Chapter 11; unsavory revelations

Aline opened her eyes to the eerie iridescence of a torch lit against the wall that seemed so familiar.. oh right! She was in her room. The events of the past night washed over her in a frenzy as a shudder made it's way down her spine. No way it was just a bad dream was it?

"Lady Aline! You're awake!" a distinctively girly voice proclaimed, "You just missed His Majesty. He had to leave post haste to tend to something important but tasked me to stay by your side lest you wake up all alone in here!"

"You mean Edmund was here?"

The little centaur girl she'd woken up to, who seemed to be around thirteen or fourteen years of age, nodded as she blushed unmistakably at the mention of his name.

"Oh great you're awake," a voice called from the doorway, "Thank you Gerine, you are dismissed."

Aline could've swore Gerine's face turned as red as tomato ketchup at the mention of her name and despite the bleary situation she found herself having to stiffle a laugh as the little one left with a bow to him and a thinly veiled look of jealousy towards her.

"How are you feeling?" the Just King questioned and was that concern and relief she saw on his face?

"Surprisingly better than I'd expect to feel after being shot by an arrow," Her stomach rumbled at that moment. "Also hungry, it seems."

Edmund chuckled, "I know, I've sent word to the kitchen to get you some soup. You've been unconscious for two whole days Aline."

What the hell?

"The cordial healed the arrow wound but the poison in it put one hell of a fight."

"Isn't the cordial's healing supposed to be something instantaneous?" she questioned.

"It should, typically." he poured a glass of water from her bed side which made Aline realise exactly how parched she was. "But you're safe now and alive."

"I guess.. that's all that matters right?" she forced a feeble smile.

The night before the entire fiasco made a comeback before her eyes, the way he'd held her close and the way he'd smiled so freely with his hand on her waist and the moment she laid her head on his chest..

"Lucy wanted to be here for you when you woke up, too bad you chose the middle of the night to do that," he smirked. "But then hey, you're getting me all to yourself tonight so no complaining there." Aline rolled her eyes before frowning.

"I want to know what was going on that night," she started, "it was-" she found herself unable to continue the gravity of the situation hitting her like a speeding train as she thought about it. People were dead. People were dead trying to protect her.

"In due time. Now what you need is some rest to recover."

"No!" she cut him off fiercely, her hand gripping his arm as if threatening to not let it go if he wasn't going to answer her question and that is what she intended to do. "I can't forget it Edmund. I remember it all, I remember the stench of blood and that sickening noise of swords clashing and the cries and I remember the look on that man's face when he told me to flee.. He had a family, a wife! And now he's dead."

Edmund's face turned tender for a moment as he took her hand in his. He knew exactly how it felt like, he was only a mere boy when he was shoved into his first battle, "It's not your fault Aline. He was a soldier, he knew what was getting into. He died with honor and that is the way he would want to be remembered."

"No," her voice was small, "he died to give me a chance to live," she felt her heart heavy as the words left her lips. "And who am I, Ed? Why does my life have to be more valuable than anyone else's? Because you commanded it so?"

"Because.. you're special. Dont ask me how I know. The very fact that you found your way here, to Narnia means she has need of you. No Daughter of- human-" he corrected himself to convey it to her properly, "has been called to Narnia and had no purpose or destiny to fulfill. Nor do I think your arrival here and the stirring trouble are any coincidence. But for what it's worth, if Narnia called you here, she needs you and as long as that remains true my siblings and I are responsible for your protection, and so we will."

"What does Narnia need from me? I just some random high school girl with average grades for crying out loud! There's nothing I could do that anyone of you couldn't!"

Edmund seemed to be lost in his own thoughts for me minute, "I have no idea yet and that's what we need to find out, though I have an inkling it's not a little. Narnia demands her sacrifices but trust me the reward is always sweet." he squeezed her palm in his hand distinctly making her aware to the fact that, he was yet to let go of it. Aline felt a warmth rush through her body prayed it didn't show. "If it bothers you that much," he continued with a pause, "you could come help me comb through old manuscripts and documents to see if there's any mention of any prophecy that would explain your disposition."

She shrugged, "Yeah, that sounds about fine."

"I shall leave you to rest then."

"Wait," Aline called. "We were in the secret throne room when I was.. well you know what. How did anyone get in there in the first place?"

Edmund paused. "We're still looking into it," he quickly.decided against letting her know her almost murderer was currently under their custody. "Good night, Al," he wished her before leaving.

Edmund knew what he had to do next. Before she woke up, he'd just recieved word the assassin was awake and transferred to the dungeons. He hoped his guards did a good job at extracting information, he'd hate to get his hands dirty with this one, but oh well with his luck- the look on their faces confirmed it. Oh well, just his luck. A wicked smile spread across his lips as he walked into the cell. By no means did the Just King enjoy doing what he had to but the look in his victims eyes and the stench of their fear, there definitely was something subtly alluring about it all.. "Well Anoclen," the King called out to the soldier guarding the dungeon entrance, "Seems like you won't be getting to sleep on shift tonight. This might get too.. loud for your comfort."

Aline sat up in the middle of the night to a fever and sweat drenching her cotton covers. If someone were to witness the state she'd woken up in they would've been sure to recognise the clearly inebriated state she was in. Yes, she was sleep walking. All she heard while in a world of her own, walking through some woods fallen autumn leaves down her feet instead of her rich carpeted floor and sunlight spilling through the lush foliage instead of the sparse nightly lit candle light in her lit room. A melody seemed to lead her forward and so she followed she knew not what existed at the end of this tuneful path but something told her she should pursue and so she did.

Almost unconsciously she turned on her door knob and down the dark winding path way her feet took her. She passed the tapestry that had held her interest ever since she'd set her eyes on it the first time without a second glance and as she went the path in the woods grew more winding, narrow and dark as the tune in her head beckoned her forward now with a sense of urgency. Her feet tred lightly on the stone cold floor, the girl moved like a shadow with not a hint of disturbance in an almost supernatural manner. She felt more a ghost and if there were anyone to witness it they would've claimed so.

If she was awake she'd have been surprised at the lack of guards or servant throughout the distance she'd covered but in the state as she was she barely noticed even as she almost glided past a pair of sleeping guards. Right then and there, abruptly the melody in her head came to a stop. And that was when Aline woke up.

Coming to her senses, she was bewildered to find herself not wrapped in the comfort of her cotton sheets. Instead she found herself in the middle of a winding corridor. The flaming torches on either side of the narrowly winding walls seemed to be the only comfort within the eerily haunting confines of what she would soon come to discover as the Cair's dungeons. Bars flanked her left and right, obscuring the view inside the roughly cut stone cubicles that served as prisons.

A fear gripped her heart accompanied by curiosity. What the hell was going on and why was she here? Her feet slid across the damp, moss ridden stone and not for the first time did she feel the grip from her feet to the ground slacken.Aline pressed her fingers through her nightgown to feel healed flesh and fresh, new skin right where the arrow had pierced her stomach. Lucy's fireflower cordial did it's work indeed well, though the entire night seemed a lifetime away though it had truly only been some hours past.

Aline shivered the cold getting past her thin night gown just as a shrill scream reached her ears. She was no coward, but at that and in this scenario that she could make no sense of there was nothing she wanted as much as to run away. But where? Aline thought. Turning behind, the way she'd walked in stretched before her a hauntingly long passage way. And then.. Edmund? Was that his voice? It felt so close. A warmth spread through her cold shivering body. If he was nearby all she had to do was find him.

She gathered up her skirts walking in an hurry towards the turn in the passage way that she'd just noticed where the voice seemed to have carried over, though only to be met with disappointment as she came to a dead end.It was nothing but a circular stone cavern like structure with a ceiling so high she couldn't make out where the darkness ended and the ceiling began. A few torches were stuck at asymmetrical places to illuminate the darkness but other than that the light that shone in was the silvery moonlight from holes for windows somewhere high up in the stone walls. Then she heard it again, his voice she knew for sure. Well, if he wasn't in here then he had to be somewhere near. Were they even in the Cair? Her mind riled pondering about her mysterious circumstance. Actually, she wasn't even in fact sure if this was just some twisted dream..

The cutting sound of a cruel laugh brought her attention back to focus on her current goal. "I'll tell you all that, and more," sounded a hiss she seemed to recognise to be a bit too familiar, "over my dead body."

Aline pressed her ears to the stone wall beside her.. no it came over muffled now this wasn't it. She made her way to the other side of the room only to find something even better. Great! There was a hole in between the large stone walls, big enough to fit her head through which also meant she had a clear view of what was going on. She had to clamp her hand to her mouth to keep her from screaming out.

In the dim light she could make out a chair in the middle of the other room and sat in it shackled was someone with their face though turned towards her, the lighting obscuring her view of particular features though the build of the silhouette suggested it was of a man. She felt bile rise up her throat as her mind jumped to conclusions as to what was going on, especially when she saw him... Edmund, walk towards the tied up man his back faced to her, his every step sounding loud in the almost too quiet room like an echo the beats of her heart.

"Too bad," she heard the Just King remark as his eyes casually browsed over somethings that looked like an assortment of deadly weapons lying in front of him, "Death is a luxury am not willing to offer. At least not yet."

Her heart dropped. With a start, Aline realised what she had intruded on and where exactly she was. And for the first time, Aline saw the boy she had almost flirted with a mere two days ago, for the King he was. His face was expressionless and his voice sounding almost alien and dangerous, as if he meant what he said. This surely wasn't the boy, she was almost flirting with. This was King Edmund. Aline could only place her hand over her mouth to cover a scream that threatened to tear it's way through her throat at the sudden revelation.

With a subtle flick of his wrist the sharp point of the knife plunged towards the restrained man's bare chest as Aline closed her eyes, forcing back the lump of fear, think Aline, think! she urged herself. She was positive she recognised the voice of the restrained man, and if it was true could only mean nothing but trouble, as highly unlikely as it was..

To her surprise it wasn't the guttural sound of a man's last cry that made it's way to her ears, but rather the malicious sound of a cold, cruel laugh. She opened her preciously shut eyes to see through her restricted view, that the glinting steel tip the King wielded never made contact with skin nor the flesh underneath it but rather stood hovering some mere millimeters above.

"What's wrong?" that voice taunted, "Don't want to sully those royal hands by taking a man's life, eh? Or perhaps just too cowar-" Aline wished him to stop whatever it was that he intended to say right then, she could see the rage that twisted the said King's face. Even from the slight distance between them, her sharp sight could make out the slight shiver in his arm which held the knife. She could see his control slip. His rage take over. Then came the screams that made Aline want to move her hands to cover her ears but she dared not move them from their current position covering her mouth as pain shot up her arm the girl suddenly realizing she'd been biting them.

But it wasn't the chest that took the mark of the blade, but rather his hand, or to be specific a little finger. It was all Aline could do to keep that weird tasting substance that rose to her throat, where it belonged.

"Am sorry, and you were saying?" the Just King questioned with the same cool, indifferent voice as before. And somehow, that managed to scare her more than all that rage.

"So, considered my offer yet?" Edmund said leaning back, filing his finger nails an almost bored look in his face as if he was rather negotiating some business proposition rather than having just cut a man's finger clean off his hand. This was not the Edmund she knew. Her eyes stung from holding back the tears that threated to pour out of it. Whatever that was going on in between them aside, she couldn't make sense of anything.She couldn't reconcile the man who stood before her to the man who'd waited by her bedside till she woke up and comforted her. She didn't know him. She didn't want to.

All that replied his question was the poorly concealed whimper that emanated from where the prisoner sat shackled, and now one finger-less.

"Or perhaps, you'd rather prefer screaming like a girl, once again." As a reply, a wad of spit landed on the side of his face. "So I see, you'd rather prefer the latter. Peculiar specimen for a human being, you are." the Just King smiled vilely. Aline just knew she had to react, she couldn't let anyone get tortured right in front of her much less someone she suspect she had a rather peculiar relationship with. Yet as much as she'd wanted to she dared not make a single noise.

Whereas somewhere high above them, the first light of dawn was breaking through, painting the dark sky in morn's pastel shades. Looking up, she could say so, by the beam of light beginning to pour in through a hole in the stone cavern she was spying into. Edmund stepped back, his side turned towards her hidden direction almost as if to enjoy the work of his hands that he was now standing right under the glare of the sunbeams that now enveloped his whole form. Highlighting the Just King's sharp features, bathing them in an ethereal golden glow.

Even from the distance, she could make out his thick lashes, the high cheekbones, plump lips reddened with all that wine. The knife hat he now twirled in his hand, glinted dangerously. He looked cold, cruel, dangerous and.. beautiful. Almost like an angel. An avenging angel, sculpted in all the cruel beauty of heaven ready to execute judgement.

But, he was dangerous, she had to remind herself. Yes, beautiful. But yet.. dangerous. Fire is beautiful, that is if you observed from the sidelines. Play with it, and it will burn you. Prey on your flesh. Reduce you to the ashes you came from. She knew it only all too well.

"You will pay for this." the all to familiar voice rasped snapping back her attention, and at that, Aline wasn't sure if it was just her imagination or if something had actually changed. She felt the whole room grow smaller, the stone wall she was hiding behind beginning to shake in as the light from the torches in the other room grew dimmer and dimmer. She backed away from her crouched position though the occupants on the other side hardly noticed.

Edmund leaned in, dangerously close. "In what? Silver or gold?"

A cold laugh replied his question. But it wasn't the one she'd remembered. The cold, cruel sound cut through the circular chamber, disturbingly before resonating back in an echo. Aline stumbled back as she felt something shift beneath her feet, like when someone had pulled the carpet. But looking down, there was nothing beneath her feet except roughly cut, cold, hard stone.

A scream escaped her lips only to alert the Just King, "Who's out there?" he called out, "Reveal yourself!" Aline shuddered at the tone of his voice. Her heart beat faster than she'd ever felt it get and her mouth seemed parched and a heavy weight seemed to set on her shoulders like she knew not what to think anymore. All she felt right now was fear. Fear of him.

Before she could even begin to reply the stone wall in between them shifted. She had to stumble back, a hand held to her mojth to muffle her cry, "Aline?" she heard him call out in disbelief and she knew running away now was futile. "Aline move behind, do you hear me? I see you there, back off the wall, now!" apparently what was happening was surprising him as well. "Is- Is this an earthquake?" the man called out and Aline couldn't help but agree except that looking behind her the room was perfectly still except for that one wall that separated them.

Making his way through the rubble, clearly confused as to what went down, Edmund saw her crounched against the opposite wall, looking at him as if she'd seen a ghost. A million things should've occurred to him, things that were important such as, what the hell was she doing here? How did she get here in fact? But all he could ask her was, "Are you alright?"

She nodded albeit backing away from him. Her face contorted as if she was holding back tears and if she had seen the whole scene, he wouldn't even blame her. "Don't- don't touch me," she almost whispered, which only confirmed his suspicions.

He withdrew the hand he'd reached out to help her with a sinking feeling he couldn't quite put his hand on, "Get up." It was more of a command than a request. She complied and he led her past the rubble, "What the hell did you just do?" he looked at their surrounding, "Or do I ask, how the hell did you just do it?"

"I swear, I did nothing. I promise Edmund I- I have no idea how I even- just let me go please- you have to believe me." the way her eyes flitted to the tied up man and then to the discarded knife on the floor to the speck of blood on his shirt and then back to the man.. his grip tightened on her wrist.

Their staring contest was only broken by a noise like the crack of a whip that made her jump. A slap. Black eyes stared into blue as she heard Edmund almost growl, "You don't look at her. You don't talk to her. Scratch that, you don't even breathe the same air she breathes."

The malice in his voice scared her so much that she gasped, sucking in a breath she didn't realize that she'd held. And he turned. His eyes widened a moment, as if he was thinking what to do with her.

Aline wished that she could walk away. She didn't even know who he was anymore. Not that she could ever claim to have known him in the first place, but she had felt this feeling deep inside, that perhaps that was not all that was to him. And at times, like tonight before at the mayhem when she'd felt they could actually get along almost fine, and she'd hoped he'd felt it too. But she was wrong. As was that feeling.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but was suddenly cut short by a violent tremor that shook the ground around them once more. Aline stumbled back, her hand slipping against the damp wall as she reached on for support. The middle of the room, or to be exact the silver chair bolted to the strong stone floor beneath, that held the man began to vibrate dangerously, as a raw scream tore its was from the prisoner's throat.

The chains that wound around his arms and legs fell away as he rose up from his shackled position in an almost mechanical manner. She had to bite the back of her hand as Aline looked into eyes. Eyes that had been green, very much similar to hers now go white, completely.

He turned to his side to face the Just King already ready with his sword drawn out in his arm. The prisoner (no more) smirked, a lop sided smile on his lips his blind gaze lingering over the drawn sword that glinted dangerously. Edmund's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" the King seemed unfazed.

"Well, well, well. As much a rather intriguing question that is, don't you think, Just King, a more appropriate question would be, who is she?" The voice that came now from the man now floating a feet above the ground, empty white eyes turning to face the place where she stood, was now more feminine than she'd heard. What the hell was going on here? And what did she have to do with all of this?

Sparing not as much a glance at her side, the Just King was quick to reply, "I don't think that was what I wanted to know." His voice betrayed no fear, even if he felt it that is, whereas Aline found herself trembling at her knees. And for a fleeting moment Aline almost felt ashamed at herself.

His form flickered, momentarily transforming into a ghastly black attire, his face almost transforming to a much more sharper feminine form. He floated limply in his airborne position, towards where the Just King stood, his sword raised up.

Even as Aline watched the formerly flickering image began to solidify ever so slowly, though shrouded by a wall of translucent mist. The figure of the prisoner taking on a more slender form. She almost felt the temperature drop down for a not so few degrees, and from the look on his face, she could say Edmund felt it too.

"King Edmund, the Just they say." the female voice taunted. "I've heart a lot about you. Aye, you and your siblings, and I must rather add," the mist shrouding her began to swirl and twist, revealing beneath them a shiny black attire adorned with blood red stones. Like rubies on coal. "I am quite disappointed, my king. You're just kids. One would've been inclined to think Aslan had more sense, but alas!"

"Well then, sorry for the disappointment." he replied rolling his eyes sarcastically.

A velvety chuckle echoed through the room. "You just don't know what you're up against do you, silly boy?"

"Then, enlighten me."

Instead of replying, the whole figure just turned, it's unseeing gaze fixed towards the place she was standing. A crude smile spread up her lips before momentarily flickering back to the face of the man Aline was well acquainted with. For a moment its eyelids closed and when they were reopened they were back to the same green. But it was just for a moment before it turned all white again. "If that is what you ask for, my king," but Aline was sure it wasn't spoken out loud. The echoes resounding deep inside her brain, shivers tingling down her spine.

Then all of a sudden, the mist disappeared and the cracks on the stone floors closed up though the stone wall that had acted as a barrier in between them remained broken. She looked towards Edmund only to find him looking back at her, a glazed expression on his face. She wanted to reach out for his hand, and have him assure her that none of this happened, that it was just a weird hallucination or a dream or whatever it was, as long as it wasn't real.

But he didn't. Instead what happened was the very opposite of what she wanted. A glaring affirmation of what she feared. A guttural scream cut through, and she rose her gaze to the figure still impossibly suspended in mid air, before it began dropping downwards. He began convulsing and that was it, she rushed to his side. Even as Aline watched, more cuts opened up his bare torso and even on his face. That perfect face, that she so detested.

"Aline.." he managed, "I'm sorry. All of it, I didn't, I never meant to-"

"Save it." she cut him off half-way. "Edmund," she called trying to staunch the blood flow. "Ed, call somebody, help me."

But the King made no move, instead, "How does he know you?" he questioned, his voice thick with suspicion.

"I-" her voice faltered, "I'll explain it all later."

He made no move.

"Edmund, please?"

His eyes staring back at her filled with doubt. "I know nothing about you Aline. How do I know you mean no harm to Narnia, or my family?"

Aline almost felt like laughing out loud. Her? Yes her, a defenseless seventeen year old girl who can't walk without tripping on her own feet, a threat to his precious country? But she knew arguing with him would get her no where. So instead she went for the blatant truth.

"He is my brother."

Author's Note : So finally the plot begins! Actually I didn't want to post this until like after 5 chapters but then I did a rough plan and saw that if I wanted to include everything I want the story goes over 75 chapters, so then I thought why not? And shortened out some stuff. Am sorry people if this seems kinda rushed up, but well you know with my erratic uploading habits and I could only imagine when I would get around to finishing this! But anyway, I'd love to know your opinion on this, I could make the story shorter and finish it with just this, or else I could split the book into two variants. What would you prefer? Though I must guess the latter would take a bit longer to complete.

Also thank you so much for my new followers, WELCOME TO THE STORY!