PENSAR EN TERMINAR EL CAPÍTULO AQUÍ, Y PARA EL 11 EMPEZAR CON LO QUE VIENE DESCRITO ABAJO Y LA ESCENA QUE TENGO EN NOTAS DEL CH 10.

OPCIONES: CUT A EDMUND. ALGO.

EMPIEZA A SONAR LA ALARMA (QUITAR QUE EMPIEZA A SOÑAR MIENTRAS ESTÁN EN LOS DUNGEONS) Y ELLA LE DICE DE " DID YOU ACTÍVATE IT?" Y POS NO. PERO AHORA NECESITAN SALIR. Y COMO SALENN? SI HAY GRIFFIN?

PONDERAR SI EN ESTE CAPÍTULO VE A PETER A SUSAN Y A CASPIAN. O SI LO VE AT ALL. (Para ver lo que ya tenía escrito de Eirene encontrándose con caspian, ver el docu de ch. 10 outtakes. )}}

—

Eirene walked the halls of the castle she once called home, realizing how cold and stale it felt. She needed to get out of the grounds as soon as possible; she couldn't afford getting caught. Something told her that she had a price on her head, and now was the time to fight or flight.

Eirene's feet took her to the stable without much thought. She was opting for the middle ground. She'd fight. She'd make a stand—but once she escaped the castle.

Eirene followed the path that the loneliest hallways showed her. She walked completely darkened halls, isolated and usually patrolled by guards. She knew she was taking the long way out, but she didn't have a choice. Unarmed and on the run, there was no way she could win a hand to hand combat.

Eirene walked, her thoughts too preoccupied with what she'd do first when she escaped. She needed a plan, and right at that moment, she had a deficit of ideas.

Lightning struck, and the hallway was illuminated. Eirene stopped, petrified, right where she stood. Her eyes were glued to the door that had been illuminated. Thunder rumbled at the same time her soul shook.

The oak door that stood tall and untarnished by the passing of time was the door to her parent's chambers. Or at least it used to be.

Eirene's stomach sank down almost to her feet; it'd been years since she'd stood even near it. It'd been even longer since she last had gone inside that room.

She remembered that her father inhabited it but as a quiet soul, wishing not to disturb her the memory of his deceased wife. Eirene barely remembered her, and what little she did was because of her father. But after he was gone too, Eirene had decided to lock up the room and live on the opposite wing.

Eirene felt wretched. What would her father think of her now? What would think of what she was doing with her family's legacy?

Eirene couldn't move. Her feet were glued to the spot and her eyes locked on the door. Her vision was blurry, with all the tears she held back even in solitude.

All these years, she'd waited for the return of her brother, holding on to the ghost of a male heir to inherit the crown, the most stagnant tradition of them all. But now—it all seemed like an impossible dream.

She suddenly felt as if she was betraying her brother's memory, but the truth was she no longer could keep on waiting for him blindly.

Eirene was vilified amongst the majority of the council of the lords. Be it for her uncle, she'd be on her way to the execution block. So, as long as Miraz kept on paving his way to steal the crown for himself and his son, she could no longer just pray that her brother would return.

The weight of her neglected fate settled on her bones then. I'll save them, she thought, my father and my brother. I'll save their memory. I'll save them and I'll save me, too. I promise, Eirene thought.

And then she heard the military alarm going off, almost knocking her out of the trance.

As Edmund approached the figure she thought was Eirene, various thoughts crossed his mind. Perhaps she'd set the alarm off now and perhaps she'd orchestrated the ambush before.

But he also realized he didn't care by that point.

He only want to speak to her to find his family's gifts, to keep them safe. And he also wanted to prevent what he'd read in the letter from happening, nothing else.

Edmund advanced and when he got to the corner of the corridor, and made out her profile—it was indeed Eirene. Her hair was lose, and she was wearing the same riding clothes he had met her in. She was frozen in the middle of the hall, her sight glued to a door in front of her.

Edmund approached her quietly. Edmund used the stealth to observe the door up close. It was a thick, wooden door, with a silver sigil at its top. It was the same that the horse had printed on the chest plate that day, back at the ruins of Cair Paravel. Edmund took a second to look at Eirene, who was immobilized, as if she could see something that he couldn't.

Edmund touched her arm lightly. Eirene jumped, looking shaken. She moved quicker than his eye could catch on to. The next thing he knew, Eirene took one of the daggers he had stashed at his belt and pointed it at his neck.

The scent of roses filled his nose then. He was caught off guard and found his heart racing inside of him. He couldn't help but smirk as he dropped the blunt sword and propped his hands up.

"Well, aren't you quick on your feet?"

Recognition flashed Eirene's eyes. She blinked a couple of times before she loosened her grip on his neck.

"What are you doing here?" She looked around slightly, and looked down beyond to the grounds.

"Did you set the alarm off?" She asked dryly.

Edmund shook his head.

"No," he said. He felt Eirene tightening her hold against his neck again. He watched her tighten her lips and noticed until then how full they looked. He glanced at the sides, making sure no guards were coming towards them. When he ascertained they were the only two people in the corridor he smirked again.

He pointed at the dagger at his throat with his forefinger. Eirene watched his long and graceful hands for a second longer than she should have. Edmund noticed.

"This is becoming a force of habit, don't you think?" He smirked still, "You, pressing things against my neck."

But Eirene didn't find him funny. Her world was falling apart, and he was only a distraction. Her nostrils flared and she returned her eyes to meet his.

"Tell me what you're doing here," she commanded. Edmund obeyed.

"I'm looking for the sword you took", he said, "and the rest of my belongings."

Eirene lowered the dagger then.

"I don't know what my uncle did to it—or any other trinkets you may have had with you."

"Trinkets," Edmund repeated under his breath, his brow raised immediately. Eirene didn't say anything. He studied her instead, trying to determine if what she said was true.

"I saw it at the council of the lords," she offered, "Before I was arrested. Perhaps they are still there."

Eirene took a step back, releasing Edmund. She looked at the pommel of the dagger and Edmund noticed her wrists. They were swallowed and red—the unmistakable chaffing from handcuffs.

She simply turned around then, and kept on making her way across the corridor.

"Thank you for the weapon," she said.

"Hey, wait—" Edmund caught up to her, "care to show me where that is?" Eirene looked back at him, but she seemed absent and remained quiet.

"The Council of the lords?" Edmund asked and Eirene stayed quiet still, "D'you need the magic word?" He waited a second, "as in please?"

Eirene shrugged.

"I'll show you the Council you wish. You can do what you will with your trinkets. I don't suspect relics matter much anymore—" She said, stashing the dagger in her belt.

She turned back around and kept on her way. She walked towards the staircase, descending to the courtyard. Edmund reached forward for her arm and held her in place.

"Unhand me," she demanded.

"No. Can't you see it's full of soldiers down there? You are unarmed and I don't take it they'll treat you with kindness," he moved his hand and touched her wrists. Eirene flinched and considered him for a second. Edmund was right. She was defenseless.

She looked at his blunt sword and two more daggers stashed in his belt. If she showed him to the room of the Council of the lords, then he could help her by fighting off soldiers while she escaped. She hated viewing interactions with other people as transactions, but she had to be smart.

"Unhand me and I'll show you where the sword could possibly be," her voice was domineering, and Edmund was willing to comply without second thought.

"After," she continued, "I'll leave and you do what you please," she said.

Edmund nodded once and observed Eirene as she turned back around. He knew that his main interest was securing his siblings' gifts, and the rest was collateral business.

As he began to follow her, the clashing of swords seemed to be catching up to them. Footsteps approached them from the staircase leading to the corridor in which they stood. From the opposite side, the same sounds came. The few lighting strikes that the sky displayed showed the shadows of armed guards ascending the stairs quickly.

"We can't take them on, not like this," Edmund said quickly, acknowledging his blunt sword and the dagger Eirene had taken from his belt.

Eirene grunted, "we don't really have another alternative—" but before she could finish the sentence, Edmund had walked across to reach the heavy wooden oak door.

"No!" she shouted, almost pleading, "Wait. We can't go in there," Eirene said hurriedly.

"What? Are you joking? Why ever not?" Edmund asked quickly, befuddled.

But Eirene stayed silent, her words frozen at her throat, leadening her tongue.

Adrenaline took hold of Edmund and he pressed his shoulder to the door, pivoting it. It took one or two pushes before it gave in.

Edmund entered the darkened room without a second thought—Eirene merely looked at him, her stare empty.

"Look!"

"Who's there?" Guards shouted across the hallways, their voices echoing to where they were. Edmund had his mouth agape, shocked by Eirene's inaction.

"Eirene," Edmund said, "come in."

But Eirene's world stood still. A strand of hair was falling on her face. It trembled with her breath. That was the only sign that she was present, and not a figment of his imagination.

Edmund took a deep breath in and placed his left foot on the threshold of the door. He held Eirene's wrist and pulled her inside. She resisted at first, but Edmund kept a strong grip. Eirene gave in and Edmund slammed the door behind her.

Both inside, he turned to look at the furniture in the room, figuring out if he could place something to place against the door. As he searched, Eirene merely stood in the middle of the room, petrified as if she could see hidden ghosts in the shadows.

"Some help here would be nice," Edmund said as he dragged a desk to the door. Eirene turned three quarters of her head as she spoke.

Her eyebrow was raised, and her voice perfectly serene as she spoke.

"The door has three locks. Bolt them all and no one will break in," she said.

He did as she instructed and then took a few steps back, hearing the guards slamming themselves against the door. But it didn't budge an inch. He smirked and then turned back around to search the room for actual usable weapons.

The room was seemingly empty; the furniture was covered in drapes and sheets, but there wasn't anything else. Eirene remained standing in the middle of the room, her eyes dancing about the corners focusing on empty spaces as if she could see something there.

Edmund went over to the closest window, examining if they could escape through there. He glanced at the courtyard below, and saw it plagued with guards, too.

"We need to find a way to leave," he said.

"I thought you wanted to find your sword,"

"I do—find the things, then leave. But there are far too many soldiers—"

Eirene moved across the room, her eyes with an aura of reminiscence to them. She placed her ear against the wall of the fireplace.

"There's…there's a passageway."

With a trembling hand, she turned over a pultruding latch, and then pressed it against the door. A floor tile moved, displaying a narrow corridor in the floor.

Hmm, a slide, Edmund thought, but kept quiet.

Eirene went in without hesitation. Edmund watched her disappear though the hole with velocity.

"In we go then," he said as he followed behind.

It wasn't a free fall experience like he'd been expecting. Instead, he descended a few narrow steps behind Eirene.

"If you knew the passageway was there why didn't you want to go in the room?'' Edmund dared ask. Eirene kept quiet for a moment.

"I thought you said you wanted your family's possessions?"

"I did."

"Well then, I'm taking you to them. The rest is really none of your business."

They followed the rest of the way silently. Every now and then the voices of screaming soldiers and the clashing of swords filtered into the narrow hallway.

As they crossed the darkened, dungeon-like corridors, Edmund had a strong feeling that he knew who were the non-telmarine soldiers fighting up above him. He remembered Peter's handwriting and the words it spelled, we brought Caspian back to Narnia alongside a mercenary army…

As Edmund's brain explored all those possibilities, Eirene halted in front of a cellar gate. She fiddled with a lock before opening it. They looked out ahead at the frenzied soldiers fighting in front of them.

Edmund advanced to the threshold of the gate next to her. He looked ahead, studying the chaotic scenery. Eirene turned to face him, and stared a second too long at his profile.

"Across the courtyard, over at that other floodgate. Beyond that is the armory and beyond that is the cellar where forgotten things are kept." Her voice went down low, her eyes flickered as if memories were playing inside them. "Whatever it was that we had with ourselves that day is over there," she finished.

Edmund turned and studied her.

"Good to know, but—the way I see it, you haven't escaped and you haven't really given me my possessions. That isn't holding up to your word, is it?"

Eirene narrowed her eyes. Edmund raised his eyebrow.

"I just told you where the relics might be,"

"Key word being might."

Eirene opened her mouth to answer, but a soldier interrupted.

"Look! That's the princess!"

"Stop her!" Another soldier shouted, "she's escaping!"

Two soldiers charged at them and Edmund met one with his sword, and kicked the other in the stomach, throwing him backwards. As Edmund sparred with the soldier, Eirene hit the other soldier on the head, knocking him out effectively.

Edmund took a second longer before he disarmed his opponent and slightly scratched him on the belly.

"Non lethal," he said, as he watched the soldier sink to his knees.

Edmund bent down to retrieve the soldier's sword. He flipped it on its pommel and extended it to Eirene.

"A deal's a deal, isn't it?" He said with a smirk. Eirene took the sword. Edmund finally discarded his own blunt sword and exchanged it with the weapon from the other fallen soldier.

"So. The other floodgate, you said?"

Eirene nodded. Edmund turned his eyes out to the courtyard again, vigilant in case he saw a familiar face. He didn't, but through a quick look, he noticed two things. The attacking soldiers had no sigils on their clothes, no uniform at all.

It was a confirmation of Peter's words. A mercenary army. Edmund felt his stomach sinking slightly. That meant that everything he'd read in the letter was becoming true.

He clutched his sword and looked out ahead, mapping out how to escape. Heavy rain fell, worse by the second it seemed. He couldn't make out the figures with clarity, but it seemed the fighting continued even in the parapets of the castle.

"Keep your end of the bargain then," Eirene said, distracting him from his thoughts, "I'll make sure to keep mine," she finished.

He watched her advance forward, into the chaotic courtyard. Edmund followed close behind. He saw her meet a soldier charging at her with his sword.

Edmund stayed close to her, like her shadow. He easily engaged with soldier after soldier, disarming them and injuring them just enough to leave them out of combat. Soldiers from both sides came at them, but none seemed to have the least amount of skill.

Under trained and lacking conviction, the soldiers were no difficulty to defeat. Both cut through them like reeds and kept on advancing at a steady pace.

"Duck," Eirene said. Edmund followed orders and heard an arrow fly above him. He turned his head toward Eirene as he stood.

"I thought I was supposed to help you, not the other way around," he said. Eirene smiled slightly and Edmund felt his soul lighten for a second.

He looked away and saw half the courtyard stretched before them still. Edmund saw a soldier advancing at Eirene, ready to hit her side. Edmund met his blade with his, deflecting the strike. Eirene took a step back, surprised.

"Go on," Edmund said with gritted teeth, "I'll catch up," he said, feeling the cold rain against his warm skin.

Eirene kept on advancing, but then a large group of better equipped soldiers caught up to her. They sported chainmills and large shields. Four of them stood before her, and amongst the rain Edmund heard them say, "Take her to the dungeons this time,"

Without a second thought, Edmund lunged forward against the soldier, this time without minding his strength. He cut through his opponent, hurrying to meet the soldiers circling Eirene.

Edmund fought soldier after soldier, Eirene pressing her back against his. Edmund realized they were finally only a few meters away from the floodgate, but he could not disengage from the fight.

Edmund heard the flapping of wings above him and the guards turned to look up. Edmund made good use of the distraction and unarmed some of the guards.

A lighting bolt ruptured the sky, fissuring the clouds just above them. Their surroundings flashed white and painted purple in the aftermath. Thunder rumbled then and the ground shook alongside it, effectively stopping the fighting for a long second.

All heads turned toward the sky, some waiting for the next lightning strike and others impressed with the figure of a circling griffin above them. Edmund kept his eyes glued on the griffin as well, who in turn moved alongside them, following him and ready to swoop in when instructed. He shook his head at him, thanking him.

Lightning cackled in the sky, bringing pink hues with it this time. Their movements became frozen for that second and Edmund heard Eirene gasp.

Lightning struck again and this time, Edmund saw Eirene's figure walking away in the opposite direction from the floodgate. She advanced hurriedly and Edmund, baffled, went behind her without a second thought.

As his steps followed hers, his eyes searched the surroundings hurriedly. He hoped to see whatever it was that she saw, even though part of him suspected what it was.

It took him only a second more to find what Eirene had seen. He saw him then, a brown haired boy, younger than them both, but with an uncanny resemblance to Eirene. Caspian.

Eirene, too concentrated on that familiar silhouette stopped paying attention to every other soldier around her. She was a moving target for both sides: an escaping prisoner for the telmarines, and an armed Telmarine for the mercenaries. Both sides desperately tried to catch her.

Edmund watched how she scurried away, running away and escaping every attack.

"Eirene! Wait!" He tried shouting, but it was as if she was deaf.

Soldiers charged at Edmund, and he realized then he had a choice to make. He eyed the floodgate, and then searched for Eirene making her way across the courtyard on her own.

It was either choosing to protect his family's gifts and the power they held, or to ensure Eirene's safety.

As she saw her advance further and further away, he remembered the excerpt of Susan's letter he'd read back at the badger's burrow, with a captured Eirene, Caspian led a battalion to save his sister….she was later imprisoned, executed."

Edmund clicked his tongue as he watched the floodgate from afar. He was aware how the letter continued, "Narnians reawakening ancient powers"—but that only came after Eirene's supposed arrest. He clenched his jaw, his thoughts going at a thousand miles per hour.

His priority had been retrieving his sibling's gifts. But the longer he thought about it, it seemed that the only way of keeping the country safe was by keeping its princess safe.

If he managed to safeguard her, then no ancient powers were going to be reawakened.

He kicked the attacking soldier back and slashed his sword across his chest. It was a split decision, taken in less than a second.

Pushing the soldier away, he knew he had chosen her. He was choosing to safeguard his country by safeguarding her.

And that decision was the beginning and the end of everything.