Threads

Chapter 21

Eirene's head rested on Edmund's chest. The tent was silent, their moans now remained like a content spirit around them. Edmund relished in that peace, the kind that only delight and ecstasy were able to bring. Edmund's arm was wrapped around Eirene, playing with her hair. He watched as her eyelids floundered down her eyes in a slow cascade until she finally slept.

Edmund sensed everything around him. Eirene's warmth, the calmness of her breathing. Her body had been undone and redone thrice only moments ago and yet—she slept peacefully beside him. His chest was still aflame, but with a different kind of warmth, he realized with surprise. He'd been so wrapped up around her that he'd missed how new it was—staying the night.

Love. He'd half expected it to be a fleeting sensation, but…it was ever burning. And new. And it was exactly because of it that he could not catch sleep as quick as his lover did.

He was thrilled, exhilarated even with the idea of plunging into the depths of the feeling. Until his mind brought back all of his concerns, like a huge tidal wave. How brow furrowed, and he thought back to the letter and the chat he'd had with Lucy.

It'd been days and Lucy's letter was still lost. But he had his—carefully stashed with himself at all times. Lucy's tidings had brought the habit of constantly checking his letter. Much to his dismay, his letter had been blank, too. But now—after what had happened, and after the feelings that were confessed, he wondered if anything had changed at all.

He stood up, careful not to wake Eirene. He nestled a blanket around her so she wouldn't shiver with the cold. He walked slowly to where his clothes lay, discarded. He grabbed the hem of his pants and dived his hand into the pockets. He plunged out the folded and already raggedy letter. He unfolded it with care, trying not to stir Eirene with the noise.

It was still blank. Edmund didn't know what he had been expecting to find—but certainly not that, again. There was nothing: no clumsy ink stains, no scribbles, no clues. A part of him, the positive one, wanted to think it was because there wasn't anything else to worry about. But that wasn't the part of him that dominated his thought processes.

He ran a hand through his disheveled curls. What if the connection had been severed, he pondered. Edmund spoke to Peter over at the Telmarine castle—it meant that both of them were at Narnia, and therefore, once Peter returned to England there was no need to write to Edmund and retell all of what he lived.

Two terrible realizations came with that thought. The first: if Peter had written it meant that they'd be going back to England sooner or later. He only wished he knew how much the adventure would last.

The second: it would mean that they were stumbling in the dark—and only the person who had Lucy's letters had an insight. And only Aslan knew what they were planning.

He cursed internally and folded the letter. He stashed it back into his trousers. He sat on the bed again and Eirene groaned, sleepily. His thoughts weighed heavy on him, but as he looked at his lover, he grew calm. He could no know the future, try as he might. All he had was now, for as long as it lasted. And what a beautiful now it was.

He embraced her again and relished in that new kind of intimacy he was just discovering. As Edmund found slumber, their fantasy world seeped into their dreams. The vague awareness of each other's nakedness as they cuddled against one another was a reminder of the nightly endeavors. Sleeping next to the person that held his heart was one of the best sensations Edmund had had, he realized.

When dawn finally broke, Eirene was the first to rouse. Purple and blue hues were beginning to color the outside world. The brightness was just enough to make out a sleeping Edmund. His profile was perfectly still as if carved in marble. His breathing was steady, and his hair was slightly tousled.

She smiled as she watched him for a second. She dressed in her flimsy night shift, memories of the previous night flooding her memory. Her body burned again, just with the thought of his every insatiable move.

But her inner peace was short-lived—there was sudden movement around her tent. It was still too early for so much movement, for so many boots to be plastering mud in an endless racket.

Confused, Eirene dressed quickly. Just as she began to walk out of the tent, the alarm sounded.

Edmund woke up in less than a second, his tranquil façade completely shattered. He looked at her confused and saw her equally befuddled expression. Edmund dashed out of bed and dressed. Eirene grabbed a sword, making Edmund realize he hadn't brought a sword with him the previous night.

"I'll be back," he said dryly, before darting out of the tent.

But Eirene couldn't wait for him. Edmund left and Eirene followed, emerging from their comfortable nest unto utter chaos. Men were running about, and when they caught glimpse of her, the panther that had been keeping guard at her tent ran next to her again.

"What is it?" Eirene asked looking at the mess.

Eirene jerked her head around quickly when she heard a clash of swords close to her, but she couldn't see where they came from, exactly.

"Soldiers," the panther said, "Archenland colors."

Eirene squinted her eyes as her heart lept with joy.

"No! Stop! We need not attack them—they're friends, they're—Caspian—"

"They charged at us, princess, we were simply responding!"

Eirene looked in shocked as the panther lunged over to a soldier, watching her bite his neck. Her eyes flashed to the soldier's sword, which was bloodied, too. Narnians were attacking charging Archenland soldiers—Eirene didn't understand anything and was completely petrified at the scene. Her emotions and rational thinking were a blurry mess. But her expression remained still.

She then heard another shout, far off in the distance. It was a male voice.

Eirene, shocked and numbed, ran towards it.

She could faintly hear the panther asking her not to move, but Eirene paid no mind to her. She ran across the field, somehow managing to be ignored by everyone around her.

Eirene kept running in that frenzied state, her breath beginning to feel jittery. She kept on going, and in the mess, she collided with someone. He felt human.

"Eirene," that was Edmund's voice.

"Archenland soldiers," she said quickly, voicing her thoughts.

But before she could say anything else, somebody bumped into her. She turned around to look—a golden-haired boy, with a golden lion printed on his chest. The rest of his apparel was red, contrasting his pale skin and golden features. The blue of his eye was pale as well, but it suited him. He was the polar opposite of Edmund, but at the same time, held an uncanny resemblance.

"Peter!"

Eirene watched the siblings embrace, dumbfounded.

"And Caspian?" Eirene said quickly, "where is Caspian?" she began to spin around herself; "why is there all this chaos? What is happening?"

It was then that Eirene saw Susan, in the distance, trying to handle a conflict between a human soldier and a Narnian fawn.

"Stop, Stop!" Eirene shouted, and Peter followed.

"STOP!"

The Archenlanders stopped their attack. All heads turned to the monarchs, the three of them gathered, and Susan a bit farther away. The duty-ridden side of Eirene knew that introductions were in order. Part of her knew that she should have followed diplomatic protocol at least and bow, but she couldn't. She couldn't carry on with frivolities when so much was happening. Anxiety was gnawing at her alive, and she couldn't hide it.

"And Caspian? What of Caspian?"

Eirene walked closer to Peter and then walked towards Susan. She turned her head to both siblings quickly, hungrily waiting for an answer.

When she asked again, Peter looked down at the ground.

"Why won't you tell me where he is?" she pressed on.

Susan shortened the distance between them, and Eirene turned to her, looking for answers in her eyes. Edmund looked at his sister, who only shook her head.

"We—" Peter began, and Eirene diverted her harsh eyes to him, "they took him. We were ambushed on our way here—we've been running ever since—"

Susan, although visibly shaken too, carried on.

"It happened so quickly—they came specifically for him. They took him and then they attacked us. We couldn't counterattack—they were far too many. We tried to hide in the forest, snatch him back but…"

Eirene tried to make sense of all the information. She interrupted Susan's tale.

"Telmarine soldiers?"

Susan nodded her head.

"How many?"

"We couldn't count them but, far more than a just a party."

Eirene heard Edmund curse silently before interjecting.

"Did you lead them back here?"

Peter turned to look at Susan for confirmation.

"No, we were careful—" he said.

"We tried to be—at least I think we were—" Susan, with a faltering voice, said.

"Wait, you're not certain?" Eirene asked, desperate.

"We—I don't know. It was a frantic escape—we didn't recognize where we were—" Peter corrected.

Edmund let out a hasty sigh, although his expression was serene.

"It won't take them much to figure out our location," Edmund said, looking about for guards and also for Lucy. Why wasn't she there with them?

"I don't care— let them find us, I don't care—I have to get Caspian," Eirene pleaded, "where did they take him?" Eirene stood closer to two of the siblings, desperate to get an answer out of them.

"Please, I have to find him, we have to find him, we can't lose any more time—" she continued.

"No, we can't," Peter said.

"Why ever not? Why are we here, wasting our breaths—"

"No, Eirene you don't understand—he tried to fight them off—" Peter was saying, but Eirene's expression still looked clueless. He gathered breath.

"Caspian tried to defend himself," Peter continued, "he did, for a moment—it was the three of us against better odds—" Peter said.

"—but then more soldiers came in. And they took him, disarmed him. He tried to fight them, and he was injured—there was blood everywhere, and—" Susan said, tears in her eyes.

"We—we don't know if he's alive," Peter said.

Eirene's eyes filled with tears. No, no, no.

"Then we find out!" she screamed, her voice cracking. She barely recognized herself. Never in her life would she have imagined herself losing her temper in public, much less in front of royalty—but everything was different now. "We find out if my brother is still alive or not! We do whatever is necessary—"

Edmund walked over to try and calm her down, his eyes attentive to his surroundings, still searching for Lucy. Eirene stepped away from him.

"No!" she roared, emotions had already overpowered her rational mind. "This is all of what you had to do! Avoid chaos, wasn't it?" she turned to look at Edmund, addressing what they had spoken about the previous night. He remained quiet. Something dark flashed Edmund's eyes, but Eirene didn't recognize what it was.

Eirene, realizing the consequences of her words, looked at the ground. Hot tears escaped her eyes. She knew her emotions had hold of her and that she'd regret what she was about to say—but she still said it anyway.

"What are you even here for, then?" She spat, and then looked up. She avoided Edmund's eyes and instead looked at the other two siblings. But they lowered their gazes.

Eirene's eyes eventually touched Edmund's, and his were completely consumed by darkness. They were deep, covering another hidden emotion, and remained perfectly still. Eirene could not hold his gaze. She staggered backward instead and everyone remained rooted to the ground.

The fleeting seconds in which silence reigned were heavy. Eirene only heard her thumping heartbeat, and air faltered around her. Edmund was frozen, too, shattered at Eirene's words.

None moved until they heard a galloping horse. Lucy, out of breath, dismounted her horse.

"Pete, Su! You made it—I've been trying to find you—where in the bloody hell have you been?" she asked, with a smile on her face.

Edmund's mind immediately jumped to his theory with the letters. The connection is completely severed, he thought, no more hints. No more warnings.

Lucy's smile was immediately wiped off when she saw the rest of the long faces at camp.

When no one said anything, Peter raised knitting his eyebrows in confusion and anger.

"You went out there? All alone? There in the woods?" Peter asked his sister.

"Yes—I went looking for you, and Caspian. You were supposed to find us ages ago…"

"But I only told Edmund where we were…" Peter said, more to himself than anyone else.

Then Peter looked at his brother. Edmund could sense the fight before it would even start. He could feel Peter's growing anger and Susan's growing anxiety.

"Are you daft?" Peter asked his brother, "you let her go out there? All by herself? Ed—what the in the bloody hell—those are Telmarine infested lands!"

Edmund tried to breathe in, and not fume out anger, too.

"She did volunteer, Pete. She's a grown woman, she can stand up for herself!"

Eirene became distracted from her drama for a second. She was aware that Pevensies were quite young, younger now that they'd been in the tales she'd read about them. And she was aware that Lucy was the youngest—but Eirene agreed with Edmund. Lucy had certainly become a woman during their golden age—which meant that mentally, Lucy was still a woman now.

Peter rolled his eyes at his brother and tightened his jawline.

"Is that right? And how could she defend herself? With her dagger? The Telmarines have crossbows, Ed—"

Eirene could tell Edmund's anger was brewing, but he wasn't yet willing to let it show. Lucy barged into the argument.

"Will you stop talking about me as if I'm not here—I chose to go, Pete. Edmund has been teaching me to swordfight—"

But Peter was still not satisfied with her answer. He turned to his brother again.

"But why, Ed? Why would you ever think it to be wise to—"

"Because he needed to stay here, Peter! Let's just be civil for a moment and talk and we'll clear things out—" Lucy interjected.

A mocking grin got hold of Peter.

"Oh, so now you wanted to protect her more than your sister?" Peter pointed his finger at Eirene.

"That's why we're here for, Pete!" Edmund shouted and Eirene burnt with shame, "We are supposed to protect Narnia, to ensure its safety and that of the people that now rule it."

It only took Peter a millisecond before tightening his jaw and taking a step towards Eirene. Peter disregarded Edmund's words and directly addressed her.

"It was you who called for us," he spat, and Eirene stood up straight, looking upwards at him, as sternly as she could.

"It was you two who brought us back into a country that feels more foreign than home—" he spat relentlessly until Eirene gathered her breath to speak.

Fire and anger were lodged in her eyes.

"It wasn't me—" she hissed, "it was Caspian, years ago— my brother trusted you to help years ago. And you only respond to the call just now? Why?" It was a bold question to match Peter's anger.

Eirene had made her peace with the fact that some things happen in mysterious ways…but that was a question she needed to be answered by someone, somehow.

"It wasn't a choice," Susan interjected, hurt and in shock after having seen Caspian's blood pouring out of his body, "We didn't know anything, we didn't choose anything, and we didn't do anything to harm Caspian, either!"

Her voice cracked, and Eirene began suspecting that her brother had found love in an ancient queen, too.

"We did more for Caspian in a few months than you have in your entire life—" Peter said.

Eirene growled.

"How dare you—"

"We came sooner than you ever did, and we were worlds away—" Peter shouted.

"Where were you when all of this went sideways? Where were you—" Eirene shouted, too, interjecting above his voice.

"No, Princess Eirene," Peter said mockingly, "Where were you all these years when Narnia began to crumble away? Hidden in your royal chambers? Where were you when your uncle ambushed us just a few miles away from when we're standing now?"

"How dare you speak of what you don't understand —"

Edmund was aware of the quorum gathering around them, apparently, the only one there to notice it. Emotions were running high for such an early hour in the morning. The anger inside Eirene's eyes was worrisome, and it alerted him to any irrational actions she may take after the argument.

He had to intervene, he was fed up with Peter's uncharacteristic brattiness.

Edmund stepped closer to Peter and looked at him sternly. Peter raised his eyebrows in surprise—it'd been years since he'd last seen Edmund as serious.

"Have you considered…that there is a lot you don't know about?" Edmund said, coldly.

His words landed silently. It became clear at that moment, for both Edmund as well as the rest of the participants, that he stood by Eirene. Peter's eyes flashed betrayal for a fleeting second, not understanding the situation unfolding in front of him. The four of them had always been family first, in all circumstances, no exceptions.

But then again, so many things had changed in their worlds; both here and in England. Perhaps nothing could be as it was before—not Narnia, not their kingdom, not their quiet childhood they had back at Finchley.

And now if their blood bond was to be severed over this foreign conflict in the land they had once called home, perhaps nothing about this visit was worth it, Peter thought.

Peter stood straight once again.

"Oh, I do know quite a lot. Maybe it is you who remains ignorant, Edmund. Ask Susan, ask Caspian if we get him back—ask about the attempts for his life orchestrated by his dear sister. Bloody hell—I could even tell you myself—"

"What in Aslan's name are you talking about—" Edmund tried to say, but Eirene began walking towards Peter, lunging at him.

"Peter!" Susan screamed, "Come on! We knew that wasn't true all along—"

Eirene pulled out her sword in the blink of an eye and pointed it to Peter's neck without anyone being able to stop her.

"Spew lies about me or my brother ever again, and you'll regret it. High king or not."

Eirene studied him critically as Peter swallowed and clenched his jaw. Edmund tried to get between them, pushing Peter's shoulder lightly away from Eirene's sword; torn between stopping Eirene from the anger splurge or defending his brother.

"Have you ever considered that it was my uncle trying to frame me?" Eirene spat, "No, of course not," she lowered her sword at his remorseful look.

She stepped back, biting her tongue as not to curse him.

"Perhaps we're losing track of ourselves?" Susan tried, "I think that what is being said here—"

But Eirene was still too angry, to rally up in the feeling. Her blood kept on boiling.

"I don't need an interpreter, and neither does your brother."

Susan understood—it seemed like damage control wasn't an option.

"Let her speak!" Peter said, "Let her say her fill. It was her who wanted us here! And here you have us now! I just…" he said, with a cynical laugh in his tone, "…didn't realize that you only called to complain—" Peter finished.

"I wanted you here, but not to just be here, I needed you to show up with a purpose!" she said.

"We are—we have! While you were too playing a damsel in distress, being rescued by my brother at your uncle's castle, too busy to even think about finding your blood—"

"Oh, I won't let you judge me when you've quitted this land in the past and you're quitting it now—how dare the history books call your reign the Golden Age? How dare they call you High King—and if this country feels foreign to you, you can only blame yourself—" she continued.

Peter scoffed, "You are so eager to blame us for something that we didn't do then maybe we've overstayed our welcome—" he said, with a false calmed tone.

The people around them murmured, but Edmund was the only one who heard them.

Eirene wanted to scream yes, leave! but then she looked at Lucy, scared and puppy-eyed. She looked at Susan, who looked on the verge of hysteria. She looked at Edmund, who she had already hurt unintendedly with her words directed only to Peter, and yet still took her side. She'd done wrong in Letting her emotions in. She exhaled out her anger.

"No," Eirene hissed again, her voice beginning to break.

"Then what do you want?!" Peter shouted.

Eirene looked at Edmund. He was looking at his brother, wide-eyed and amazed, his mouth half-open about to interject again.

"What I'm doing," Eirene sighed loudly, her voice cracking, "Is asking for your help! In the only way, I can—"

Eirene breathed out, broken.

Peter defensive in his stance, suddenly didn't know how to react now.

Edmund, ever the diplomat, figured a solution was about to be paved out.

Lucy, ever the optimist, hoped for forgiveness and the beginning of a collaboration.

Susan, ever the wise, knew it wasn't that simple.

"Well, try harder," Peter said plainly and stone cold.

The tenderness in Eirene died then. Anger returned to flood every inch of her body.

"Excuse me?"

"We've all put our necks down the line for you—"

"Well it seems like the least you can do—"

"And there is not even a hint of gratitude—"

"Peter, stop it—" Lucy said shyly, but her comment wasn't heard.

"Gratitude? You've been failing ever since you didn't show up when Caspian blew the horn—" she said.

"How and why are we meant to help when we don't even know who you are—when you've done absolutely nothing for anyone—"

"Enough," Edmund said deeply. Eirene turned surprised and kept quiet. Peter did too, for a second. But Peter had to continue.

"I can't stand the sight of what you Telmarines did to Narnia. You are the vermin." Peter said, looking sternly at Eirene, who returned the gaze. Peter shook his head and began to walk away. He approached Eirene as he walked violently, and bumped her shoulder.

"Hey!" Edmund said, anger evident in his voice. Peter half turned his head to his brother.

"Are you so smitten by her?" Peter asked sarcastically and guffawed as he walked away.

"Peter!" Susan said, her tone hurt too somewhat, but the older sibling didn't seem to listen.

Lucy tried her best to mend the pieces of what had just been broken

"Please!" Lucy screamed, "Now is not the time to be divided."

Eirene sighed, anger gone from her face, replaced with sadness.

"I know we can't. But I can't wait for the rest of you to agree with me or to like me. We—I need to start planning what comes next. I'm sorry—I need to find Caspian, whatever it takes." She began to step backward.

She looked wholeheartedly at the three remaining siblings before turning her back. Susan and Lucy turned to one another as Edmund watched her paramour walk away into camp, the prying soldiers making way for her to go through.

"Ed," Lucy said behind him, stopping him for a moment from going after her. He turned around to look at his sisters.

Tears were winding up Susan's eyes, clearly falling for Caspian. Before Edmund could ask any of their tales, before he could allow his mind to think about what had just happened, he needed to find both Peter and Eirene, be the link that joined them both. He merely showed them a tightened expression.

"I'm sorry, for all of it."

A/N: Hello dear readers! I hope you're liking the story thus far, I once again apologize if the previous chapter was a bit explicit for some readers.

But, as far as the future of the story goes, there's a lot happening in the next few chapters, so stay tuned!

I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you do, please leave a review! See you in the next one, xoxo