Ch 9: The Message Of The Giants
Edmund stood at attention, trying to regain command of his scattered thoughts. The crow gave another Caw! and eyed him with disdain. "The giants will accept no parley, Narnian."
He had expected this. "Then they risk a war which does neither of us any benefit."
"They are quite prepared for that," said the crow. He gave a cawing laugh before adding, "It seems you've made it easier for us, alone outside the protection of your castle, where I can give the giants your position."
"He's not alone," said Asha. Ed cursed, wondering if she were about to give away the number and strengths of his scouts as well.
The crow eyed her now. "Asha Faywater. Well done--"
"There is a forest full of creatures here that will do battle against the giants at a moment's notice," she interrupted. "Do you not think they should hear what the Narnians have to say?"
Both Edmund and the crow stared at her--no doubt, Edmund assumed, both wondering what new game she was playing at. But Asha merely gathered up the rest of her supper dishes and carried them away to the creek.
He spent a frustrating hour convincing the crow to talk the giants into parley, using every last shred of his diplomacy and patience. Nalis looked ready to pluck each of the bird's feathers out and stuff a pillow with them. Even Celan, who had great patience, seemed about to roast the crow over the campfire.
When he'd finished, and confirmed that the crow had left with his reply to the giants, Ed stumbled to the creek, bone-weary. Asha sat by the creekbed, watching the water flow over granite rocks worn glossy and smooth. "What did you do that for?"
"Do not think I'm defending you," she said, but she sounded less harsh than she had that morning. "I simply wish to avoid more unnecessary bloodshed."
"You mean, before we meet the giants and they try to assassinate me," Ed said, carefully avoiding that she'd tried to do just that to Peter.
She gave him a sidelong, green-eyed look. "It does the giants no more good than it does you, to try to attack you here. This forest is full of dryads."
"How do you know?" Ed hadn't seen a single one all day. The leaves of the trees surrounding them did no more than shift in a stray breeze, and then stop again. He looked around, just to be certain.
"I would like to sleep at the edge of the clearing," she said, looking at the sky instead of him. Stars began winking into being in the darkening blue.
Ed shrugged. "It makes no nevermind to me, where you sleep. Which reminds me." He reached into a clinking pouch at his belt and withdrew a length of chain with manacles at each end. He clapped one on his own wrist, and before she realized what he was doing, clamped the other over her wrist.
Her eyes flew wide. "What!"
"After your disappearance this afternoon, you don't think I'm going to snore away the entire night while you flee into the woods, do you? Don't bother getting all out of sorts about it, because one of my scouts carries the key, and I'm not telling you which."
"Ooh!" she growled, in the exact tone Susan used when Peter annoyed her about a suitor.
Ed couldn't avoid a grin. "It seems, my dear Asha--Faywater--that you and I will be troubling each other for some while yet."
