Threads
Chapter 9
Moments later after Edmund had woken up, the party immediately knew that they could not stay for long in that place. Trufflehunter had offered his home to the two young monarchs—It's not much, I know, but it's the safest place for you now—he had said.
He kept replaying the moment when he met Eirene. Her sword had clashed against Rhindon without a problem, and her eyes were wide. He remembered when she recognized who he was, and admiration wasn't the first thing that popped in the pools of her eyes. He was used to being looked at as the lesser King, but never with such resentment. Not since the early days after his betrayal to the White Witch, anyway.
350 years. 350. From what little he knew of her, she seemed to be determined to set things right, mend the mistakes of all those years. But then guards appeared and took her away. And he felt useless.
Edmund exited the badger's home. He needed air, trying to remember what he could out of the recent events. Eirene had not been glad of his arrival, and for a second he wondered if she had orchestrated the ambush, all to remain with the sword herself.
But no, that couldn't be it.
He sighed out of reflex. Even when he tried to understand the events of the ambush, there were too little clues to retrieve from his memory to determine anything. Being thrown back into Narnia after all these years for no apparent reason was odd. It all seemed out of place.
"You okay there, Ed?" Lucy asked, following her sibling.
Edmund took a second to reply.
"Yes-I mean, well, I think."
Edmund creased his eyebrows and looked down to the ground. The picture reminded Lucy of a younger Edmund, recently forgiven by Aslan, but still full of guilt.
Lucy placed her hand on her brother's shoulder. He turned towards her and gave a shy smirk. He didn't say anything else though, and Lucy did not press on. She knew that he'd talk about what he felt when he felt ready.
"Ed? I've been meaning to ask you something…" Lucy said, fiddling with the skirt of her dress.
"What is it, Lu?"
"Well, you see, I just think the entire situation is weird. We've been sent back here, but we were split. And well, we've gathered different bits and pieces of what is going on—and…" it was undeniable that Lucy was nervous, for some reason. Edmund couldn't put a finger on what exactly was making her anxious.
"Well, I just wanted to ask you what you know exactly? I mean, how would you describe Narnia now? Or of what you've seen so far?"
Edmund shot his eyes to the sky trying to formulate a coherent answer.
"I'd say…war-driven."
The sentence was all-encompassing and undoubtable. Lucy looked preoccupied for a second.
"D'you think there's gonna be a war, then?"
Edmund shook his head.
"I hope not but—well, I don't know. Eirene told me something about being crowned…"
"I know the Narnians speak highly of her, and I don't doubt them, particularly tiny Reepicheep," Lucy said, a wide smile on her face. She turned around, making sure the mouse wasn't listening to her. She giggled.
"Oh, I know he doesn't like me calling him that, but he's just so cute," she said. Edmund laughed.
"But" Lucy continued, "what did you think of her? You're the only one who's seen her…"
Edmund for a moment, was particularly confused at the nature of the questions of his sister, but he quickly dismissed his thoughts. Something in his stomach twisted at the vivid recollection of her memory.
"Well, she tried to cut my throat."
Lucy gasped. Edmund laughed again. Lucy caught on his joke and then smacked him on the forearm lightly.
"I mean she did, for a moment, but in her defense I was about to rob her horse."
"What?" she asked, chuckling.
"Well I just remember being in England one second and then being home the next. It's difficult to explain how I knew where because there were no sounds, no singing from the dryads, no dancing trees. No packs of talking wolves or anything of the sort. No other living soul in sight."
He turned and scratched the back of his head.
"So you can imagine my surprise when I saw a saddled horse. I approached it, tried starting a conversation but it was a dumb beast. The horse had a chest plate with engravings of the royal Telmarine house. And then I saw that at its rear end was Rhindon. But when I tried to investigate a bit more, I felt a sword at my neck—" Edmund stopped his tale and acted out his surprise.
"Rhindon?" Lucy said amazed, "Peter's sword? Really?"
"Which I took as a weapon to defend myself from the then anonymous attacker. It was Eirene, who most likely thought I was a common thief—I never really got the chance to ask her. But we sparred for a while…"
"Did you disarm her?"
"Eventually, yes. It was about then that I figured out that she knew who I was."
"Did she say anything?"
"No—she asked who I was at first. I was honestly reluctant to answer, I didn't know what was happening yet and she was dressed in Telmarine fashion. At that exact moment I didn't know if she was friend or foe. But I'm guessing she already had figured it out," Edmund took a second in piecing his memories together.
"She was kind of disbelieving at first, and tested me by taking me on to Cair Paravel's ruins. I eventually found the treasure room, and I think that was when she was convinced about who I am."
Edmund then turned pensive, wondering if it his actions had been particularly wise, guiding a stranger into the treasure room. He disregarded the thought.
"We were complete strangers. We should have been on guard all the time with one another, but we weren't—she was…nice, she looked driven with purpose."
Edmund breathed in.
"She introduced Trufflehunter and Trumpkin. She said that she wanted to explain everything, but that she needed to return to the castle, claim the crown and restore order. Give back to Narnians. She asked for Rhindon, though."
"And did you give it?" Lucy asked, finally noticing that indeed the sword was missing from the present.
"I asked to go with her, in the hopes of trying to get a real picture of Narnia. Also, I had to look for you, Lu! That would be the perfect opportunity, and I thought it was best to go with her and figure Eirene out."
"Mm," Lucy looked thoughtful once more.
"She…" Edmund sighed, feeling that same somersault in his stomach, "She seemed real enough. She seemed to know mine. To know us. There was a glimmer in her eyes—" the comment grabbed Lucy's attention, and caught Edmund displaying a timid smirk despite everything.
Lucy kept quiet, watching Edmund speak plainly, which was quite uncharacteristic of him.
"—that was just full of hope."
"Did she do anything to call on us?"
Edmund shook his head.
"No. She said that Susan's horn had been blown years ago, but that nothing had happened, that's when she learned about us, about the Golden Age—"
Lucy chortled.
"Is that really how our kingdom came down in the history books?" she asked excitedly. Edmund smiled.
"But I digress!" Lucy brought herself back to reality, "did you say Su's horn?"
"Yes—it made me wonder about Peter and Susan," Edmund said quietly.
"Oh, of course!" Lucy exclaimed and immediately began scrambling around the pockets of her dress—she always asked her tailors to include pockets, something that Susan never understood—and took out the envelopes of the letters they were reading back in England before coming.
"Do you have yours, still?" Lucy asked.
"I think so—" Edmund rummaged the pockets of his pants to retrieve the letters. He hadn't finished reading them. He had been too shaken to remember.
"It's just that—well, I tried reading them just moments ago, to see if they're here now too, and, well, there's nothing."
Edmund opened his own letters and saw empty parchment.
"Exactly," Lucy said, glancing at Edmund's letters, "the words haven't come back."
"But why?" Edmund asked.
"That's the thing—did you finish reading them back home? How far did you get?"
"No, I didn't—I just got to the part where Peter was describing how both had been transported back here…"
"Well, I got a little farther along, Ed. I think the words are still missing because they're here, too."
"What?"
"Yes. I was reading Su's letter and she was describing how they'd come back home, but somehow everything was different. She described that there was a Princess who wanted to take the throne back, but that they had been helping the real crown prince that had been exiled. I honestly don't remember much of the details, but she mentioned something about Narnians and royal Lords taking sides, and a civil war…"
"And you think that is the same timeline as this one?"
"It must be! The story of… Eirene, and…Caspian. The princess that wants to secure the throne and the long forgotten prince. She was captured, Trumpkin mentioned…"
"And this could turn into a civil war..." Edmund concluded.
"I think that words vanished for a reason, Ed."
Lucy was looking at her brother, her face displaying all the signs of an epiphany.
"They were telling they tale of their adventure here, weren't they? Maybe we're meant to change what they lived, change the outcome, avoid that devastating war?" Lucy pondered out loud.
Edmund nodded his head slowly.
"But how can we improve the circumstances of something that we know nothing about?"
"Maybe just the fact that we're here?"
Both fell silent for a moment, wondering the reason why the letters had vanished and why they were inserted within an already lived adventure.
"Peter and Susan are here then…we just have to look for them."
And find Rhindon before, Edmund thought.
Leaving abruptly was definitively not an option. Trufflehunter, Trumpkin and Reep had been too nice to them. Whether it was out of tradition, respect or just plain niceness, it wasn't fair to leave just like that. It would have just been history repeating itself.
"Do you really think that's why we're here, Lu?" Edmund asked, his gaze looking away into the horizon.
"Only Aslan knows for certain, Ed. But" Lucy sighed, "It is a strong possibility. I think."
Edmund nodded his head at the reassurance, folded the letters and stashed them once again.
"Ed," Lucy began, as she stood up too, "I know you didn't get to know her that long but…you really liked her, didn't you? Your eyes sparkled whenever you said her name."
Edmund could feel himself get red in the face, even if he tried to avoid it.
Lucy chuckled.
"It's okay," she said, "the more reason to get involved, and maybe try to help her?"
Edmund smiled shyly.
"I'm guessing that our best shots at beginning are Trufflehunter and Trumpkin."
"Well, we'll he doesn't seem to like us very much…" Lucy said, sadly.
Edmund side-hugged his sister in reassurance, but kept his thoughts to himself.
After leaving the way we did, I honestly wouldn't like us, either.
As they hugged, they heard footsteps coming towards them. It was Trufflehunter running towards them.
"Follow me! Quick!" The badger gestured them to approach. The siblings walked back turning their heads to one another.
"Hurry up! We don't have all day!"
The siblings hastened their pace, and when they reached the door of the badger's abode and went into the burrow, they found Reepicheep, Trumpkin, and Trumpkin.
"You two have been sitting tight, haven't you?" Trumpkin said sarcastically.
"Not now, Trumpkin—"
"Your graces," Reepicheep began solemnly, "we've had word that Princess Eirene is being held captive by her uncle, she is awaiting trial—"
"Whatever for?" Lucy interjected.
"Undoubtedly, lies," Trumpkin said.
"And false charges," Trufflehunter said.
"Well, that's kind of the meaning of lies, innit?" Edmund said under his breath.
"Edmund!" Lucy whispered, and Edmund said nothing else.
Reepicheep walked closer to the siblings.
"Princess Eirene would have never let anything happen to us; it is our obligation to do the same. We've decided to fight for her."
"You mean raid the castle?" Edmund asked.
"Yes, and the only involved parties are both of you. We are thus asking you—"
"A formality, more than anything," Trumpkin dismissed. Trufflehunter stepped on Trumpkin's foot with effort.
"Ow!"
Trumpkin hissed something to Trufflehunter and the badger hissed something back. It was inaudible, but it must revolve around offensive words.
"We are thus asking you for your graces' consent, and your advice," the mouse continued.
"Yes," Lucy said immediately, "of course".
Edmund was unknowingly silent for a moment. That's what we're here for, isn't it? he asked himself, recalling what Lucy said. Pick up the pieces of the destroyed Narnia they'd left behind. Mend the future while they were at a it, too.
And find Rhindon while we're at it.
"What says the military expert?" Trufflehunter asked, bringing Edmund back to reality.
"Oh, right, yes. Of course."
Finding Peter and Susan and Rhindon. Avoid war devastation. Help Eirene.
The thought of her set his cheeks ablaze. He wondered exactly what Lucy had read in Susan's letter, and if there had been any description of Eirene at all. Had he misjudged her? If the plan was to rescue her from trial, he really didn't want to be fighting for the wrong side. Again.
But in that whole world of not knowing much of anything at all, preparing a mission to rescue her seemed to be the only right option.
"Well move at first light tomorrow, then." Trufflehunter said, "We'll fill you in with the details later."