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"Ed!"
Edmund Pevensie, Just King of Narnia, was reclining on deck, enjoying the taste of salt on his tongue when he heard Lucy's familiar tones calling him over. She yelled his name so that Ed was stretched playfully into a two-syllable word, and, sighing, he swung his legs off the edge of the chest he'd been half-lying on and walked over to his sister. She stood at the highest point of the ship, with Caspian, and the two watched his annoyed ascent to meet them.
"Ed, Caspian has an idea," Lucy said quickly, and the Prince quickly countered, "It was your idea!"
"Okay, fine, we have an idea," his sister continued, mock-glaring at Caspian. "Back at the Lone Islands, we saw that some – not all, but some – of the crew are just a little bit under-developed in the fighting area."
"Namely, your cousin," Caspian interjected. "But there are others who could use a little more experience with swords and such."
"Like Gresham." Edmund pulled a crew member's name from thin air.
"Yeah. Or Eni," Lucy said, carefully watching his face for any tell-tale signs of emotion. Edmund was proud at this point that he managed not to thump his sister.
"There are quite a few that could do with some more training," the Prince put in, sensing a squabble on the horizon. "And that's where you come in, Edmund. We're both willing to put in a little time to help teach some other members of the crew to handle their weapons a little better, but the job'll be easier if you're helping, too."
Edmund weighed the idea in his mind for half a second before nodding sharply. "Sure. I'm in."
"Told you he would be," grinned Lucy, addressing Caspian, who let a smile grace his features; however this disappeared quickly when he saw the expression on the King's face.
"Let's get down to work then," Edmund muttered, turning away and casting his eyes down onto the deck.
"Frey! Pallas! Evander! Eni! Rhince! Eustace!" barked Caspian, walking along the assembled line of crew members. They were a ragtag bunch; a diverse mixture of human and animal, mostly grown men but with Eni in her white shirt and brown trousers, and Eustace in his (now very grubby) yellow jumper. They stood to attention as Caspian, in the fashion of a true leader, began to speak.
"You are here because you need just a little more work on your combat skills," he said gruffly. "That does not mean you are inadequate – you're all" (his eyes clapped on Eustace) "Well, almost all great members of the crew, and we wouldn't trade you for anything." He paused as most of the men gave a masculine cheer. "Myself, Lucy and Edmund are just going to give you a little extra coaching – after all, we have plenty of time and resources. So if you could split off into partners and assign a pair to each of us – yeah, that's fine-"
Edmund watched as Eustace with uncharacteristic speed leaped over to Eni and quickly declared himself her partner; fiddling with his sword, he waited to see who would attach themselves to him. Beside him Lucy was already chattering away to a duo of the man from Narrowhaven (whose wife had been taken by the fog) and a minotaur.
"Cousin!"
With a range of emotions he turned to meet the eyes of Eustace. Two days away from civilisation had not done his beloved relative any good physically or mentally, and Edmund had a certain degree of fear that Eustace would go native on them. However beside him was Eni. Each held a small training sword.
Edmund cleared his throat and looked around at Cas and Lucy, both of whom were already demonstrating techniques to their spellbound audiences. "Right. Okay." He held up his sword (well, Peter's sword) and asked, "Eustace, you know nothing. Eni, how good are you with a sword?"
"I'm decent," she said.
He exhaled nervously. "Okay, then. I guess I should start with…"
"Show us how to stick someone with it," Eustace said impatiently.
"It's not all about sticking someone with it," said Edmund impatiently. "It's an art."
"That's rubbish and you know it. If you're in a fight, you just want to stick someone with it," Eustace sniffed pompously.
"And you would know…"
"Stop fighting, you two!" Lucy called over.
"Shut up, Eustace," Edmund said importantly. "So, when the fight begins, you're going to want to take up one of two roles; attack or defence." He paused, but didn't hear a single word leave his cousin's throat. Somewhat heartened, he continued. "Basically – either you're trying to stab them with the sword, or you're blocking them from stabbing you with the sword."
Eni nodded. Eustace had made an effort to look disinterested.
"In a fight, usually, you want to be attacking as much as you can, or else you might eventually get tired of blocking and slip up. So sort of try to lunge in and attack them – aiming for the stomach is your best bet – as many times as you can. But don't forget to block them, too."
"You're a terrible teacher," said Eustace matter-of-factly.
Edmund was inclined to agree. Instead he decided, "Fine. You learn more by doing than saying, anyway. Let's take it in turns to fight."
"What, like – right now?" Eustace asked, paling considerably. "But I don't know how! You haven't taught me!"
"You'll pick it up. Step aside, Eni, wouldn't want you to be stabbed," Edmund said, and Eni obediently moved to a safe vantage point elsewhere.
"Swords up!" Eustace shakily lifted his blade. "Three. Two. One."
Eustace clumsily lunged forward, stabbing blindly; Edmund blocked the sword easily. It took less than five seconds before the King's blade was at his cousin's neck.
"Again!" Edmund stepped back. "Three – two –"
Without waiting for the countdown to end, Eustace stepped forwards and stabbed at his cousin, who blocked easily and dodged out of the way. It was clear to anyone watching that the Just King could have easily overpowered Eustace; but Edmund simply blocked clumsy shot after clumsy shot, moving backwards, taking the fight to higher ground. Eustace swung and staggered with the weight of the weapon, surging forwards all at once while Edmund yelled uselessly, "Lighter! Quicker! Be more nimble!" Finally, after a couple of minutes, Edmund grew bored and easily placed the tip of the sword at the base of Eustace's throat. The crew applauded, and Edmund, smiling, mock-bowed.
There followed a number of similar 'battles', during which Eustace grew more and more infuriated until he finally threw down his sword and, grumbling, admitted defeat. Striding back over to their starting position, the Just King called, "Eni?" She had been perched up on a barrel (of what Edmund didn't know), watching the fight eagerly. As she slid off and came to stand before him, Edmund was aware that almost the entire crew was watching, including Caspian and his sister. His bloody sister! She'd been whispering and giggling whenever he and Eni came within five feet of each other; it was more than a little annoying. Grumpily Eustace wandered off to a safe point to watch the fight. Eni readied herself in front of him.
"Swords up. Three. Two. One."
Eni was certainly better than Eustace. Edmund still blocked her every move with a degree of ease but she was far more accurate, far quicker, and she had far smoother movements – none of the flailing desperation his cousin had fought with. They fought again and again, Edmund always blocking and blocking and blocking until the battle came to its inevitable conclusion; Eni ended up with his sword at her throat.
"Three. Two. One."
Edmund walked backwards; this time, unlike the others, they progressed up a short flight of stairs, until they were at the helm of the boat, wind whipping at their hair and clothes. As he absentmindedly blocked her sword he noticed how pretty she looked when she concentrated.
Should he end the battle yet? He would have easily been able to slip his blade to her throat, but would that be too harsh? Slowly he began to interject in with his own stabs, increasing gradually in speed and accuracy, and quickly he was in control, forcing her to step backwards until she was cornered at the head of the boat. She still fought vigorously, although by now she struggled to block his shots, growing more desperate as he closed the few feet between them. Finally, in a split second they were just a few inches apart and his blade was tucked neatly below her chin as though it had been there forever.
There was a long pause – a couple of seconds at least – in which they stared into each other's eyes, and the only sounds were those of the waves lapping against the ship, and their own exhausted gasps. The corner of her mouth jerked up beautifully into a half-smile, which Edmund returned. Then, so quickly he only knew what had transpired afterwards, she kicked the back of his legs, causing him to fall flat on his back on the ground. Neatly catching the sword that had fallen from his fingers she looked down at him, eyes bright, giggling breathily, and the entire crew erupted into uproarious laughter. "That wasn't fair!" Edmund protested as a crowd began to gather and someone helped him up. "It was a swordfight!"
"Ah, all's fair in love and war." Eni pretended to examine the blade of his sword before handing it back to him.
"And which was that?" teased, and the crowd laughed again.
"Sorry, Ed, that was a little harsh. Everyone here knows you would thrash me in a real swordfight," Eni murmured, and held out her hand to her duelling partner. He took it and they shook firmly for a few seconds, still elated with adrenaline.
"It was certainly surprising," Edmund replied, eyes twinkling.
"Ah, I'm full of surprises." She laughed – a musical sound - and parted the crowd to return to her medicinal lair, but not before turning back and (when the crew had gone back to their work) smiling so prettily at Edmund he was sure if he died, right there, he would die happy.