook his head. "I don't know. Some guards told me of his arrival. I wasn't able to see him for myself."

Susan grabbed Lucy's hand and the two of them made their way to the entrance hall. Peter didn't seem to notice them as he started walking up the staircase.

"Peter!" Lucy exclaimed as she let go of Susan and ran towards Peter.

Peter turned around just as Lucy wrapped her arms around him. He did his best to give her a hug, even though his mind was focused only on getting to the War Room.

"Did you find Ed?" Susan asked as she walked towards them.

Peter gave a sigh. He kissed the top of Lucy's head and leaned over to give Susan a brief hug and a kiss on her cheek. "No, not yet." He said gravely.

Lucy let go of Peter and gave him a worried look.

"I'll find him. Don't worry." He said before turning away.

"There has to be something you found, though." Susan said, trying to keep her voice steady.

Peter stopped for a moment and turned to face his sisters. "I'm working on it. I'll find him."

"I don't know how, but his fever's back. It seems so much worse this time." Drumit said as he continued to wipe down Edmund's forehead.

Sybil tossed out the rest of the soup she had made. She made onion soup since she had nothing else to work with. Drumit had managed to make Edmund swallow down a few bites, but that was it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. They would get through this. Edmund's fever would go down again, they'd get to Archenland and she'd be unbanished after Edmund spoke with King Lune. Everything would go smoothly.

Chills went up Sybil's spine as she heard Edmund vomit the few bites he had eaten. She grabbed her cloak and tossed another to Drumit. "Get him up and make sure he keeps the cloak on. We can't have anyone recognizing him."

"You can't be serious!" Drumit exclaimed. "We can't travel with him like this! He's only going to get worse, Sybil. We need to take him back to Cair and just say we found him in the woods like this."

"I am not losing this chance!" she snapped. She pulled on the cloak and grabbed her bag. "Get him up, Drumit."

"Why don't we just explain to the monarchs what happened? Why you were banished, I'm sure they'll understand."

Sybil spun around so fast, it scared Drumit half to death. "I can never tell anyone what happened. Do you know how much worse the situation will become if I tell anyone?" she hissed. She took a few deep breaths. "We need to leave."

Drumit pursed his lips and crossed his arms. "No. This is crazy. I am not going to help you anymore. I don't want to do this."

Sybil gave Drumit a hard stare. "Fine. Stay here. I don't care. But I'm taking the king with me and I'm going back to Archenland."

Drumit watched as Sybil sat Edmund up. He made no response as she put the cloak on him and made sure the hood made him unrecognizable. She slowly stood up with his arm around her shoulder. Drumit nervously shifted his weight from one hoof to the other, biting his lip as he watched Sybil slowly make her way to the door.

Drumit groaned, knowing what he needed to do, but not liking it one bit. He grabbed his horns and squeezed them in frustration in the situation and himself. "Wait, Sybil." He called out before she could open the door. "I'll go with you."

Sybil turned to look at Drumit, a small smirk on her face. "I knew you would."

Drumit rolled his eyes. "But we need to get him to a healer. He isn't going to make it if we don't."

"Drumit, we don't have time."

"I don't care if we don't have time. It wouldn't be helpful if we ended up going back into Archenland with a dead king. That will definitely start a war."

"Fine and what healer do you suggest we go to? All the healers in Narnia will tell the High King if we bring in Edmund."

Drumit bit his lip and lowered his head a little. "We could always go to Althea."

Sybil stiffened. She adjusted her grip on Edmund and had him lean more against the door. She had thought of Althea, but she swore never to go back to her. "No."

"Sybil, we have to!"

"We can't Drumit! She lives all the way in Owlwood. Do you know how far away that is from here? We're only two days away from Archenland. If we go to Owlwood, that will set us back another two days, not including the time it will take for Edmund to heal."

"Then he's going to die!" Drumit finally yelled.

Sybil gave Drumit a hard stare. Drumit never yelled. It caught Sybil by surprise that he yelled.

Drumit's face went pale as it just dawned on him that he yelled, at Sybil no less. "I-I…I didn't…I just yelled…I mean, of course I yelled, i-it's just I n-never-"

"It's all right." Sybil said, interrupting another one of his stuttering explanations. "I know I may not be acting rationally right now, but I just want to be back in Archenland already."

"I know, but that's never going to happen if King Edmund dies on us."

Sybil let out a heavy sigh. She glanced at Edmund. Even in the dim lighting of the house, she could tell how pale he was. "Fine, we'll take him to Althea."

Peter shut the door as the last guard exited the War Room. It was just he and Bayne now, just as he wanted it to be. He slowly turned around to face the wolf. His four paws were shackled and he had a muzzle over his mouth.

"Since you insist on speaking to me alone, I feel it's safe to assume you haven't found your traitor brother." Bayne said through the muzzle.

Peter pursed his lips as he started to slowly walk around Bayne. "You seem to be pretty confident in your statement."

The wolf growled. "As I told your general, we had no plans of taking him alive. We were going to kill him here on your own soil. It'd make the loss a lot more painful, wouldn't you agree?"

Peter didn't respond. "How many of you are there?"

The wolf barked out a laugh. "Finally asking the right questions."

Peter kicked his side and the wolf fell over, let out a howl as he did. "And I want the right answers."

Bayne let out a low growl as he pushed himself back to a sitting position. "Four hundred. We were hiding in the Northern Marsh before we attacked."

Peter nodded his head. He moved over the fire that was slowly burning out. He grabbed some tongs and began moving the wood around to rekindle the fire. "Are there any more of you?"

Bayne stared straight ahead. "No."

"Is this the truth?"

He growled. "You've captured me, the leading general of the fell army. Why would I lie now?"

Peter left the tongs in the fireplace. "Why did you wait so long to attack?"

Bayne rolled his eyes. "So that you little kings and queens would think you were safe."

"Final question…" Peter grabbed the tongs from the fireplace and walked towards Bayne. He held the red-hot iron inches away from Bayne's side. "Where is my brother."

"Probably dead." Bayne barked.

Peter brought the iron closer to Bayne and lightly touched him with it.

The wolf immediately let out a howl, but remained standing.

"Where is my brother?" Peter repeated in a deadly tone.

Bayne panted, refusing to answer his question.

"While you still may be a traitor, you are still a Narnian. I do not wish to bring you any harm. But if you do not answer my questions, I will not hesitate."

Bayne licked his jaw. "I don't know anything. We weren't supposed to take him. I have no idea where your brother is."

Peter lightly touched Bayne with the tong again and he let out another loud howl. "There's something you're not telling me. There has to be."

"I swear, there is nothing!" Bayne now whimpered.

Peter brought the tong closer to Bayne again, but Bayne quickly laid down in a position of submission to avoid the red-hot iron.

"Wait! Wait, there was something…I don't know if it'll help though." Bayne pleaded.

Peter moved the tong away. "What is it?"

"A few days before we were going to attack, th-there was this girl…I don't know where she came from, but she snuck into our camp…she was listening to us as we were finalizing our plans to attack. We tried to capture her when we figured out she was over-listening, but she escaped. I swear there's nothing else. We thought she would tell you of the attack, but I guess not. She must've had her own reasons for listening in."

Peter stared down at Bayne. He could tell that this was the only thing left the wolf had to say. "How did she look like?"

"I don't know. She wore a hood and no one could make out any features. We were barely able to tell that she was a girl."

Peter nodded his head. He walked back to the fireplace and put the tongs back in place. He walked towards the doors, ready to leave and figure out his next move.

"Wait, what about me? I've given you all the information. Aren't you going to let me go?"

Peter scoffed lightly. He turned to look at Bayne once more. "You are loyal to the tyrant White Witch. You attacked Cair Paravel. You are going to spend the rest of your miserable days in the dungeons."

Peter walked out of the War Room and ignored Bayne's pleas for release.

Drumit had no idea how they had made it so far. Drumit convinced Sybil to stop a few times to regain their strength for a few moments. Edmund hadn't woken up enough to start walking on his own so they had to take turns supporting him up as they walked. His fever wasn't getting any worse, but it wasn't getting any better. That's why Drumit was fairly surprised when he figured out they were halfway to Althea's home.

They stopped for the night next to the Great River. The trees kept them hidden still, but soon they would have to walk through open fields. It would be so much easier for them to be spotted. Drumit actually thought it was a miracle they hadn't been spotted yet. Maybe the cloak covering Edmund really did make him unrecognizable.

Drumit started to look through the bag for another blanket. They had laid one out for Edmund, setting him down on his stomach so as to not make his shoulder injury worse. Drumit noticed that he was shivering though. He hoped the shivering wasn't from the fever as he laid a blanket over Edmund.

"We really are trying to keep you alive, you know." Drumit said as he sat next to Edmund. He knew Edmund probably wasn't going to hear him at all, but it was nice to talk to him still. "I know it seems like Sybil really doesn't care about your well-being, but deep down she does. Trust me." Drumit pursed his lips as he looked around the forest. Speaking of Sybil she wasn't back yet. She had left earlier to collect firewood. That had to have been two hours ago.

A panic attack started to creep up on Drumit. How had he not realized Sybil had been gone for so long? Maybe it was because he had been taking care of Edmund the entire time, but that still didn't excuse it! What if something happened to her? What if she was attacked by some kind of rogue bear? What if guards from Cair Paravel found her and arrested her and were now coming for him?

Drumit jumped up and started wringing his hands as he started to pace around the little campsite. He needed to go look for her. He had to make sure she was safe. Drumit looked over at Edmund. He couldn't leave him alone. What if someone found him? At least if Drumit was here, he could hopefully come up with some lie. Drumit hated lying though and he knew he was pretty miserable at it too.

The trees behind him started rustling. Drumit's immediate assumption was that it was Sybil. As the trees rustled more, he realized it was too noisy to be Sybil. Drumit reached into the bag, searching for a dagger, but ended up pulling out a wooden spoon. He was so on edge, he didn't want to reach in to find the dagger. He stood right where Edmund was asleep and held the spoon out, trying to be ready for anything. As soon as the trees started parting, though, Drumit screwed his eyes shut, but still held out the wooden spoon.

Drumit heard a soft neigh. He swallowed hard. A talking horse. Great. It was finally over. The horse was going to take Edmund back and hand them in. They'd end up being banished from Narnia and would have to go to Calormen. From what Drumit heard, it was a miserable place and he didn't want to go there.

"Drumit, what are you doing?'

Drumit slowly opened his eyes and saw Sybil staring at him. Behind her was a large horse that she was holding by some reigns. He blinked a few times, trying to make sure this was real. "S-Sybil?"

"Who else do you think it is?" she snapped. "What are you doing with that spoon?" she asked as she started walking towards a tree and tied the horse there.

"What am I…? The horse…? Sybil!"

"What?" she asked, clearly annoyed with his inability to form a coherent question. She placed a few twigs in the small fire they had near Edmund. "Any change in him?"

Drumit continued staring at her in shock. "B-but the horse!"

Sybil rolled her eyes before sitting on the ground next to Edmund. She knew she wouldn't get a good answer out of him until she explained herself. "I saw him grazing out in a field alone. I watched for a while to make sure he isn't a talking horse, which he isn't. Must belong to some dwarves or something. Now tell me if Edmund is doing better. I can't tell." She muttered as she placed a hand on his forehead.

Drumit shook his head. "So you decide to steal him?"

"Would you keep your voice down!" Sybil hissed as she jumped up. "I did not steal him…I'm just borrowing him for a prolonged period of time without letting the owner know."

"Oh, dear Aslan…" Drumit mumbled as he rubbed his face. "You're going to get us killed!"

Sybil huffed. She knew if she didn't calm Drumit down, he'd start one of his panic attacks and then she'd never find out if Edmund's condition changed at all. "Drumit, it's fine. Nothing is going to happen to us. I took so long to come back because I was making sure no one was watching as I took the horse. We will only take the horse to Althea's, then will set him. The horse will find its way back to where he belongs. Do you understand?"

Drumit slowly nodded his head as he turned to stare at the horse. The horse seemed to sense Drumit's gaze as it looked up from the grass and stared right back at Drumit.

"Are you okay now?"

Drumit swallowed and nodded his head again.

Sybil took a deep breath, controlling her frustration with Drumit. "Now do you think you can tell me how Edmund is doing?"

Drumit turned to face Sybil as if that were the first time she had asked him that. "The fever hasn't gotten any worse, but it's not better either. His shoulder looks like it's getting infected too."

"Well did you give him some of that Calormen medicine?"

"Yes, but he nearly threw it up all over me." Drumit said, this time with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Sybil shook her head. "We're moving." She said as she bent down and started to lift Edmund up.

"What? But you haven't even gotten any rest! If we keep moving-"

"Drumit, we have a horse. I'm one of the best riders in Archenland and I'll be able to stay awake. I'll take Edmund with me and you can catch up. Now help me get Edmund on the horse."

"This is crazy. How many times do I have to keep telling you this?" He said, but still helping her pick up Edmund and put him on the horse. Drumit did his best to hold Edmund up on the horse while Sybil untied it and jumped on. She sat right behind Edmund and held him close so he wouldn't topple over. "Sybil, you are going to get caught." Drumit said as earnestly as he could. "Two humans in Narnia riding a dumb horse is going to draw attention."

"If I ride hard all night, I'll make it to Althea's by mid-morning tomorrow." Sybil said. The horse started to stamp his hooves, knowing that he was about to ride out. "You can stay here the night, but please meet us there."

Drumit swallowed hard. It was now or never. Sybil was only going to do more dangerous things. It was going to escalate until they ended up with their heads chopped off. Considering they had a dying King of Narnia, he didn't doubt the High King would have any problem with cutting off their heads. "I can't Sybil." He said quietly.

Sybil frowned. "What are you talking about?" she snapped.

"This is madness. I can't take it anymore. My nerves-"

"Drumit, stop being such a baby and just do it!"

"No, Sybil!" he wanted to yell at her, but it came out as a sqeak instead. He cleared his throat and said one last thing. "No, I'm done."

Sybil stared him down. "You're supposed to stay in your home anyways. I hope you have a good life, Drumit." She said harshly. She roughly kicked the horse in the side and he took off after a loud neigh.

Drumit watched as long as he could as Sybil rode further and further into the forest. He took a deep breath. He wasn't going to go after her. Despite what everything inside him was telling him, he was not going after her.

Sybil didn't start slowing down until the sun started to peak over the horizon. By that point, Sybil could see the small outline of Althea's hut. She was surprised at how fast she had gotten here, but then again, she had only stopped once and pushed the horse to run fast. She was tired and wanted nothing but to sleep, but she didn't have time for that. She needed to stay awake to explain to Althea what was going on. She would have to swallow her pride to do that.

Sybil gently moved Edmund over with her arm while still holding the reigns. She really did hope Althea would be able to heal him. In all honesty, she meant no harm to King Edmund. She just wanted to get back to Archenland. He was her only way back. She didn't know exactly what would make him want to give his consent to King Lune now, but she didn't want to worry about that. She had enough to worry about with whether or not he'd actually live.

The sun slowly started to rise higher and Sybil finally reached Althea's hut. There was smoke already coming billowing out from inside. Althea always was an early riser. She shook her head from the memories and carefully dismounted the horse, making sure Edmund wouldn't fall off. She slipped him off the horse and held him up from under his shoulders. She could hear him muttering something incoherently in her ear. She didn't realize how close his mouth was to her ear and his breath tickled her ear. She shook her head, trying to push his head further away.

Before Sybil could even knock on the door, it swung open. Althea stood there, leaning on her walking stick and staring straight ahead. She was an older mole and her vision had left her years ago. The only thing she relied on was her hearing and scent.

Althea sniffed the air twice with her over grown nose. "Well, well, well, Sybil Griffith. I never thought you'd be stupid enough to come back after what you did."