Chapter Ten

Amber POV

Amber stood at the harbour, waiting for Edmund to show up. She watched vaguely as hoards of boats headed out to sea, in all directions, for fish. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Ugh. I don't even like fish.

Edmund suddenly appeared beside her, holding two oars. Up close, he looked even worse. The circles under his eyes looked like they had been there forever, as though they had been carved into his face with a knife. And his face was almost as pale as hers, which was saying something. She frowned worriedly, hoping he was alright.

"You're coming with me?" he enquired.

Amber nodded in response. Edmund began walking down the pier, motioning for her to follow him. They walked in silence, until he eventually came to a stop before...a dinghy?

"What?" Amber shrieked, upon seeing it.

Edmund hopped down into the tiny vessel with ease, despite the dinghy swinging dangerously from side to side. He looked back up at her, confusion on his face. "What's wrong?" he asked, frowning.

Amber fumbled with her words. "I...well... it's tiny!" she exclaimed, her voice panicked.

Edmund sighed wearily. He looking away, and began sorting through the ropes, obviously too tired to argue with her.

"Fine. Go with Peter, then." He replied shortly.

Amber felt...slightly hurt. Did he not want her to go with him?

That thought of that brought on an overwhelming feeling of rejection, which crushed her inside. She suddenly felt incredibly small.

"I don't want to go with Peter." She huffed.

"Stay at home."

"I don't want to." She retorted. Why on earth was he being so bloody well difficult?

"Well, go find someone to go with you, who'll put up with your whining." He snapped angrily.

Whatever comeback that was on Amber's tongue was instantly forgotten. She stood there in shock, stunned into silence, unable to think of anything to say back.

Man, he's mean when he's tired.

Edmund untied the last rope, ready to set off. He looked up at Amber expectantly.

"Well? What are you waiting around for? Peter will be leaving soon."

Amber felt her eyes water, and her vision became rather blurry. Oh God no.

She could feel the warm tears forming in her eyes, just waiting to pool out. She couldn't cry. She couldn't cry. She swallowed, blinking rapidly, refusing to let him see her cry just because he didn't want her to go in a boat with him.

"I said, I don't want to go with Peter." She said defiantly. Well, it was meant to be defiant, but it came out more like a plea.

"Well, find someone to go with." He said impatiently, fixing the oars into place.

Amber swallowed again. "I want to go with you." She whispered desperately. It almost sounded like a plea. It nearly was. She genuinely meant it. She didn't want to with Peter, or with anyone else, for that matter. She just wanted to go with him.

That scared her.

"Well, then get in." He said passively. "We haven't all day."

Amber had never felt so small in all her life. She scowled toward Edmund. Not that he'd even notice, seeing as he wouldn't even look at her. Clearly, someone had got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

She carefully stepped down into the boat, gasping upon the feeling of it swaying madly beneath her. Her arms shot out and grabbed Edmund, clinging to him for dear life.

"Amber, what-"

"It's going to tip!" she squealed.

Edmund sighed, gently pushing her off him. "Bloody hell, Amber." He muttered, guiding her down to a seating position. He then turned and picked up the oars, positioning himself, and then began to row the dinghy out of the harbour. The dinghy rocked with his every move, and Amber gripped the sides of the boat, absolutely terrified.

Edmund gathered up a steady speed, pushing, pulling the oars, his strong muscles showing. It carried on like this for most of the journey, him putting all his strength into rowing, whilst Amber spent all her strength gripping the sides of the dinghy.

She found herself becoming extremely worried. Did I do something? Is he mad at me? She was too scared of what his reaction might be, if she asked. He was so...indifferent today. And he had a rather unpredictable temper. She didn't want to be on the receiving end of his bad mood. Although, it seemed that she already was.

After about an hour of rowing, and an hour of thinking deeply, Amber had decided it was either A, lack of sleep, B, lack of food, or C, her little 'performance' on the pier had pissed him off. She hoped it wasn't C. She couldn't bear him to be mad at her.

"Here's good." Edmund said suddenly, letting go of the oars.

Amber looked around her. It was all water, of course, but she could see a sort of mini-island nearby. It was pretty much just a small patch of stone, surrounded by water. Edmund noticed the direction she was looking in. "We can go ashore, if you want." He offered, obviously aware of how uncomfortable she was at present.

Amber hesitated. She wanted nothing more than to get off this bloody dinghy, but she didn't want to piss of Edmund any more than she already had.

"No...It's uh, it's ok. I'm good." She said unconvincingly.

Edmund looked at her dubiously, but let it go. Amber shot a longing glance at the tiny strip of land, before returning her attention to Edmund, who was assembling something. Whatever it was, it just looked like a long stick, with string on the end of it. He was attaching something to it now.

"What's that?" enquired Amber curiously.

Edmund put the stick behind his shoulder, and then flung it forward, out into the water. His motions shook the boat, and Amber gripped the sides with renewed ferocity.

"It's a fishing rod." He replied shortly.

"What does it do?" she persisted, trying to draw conversation from him.

"It catches fish." He said in a bored tone, fiddling with something on the stick.

Amber felt her temper rise. Goddamn him. "Well, I figured that much." She muttered,

"Then why did you ask?" He replied curtly.

Amber's mouth popped closed. Once again, he had stunned her into silence. She felt her unshed tears from earlier return. Unable to stop herself, Amber felt one solitary tear slide down her cheek.

Edmund lay the fishing rod down carefully, balancing it on the edge of the boat. He then lay back slightly, and closed his eyes.

He looked terrible, and so vulnerable.

Vulnerable.

That was it. She had to do it now, before she lost her nerve. She just didn't have to think about it. If she didn't think about it, she wouldn't think about all the bad things.

With a shaking hand, she reluctantly took hold of her dagger, and inched forward, toward Edmund. She didn't have far to go, due to the ridiculously small size of the dinghy. She tried desperately to ignore the deepening feeling of foreboding that was growing in her chest.

"I'm sorry, Amber, for being such an idiot." Edmund said suddenly, in a soft, sad tone. His eyes were still closed. "I didn't get any sleep last night, and I'm wrecked. But I have no right to take it out on you. I'm sorry, Ambs." He sighed wearily, slowly opening his eyes. They widening in confusion, upon seeing how close Amber was.

Humiliated, Amber abruptly moved back. But she rocked the dinghy dangerously, causing her to fall forward atop Edmund, who was still lying back. She ended up on top of him, her hands splayed on his muscled chest, with his hands holding her waist securely, in an effort to steady her.

They remained like that, Amber too frightened to move lest she move the boat again, and Edmund unable to move due to Amber on top of him.

Edmund laughed suddenly, taking Amber by suprise. Smiling, he slowly moved one hand to the back of her neck. Her breath catching, Amber unintentionally returned the smile, happy to finally get some sort of response from him. He leaned forward slightly, closing his eyes as he did.

Amber completely lost her train of thought, her eyes closing as she leaned in towards him. She shivered upon feeling his warm breath tickle the tip of her nose. Her stomach fluttered, and tightened in eager anticipation.

Then suddenly, the wheel on the fishing rod began spinning crazily, whirling madly. Both their eyes snapped open, and Edmund made a grab for the rod. He managed to get a firm grip on it, but then it yanked him towards the dinghy's side. This abrupt movement unfortunately had a bad affect the dinghy's balance, causing it to rock so vigorously that it tipped over completely.

Amber's scream was muffled, as she was flung into the darkness. Once second the world was flying past her, and next thing she was immersed into a black pit of nothing. The sounds of her screaming were silenced as the seawater filling her mouth, her eyes, her ears, her nose, her nose, her lungs, everything.

It was so black. Wasn't water supposed to be blue? She couldn't see anything. She couldn't see Edmund. Where was he? Was he okay?

The water was everywhere; Amber couldn't breathe. It was preventing her. She could feel it flooding her body, washing through her, filling her up. It was so murky, so incredibly dark. She couldn't see where the surface was. Where was the light? Weren't you supposed to swim toward the light?

But how was she supposed to swim toward the light, if she couldn't see it? She flailed around frantically, her arms and legs thrashing through the heavy darkness, reaching for something, anything. Her body desperately fought, trying to find something to hold on to, but failed.

Bit by bit, she could feel herself succumbing to the water. Her arms struggled, her legs just floated aimlessly, and she felt herself sinking slowly. Silently choking, guttering, she could felt herself drowning, disappearing into a sea of darkness.

Edmund POV

Edmund rubbed his eyes tiredly, yawning widely yet again.

"Ed, you really should get some sleep. I'll stay up and watch her." Lucy pleaded, yet again.

"No." He said simply, yet again. He wasn't leaving. Not until she woke up. Not until he knew for certain that she was okay.

Lucy sighed resignedly, giving in to her stubborn brother, and quietly leaving the room.

Edmund yawned again, desperately trying to fight his growing fatigue, which had begun to take its toll on him awhile ago.

That much had been clear in his unacceptable rudeness towards Amber earlier.

He frowned as he thought back over the eventful day. He had barely got Amber out of the water in time. With a strength he hadn't known he'd possessed, he rowed back to the harbour as fast as he humanely could. From there, he had taken her to the castle's infirmary, and demanded that she be treated immediately. At the time, she had been unconcious, and hypothermia seemed to have set in, despite him wrapping his shirts around her, in a desperate attempt to give her some sort of warmth.

And now she lay asleep in her bed, wrapped up securely in thick, woollen quilts. She was her usual pale self again, sleeping peacefully.

Sure, it was an improvement on her shivering, trembling body from earlier. Her teeth weren't chattering uncontrollably anymore, and the blue had faded from her lips. But he still wasn't going to budge, until he knew for definite that she was ok.

His behaviour towards her earlier had been unforgivable. Although, he hoped she would forgive him.

Even though it was a pathetic, unacceptable excuse, Edmund had had no sleep in forty eight hours. He was well-known around Cair Paravel to be an absolute horror whenever he was derived from sleep. His temper decreased, his snappiness increased and his tongue became much sharper. Much too sharp.

I made her cry.

He hadn't missed that lone tear escaping down her cheek. He had just chosen not to comment on it, knowing how she hated to have her weaknesses highlighted. He had also been simply too stunned to see the regular tough cookie let down her guard, especially because of him, of all people.

Another yawn escaped him. He groaned loudly, rubbing his tired eyes.

Suddenly Amber shifted in bed. He looked toward her expectantly, feeling himself wake up slightly. She shifted again, sighing, and then turned his way. She groggily opened her eyes, still looking sleepy. Edmund leaned forward.

"Ambs, you ok?" he asked quietly, worry colouring his tone.

She frowned lightly, her eyes still half-closed. "I'm...cold." she whispered groggily.

Edmund stood abruptly. "I'll wake the nurse. I'll just be-"

"No, no, don't go." She whispered, shaking her head half-heartedly.

Edmund ran his hand through his unruly hair. "I have to Ambs. You have to stay warm, strict orders."

She pulled back the covers a bit. "Get in."

Edmund frowned. "What?"

She sighed wearily, her voice thick with sleep. "You're tired, you need sleep. I'm cold, you'll keep me warm."

Edmund looked at her incredulously. The idea was extremely tempting, sharing a bed with Amber, and also getting some sleep.

But he couldn't. That just wasn't heard of.

"Amber, I can't do that. I-"

"Please?" she implored, looking up at him with those big beautiful, brown eyes.

Edmund felt his resolve slacken.

No. I can't.

She offered him a small smile.

I shouldn't...

But what harm could it do?

Oh, to hell with it.

Sighing, Edmund kicked off his boots. Pulling the covers back, he climbed into the bed next to Amber.

He laid his head against the soft pillow in relief, so incredibly tired. He felt Amber move closer to him, and then she buried her head in his neck, sighing in contentment. Edmund felt a rush of happiness.

Remembering part of the reason he was here, he wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her in his warmth.

"Amber?" he whispered softly.

"Mmmm?" came the sleepy reply.

"I'm so sorry about earlier, about the way I-"he felt a cold hand cover his mouth, muffling his voice.

"It doesn't matter. Now, shut up and go to sleep." She said.

Bloody hell, her hand was cold. He removed it from his mouth, and wrapped his own hand around it, gently squeezing it.

He smiled softly to himself, feeling his tiredness overwhelm him. His eyelids felt so heavy.

Before he drifted off, he whispered a low "Night, Ambs". But, he got no reply. She was already asleep.

With a smile on his face, Edmund finally succumbed to his tiredness.