Chapter 6: The White Witch's Work

"Whatever happened to knocking before you enter a room?" said Edmund to Peter with a smile. The High King smiled back.

"You're my brother, younger by the way. I am allowed."

"Don't get too big of a head," Ed smiled. "Your crown won't fit."

Peter walked out to the balcony and watched as Danje and Sora ran on the beach. Sora ran alongside the horse. Every now and then, Danje would turn around and nuzzle his owner's shoulder. Sora would laugh and plunk down into the sand. Danje would bend his head and Sora would pet his nose. It was their own little game, quite similar to tag, made up when Sora was little herself.

"You love her, don't you," said Peter. It wasn't a question.

"How did you know?" Ed asked. He had been fixing the clasp on his cape, and he turned now and walked to where he was standing beside Peter.

"Oh, anyone could tell," said Peter. "It's hard not to love her anyway. She's a very kind person."

"Lu, told you," Ed smiled. Peter looked at him and grinned.

"Yes, she did. She saw you ride off with Sora into the woods from her bedroom window and came running to tell me."

"One would expect her to do such a thing," said Edmund. "I would have been surprised if she hadn't."

"Me too," Peter added. He looked back down to the beach. Ed did too, but what they saw surprised them. They weren't there.

"Where do you suppose she went?" Peter asked. Ed shrugged his shoulders.

"I have no idea. I'll go down and check the beach. You check the stables. She had her sword with her, so she could defend herself, but we should still go find her." Ed turned away from the balcony and grabbed his sword sitting against a chair. He fastened the belt across his waist and took off his crown. Anyone could recognize him without it.

"Let's go," said Edmund to Peter. He ran out of the room and down the hall to the familiar stairs. His cape flowed out behind him as he ran, and nearly fell down the stairs, he was going to so fast. Peter was not behind him, he had ran back to his room to get his sword. But Edmund was not worrying about Peter, he was more worried about Sora.

As Ed neared the beach, he could see the edge of the cliff jutting out, and as soon as he poked his head over the cliff, the 100 yards of sand between the edge and the water. Sora was there, on top of Danje, and battling several dwarfs, Black Dwarfs.

"Sora!" Edmund yelled. She looked up at him.

"Edmund!" A dwarf struck her leg, and she screamed in pain. Edmund got up off the ground and ran to the only way to get down to the beach, a slope running off the cliff, almost like a hill. Ed ran down the hill, and sprinted down the beach to where Sora was. There were five dwarfs surrounding Danje (who was getting quite jumpy by the way) and three more lay dead on the ground.

Ed stabbed three of them, but two more still remained, and he couldn't get to them. One cut Danje's leg, and the horse reared up, sending Sora flying off because she was on bareback. Edmund ran to where she would fall, and caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground.

"They're hurting him!" she yelled, jumping up and running (well, it was more of a wobble because her leg was hurt) to where the two dwarfs were. She stabbed both of them with her sword, and patted Danje's neck.

"It's okay,Danje." Her breathing was heavy, and her leg was bleeding all over her dress. Edmund stood up and walked towards her. She looked down at the horse's legs and gasped. His right front leg had a long cut down below the elbow, and the blood had trickled down all the way to the hoof.

"Edmund, he's hurt," Sora croaked. Edmund bent down and ran his hand's along the side of the horse's leg.

"It isn't deep," he said with relief. "But we should get him to the stables."

"Okay," Sora whimpered. Before they had turned Danje around, her knees buckled underneath her, and she sank to the ground. Edmund caught her. He pulled her up and leaned her against his body.

"You'll be fine," he whispered and kissed the top of her head. Tears were welling up in her eyes from the pain.

"I don't know, Edmund. I can barely stand the pain," Sora croaked before slipping out of Edmund's arms onto the sand. She put her head in her hands and started to sob.

Ed knelt down in front of her. He could feel her pain, the intense hurting of potentially losing Danje. And he felt his own pain, the pain of losing her.

"Oh, Edmund," she sobbed, throwing herself into his chest. He caught her and pulled her chin up to where he could see her.

I know exactly how she feels, Edmund thought. And he did. He had almost lost Peter about a year ago to her, and sometimes he just wanted to sit down and cry. He had betrayed his family, the people he cared about, and he would do anything to fix it.

My dear boy, do not comfort her. She will betray you…

Edmund's head bent over Sora's own and he clenched her body. The White Witch was here…again. His heart beat faster in his chest.

"Sora, we need to get out of here."

"Why?" she asked.

"That ghost is here. We need to tell Peter…"

"Who is it?"

"The White Witch."

Sora gasped and looked in the air around her. Her eyes were all red and puffy from crying, but she had to stand up.

Edmund led her to Danje who had happily been waiting for them, and he took the horse's reins. He led the horse up the hill and to the stables, Sora clinging to him the whole time, his arm around her waist. She limped beside him, tears still running down her leg, blood soaking the front of her dress. Her eyes fluttered from the tears, and Danje was put into a stall. Edmund picked her up and walked to the castle. She was set down on her bed, and was soon asleep.

"Will she be okay?" Ed asked.

"The sword ran down her leg. It didn't go through, and it wasn't deep enough to require stitching, but it was deep enough to sting as if her leg had been set on fire," said the Doctor.

"Will she wake up soon?"

"I should think so. Edmund, there is no need to worry. She will be fine."

"I just…I just feel the need to protect her."

"I understand, dear boy."

"No you don't. I feel different about her. I feel towards her what I've never felt before," said Edmund. At that moment, Peter walked into the room. He looked at the doctor, then at Edmund, then at Sora, who lay asleep with a bandage running from her upper thigh to below her knee.

Peter's eyes widened. Was this the work of the White Witch? Hurting Edmund's protector so that he would be more vulnerable?

Peter was getting more and more worried by the minute. What if Sora could not help him? What if Aslan wasn't there?

What if…

What if Edmund died?