Like I said before - all credit to Sara Wolfe. Thanks - enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: Nope, still not mine...
"Well?" Philip asked, as Edmund rejoined him outside.
"I need to go back to the Lantern Waste," Edmund told him. "It's time to get my siblings."
"Let's go, then," Philip said. At Edmund's incredulous look, he continued.
"Have the last five years taught you nothing?" he snorted. "I'm certainly not going to let you go wandering around the Lantern Waste alone, especially since, knowing you, you're going to be unarmed."
"Well, I certainly can't carry a sword with me back to Professor Kirke's house," Edmund protested.
"Which is why I'm going to be going with you," Philip explained. "I can carry your sword back to camp – the Witch still has a bounty on your head, you know."
"Don't remind me," Edmund muttered, climbing aboard Philip's back.
As they set out toward the Lantern Waste, Edmund couldn't help but think of all that could possibly go wrong to keep them from reaching their destination. The journey passed without any danger, however, and ended all too quickly. All too soon, Philip was stopping by the lit lantern that marked the path to the wardrobe, and Edmund slid reluctantly to the ground.
Now my bit starts...
He paused, with Philip, at the path leading to the place where, he knew, his world and Narnia joined.
"I don't want to go in there." He said softly to his friend. "I know I have to… I just don't want to."
"What is it, Prince?" Philip asked, causing Edmund to give him a surprised look – Philip didn't often give him his more formal title. "Why do you fear it so much?"
"I was horrible, Philip." Edmund admitted, a little unwillingly. "Oh, I know I'm sarcastic now, but I was really horrible then. My little sister… Lucy… I was so cruel to her… I was everything I hate now. I was a liar, and a cheat and a bully… everything. And I'm scared, because if I go back, I might end up like that again. I don't ever want to be like that."
Philip gave a soft nicker, the nearest approximation to smile that he could give. "Then you won't be." He pointed out. "If you don't want to be, you won't. You're a good man, Edmund, and…"
He broke off, ears pricked and his entire stance wary. "Get on my back." He ordered suddenly, and Edmund knew better than to ask questions. Almost without thinking, he vaulted onto the stallions back, and allowed him to carry him into a thick clump of nearby trees.
"What is it?" he whispered, low and almost inaudible in the horse's ear.
"Someone's coming." The horse murmured back, "And as far as I can tell, they've only got two legs…"
They waited in complete silence for whoever it was to come into view; the only sound was soft breathing and the occasional crunch of compressing snow as Philip shifted. After a few moments, the person was so near, even Edmund, with his poor, human hearing, could hear their footsteps – whoever it was wasn't trying to hide their presence, walking boldly down a pathway heading right for the clearing in front of them.
A few more seconds, and the person stepped out into the clearing – a small, dark-haired somebody, wearing an ugly, war-time nightdress. With a cry, Edmund slid off Philip's back, and ran into the clearing.
"Lucy!" he cried, "What on earth are you doing here!"
His little sister looked at him with curiosity, and not a little fear.
"I'm sorry," She said, politely, but rather warily, "But I don't think I know you. Do you know me?"
Edmund stared at her, dumbstruck. "Lu – it's me. It's Edmund."
"But you can't be Edmund." She said, still polite, but with a stubborn look on her face. "I was following Edmund just a few seconds ago. Peter – that's my eldest brother – told me that Ed had just gone to get a glass of water, and I followed him, because I was thirsty too. I was behind him just a minute ago. And anyway – you're far too old to be Edmund."
"Lucy, really, it's me." Edmund said, gently. "We're in a magical place, and I'm… I'm older here, Lu."
"If you're older – why aren't I older, too?" Lucy asked, reasonably.
"Oh, Lu, I've been here ages." Edmund told her, smiling. "About five years."
"It's not possible." She declared, crossing her arms over her chest in a gesture so full of her own, unique spirit that Edmund had to smile. He had missed this – he had missed his family.
"And finding an entire world in the back of a wardrobe is?" he retorted, still smiling.
She pulled a face at him, but smiled back.
He squatted down in front of her, and said, very seriously, "Lucy, I need you to do me a favour."
"What is it, Ed?" she asked, just as trusting as he remembered.
"I need you to fetch Susan and Peter for me. I need you to bring them here, because… well, because we're all special here, OK? And we're all needed. Can you do that for me?"
Lucy looked a little doubtful. "I don't know if they'll come, Eddie." She said, hesitantly. "You know how grown up Peter is – and how Susan likes to be all responsible." Edmund shook his head, wondering at all the things – all the little details – he had managed to forget about his brother and sisters. "They might not think that they should be walking around the house at night."
"Tell them…" Edmund thought about it for a second. "Tell them that you've found something, but you were waiting for tonight to tell them, because it, er… it looks much nicer at night." He looked down at her, very seriously, "They need to see Narnia, Lu. And I don't know when you'll be able to come again. I'll keep the door open, but you must go and fetch them."
"Why can't you come with me?" she asked, pleadingly, "It would be much easier if they could see you like this…"
"If the Prince goes through the Wardrobe," Philip said, stepping up beside Edmund, "He will look exactly as he did before. Time, as I think Aslan told you, Edmund, is relative. It is different in your world to how it is here. Edmund would be no more convincing than you – in fact, if what he told me is true, your brother and sister think him a liar, so he would be even less credible."
Lucy was staring at him in shock. "E-Edmund?" she stuttered. "Is the h-horse talking?"
"Yes." He grinned, amused, "Lucy, this if Philip, one of my closest friends. Philip, this is Lucy – my sister, and Crown Princess of Narnia."
"It looks like I'm well on my way to collecting the entire set of you Pevensies." Philip said, wryly. "But will you do it, Princess?"
Lucy looked up at Edmund's new, kind face, and smiled tremulously. "I'll try." She nodded, squaring her shoulders, bravely.
Edmund crouched down in the snow, and held out his arms to her. "I've missed you, Lu." He said, fondly. "Do I get a hug?"
"It's been ages since you asked me that." She laughed, a little. "It was before Dad went away, last time."
"I was a horrible brother." Edmund admitted, apologetically. "Can we call it quits?"
"Oh, yes." She said, throwing her arms around his neck, and squeezing. "Of course we can."
"Oh, and Lucy?" he said, hugging her back, then drawing back, and looking earnestly into her face, "Don't tell them anything about what you're showing them. Don't lie – just say it's a surprise. If you do, we both know that they'll say you're making it up, because it wouldn't be 'grown up' to say that they believe you." He ended on a humorous note, and she smiled, recognising the sarcasm for what it was.
"Alright, Ed." She said, quietly. "I'll try. I'll go and get them now."
Edmund and Philip followed her down to the place where the forest became fur coats, and watched as she slipped through the doorway between the worlds.
"This is a much better plan, Edmund." Philip acknowledged, giving his smiling nicker again, "Now you can escort them back to Aslan, with all the advantages that your age and training has given you. There is just one flaw…"
"Oh? What's that?"
"Well, time is relative, after all." The horse said, "And how long are we going to have to wait for the Princess to return? How are we going to eat, and how are we going to defend ourselves, if we're attacked?"
Edmund chewed his bottom lip, thoughtfully. "Well, as for eating, if it gets really desperate, I'm sure I can find something to eat, and we'll clear away some snow to get grass for you. Defence, I'm afraid, will have to be flight rather than fight. Even with my sword, it's not worth the risk of making a stand… Unless, of course, my brother and sisters come through, in which case you take them – can you carry three children at once?" Philip nodded. "Alright. In that case, you take them, and I'll distract the enemy. Better take three rather than one."
"Shouldn't you go, rather than me? Then all four of you would escape?"
"Philip, I know I'm good," Edmund smirked, with more humour than he really felt, "But even I can't carry three humans myself – and I admit that you can run faster than me."
"Fair point." Philip acknowledged. "We'd better just hope the Witch's troops don't find us…"
A pair of eyes gleamed in the woods to their right, as a small, grey shadow, half-wolf and half-human, listened to their conversation.
"Four humans…" it hissed softly to itself, in it's quiet, deadened voice. "That's interesting…" without a sound, it bounded off to the North, leaving Philip and Edmund to wait, in the trap of their own making.
And... over and out. Whadda ya think? Do tell...