Threads

Chapter 16

When they'd finally reached their destination, Eirene became immediately engrossed in the beautiful Narnian scenery. Dawn was already illuminating the perfect emerald grass before her, glistening with the morning dew. Lucy landed the griffin just in front of them, and Edmund helped her down the horse. At his touch, her body felt overwhelmed with emotions. It was a certain kind of drunkness that Edmund created in her, and the exhilaration of simply being in his presence.

As she tried to shake off the burning sensation that Edmund caused in her soul, she turned to Lucy.

"Queen Lucy, I don't think we've formally met yet, but I do want to thank you for all—"

"Oh, there really is no need—for calling me queen, nor for thanking me—"

"But truly I—" Eirene tried to keep on saying, but Lucy seemed to be thinking of something else, her eyes looking past Eirene as if looking for someone, or something.

After a second, Lucy looked back at Eirene and smiled faintly.

"Maybe we could—um, continue this another moment? I really have to—I need to…well, surely you must be feeling…oh, pardon me for a second." Lucy said, all perfectly absent-minded. She walked away before Eirene could retort anything back.

Edmund arched his eyebrow, but Lucy didn't notice. Something was off with her, and she seemed to be on a quest of some kind. Edmund had a million and one questions to ask her, but he knew he had to ask her sometime later.

Startled too, Eirene also turned in Lucy's direction. Beyond the young queen's figure, Eirene noticed what seemed to be a military camp resting just behind a mound in the middle of a plain, flanked by a deep cover of trees.

Eirene began walking, discerning what was the mound right before her. She figured they were at the Stone Table and its shrine, the one Narnians called the How. And as she advanced, a congregation of Narnians gathered around her.

"My lady—" a panther appeared out of nowhere, "what wonderful news it is to see you again!" she said excitedly, "I'm—we're all so glad to have you here with us now…"

"Oh, leave the girl alone," a female skunk said, "let her catch her breath!"

Eirene smiled, and then the skunk turned and bowed to her.

"But it is still lovely to see you, princess—most Narnians are waiting inside the How, but we've fetched some things for you, you can go wash up first—"

The female skunk led Eirene to the back of the mound, where a sea of red and golden tents plagued the area. Edmund remembered with tenderness the first time he had seen such a display. He had been nothing more than a boy, only just forgiven by Aslan himself.

He watched Eirene walking away and then turned in a different direction. He wanted to find Lucy, and help her find whatever it was that she was looking for.

Eirene was shown to where they had set her tent up, magnificent and grand-looking. She wondered how they were able to set up such a camp in so little time for a second. A true Narnian rebellion was underway, and she was leading it. That was precisely the picture of her dreams.

Eirene was ecstatic, knowing that she'd have many more hours to plan the rebellion and to reunite with her brother. But now that she was left on her own, she began to feel the mere fact of her existence starting to weigh on her.

As she let go of her dirty and bloodied nightgown and cleaned her warm water and clean cloths, she remembered the wounds on her body. She remembered the sensation of not feeling her leg, and the pain she had endured each time she tried to breathe. She'd been hurt enough to kill her, and she would have died if it hadn't been for both Edmund and Lucy. But now they were all healed, and not a single scar was left.

Eirene scrubbed her body, dragging a sponge across her skin. She remembered the almost kiss with Edmund, and her entire body burned with the memory. The almost kiss was a promise she intended to fulfill as soon as she could, as soon as she saw him again if she could.

But before the giddiness in her body could spread any further, it faded when she remembered Caspian. She saw him, alive and well—and now she needed to find him. No time could be wasted; she needed to tell everyone that Narnia had a crown prince again—

But it made her nervous. How would they react? How would Caspian react when he saw her again?

She suddenly felt guilty for not trying hard enough. Not trying hard enough to find him all those years ago. For wanting to make a claim to the throne for herself. And now, she needed to make things right.

Feeling as if she was taking an undeserved break, Eirene quickly wrapped herself in a linen robe, drying herself before dressing.

Right in front of her, dresses had been lain out. She thought those would be a good option, hoping that at least for that day, she wouldn't need to start fighting for her life again.

Having chosen a blue dress, she undid the knot of the robe. There was no time to lose, no time to hide. As her robe slid off her body, holding on exactly at her wrists and waist, she heard footsteps at the entrance of the tent.

"Oi, Luce—"

Edmund froze at the entrance, and Eirene gasped. Immediately, Edmund turned away. He clenched his jaw, trying his hardest not to turn red in the face. Eirene, too, was trying to shake off her instincts.

Both turned away from each other in embarrassment, knowing that if that situation had occurred in a different moment of their lives, both of them would have acted in entirely different ways.

Eirene, ever impetuous, would have lured him closer, slipping off her robe delicately off her shoulders and lying on the bed. Edmund, ever darkly enticing, would have convinced the lady to bed him with nothing more than a deep gaze, no words necessary.

At that moment, Edmund recognized that deep-set longing within him. He had known women before, but he had never felt quite like this. Peter had always jokingly told him that he was never the one to make a scandal, but he was always the one to have the most intriguing secrets. Edmund would always laugh at that; there were no secrets—the women had always been a distraction for him and he had always been a distraction for them. Boundaries had always been very clear cut: consensual and conscientious affairs were his norm.

He had never fallen in love, and no woman he was ever involved with had been in love with him. To Edmund, love didn't have to mix with nightly diversion. Women could seek him out time and time again for his skill, and he could seek them out for theirs. Nothing more than that.

But neither Edmund nor Eirene were in their olden, Casanova times. They were both treading uncharted waters, they knew not how to act. Something was different about them, and what they felt for one another was unique. It was a romance that was already engulfing them, heart and soul, but one that hadn't started yet.

And while different scenarios played in their heads, neither acted on them. Rather, both turned around with modesty. Both were speechless for a second, and Edmund was the first to break their stillness.

"I would have knocked—if only there were any walls to knock on," he said, regretting his bad joke immediately.

Eirene laughed.

"Forgive me, is what I mean to say," he finished.

Eirene dressed as quickly as she could, still embarrassed but half of her wishing that she could let her mind run wild and act her thoughts out.

"Were you looking for Lucy?" she asked, trying to clear her thoughts.

"I was—she left just a few minutes ago, I do not know where to," Edmund said as he heard her footsteps come closer to him, "everybody else is waiting within the How."

After he finished the sentence, he turned back around noticing that Eirene was only a few meters away from him. She came closer.

"Edmund," she began, her tone shifting to a quiet one, "I've been meaning to thank you, the both of you—"

Edmund shook his head.

"And I've been meaning to tell you—blue truly seems to suit you," he said, lowering his gaze to her admire her dress, and by extension, her body.

Eirene could not help the immediate blush from appearing on her cheeks. She couldn't quite yet place where the unsteadiness he provoked inside of her came from, but she well and truly enjoyed it.

Eirene took a step closer to him, but as she leaned into him, a crowd began chanting outside the tent. Breaking away from the spell, Eirene looked towards the entrance of the tent and looked back at Edmund confused.

"I thought you said they were at the How—" she said, confused, as she stepped out of the tent.

Once outside, Edmund instead paid closer attention to the hubbub.

"It's now or never," someone said.

"We need to attack, now!"

"Aye!"

"We've only got our princess back, what are you saying?!" somebody else said.

In the middle of the scene that was unraveling, Edmund watched Eirene struggling with the crowd to be seen. He could see her erratically trying to calm everyone's attention, somewhat panicked. Eirene stood on top of a rock, calling everyone's attention with a whistle.

The crowd began shouting and Edmund watched from the sidelines. The small crowd, little by little, began to become denser and denser. Centaurs, panthers, fawns, and other Narnians gathered around Eirene, everyone looking up to her. Edmund's eyes focused on the Narnians he already knew: Trumpkin, Nikabrik, Trufflehunter, and Reepicheep.

Eirene felt a growing lump in her throat. All this time thinking she was all alone, that she had to fight for herself and others, but that no one would fight for her. And yet, there they all were. She breathed in, trying to muster the strength.

When Eirene began to speak, the crowd became silent.

"Narnians," she began, "I cannot begin to thank everyone single one of you—"

Eirene trailed off and looked back at Edmund, her sight lingering a second longer on him than it should have.

"But I must tell you now," she started, "that my brother Caspian, the crown prince, is still alive."

Gasps and whispers erupted around her, and she realized that Caspian being alive was bittersweet. She wasn't all alone in the world—but at the same time, everything she thought she needed to be, to become was turned upside down. If Caspian was alive, then she was nothing more but his older sister. Disposable again.

Eirene, although now perfectly healed in health, looked defeated.

"He's alive and well—he tried to take over the Castle last night and – all of what I wanted to mend, well…He's here now, in Narnia—"

More murmurs erupted, and Eirene was reminiscent of the hearing Miraz had held when he had captured her.

"It was because of him that I was able to discover the magic that dwells in these lands…" she continued, "it was because of his disappearance that I discovered you." She turned to look at everyone in the room, "and it is also why you are here, too," Eirene paused, and looked back at Edmund. She felt his gaze burn into her soul. "…The four of you, the Four Kings and Queens of old," Eirene finished off.

The murmurs changed into an uproar, countless cheers and questions being thrown into the air.

"But I am here to ask you in the light of these events," Eirene shouted, creating a space for her voice to be heard again, "will you follow him as you've followed me?"

The crowd began shouting various things at that moment, but Edmund was too distracted to hear anything. She saw Lucy just across from where he stood, her expression was completely sorrowful. He began walking towards her.

Before he could reach where she stood, there was another whisper that called his attention. It was quiet and angry whispering between Trumpkin and Nikabrik. Startled, Edmund blended in with the crowd as best he could to go unnoticed, and listen more closely to what they were saying.

"You see? I've told you he was here—I told you that I read it, in those strange letters addressed to Queen Lucy" Nikabrik said.

"Oh damn this, Nikabrik," Trumpkin said completely exasperated, and began to walk away.

Nikabrik pulled his arm.

"But what follows is simple enough. Why should we care about the brother we've never met?—the Kings and Queens of Old we have are magic enough, the two of them that we have are enough, that and Eirene's royal blood—and we have the relics—" Nikabrik explained.

"Won't you shut your gob?! That is pure nonsense—I won't, I won't be part of this," Trumpkin said, angry enough. Decisively, he turned around.

"No!" Nikabrik grabbed Trumpkin forcefully by his arm, "it's easier this way—we rebel against anyone who isn't here and then we work the spell with what we have."

"I will not hear any more of it," Trumpkin pulled his arm away, but turned his head sideways and repressed a final hush to his friend, "dark magic is out of the question."

Edmund's heartbeat with speed, feeling a surge of adrenaline overpowering his body. It was only then that he remembered that he hadn't seen Rhindon.

Dark magic.

It stirred him, his mouth went dry. He'd have his fair share of dark magic in the past, and he wasn't about to have another encounter with it, he thought as he made his way to stop Nikabrik.

But before he could step any closer to the dwarf, Nikabrik opened his mouth to cause even more uproar.

"If you're not with me, you're against me. Sorry to part this way, old friend," Nikabrik said in an angry whisper to Trumpkin. Before Trumpkin could react, Nikabrik began shouting.

"I know of no other ruler than the ones before my eyes! If Caspian wants the power he'll have to fight us! How are we to trust a foreigner again?! We only know Princess Eirene!"

Eirene's heart shrank when she heard Nikabrik—no, no. This isn't what I wanted. She moved closer to the center of the crowd, hastily, trying to appease the entourage of the dwarf's ideas. But her words could barely be heard over the chorus of aye's and fists up in the air.

In that chaos, Lucy found her way closer to Edmund.

"Ed," she said, with a worried tone that he had never heard on her. "I can't find them—Su's letters, they had a warning, about Eirene being ambushed and a war—that's why I found you—I must have dropped them, I don't know—Ed..."

Edmund turned to his sister.

"Ed—I don't know where they are—don't you understand? They're warnings, they've always been warnings about how things could be and how we should change them—if—if anyone has them if they fall into the wrong hands—"

"We'll find them, Lu—"

"We have to, Ed, they're the key to looking at the future—" Lucy said, desperately as it all started to make sense in Edmund's head.

Edmund recalled how Nikabrik had said something about letters and reading. It all clicked in his head. But by the time that Edmund realized this, the black-bearded dwarf was nowhere to be seen.

Eirene was still bargaining with the crowd, promising that when they found Caspian they'd know that both of them stood for Narnia. Centaurs were taking her side, while only a few were still following Nikabrik's argumentative poison.

As Eirene began disappearing from his line of vision, various musings dawned on him. He realized then and there that the enthusiastic curiosity he felt towards her was transforming into something else, much deeper. He yearned her touch in all manners possible, just as much as he yearned her mind. Edmund realized then that what he was starting to feel for her was love.

At that moment he realized that too, that there was pureness in her intentions. That she was a true leader and that the only thing he wanted was to protect her. Protect her and follow her in what she needed.

Edmund knew that he was no longer the monarch that Narnia needed. Narnia needed her and he would do anything to ensure her safety. And to do that, he had to find Lucy, the letters, and that goddamned dwarf.

Edmund swallowed, knowing that his emotions were compromised. I'm positively screwed, he thought.