So this is the second to last chapter. I'm considering maybe writing a sequel, but I make no promises. I had originally had a whole storyline for this that actually flowed but I lost all of it so I apologize if this story has seemed botched and confusing for the past nine or so chapters. Umm, so enjoy and I really appreciate all of you for following, commenting, favoriting, and down right just reading this story. It means a lot more to me than you can possibly know.
Much love to the readers,
~Liv
Chapter 21
Just Checking
When she woke she felt as if her head was being pounded in with a mallet.
Her eyes cracked open and she reeled at the blinding pain that the sun inflicted upon her.
Upon trying to cover her face with her hand she found them restrained; bound together and pinned against the ground.
Sharp stabbing sensations were sent throughout her body as she tried to move.
They force the drink down her throat and cackle in twisted pleasure when she chokes and splutters upon it.
It burns its way down her throat in a trail of misery and tears.
When she tries to scream they beat their cold slimy hands against her skin, leaving cuts and bruises that burn as if they were on fire.
Rayne.
Where is Rayne?
The logical part of her mind searches for the girl, but no matter what she does she can't seem to locate her.
Blinking didn't bring clarity to her vision but only increased the shadows that swam in her vision.
Where is Rayne?
Pain so much pain.
She squeezes her eyes shut and forces herself into unconsciousness.
"She must drink it, even if you have to force it down her throat. She was almost with us again!"
"We cannot make her drink without her consent, she's holding onto something and she won't let it go."
"Well break her already! We don't have much time left."
Their hands show no mercy even in sleep they scratch and pull.
There is warmth spreading through her limbs for some reason unknown to her yet the pain never ceases.
It's cold.
So cold.
Lucy awoke screaming and grasping her chest.
Tears streaming down her face she jumped from her bed and ran towards the doors that lead into the council room.
Caspian looked up in surprise, silenced the lords, and went to her.
"Lucy?" The youngest Pevensie wrapped her arms around his midsection and wept.
"Aslan…he is in much pain!" She said between sobs.
Shaking his head slowly he murmured quietly, "I…I do not understand."
"H-he said his daughter cries and no one hears her. That through her pain many see her but none go to her! He says that he has many helpers but none have tried to help her." Lucy released a strangled sob and buried her face into his chest.
"She cries yet no one hears, many see her pain but none attend her, there are many helpers but none help her."Caspian presses his hand to his forehead for a moment.
"Glenstorm, please tell me someone sent scouts to Owlwood."
The centaur looked at him for a moment before shaking his head, "The only things to be found in Owlwood are troublesome nymphs that even the Narnians prefer to not have dealings with."
"We didn't check…no one hears, they don't listen; many see and none attend, they're selfish; many helpers but none help her, we've sent out many men but none to where she is! Glenstorm, see that the men who returned from the Waste head out immediately! Lu, I think we've found her."
"Peter?" she whispered when she looked up at him.
He shook his head slowly, "Not yet."
Susan's fingers tighten the laces below her knee before pulling them into a careful bow. Dropping her dress skirts, she draws her hand gently to her stomach; she can feel it within her, there's something wrong with how simple this appears. After all this time this can't be it.
With a nod she drops her hand and quickly walks from the room.
Caspian shoots her a look when she mounts, but they've been over this so many times that its useless even attempting to argue.
She sobs when they drag her beaten body across protruding roots.
She can't go on any more; they've flogged her, cut her, whipped her, and starved her.
Her mouth is dry and her entire being aches for just a drop of water.
Water
The thought comes to her and she knows what they're doing.
Her mind returns to the lake and the Lechmere that had confronted her there.
They're trying to kill her first.
"Rayne!" She sobs out the name and it feels like she vomiting sand paper as she does so.
The agile nymph settles beside her and teasingly takes a slow swig from the wineskin on her hip.
With aching slowness she draws the back of her wrist across her mouth and then smiles, "What is it that my dearest little sister requires now? Honey cakes, bandages, water?"
"P…please!" And she would cry if there was any extra water left in her system but she's so dry that her joints ache at the slightest movement.
Rayne's blood red lips curl into a smirk as she drags a deftly sharpened nail into the cuts that have formed on her sister's wrists.
A cry of pain is the price of having the water she so desires poured onto the ground in front of her.
The nymph smiles, sickening and sweatly, and skips away.
That night when she begs for death they give her another lash of their barbed whips.
Her body hangs limply from their whipping post and she cries for deliverance from Aslan and she feels a small comfort build within her.
Again and again she repeats his name and she feels a safety that doesn't go away as they dig their fiery nails into her already burning flesh.
Hysterically, she laughs as the fresh tang of blood forms in her mouth and her right eye closes from swelling.
She knows that it won't be much longer now.
Her other eye closes and her head falls back as she blacks out.
"They're planning something," Peter says slamming his brother's door as he enters the younger's room.
"Umm remind me, who exactly?" He asks quietly as he rubs sleep from his eyes.
"Caspian, he knows something, Lu too, I can tell by the way the two of them avoid my gaze whenever I'm speaking directly to them. You know how Lucy is, someone asks her to keep a secret and she gets jittery, and she is and I know that she's keeping it from me."
"Pete, you can't honestly know that." Edmund pulls himself into a seated position and runs his hand through his debauched hair.
Defeated the older boy sits down on the edge of his brothers bed, "I don't know what to do any more Ed. I can't keep going like this."
For a moment the other is quiet as if he is carefully considering the words before he says anything, "Pete, maybe it's time."
Peter's shoulder's slump but he says nothing so Edmund continues, "You said it yourself, you can't keep going like this so it's either keep letting itt eat you away or for you to take the upper hand and just let her go."
Ed was ready for a fighting match but wasn't' ready for the two simple words that he received instead, "I know."
"You…you do?"
The blonde nods and gently squeezes his brother's arm, "Yeah, thanks."
He stands slowly and nods before leaving the room and quietly closing the door.
As Edmund falls back upon the bed he wonders aloud, "I'm not sure I'll ever understand his version of sorted."
A week later finds Susan crouched low as she scouts the area that she's been assigned to. It's not a rescue mission but when she sees the green forest stained red she has to fight herself not to make it one. They have to locate Addye before they can bring in the heavy artillery, what can actually save her. There's a small hut in a clearing and there's discarded meaningless objects like flutes and reeds, but the sight of the dried blood on the trunk of a tree gives her a sweeping feeling of nausea.
Tears trek slowly down her face and she wonders what or who could truly do this.
Glenstorm rests his hand gently on her shoulder, it's time to go back.
They'll report their findings and come back with more people as is protocol.
They ride in silence, she knows that he's seen something that she missed and she doesn't really want to know how much worse it is.
They're back at the castle by dusk and she reports that she's their and that going back isn't optional but mandatory.
Caspian looks at Glenstorm before giving any order, still seeking confirmation that what she's seen is true.
Glenstorm clears his throat before beginning, "It would appear that it is the nymphs who have her, but if I'm correct in my assumptions than the tree folk aren't our only concern. Lachmere nymphs have been moving east towards the wood for weeks now but we paid them no mind before. They're not far now, less than six hours at most."
Susan watches as the color drains from Caspian's face and she knows that hers' looks the same.
She's running before he even gives the order to head out.
Her hands are banging on every door and she's yelling herself hoarse telling them to get up.
Lucy is out of hers' and running to Edmund's screaming that they have to leave now.
When Susan gets to Peter's room it's empty and she's hollering his name desperately.
"Susan, can I help you?" Peter asks, looking alarmed to see his sister banging on his door, as he comes up the hall.
"They're gonna kill her, we have to go now!" She screams uncontrollably as she grabs onto his wrist and drags him towards the stables.
"Kill…Su what're you going on about?" He's obviously confused and Susan laughs quietly, "Who else Pete?"
She watches the light register in his eyes and the black veil that comes over his face.
He mounts and is off before Susan can figure out what's happened.
She vomits the remaining bile in her stomach and her head lolls to the right where she can see their blue forms wiggling up from the river towards her.
It won't be long.
She can hear the tree nymphs screaming hysterically as the Lechmere move further onto the grass.
When one reaches her, it moves it's slimy hands over her open wounds before sinking it's needle teeth into her forearm.
She thought that she had known pain when they'd beaten her body until she couldn't kneel let alone stand, but when the poison begins to flow throughout her veins she knows that she hasn't felt anything yet.
It's like fire and ice all at once and she cries to Aslan for deliverance and then it seems as if they came like a cavalry when she needed them most.
They cored, sliced, chopped and mutilated every wild nymph and Lechmere in their way and chased away all the rest.
Peter had knelt down and cut her from her bondages, sliced a few rogue nymphs, and was now he was as far away from her as he could be while still being in her line of vision.
She can't really concentrate on that though because she gasping for oxygen as she can feel the poison moving to her heart.
Lucy is kneeling next to her mutilated body forcing her to open her mouth and drink the drop of red liquor.
The pain seems to recede back to the place it had all formed and she watches as the bite mark on her arm oozes out a blue-grey liquid.
She lies still on the ground though knowing that it will be impossible to move without falling apart.
Her eyes look at the fallen nymph next to her and she recognizes everything about it.
No.
Not everything.
This nymph that claimed Rayne's name was not her sister, her sister was dead and buried in a cemetery in Britain.
She reaches out and gently closes the startled eyes that are looking out at her.
She allows her eyes to seek out Peter.
It wasn't the greeting she'd expected from him.
She'd be lying if she didn't say she had expected him to run towards her for him to hold her.
What she hadn't expected was for him to stand across the clearing from her and lean up against a tree and stare at her in disbelief.
Addye reached out to him and croaked, "Pete?"
"You okay?" It's hollow and emotionless and it brings tears to her eyes.
"Yeah…I gu-guess."
He nods and then stands up straight and makes to leave.
She goes to call after him but what would she say, that she was scared and didn't want to lose him? She knew that she had no right.
She squeezes her eyes together and goes to turn her head towards the reeking bile on her other side, when he calls to her, "Do you ever think of anyone but yourself?"
With a quavering voice she manages to call back, "Wh…what?"
"What I mean is, you never seem to think of what effect your actions will have on those who you leave behind. I was curious if you even thought of what others might think…" His voice trails off and silence hangs thickly between them.
Or feel.
He doesn't say it but she can feel them hanging in the air.
She withdraws a sharp breath and gapes for a moment before just barely shaking her head, "No…I mean yes, but usually it's better if I just…go."
Addye's vision becomes clouded but she keeps her gaze on him.
"Just checking," he whispers the words quietly and walks past Susan swiftly.
Susan kneels next to Addye and stretches out her hand, "Come on Addye, let's go back."
She glances back to Peter's receding form and sighs taking the other girls hand silently, allowing her to take her weight into her arms.
"He'll get better, it's like this with him though; on and off, push and shove. You just added a new aspect that he's not used to." Susan attempts to be reassuring but you can hear the uncertainty behind her words.
Addye shrugs and says exactly what she believes to be true, "I think…that this is it for us Su; a parting of ways, if you will. I don't think that it'll ever work between us again. I broke something that was already fragile and balancing precariously on the edge of a shelf. I don't blame anyone besides myself."
She gives a slight nod of confirmation before squeezing her eyes shut.
Susan's mouth opens and closes a few times before she bites carefully into her lower lip.
They help her onto the back of Nanaea and Addye gently brushes her fingers over the horse's hide before passing out against Edmund's back.