Hello! It's been a while, which is both sad and a bit of a relief. I needed the time away, swamped with schoolwork as I was. However, with most of it done and over with, as well as a recent burst of inspiration, I'll hopefully be back to posting on my regular non-existing schedule. If you're still here, still wanting to see this story come to an end, thank you. I hope you enjoy!

Sitting with his back against the wall, Edmund wondered how furious Adeline was with them. The rays of the sun had long since started to trail along the opposite wall, bars casting shadows that further reminded him of their imprisonment. By Aslan, he was going to die. Either for refusing to be sold or because the love of his life lectured him to an early grave. He groaned. "She's going to kill us both."

"I'm well aware, Ed," Caspian replied. He had been pacing back and forth since they had been thrown into the cell, occasionally kicking at the door as though it would eventually budge. "She'll lord it over us that she warned us, remind us that we shouldn't have left her behind, and by the end of it she'll just have us dig our own graves." He wanted to argue that there was no way they could have ever known that they would be ambushed and taken captive by slave traders. But Adeline had informed them of the risks, had told them that the Lone Islands had not followed Narnian law in many centuries. Slavery was a Calormene practice, and therefore also a Telmarine one. The Telmarines who had travelled to the Lone Islands following the invasion had established themselves there, made the formerly Narnian isles an independent nation that honoured Telmarine traditions. "We need to get out."

From the shadows, a raspy voice spoke. "It's no use, young man."

Both kings started, neither having noticed that they were not alone.

"That door will not move without them opening it, and you'll not want to be you when they do."

Caspian stared into the darkness of the corner that would likely never see the sun, trying to discern a figure. A man, old and frail, moved closer to the light. Frowning, the young king believed himself to see a familiar face beneath the unkempt hair and scraggly beard. "Lord Bern?" The man gasped, looking up at him in surprise before he curled in on himself, muttering darkly about how he no longer deserved the title. "Edmund, he is one of the seven." Caspian crouched before the man, holding perfectly still as Lord Bern reached out as if to touch him.

"I once dearly loved a king with your face," Lord Bern said solemnly. "A good man he was, and an even better king."

"That man was my father."

Immediately, Lord Bern bowed down, taking his king's hand to kiss. He was stunned when the young man merely grasped his shoulder and gave him an earnest smile. No king, not even Caspian the Ninth, had ever looked at him in such a way. "My lord, please forgive me," he whispered reverently. "I was a coward, my lord, fleeing…"

"Please, Lord Bern, you needn't apologise," Caspian insisted, helping the old man stand. "You were given no choice."

A scream echoed in the cell, causing Edmund to jump. He rushed to the barred window, trying to see what the ruckus was. On the street below, a cart full of people was dragged away by horses. A man was following, screaming a woman's name, the man himself followed by a little girl crying out for her mother. Nausea overcame him as he understood what was happening. He forced himself to watch as the man was pulled away roughly and fell to the ground with a blow to the jaw. They were his people still. He had a responsibility to help them. He felt Caspian climb up beside him, both of them seeing how the slave traders loaded the people into boats. "Where are they taking them?"

Lord Bern observed them sadly. "Keep watching."

They did. They watched as the boat was pushed from the dock, watched as the skies darkened and a green mist appeared. They watched, shocked and horrified, as it swallowed innocent people. Caspian turned to Lord Bern, eyes wide and heart beating rapidly. "What happened?"

"It's a sacrifice."

"Where did they go?"

"No one knows."

Edmund shuddered. None of his encounters with sacrifices had been without bloodshed. Adeline's promise to the Deep Magic. The Witch's first ritual. His own promise to the Deep Magic. The Witch's second ritual. All of them had demanded blood. All of them had been preceded by a great danger. Something told him that he was about to find out why he and Lucy had been summoned to Narnia.

Adeline leaned heavily against the wall beside her, vision blurry with tears and the metallic scent of blood still lingering in her mind even as the sky cleared as quickly as it had clouded. She blinked several times, pushing at the memories suddenly trying to force themselves to the forefront of her mind. There was no time to dwell on the past. Not now. Not when she was so close.

"Surely they must have gone somewhere." Caspian dropped down from the wall to face Lord Bern again. While he had come to learn that magic was very much real and very much a part of his country, he had never heard of a green mist which took people as sacrifices. Adeline had been happy to tell him about magical phenomena he might encounter during his rule, and she had never mentioned any such ritual.

"It was first seen in the east," Lord Bern told him. "Fishermen and sailors were disappearing out at sea, never to be seen again." He looked down at his own trembling hands, remembering the faces of his brethren as they all swore to stop the evil from spreading. "There were rumours of the Great East Ocean pulling them into its depths, before the mist came closer and they understood what had really happened." With a grim expression, Lord Bern lowered himself to the floor again. He had let his king and his country down. He had failed. "Now, if you're not sold into the slave trade, you're sent as a sacrifice to the mist."

Staggering back as the full weight of Lord Bern's words, coupled with Lucy and Eustace's absence, hit him, Caspian turned worried eyes to Edmund. His friend's gaze was wide with trepidation. They had both come to the same conclusion. "We have to find them."

Edmund nodded. "Before it's too late."

Lurking in the darker corners of the marketplace, Adeline kept carefully hidden under her cloak as she watched the slave traders sell lives like they were fruit at a festival. Her blood ran hot as she saw them pull up a boy, barely seven summers old to the podium. Fingers itching to grab her dagger, she sucked in a deep breath to regulate her temper. If all went according to plan, the boy would never be forced to accept a master. None of them would.

Drinian had suggested sneaking in undetected to rescue their kings and queen before simply leaving. Reepicheep had immediately objected, reminding him sharply that it was not right to leave the innocent people of the Lone Islands to fend against the slave traders on their own. The Mouse Chief then went on to explain that it would be better to go in undercover and take the entire slave trade down in one fell swoop while they were all gathered in the same place. Needless to say, Adeline had agreed with him.

So she watched, furious, as bidding began on the boy. Edmund and Caspian were nowhere to be seen, while Lucy and Eustace were chained to a wall alongside several others near the podium. They had to wait until they had eyes on Caspian and Edmund before they made a move. Adeline scanned the surrounding buildings. The slightest sign of life was all they needed.

On the podium, Lucy tried not to let fear overtake her fully as the bidding started on her, hefty sums called out from several of the men. She was helpless and had no idea where her brother and Caspian were. Not to mention the crew. Under no circumstances had they been able to contain Adeline for long. So where was she? Where were Drinian and Reepicheep? Lucy could do nothing but submit as the bidding closed and she was tugged off to the side only to be replaced by Eustace. Looking up at the sky, she sent a silent prayer to Aslan and the Deep Magic.

Paying not even an ounce of attention to the spiel about whatever had sparked Eustace's ire, Adeline watched with rapidly diminishing patience for any sign of Edmund and Caspian. She needed them alive if only so she could lecture them to death herself. Then she saw it. A familiar head of brown hair peeking over a half-wall. Caspian. She gave a short whistle.

"I'll take them off your hands," Reepicheep called to the auctioneer. "I'll take them all off your hands!"

Drinian tossed his cloak off, as did the others, and Adeline was quick to follow. For the first time in a long time, she revelled in the fear she saw in the foul men's eyes as they spotted her. A mystery she might be to many, but unknown she was not. A flash of silver, followed by infinite red. Another vision, eerily similar, flashed before her mind's eye. With a gasp, Adeline blinked it away, once again haunted by the scent of blood. Removing the dagger from the man's throat, she quickly sheathed it. Anyone who traded with lives as if they were some kind of deity deserved the worst of punishments. But that was not her place anymore.

She was broken out of her stupor by a scream and her head snapped up from the man at her feet to the other side of the marketplace, where Caspian had thrown a man over the half-wall. His wrists were cuffed. Hmm. Pity. With a roll of her eyes, she dove into the fray again, not daring to lay a finger on the gleaming silver at her belt.

While the others fought off the slave traders, Reepicheep came to the rescue for Lucy. She grinned gratefully at him as he used the thin blade of his sword to pick the lock to her binds. "Thanks, Reep, I knew you'd come." He bowed gallantly before tearing off into the battle with a cry. Lucy herself joined in, using the heavy ledger in which the auctioneer had written down sales as a weight to knock her attackers out. It felt rather gratifying too, to have them be taken down by something they themselves had contributed to.

Around them, the people who had been too afraid to stand up for themselves started to come out of their homes, carrying all sorts of makeshift weapons. A woman smashed a vase over the head of a man held still by a member of the Dawn Treader's crew. Similarly, another woman smacked another slave trader several times across the face as he tried in vain to fight against his captor. Lucy smirked. Long ago, Adeline had told her and her siblings, though they had been words of warning at the time, that all it took to spark revolution was one open act of rebellion. 'Keep your people pleased, and no such thing will ever happen.' Unfortunately, not all walked around with the terrifying prospect of Adeline's disapproval hanging above their heads.

Speaking of heads, Adeline ducked as hers was nearly taken off by a flying slave trader. She whirled around. "Jemain!" The minotaur bowed his head abashedly, throwing his next attacker in the opposite direction. Straightening herself, Adeline nodded curtly. "Thank you."

It did not take long. Once the Narrowhaven citizens took a stand, they made quick work of the rest of the traders. To see a once terrified and oppressed people find their way back to freedom was as emotional as it was gratifying. Yet the former General did not stay to catch the celebration. Her poor mood at having been left behind had only been made worse by the strange dizziness and the memories flooding forward. Adeline retreated to the ship, heart heavy and thoughts muddled. She had believed that the hard part was over. It was not. Not even close.

Maybe it was because he knew her so well, or maybe it was because he was more attuned to her than ever before, but Edmund could tell that something was very wrong with his best friend. Though she smiled and joked with the crew, though she urged on Jemain and Tavros when they insisted on their tests of strength, he saw the way her mind strayed further away from them. It worried him. The Adeline that had left Narrowhaven was much different to the one who had trained them for the First Battle of Beruna, and she was even more different than the girl who had greeted him upon his arrival on the Dawn Treader.

Lucy had noticed as well, and she shared a concerned glance with her brother. Adeline had not scolded them when they returned to the ship. Even hours later, when they had convened in the stateroom to discuss their next course of action, a prime opportunity for her to give them a piece of her mind, she had been absent.

They set sail to the east, determined to cross the Great East Ocean and find the source of the mist. Darkness fell and was chased away as a new day dawned. With the exception of the new recruit to their cause, a man by the name of Rhince who was seeking his wife, everything had swiftly gone back to being mostly work and some play after their adventure in Narrowhaven. So when Edmund saw the crew distracted by Eustace and Reepicheep in a duel, the cause and result of which he did not particularly pay any mind to, he dipped away to find Adeline.

She was staring at the map in the stateroom when he walked in, fingers trailing over the paper as she occasionally tapped at seemingly random points. Edmund was surprised to see that she did not seem to notice his entry. For as long as they had known one another, she was always the one to preach about vigilance and caution. "What's on your mind?"

Adeline jumped, hand flying to the hilt of her dagger. She stopped herself as she laid eyes on the man intruding on her moment of privacy. With a shaky breath, she looked down at the map again. "I was merely considering alternate routes," she replied. "When I sailed these waters there was a formation of jagged cliffs in the water just here and—"

"Adeline…"

"—it really would be a shame if we were caught on them, we would be delayed indefinitely and as much as he would like to find his father's friends, Caspian needs to return home soon and—"

"Adeline!"

She sucked in a breath, nails digging into the palms of her hands as she stood up straight. Edmund was getting closer and she refused to breathe, refused to associate that awful smell that haunted her with him. It would not stop. The metallic, sickly smell. She wanted to close her eyes but knew what image would be there if she did. "I'll be just fine," she hissed, teeth clenched. "I needed a moment alone."

"Don't lie to me." Edmund took a careful step forward, decreasing the distance between them further. He reached out to take her hands, not as oblivious as she likely wanted to think to the crescents of red that were forming there. "Something is weighing on you," he said quietly, "and I would like to know how I can help."

Tears blurred her vision. Movement through the haze had her back there. In the precise moment she had never told anyone about. Those precious seconds where she had nearly succeeded in bringing him back. His gaze so soft, so like the one she loved dearly. Don't do this, Adeline. But his eyes changed, turned steely and sharp and cruel. She lifted her dagger to defend against his attack. A flash of silver… Adeline!

Blinking rapidly, she came back to the present. Edmund stared at her, eyes wide with shock. Her dagger rested comfortably in her hand, its tip digging into the flesh of his abdomen. Adeline dropped it to the floor with a clang, lifting a shaking hand to her mouth. The damage was not grave in the slightest, but it would have been. Had she followed through, the angle of the blade would have caused a wound that would have left him dead in minutes. The tears slipped down her cheeks as she took a staggering step backwards. She shook her head when Edmund followed. "Please," she whispered. "Don't."

"Tell me what happened."

"No."

"Adeline, it's been centuries, you need to tell someone."

"I hurt you, why would you—"

"You stopped."

"I almost didn't."

"But you did." He bent down to pick up the dagger, holding it out to her. "You trust this blade even though it can hurt you because it won't." When she backed farther away from him, he held it even more insistently towards her. Adeline shook her head. Reaching out, Edmund took her hand, gently prying her fingers open as he placed the hilt in her trembling grasp. "I know you could hurt me, kill me even, but you won't." He let go of her, watching her stare down at the intricate metal. He would never blame her for losing control. Ever. She had held so tightly to it for so long that he was genuinely surprised it had not happened sooner. "Tell me what happened."

Hands still shaking, Adeline returned the blade to its sheath. "Ever since we set out on this journey," she admitted quietly, "I've been remembering." Feeling her hold on herself return, she met Edmund halfway as he reached out to pull her close. The metallic scent was gone, as was the memory she had believed to be etched into the back of her eyelids. She burrowed her face into his chest, letting herself be held for a while. "I knew I would, it's to be expected," she continued, voice muffled by his body. "But since the mist… I've been watching him die, Ed, over and over."

"Him?"

"William." Adeline lifted her head to look up at Edmund. "He was a great man and an even better king, the brother who took it upon himself to raise us all." She shook her head, pulling out of her best friend's embrace. No one knew. Not her father, not Edmund, maybe not even the Deep Magic. Even she had forgotten, for a long time, wrought with guilt. Could she tarnish his memory so, after so many centuries? Then again… what memories were there to ruin? The rule of the First Four was long since a mere fairytale, if that. The history books had been burnt, the islands infected had been drowned. "I killed them, Ed."

Recognizing that she needed room to breathe, Edmund leaned against the desk and lifted the hem of his shirt to inspect the small cut she had made. It truly was a superficial injury, a scrape in comparison to the damage he had sustained in battles. "You can't hide, Addie," he murmured, letting the stained fabric fall.

She nodded. "I know." Her voice was scarcely more than a whisper. They felt forbidden, the words in her mind, no matter the truth they held. "Fabian… Edith… Narnia was brought to the brink of ruin by their hand." Edmund knew that. She had told him all those years ago. He knew everything. Except for one thing. "He struck first." As was her habit when she spoke of her siblings, Adeline unsheathed her blade and let the edge press three thin lines into the palm of her hand. A promise sealed with blood and silver.

"He tried to hurt you?" Edmund could not claim to be surprised. He had seen what the Witch's magic could do.

Once again, Adeline nodded, tears clouding her vision once again. "The others, they were to protect Narnia… William, he was to protect me."

Pulling her back into his arms, Edmund pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "You did the right thing." Adeline was trembling, her tears sinking into the fabric of his tunic. "It's getting closer, isn't it?" She nodded. He still remembered the prophecy, the words that had strung his and her life together. Silver struck, once, twice, thrice. She who hurt must pay the price. Bound to he who broke their trust, she build a better kingdom must. Once the four have had their turn, will she be free to home return.