When I woke up I almost thought I was dead, but the dead don't feel pain, right? I was most certainly in pain, but for some odd reason I was warm all over. It wasn't the warm feeling I got when I thought of Aslan, more like someone had wrapped a blanket around me. I really didn't want to open my eyes; it would only mean another lonely day trapped here. On the other hand pretending to be asleep wouldn't stop them from abusing me, it would be better to see it coming.
With that forced my eyes open only to find that warm blanket was in fact, not a blanket. It was the black and white wolf that called herself Thea.
"Ah, so the sleeping dryad is awake."(1) The wolf smirked if that were possible.
"What are you doing here?" I questioned, ignoring her sarcasm.
"I believe I am trying to keep you warm after I saved you from that mentally ill ogre. It would be counterproductive to kill you now." She said it seriously, but I could still detect the joke behind it.
"So that was you! But, Why?" She looked at the ground and paused.
"I will not allow a true King of Narnia to die when I could prevent it." I searched for sarcasm, or any joke in her words but found none.
"I don't understand are you not loyal to Jadis?"
"Nay, It was my family, mostly my brothers who were loyal to her. During her reign I would normally hide in caves while everyone else would wander around. Then came the day where Phelix, my brother and pack leader, felt that Aslan did not exist, and if he did then he had abandoned us. I still believed in Him but Phelix insisted If I did not agree with his views then I could leave the pack. Leaving the pack in the dead of winter is suicide so I had to join her forces."
"After the witch's fall why did you not come to us and Aslan?"
"I would be executed for my crime, I am a traitor to Narnia."
"Executed? Where is the justice in execution? If that was the law I would not be here."
"But, you are a king, a great leader, where I am nothing but a wolf. I am disposable unlike you."
"No Narnian is disposable and I believe my sins against Aslan are far worse than yours. I gave up my family for candy and willingly condemned all of Narnia. Then to make matters worse as I have recently discovered Aslan died for my mistakes. I basically shoved the dagger through his heart, I killed him." As hard as I tried I couldn't stop a stray tear from flowing down my cheek. Another followed and another, until they were streaming from my eyes. I didn't even bother to stop them.
"Aslan thought you were worth saving, never doubt his decisions, he knew what he was doing. And I believe that you have been more than forgive in these past years."
With a heavy sigh I nodded and wiped my tears away, "You're right, thank you."
"You're welcome, but I'm afraid that I must take my leave, Aslan knows what kind of trouble my pups will find when they are left unattended. Remember no one must hear of this conversation, they might think I'm getting soft." Thea said with another smirk.
"Of course, I am so sorry I didn't realize that your reputation was at risk I was just concerned about your life, silly me!" I snorted.
She trotted out of the dungeon without a second look, but moments later two snow leopards entered the cell.
"How fairs our little King?" the first asked.
I proceeded to ignore them, hoping they would get to the point.
"Well there has been an unfortunate turn in events for you. There have been rumors of your siblings and a small group of soldiers are going to attempt to break you out. Of course, we can't allow that to happen rumor or not. The battle should be short for our numbers are far larger than your siblings so they will be overtaken easily. But, we have been informed that we are to keep you alive so you could hear their screams." I was horrified, this couldn't be happening."Let's take him to that old hag Elga, She'll know what to do with him." The second leopard stated.
Sticking out a claw they unlocked the shackles around my feet and dragged me from the room. I had no idea how long we walked, only that it was excruciatingly painful. I tried to memorize our path but there were too many turns to keep track of.
We entered the room with a crash and I was roughly thrown on the floor.
"He's all yours Elga, just don't kill him yet." They left without a second thought. Meanwhile Elga continued to circle me as if I were some prize pig.
"What to do first? Hmm?" She traced one of her long nails across my cheek, drawing blood."Well, I suppose we could always start with something that wouldn't hurt you physically all that much. It really is a pity I can't kill you, it would have been nice and slow, but I guess a near death experience will have to do." She hobbled toward a rack that contained several potions. She snatched one from the shelf and inhaled deeply. I could hear her muttering some sort of spell under her breath. I tried to move away, anything to get my closer to the door, but pain burst throughout my body. I couldn't help but cry out. When it died down she said, "We wouldn't want you escaping now." Her back still turned to me. Then she faced me and forced the strange liquid in my mouth. It was thick and black. I tried to throw it up but she continued to pour it in my mouth until I was drowning in it. I had no choice and swallowed it all. When the last drop was gone from the bottle she tossed it aside.
"Blood of a werewolf, quite nasty tasting but wonderful effects." I was starting to wonder who the affects were wonderful for when she murmured another spell. She licked her nail and placed it on the center of my chest. Her chanting grew louder and a chill broke over me. Then the pain stirred. It continued to grow with the level of the voice. Then I noticed something peculiar, thin black lines were sprouting from her finger and spreading through my torso. It seemed like she was injecting poison into me. It could have been hours or even a few seconds but I couldn't tell all I knew was that I screamed so much I couldn't use my voice.
The last thing I heard the hag say was, "Sweet dreams." And then I was out.
"I think he's waking up."
"You're right Su." That was Peter's voice, I wanted to see him so badly I could barely contain myself. I eagerly blinked and found their eyes. My whole family was there staring at me. I then realized I wasn't in the ice castle, but in fact on the soft grass of Beruna. I was wearing Narnian armor and so was Peter. Everyone looked so young I didn't understand.
"Why did you do that Lucy?"
"I just wanted to see if it worked." She pouted.
"He's a traitor, he doesn't deserve to live. He killed Aslan, the ungrateful beast."
" Wait, I didn't mean to! I promise I didn't know what Aslan was going to do!"
"Oh sure, just like how you didn't know that you were going to turn us into servants after the witch made you a prince. I don't even know why we saved you." Susan's voice spoke.
Then mist rolled around and everyone froze and the screen changed. Peter was standing in front of me.
"Edmund, why hadn't you been more careful, we had to send off a whole search party for you and it wasted so much time. I just wish you had never been born. I hate you, I always have and always will. You have no place in our family."
Scene after Scene appeared each more terrifying than the prior.
If my throat wasn't so raw I'm sure I would have screamed but I couldn't. Then the heavy weight of a paw on my chest pulled me from my nightmares, Thea.
"Edmund, they're here. I killed the hag and she released her spell. I brought armor and the sword we took from you. On second thought maybe you should wait here, you aren't looking too good." She said scanning my injuries.
"I knew I wasn't pretty but…" I joked.
"Oh shut up, this is serious!"
"I'll be fine I'll just get to my sister and I'll be okay." In a matter of minutes I was suited up despite my condition. I then limped from the hags chamber and into battle with Thea at my side.
Peter's POV
As predicted the night guard wasn't really keeping guard and we had snuck easily into the depths of the castle. As soon as we walked inside I swore I could feel a thousand eyes watching me and judging by the jumpiness of our own warriors I wasn't the only one who felt it.
Now, all we had to do was find Edmund and honestly, how many places are there to hide a tiny human boy in a gigantic ice castle which was filled with dark magic and more monsters than I could count, we got this.
I pulled a map out of my pocket which was made by one of the creatures that used to work for Jadis. After consulting it for a moment I signaled everyone towards the dungeons. It was a painful fifteen minutes to walk, not knowing what you were going to find. But at last we came to a halt. A centaur quickly silenced the guard outside the door and we continued through.
All of the cells were empty, and white as snow until we came to the last one. It almost looked like someone was trying to create art and splashed red paint everywhere.
A dog stepped forward and sniffed the area and turned to me.
"I'm sorry your majesty, but this sent belongs to your brother and it is as recent as last night."
"Are you sure maybe you have mistaken it for someone else's sent." I said, fearing the worst.
"I am truly sorry but you each have your own sent and this is most definitely his."
My eyes threatened to water, it meant one thing if he wasn't in the cell, he was dead. There was no use in keeping a dead prisoner. Images of his pale face and unseeing eyes flashed through my mind.
"Wait! Look, there is a trail here, I didn't see it in the dark but it is King Edmunds, they relocated him!" The dog nearly shouted in joy but he managed to keep his voice low in fear of waking the guards.
"Lead the way cousin." Peter asked, he was clinging to hope. If Edmund died it would be like losing half of his soul, they made it so far, but lose now, it just didn't seem fair.
As much as it sickened me we followed the bloody trail until I felt an arrow whiz by my ear.
"Narnia to arms, Narnia to arms!" I shouted, we had been found and the alarm was raised. Fell beasts circled us. We didn't hesitate to attack, I had only one goal in mind, find Edmund. If these creatures chose to stand in my way, so be it they will not be standing long.
Well, since I got so many reviews I decided to update early!
Sleeping dryad is the Narnian version of Sleeping Beauty just in case you didn't catch my joke there.
So how did you like it? Don't worry there is still much more of this story to come and I can't wait to write it! I have also started a few others from my list on the previous chapter. BTW CON is not mine, I would be flattered that you that I was that cool to own it but sadly no.
Aces
