Chapter Eleven: On Fire

"We must strike them before they strike us!"

"That's all fine in theory, Reep, but we need an actual plan," Peter replied. "We can't just show up with an army and expect to win."

It was mid-day and Edmund and the others were inside the largest stone room in the How, attempting to think up a solution to their problems. So far they had had little luck and they were pressed for time, being unsure of the Telmarines' plan of action.

"Sire, think about it!" Reepicheep said, "If we attack them, they wouldn't see it coming. We'd have the element of surprise on our side. It would be most unwise to allow them to take it up before we do."

"Yes," Peter said thoughtfully, stroking his chin with his hand. "You know, Reep, that could actually work..."

"But no one has ever taken that castle!" Caspian protested. He looked wildly from Reep to Peter, as though expecting to see some evidence of insanity.

Peter turned to look at him and his expression was slightly amused, as though Caspian were a mere child unsure of what he was talking of. "Well there's always a first time," he told him.

"Peter," Susan soothed, "It's actually not a bad idea to stay here... We could probably hold them off indefinitely with the right tactics."

"Su, this will more than likely come to war," Peter said, "And I'm not going to wait around for them to attack us! I think we'll just have to go with Reep's plan--we'll attack their stronghold before they can get to us."

"That is a suicide mission!" Jasmine declared angrily. Edmund's eyebrows rose in surprise at her loud remark and angry face; he hadn't taken her for one to get riled too easily. "There have been many attempts on the Terlmarine fortress but none have succeeded. We will have to stay here if we don't want to be massacred."

"But if the Telmarines are smart," Edmund said, "they'll just wait and starve us out." He noticed that Jasmine scowled at his words but she didn't say anything to him. He chuckled under his breath and smiled to himself at the sight.

"Personally," a squirrel called Pattertwig added, "I feel much safer underground." To this, many shouts of agreement followed and all Narnians present looked to Peter.

"We all feel safer here," Peter said to them. "But it's time for action. We must do something about this now."

---

And so, barely an hour later, Edmund found himself amidst a large crowd of Narnians, all heading in the same direction: towards the Telmarine castle. Peter had won out the argument and he, Edmund, Caspian, and Susan had developed a plan that even Caspian had admitted could possibly work with a slight bit of luck on their side. Edmund himself wasn't particularly happy about a siege on the Telmarine castle, with so many lives at stake, but he couldn't help but feel confident in their planning. The trek to the Telmarines was to take most of the day and into the evening, then they would put their plan into action in the middle of the night.

Right now he was reluctantly walking inbetween his older brother and the Prince, Caspian, feeling rather uncomfortable between the looks of hatred coming from both ends. In search of a distraction, he let his eyes wander in front of them and they firstly fell on his sister, Susan, and Jasmine, who was walking beside her.

Edmund arched his brows and growled deep in his throat. He and Peter had made sure that Lucy had stayed behind at the How with a few choice Narnians--wanting to keep her safely out of the battle. But, apparently, Caspian did not feel the same way about his family... Turning to the Prince, he asked, "Why did you bring your cousin, Caspian?"

Caspian too looked ahead at Susan and Jasmine at Edmund's question. "She wouldn't stay behind," he replied, "She wanted to help."

Edmund squinted his eyes and dropped his mouth, perplexed. "It's helpful for her to get herself killed?"

"Well hopefully she won't get herself killed," he said, "I have taught her a few things with a sword, you know."

"She's small, Caspian," Edmund told him, "It won't take much for a Telmarine soldier to simply crush her to death."

"Why do you care?" Peter asked suddenly.

Edmund's cheeks warmed and the flush reached to his ears. What might his brother say if he told him that he wanted to do anything in his power to protect a girl that he barely knew? A girl that he possibly even fancied?

But he didn't have to find out, for Caspian spoke before he could get his mouth to form any words. "Obviously he values human life," Caspian grunted.

"I value human life just as much as the next person!" Peter argued. "Just because I don't go around hassling people about it..."

"Oh can you two please just give it a rest..." Edmund sighed. Peter and Caspian had grown more irritable with each other through the day, especially during the planning period. It had taken all of Edmund's patience just to put up with it at all.

"I can," Caspian replied. "And if it worries you so than she can very well go along with you during the raid. What do you say to that?"

What did he say to that? Well he knew what his stomach said to that. Just the thought of it, of them two alone, sent a tingle through him and his stomach jumped into his throat at the prospect.

Edmund shrugged, trying very hard not to allow his blush to reach his cheeks. "Ask her," he said, "I don't mind."

Caspian looked ahead again and cupped his hands around his mouth, then called to Jasmine for her to come over to them.

"Yes, Caspian?" she asked, backtracking to meet them. Edmund sorely noticed that she only looked at her cousin and completely avoided both him and Peter.

"How would you feel about going with Edmund during the raid?" he asked, "That way you'll be out of the better part of the fighting and he can protect you."

Jasmine's face hollowed out and Edmund saw a flicker of dismay cross her eyes. Why was she so averted to the idea?

She looked back up at Caspian. "Couldn't I go with you?" she asked.

"Er--" Caspian looked sideways at Edmund (he determinedly looked the other way to seem as though it were no big deal to him). "--I suppose, if it's all right with Edmund?"

"Of course," Edmund told him, "It doesn't bother me any." Except, it did. Was he really so frightening to her?

"Well that's settled then," Caspian said, as Jasmine loped back up to meet with Susan. "Now you've got what you wanted Edmund!"

"Mhmm hmm."

---

The group had arrived in the forest that lay just before Miraz's castle just after the sun had set. They were all cast in a brilliant glow of orange and purple as the yellow orb drifted off into oblivion.

Edmund stood away from the others, leaning on a tree off to the side. He allowed his eyes to wander around the group, overseeing all things that were going on. Susan was speaking with a group of various Narnians, giving further instruction of archery, Peter was sparring with a centaur, and Caspian was discussing tactics with Reepicheep and one of the satyrs. Edmund sighed and looked up at the sky and closed his eyes as he allowed the warm breeze to drift past him. Then came a whiff of flowers.

He opened his eyes just in time to see Jasmine striding past him and further into a patch of trees near the campsite. He watched her go and then she was out of sight. Curiosity got the better of him and he wanted to know what she was up to. He followed down the way she had gone, brushing low tree branches and the like out of his way as he went. And then suddenly he came upon a small patch that was cleared of trees that was deserted save for her.

He stepped out towards her and a twig crunched underfoot.

---

Jasmine leaned her back onto a tree behind her as she sat and she examined the flower in her hand. She was lifting her fingers to stroke the softness of its petals just as a crack filled the air. She snapped her head up and caught sight of King Edmund. A flinch passed through her.

"Oh--yes, my King?" she asked faintly.

He didn't answer. He only continued to watch her, frowning. "Why are you so afraid of me?" he finally asked.

Jasmine froze. She quickly regained composure and managed to only look down towards the grass as she flicked the flower out of her hands, hoping that her embarrassed flush would not show itself to the King. "I'm not."

His feet came into her view and she lifted her chin up to find that he had walked up and now towered over her. "Yes," he said, eyeing her. He stooped down into a crouch and met her eye with a slight smirk. "I do believe you are."

"With all due respect, your Majesty, you do not know me," Jasmine replied. She darted her eyes to his brown ones but then immediately flickered them away. Why did it hurt her so much to do that--to look away? Why?

He fully sat down on the grass, beside her, and then leaned his hand to rest on the ground behind her. His arm just barely brushed past the material of her dress and she was sure that her breath caught. Her cheeks warmed and suddenly it seemed there wasn't enough air in the atmosphere. His touch...why did it make her feel so...on fire?

Jasmine gulped back a nervous breath and swiveled her eyes to the side to give him a curious look. He watched her intently, as though waiting for the moment when she'd look back at him. The fire, the burning... It dared her. She looked back up and locked eyes with the King again.

He leaned towards her--much too close for her liking, or not close enough?--and looked her straight in the eye. She could not so much as breathe or blink for the tension that hung there in the short space between them.

"Then let me know you."

Jasmine gulped again and suddenly she didn't have the words to say. "I--I..." She gave up with talking, and merely stared. Who was the person within King Edmund the Just? Was he the tall, dark and brooding King that she had once seen him as, or was he the man that she saw now... Edmund Pevensie, a boy that could very well be snatching her affections from right under her nose...

Oh no. That's exactly what was happening. She had become so immersed in the silent soldier, the wise debater, and the mystery that was King Edmund. She may very well be taking too much of a liking to this king...

Neither spoke in that silence, but Jasmine could have sworn that she saw more than words in the chestnut holds of his eyes that bored into hers. She was just so captivated, so entranced...that she didn't even notice when he began to drift closer, closer.

And then his lips were just before her own. Her eyebrows flew up into her hairline. She parted her own lips, regaining her lost breath and breathing in the smell of a Just King. It was intoxicating.

Don't do anything rash, Jazz, she reprimanded. She, kiss a King of Narnia? The idea of that was downright laughable. Jasmine frowned and turned her head.

"Jasmine," he whispered.

She looked back up at her name, just barely looking at those brown eyes that scorched into hers. But they were soft now. Just so very soft, that she couldn't look away. She could do nothing but just look into them.

He reached forward and put a finger on her hand. And then he had become King Edmund again as his eyes looked down and relinquished their hold over her. She flinched back and seized her hand away. But he grasped onto it and stroked along her knuckle with his thumb. Her breathing could have stopped, or accelerated so high that her head became light-headed. Either way, she knew that this feeling was not normal; she had never before felt something so exhilarating as the warm touch of the Just King...

"Don't be afraid," he whispered. He was so very close to her again. So close that she could even see small speckles of gold in his eyes.

But she only saw them for the briefest second before his lips came down on hers. Not roughly, but gently. Gently like the soft caresses of a flower's petals over her lips. And she kissed him back with just as much care, but also with a need, a passion. There was such a wild, frenzied fire there.

Edmund placed a hand against the bark of the tree that her back leaned against and pressed himself up to her. But the closeness did not feel suffocating. It felt...nice.

He doesn't want you. He could never want you. You're only a Telmarine, banished and rejected from your own land... If your own people wouldn't want you, why would a King of Narnia?

With a pained gasping, Jasmine broke off from the King. Her eyes, she imagined, must have been wide and fearful when he looked at her. His eyebrows arched in confusion but she stood before he could barely open his mouth to speak.

"I must go," she told him quickly. And then she ran. She ran back to the others, hoping that the King would never come after her.