Threads
Chapter 7
"Reep saw the whole thing unfolding—I'm telling you it was a trap!"
"But how? How could've anyone known?"
Edmund woke up to relentless banter in the background of his groggy mind, only just regaining consciousness.
His eyes scanned his surroundings, trying to make sense of the present. There weren't any windows; the light mainly came from candles at the corners of the room, which were already stuffed with mounds of wax.
He touched his brow faintly and noticed the beads of sweat that had accumulated there. The air felt hot and somewhat stale; but he couldn't make sense of anything else.
He stood up to his elbows, half of his body still lying down. There was an adjacent room, with the talking figures shadowed.
"Oh, look! Edmund's up!" that was Lucy's voice.
Wait. Lucy.
He focused his gaze found his sister running up to meet him. She knelt to hug him, and he hugged her back; his soul breathed. At least they were together now.
"You were out for a day and a half!" she said as she hugged him.
Edmund vaguely registered her words, finding that his questions were the only coherent thing on his brain.
"Where were you?" he asked hurriedly.
"At the other side of Cair Paravel," Lucy said, with a sad smile, "well, Cair Paravel's ruins—down at the beach."
She wasn't dressed in army garments anymore; she was wearing one of her old dresses. Gold and red always suited her best, and although the garment was in remarkable condition, it fit her a bit large on the shoulders.
"Took me a while to find my way up—and when I did you'd already gone. I found Trufflehunter, though. He introduced me to Nikabrik and Trumpkin, but Nikabrik apologized, he had to leave—anyway, we're here, Ed! Can you believe it!"
Lucy hugged him again and squeezed him hard.
"Ow!" Edmund flinched, and Lucy immediately broke apart. She looked at him worriedly, and he massaged his ribs.
"Sorry Lu, it hurts," he said.
"Reep said you were hit on the head—" Lucy said, laying her weight on her calves.
"Yeah, no joke?" he said, a small smirk appearing on his lips, still with his eyes closed from the pain. "I must have hit the side of my ribs as well," he uttered. His head was throbbing, but he kept that pain to himself.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Ed." Lucy said as she stood up, her expression concerned, "Best you rest a little bit more."
She walked away, into the other room. His head pulsated furiously, and while it demanded rest, he couldn't give himself such luxury. He tried to remember when he had been last, and who he had been with.
A faint flash of stone castle walls came to mind, and loud clashes of swords, too. It all came weighing down with force. The changed Narnia, the Telmarine settlements and barren soil. And Eirene.
Eirene's tale and her purposeful eyes.
His eyes diverted to the people talking. Reepicheep, the mouse, Trufflehunter, Lucy…but Nikabrik wasn't in the room.
He stood up, slowly, being careful not to trip on his own feet. He moved closer to the talking party; Lucy immediately went to his side.
"What exactly happened?" He asked slowly, "I was—I was with Princess Eirene when the ambush happened…"
There was a brief moment of silence.
Reepicheep stood closer to Edmund, and looked up at him.
"I apologize, your grace," the mouse started, but Edmund interrupted him by shaking his head.
""There's no need for such formality. We're Lucy and Edmund. Just that," Edmund said, looking up at everyone in the room.
The mouse nodded before continuing.
"As you may recall, Princess Eirene never wished to put any of us in harm's way," the mouse turned to his fellow Narnia before turning back at Edmund, "but after the Princess told you of her plans with Telmar's politicians, Nikabrik had the idea that perhaps we should escort you—make sure you got there safe and sound."
That got Edmund's interest. He furrowed his brow. Reepicheep gathered his breath:
"But when myself, and a small party of brave mice, caught up to Nikabrik and came close enough to the castle, it was already too late. Both of you were unconscious, and Princess Eirene was already being carried off to the insides of the Castle—trying to rescue her was futile, but we were able to retrieve you, my liege."
Edmund tried to picture the scene. Mice carrying him off from the Castle courtyard and into the place where he was now. It was somewhat comical.
"With help, of course," Trumpkin said, reading his expression.
Edmund diverted their eyes, trying to make sense of the situation.
"The ambushers were Telmarines, too—" Edmund said.
"Perhaps they knew about Eirene's plans—"
"Pardon me," Lucy said, "but what were Eirene's plans exactly? Did she call us to assist her?
There was a second of confused glances.
"Oh, assist her? I think you are a tad bit late for that," Trumpkin said, hurt in his eyes as he looked at the siblings, "350 years too late."
"It never was our intention to leave—" Lucy said, her voice breaking.
"But you did. And for 300 years we've suffered, cowering in the shadows. Our friends here have been too polite to explain that to you, but I'll enlighten you," the dwarf spat, no tenderness in his eyes.
"Trumpkin…" the badger interjected.
"No, Trufflehunter. They're here now, might as well tell them exactly what they've missed," the dwarf took a breath and composed himself.
"For 300 years we Narnians have been treated like vermin—hunted and displayed as curiosities when captured—you know that yourself, Trufflehunter."
The badger turned his gaze down, ashamed.
"We were driven away. Some of us became extinct and some of us turned into dumb beasts. There was nothing left for us. We were alone, until the son of a dwarf, Cornelius, came to us. He promised that the Dark Days were over. That a young Telmarine prince was being educated about Ancient Narnian magic, that he taught him to respect us, he said. And when he would be crowned, everything would prosper—" the dwarf gathered his breath.
"It was hope, a tiny bit of hope," Trumpkin continued, "but then he was taken too. Disappeared. Poof," he expressed with his hands, "and to the shadows we returned."
There was silence, guilt overriding the young monarchs' expressions. Eirene had told him a watered down version of the story, but Edmund suspected that the horror of reality was far worse than any of those words. Nausea crept up his throat.
"No," Trufflehunter interjected. "Not all hope was gone. Princess Eirene came to us," the badger said, looking at the dwarf accusingly. "She learned about us, our history from our version. That is more than any Telmarine had ever given us. A voice."
"Princess Eirene," Reepicheep added, "promised to look for her brother, promised to keep up to Cornelius' promise. And that we, Narnians, could claim our lands, our life," he said excitedly, standing on his tip toes, speaking a little bit too rapidly.
"She was always looking out for us, of what we needed, of how we were. And this is why I swear on my honor," the mouse stood straight up, holding his sword next to his body, "that I will find the soldiers who ambushed her," the mouse said, flickering his sword in the air, attacking invisible enemies.
Lucy couldn't help but giggle shyly and the mouse stopped immediately.
"Who? What? Who's mocking me?" said Reepicheep, turning around on his own axis, his sword still pointing forward. Lucy blushed.
"I'm sorry, Reep."
"Oh, your grace—Queen Lucy—I mean, Lucy, pardon me, I—" Reepicheep said, sheathing his sword.
Trufflehunter shifted on his weight, and Trumpkin spoke again.
"All of us have heard of you lot, the ancient legends about the four Kings and Queens of Narnia, who would one day return to save us all—we all knew this but at some point we stopped believing. I don't know why are you here now… after the worst things have already happened—but you can make this better," the dwarf looked at both of them pleadingly.
"As much as I've felt disappointed, the fact is that Ancient Magic is in the air and you are here. Make this right. Help us find our Princess and bring our hope back."
It was on that exact moment that Edmund realized that he no longer felt the weight of Rhindon on his hips and had a small heart attack. His gaze searched the room desperately, but he couldn't seem to locate it.
In that single second he failed to see how he could succeed in helping Lucy and the rest of the siblings bring hope back when he'd lost the one thing he was guarding with his life.
Had he lost it during the ambush? Was it in Telmarine possession? Had someone else taken it?
His eyes opened wide and he swallowed hard—well I'll be damned, he thought.
"We need to go back to the castle," he said bluntly, and gained everyone's attention, "as soon as possible."