16.

Edmund had been resting alone over his hammock when he heard the voice. Caspian wasn't around for he was guarding Elle all night, just as Edmund had done all day.

"Edmund." The voice murmured.

He looked at the source and saw Jadis, colossal and terrifyingly beautiful. Her skin was green and a green smoke was surrounding her.

"Come with me." She extended her arm "Join me."

"Edmund?"

The young man sat up, raising his sword, but the greenish White Witch was gone. He found his young sister standing by his resting place, instead.

"Lucy." He sighted.

A thunder rumbled above them.

"I can't sleep." Lucy confessed.

"Let me guess." Edmund announced "Bad dream?" Lucy didn't answer, she didn't have to answer. "So, either we're all going mad," Edmund said as a terrified Phineas walked into the room "or something is playing with our minds." He laid down again, his heart racing faster than ever before.

Next morning, after a night filled with nightmares where he was abandoned by his sister just as he was about to fall from a great height, Phineas walked out of the deck, tired, and towards Caspian who had his telescope extended in front of him.

"An island" Phineas said out loud.

"Yes," Caspian said taking down the telescope "that's where we are going."

"What about Elle?" Phineas asked "How is she?"

Caspian sighted and rubbed his eyes. He had spent all night taking care of the girl.

"Same as yesterday. Edmund's with her" He answered "Drinian will stay. And so, will Asa, the healer"

Phineas nodded.

"Then I want to go too" Caspian gave him a look "You've been taking care of my sister...if there's anything I can help you with I will."

Caspian seemed to think about it for a minute, but nodded at the end.

"I doubt the Lord stopped here, there is no sign of anything living." The annoying talking mouse's voice raised over the two boats as they moved toward the bloody island"

"Right. Well, once you have got on shore, take your men for food and water." The make-believe king replied on the boat where Eustace was traveling. "The three of us will look for clues."

"You mean the four of us?" Eustace raised his voice, gaining the looks of everyone in the boat. He hated to always be forgotten. "Come on, please don't send me back to the rat."

"I heard that!" The mouse said from the other boat.

"Big ears." Eustace muttered under his breath

"I heard that too." The mouse said, making his cousins, Caspian and the other blonde boy smiled after days of worries.

"Phineas will stay with you" Caspian told him and Eustace shrugged. He didn't dislike the crybaby as much as he disliked the rat.

"Why are we hiding?" Phineas asked the other blonde kid as they peered between a pair of boulders to the crew.

He didn't answer as he started walking away. Phineas sighted, suddenly wishing he hadn't told Caspian he would help him with anything he needed.

"They went...where?" Elle clenched her teeth with the little energy she still had.

She had woken up, being visited by Lucy. The younger girl hadn't told her they were leaving. After a nap she found Asa, the healer next to her. He told her that their majesties had left to visit an island looking for food.

"Along with the two blonde boys and part of the crew." He had said.

Elle couldn't believe no one had told her they were leaving. Even worse, Phineas was leaving too, and for previous experiences she knew Narnia was no safe place for her brother. She had groaned as she tried to sat up from the bed.

"What do you think you're doing miss?" Asa had asked her.

"What'cha think?" She muttered "Going after my brother... dude."

"But you can't!" Asa exclaimed "They're long gone; besides you can barely sit up!"

Elle let herself fall again on the bed.

"You're right" She frowned and put a hand on her forehead "I think... I just got nauseous" She whined "Do you think...maybe you could...bring me a bucket?"

The man ran off the room as he saw her retching.

"So innocent" She smirked as she tried again to stand up.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, she realized how weak she really was. Helping herself with the bed she stood up, now real nausea filling her. But no, she couldn't stay in bed while Phineas was out there playing the hero.

"So... stupid" She mumbled as she gave her first steps after days laying on the bed.

God, every step she took, her head hammered and the world would spin around. But she had to get to Phineas. She had to.

Unfortunately, she left a little gift for Asa on her way out of the room. He would eventually find that his bucket had arrived too late.

"What is that?" Lucy heard Caspian asked looking down at the lake inside the cavern they had gotten into using a rope.

"I don't know." Edmund answered looking down too. He was the closest to the figure under water "Looks like some kind of a gold statue." His brother said before pulling a branch out of a dry underground tree.

Edmund returned and tried to touch the statue using the branch, but as soon as its tip touched the water it started turning into gold. He let it go, before it could reach him, scared that he would turn into solid gold too. Caspian looked at her and Edmund before kneeling by the pond.

"He must have fallen in." He said.

"Poor man." Lucy walked near the lake too.

"You mean, poor Lord." Edmund saw a golden shield inside the water.

"The crust of Lord Restimar" Caspian's solemn voice said.

"And his sword!" Edmund pointed into the water. It was the only thing under water that hadn't been turned.

"We need it." Caspian stated and Edmund took his sword, the one from the Lord of the Lone Islands.

"Be careful." Lucy said as she understood his intentions of using it to take the other one out of the water. And so, he did, carefully. "Your sword hasn't turn to gold." She noticed as he drew the second sword out.

"Both swords are magical." Caspian said while took Edmund from his other hand, so her brother wouldn't fall into the enchanted lake.

"He mustn't have known what hit him." Lucy said when Caspian took the sword.

"Maybe," Edmund said before resting his sword on the floor "or maybe he was onto something." He was searching for something on the cave's floor.

"What are you talking about?" Caspian asked.

Edmund took a seashell on his hand and partially introduced it into the water. He left it on the floor as it turned into gold, then he raised it in front of his eyes.

"What are you staring at?" Lucy asked, looking at her brother's amazed stare on the seashell.

"Whoever has access to this pool," Ge answered, now intensity filling his voice "could be the most powerful person in the world."

Lucy looked at Caspian with worry and he looked back at her.

"Lucy," Edmund looked at her, ambition surrounding him "we'll be so rich no one can tell us what to do, or who to live with."

"You can't take anything out of Narnia, Edmund." Caspian interrupted him.

"I've done it before." He said eagerly "So has Peter. Who says I can't do it again?"

"I do." The older king stopped him.

Edmund turned to him and took his sword before raising from the floor.

"I am not your subject." Edmund said.

"You have been waiting for this, haven't you?" Caspian narrowed his eyes as Edmund walked to him. "To challenge me. You doubt my leadership!"

"You doubt yourself." Edmund spat.

"You're a child." Caspian scowled at her brother.

"And you're a spineless sap!"

"Edmund?" Lucy meddled, scared with the way her brother was behaving. She reached for him.

"I'm tired of playing second fiddle..." Edmund pushed her away, emotionally hurting Lucy in the way. "First it was Peter, and now it's you! You know I am braver than both of you. Why did you have Peter's sword? I deserve a kingdom of my own! I deserve to rule!" He roared

"This is not only because of that, is it?" Caspian growled under his breath "This is because of something else too"

"Now we're understanding each other" Edmund's mouth twitched "I'll say it one time: Stay" He sneered "away" He took a step towards Caspian "from her!"

"If you think you're so brave...if you think you're the one who deserves her..." Caspian muttered with hate "prove it!" He aggressively pushed Edmund away.

In just a second, his brother had drawn out his sword and both men were clashing swords against each other.

"No!" Lucy yelled walking in the middle of the fight. She looked at Edmund "Stop it!" Then she looked at Caspian "Both of you." Her gaze went back to Edmund "Look at yourselves. Can't you see what's happening?" She kept looking between the two of them "This place has tempted you. It is bewitching you! This is exactly what Coriakin was talking about." She saw Edmund looking in disbelief at his own hand, still carrying the shell. "Let's just get outta here."

She walked away and Caspian was the first one to follow her.

As she climbed up the rope and out of the cave. She realized what her brother's real deepest desires were. Power and…certain girl.

"You shouldn't be out of bed!" Drinian exclaimed as soon as he saw her walking towards him, standing by the helm.

"Okay. Let me explain this very quick." She said as she leaned on the helm to support herself, while the captain took a hold of it so it wouldn't move "You can either drag me into that room again, screaming what's left of my throat out, draining me of my last energies and having to explain to your king that I died of exhaustion because you wouldn't listen to me," She took a deep breath "or you can take me on boat to the island's shore to go and sit calmly over the sand near my brother. There's no in between." She negotiated with the best face she could come up with.

Drinian put a hand on his bald head.

Soon, she found herself in a wooden boat with three men paddling it and taking her to the island.