Edmund threw his head from side to side, searching for the captain that had once been his friend. Ziddim was nowhere to be seen; he'd disappeared into the mass of fighting warriors, but Edmund knew he would see the wolf again.
Out of all of all the soldiers in Narnia's ranks, Edmund had considered Ziddim most loyal - next to Oreius, that is. The thought that one so close to him could even think of betrayal was alien to him. Ziddim had been with Edmund on every conquest since their reign began. The two of them sat together; they joked together, laughed together. They were imprisoned and escaped together. They had seen each other at their worst. Next to his siblings, Edmund would have considered Ziddim his closest friend.
Such thoughts, however, had to be pushed from his mind. This moment required his full attention. It was part of the rules in Narnia's military that any grief for a lost friend must be preserved until the battle is over. Ziddim was just as lost as if he had been killed in battle; he was killed in battle. Ziddim had lost the battle with himself - the most important battle one could fight.
Edmund would have to mourn that loss later. For, now, he could see Peter just a few hundred feet away from him, fighting masses of Calormenes soldiers.
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Peter could feel himself becoming more weary, but there was no way he would let it show. He was in the trance of battle, killing and killing, barely distinguishing between the soldiers he slaughtered.
A sudden flicker of movement in the corner of his eye alerted Peter of the position of his next victim. He rose his sword to cut down the enemy, but froze when he found that it wasn't an enemy at all. His sword arm dropped limply to his side.
"Ed?" Peter gaped in shock.
Edmund said nothing, but shoved Peter to the side, nearly knocking him off of his feet.
"Peter! Watch yourself!" Edmund said, wiping his bloodied scimitar on his tunic, alerting Peter for the first time that his life had been in danger from a Calormene soldier.
Peter snapped out of his daze. He didn't know how Edmund had gotten here, but now wasn't the time to ask. Peter wanted terribly to pull his brother into a hug and tell him how much he missed him, but all that came out was, "I had it sorted."
Edmund just rolled his eyes - a welcome sight that Peter hadn't realized he'd missed so much.
"Never mind you." Edmund said, taking a step to Peter's right. "We'd better get a move o-"
Edmund's sentence was cut off as he was tackled down by a furry mass, before Peter's eyes. The scimitar Edmund once held was now lying on the ground a few feet away.
"Ziddim!" Peter cried, rushing to the two struggling beings. "I command you, stop what you're doing and let him up!"
The wolf ignored him and viciously attacked his brother, snapping at Edmund's face, only held back by Edmund's hands on his neck, pushing Ziddim away.
"Peter!" Edmund cried. "Hit him!"
"But, Ed-" Peter began, but he was interrupted by his brother's urgent voice.
"Do it! Just do it!"
Peter hesitated, but, seeing the peril that Edmund was in, obeyed. He cut Ziddim on the side; not deep enough for a serious injury, but enough to make him leap back from Peter's blade and growl.
"Ziddim?" Peter asked in utter confusion.
Edmund pulled himself up from the ground. "It's him, Peter. He's the one."
The one? The traitor? Ziddim was the traitor? He dared to betray his sovereigns to the treacherous Calormenes? Peter wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't just witnessed such treason in person.
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Peter's face had a mixture of emotions written on it. Edmund could easily understand the thoughts running through his brother's head, they had been his own thoughts not so long ago. But thoughts had to be saved for another time.
Neither brother was entirely prepared for what happened next. Ziddim leapt at Peter, barreling into his stomach. Peter gasped for air and staggered back, giving Ziddim room for another attack. Edmund, however, anticipated it and was able to rush and knock Ziddim down to the dirt.
The wolf was immediately back on his feet and he quickly turned back to Edmund, who had no time, and no weapon, to defend himself. Ziddim bit down on Edmund's already injured leg, drawing a cry of pain from his lips. The wolf shook hard and tore at his leg, pulling Edmund to the ground. Peter's shouts were becoming more distant as they drifted to the back of his mind.
Edmund barely registered anything as he felt himself being dragged across the hard rocks and dirt. They hadn't made it far, though, before the dragging stopped and the pressure on his leg lifted. Edmund opened his eyes to see Peter kicking an injured Ziddim to the ground.
But that's not all he saw. Approaching an unsuspecting Peter from behind, was a treacherous Tisroc, sword at held high above his head, prepared to bring it down in a final, deadly blow.
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Peter's mind raced faster than his legs as he ran to stop the wolf who was dragging his brother through the dirt. He caught up in a few strides of his long legs and kicked his heel into Ziddim's head. The wolf immediately let go of Edmund's leg and focused his attention back on Peter. He snarled and pounced at the High King, but Peter was faster this time.
Ziddim bit empty air and Peter quickly turned to stick his sword, Rhindon, into the wolf's side. Ziddim whimpered and cowered away in pain. Peter placed his boot to Ziddim's side and shoved him to the ground. The wolf heaved, but gave no effort to rise again - he had been defeated.
"Peter!"
Peter flung his head around just in time to see Edmund shoving himself into a figure standing behind him. The two toppled to the ground, and Peter turned himself around just in time to see one of them rise.
"Judas." Peter whispered under his breath. Edmund couldn't be seen behind the treacherous man, which worried Peter further.
"Hello, King Peter." Judas swung his sword so recklessly and hard that it forced Peter a few steps backward.
The High King was about to launch his counterattack when a sharp pain exploded in his ankle. Peter looked down to see Ziddim, jaw locked onto his leg. With one rough shake, the wolf had been relieved of his hold and cast into unconsciousness.
Peter looked back to Judas when he felt a hand close around his sword arm. The Tisroc held his wrist in a crushing hold and disarmed him with one swing of his sword.
Judas's sword was pressed against Peter's throat. The High King was forced back, where Judas pressed one hand to his chest and shoved him down into the dirt.
"Looks like I win." Judas said in a hissing voice that reminded Peter of a snake.
The Tisroc placed the blade back to Peter's throat, then rose it again, preparing to make the final swing. Peter closed in eyes, bracing for the impact.
"Judas!"
Peter opened his eyes. Judas, too, seemed shocked at the interruption. The man turned around, only to come face to face with Edmund. Edmund's face was incredibly pale and a red spot on his tunic grew wider and darker by the second.
"Foolish slave, you have no business in a battle like this. At least I won't have to punish you for your insolence; you'll never make it out alive." Judas growled.
"I may not make it out alive, but nobody can tell me that I don't belong here. It is my place to be by Peter. A king at his king's side. A brother at his brother's side."
Judas's eyes widened with shock at Edmund's words. His lips stammered with words that would not come. Instead of finding words, Judas decided to try his sword. He brought his arm up and began swinging it down, but it was stopped midair by Edmund's hand grasping the Tisroc's fist, clenched around the hilt of the weapon. The next moment, Judas had gasped in and Peter saw him look down to see Rhindon, buried to the hilt, inside his chest.
The Tisroc fell the ground, his eyes no longer seeing. He was dead. It was over. The Calormenes who realized their defeat ran away and retreated. The Narnians shouted cries of victory as they chased the Calormenes back to where they came from.
But Peter didn't register any of it. His eyes were focused solely on Edmund's. His brother's posture slackened; he no longer held that proud stance he had when he faced Judas. The corner of Edmund's mouth turned up in that mischievous little smirk he always used to have; that smirk that made Edmund's eyes say 'looks like I'm the hero, again'.
That smirk that Peter had seen many times before, was all Edmund gave before his legs collapsed from under him and he crumpled to the ground.
Peter was immediately on his feet, rushing to his brother's side and dropping to his knees. Edmund's brown eyes looked up at him, they shimmered more brightly with the sunlight reflecting off of them. He breathed heavily and gasped in pain when Peter stripped a piece of cloth from his own tunic and applied pressure to the wound.
"Sorry, Ed, I know it hurts, but I have to do it." Peter apologized, looking up from the wound in Edmund's abdomen back to his brother's eyes.
"'s okay." Edmund slurred; his eyes were starting to drift out of focus.
"Hey, Ed!" Edmund's eyes focused back in on Peter's. "You have to hang with me, alright?"
Edmund didn't nod his head or even voice his agreement; he simply said, "Sorry."
Peter shook his head. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You saved my life."
"Not sorry... for that."
"Then whatever are you sorry for?" Peter's thoughts ran through his head, trying to think of what Edmund could possibly be apologizing for.
"'m sorry... that I have to lea- leave you." Edmund gasped.
Peter's heart sank. "No," He soothed. "You don't have to leave me. You're going to make it."
Edmund shook his head. "Th- the girls-"
"I haven't told them anything. You're going to see them for yourself if you just hold on. You'll see that they're okay." Tears stung at Peter's eyes, so he let them fall.
"I want you... to t-tell them." Edmund stammered. "I- I want them to know... that- that I didn't die... like that."
Peter knew what 'that' meant. Edmund wanted the girls to know that he wasn't tortured and left dead for his companions to find. Edmund was implying that, if he didn't make it, he wanted Susan and Lucy to know that he had died a warrior's death.
Peter shook his head; he wouldn't accept it. "You're not going to die. We'll get Lucy; her cordial can save you."
"Pete, please don't... blame yourself f-for this. 't was my... fault."
Sticky blood had engulfed the cloth strip and was now covering Peter's hand, but he hardly noticed. "Ed, don't do this."
"I... have to." Edmund's own eyes now shimmered with tears.
"You can't go. I need you here with me."
"You... can go on... You d-did once... before."
"No," Peter shook his head. "No, I can't. Not again. It was so hard."
"The most p-painf-ful things... are never... easy... but they are p-possible."
"Please, Ed. Don't go. You can't leave me. You can't leave us." Peter begged his brother, but Edmund gave no notice to his pleas.
"Tell the girls... that I- I love them. And I love you."
"No... no, no, no, no ,no. Eddy, you can make it. Please, hold on. Stay with me... just for a little while longer."
"We won, did-didn't we, Pete." Edmund stated, his eyes drifting to the blue sky, changing the subject from such dark thoughts.
"We did, Ed. We won. You won." Peter smiled a broken smile, taking Edmund's hand in his.
"I'm free now." Now it was Edmund's turn to smile, but his was genuine.
"Yes, you're free." Peter nodded his assurance, sniffing as more tears trickled down his cheeks.
Edmund met Peter's gaze, once more. "The sky is s-so much... more blue when y-you're free."
Peter grinned at Edmund's delight. He opened his mouth to respond, but the words stuck in his throat; the smile dropped from his face as he watched the scene unfold. He watched as Edmund's eyes lost their gleam; he stared directly at Peter, but it was clear that he was no longer aware.
The unsteady up and down movements of Edmund's chest as he breathed, ceased altogether. The hand that had clasped so tightly to Peter's, released its hold and fell limply to the ground.
Sobs wracked Peter's body as he pulled Edmund up into his arms and buried his face in his brother's tunic. He didn't care who saw, who judged, he just cried. Peter cried all the tears that had built themselves up inside of him; the tears that he had held in for so long.
Edmund was gone. There was nothing to be done, now. Peter's baby brother was dead.