Glad to have at least a couple reviews last chapter, but I'm still missing a couple of my regular reviewers.
Still looking for favorite one on one moments. If anybody is having trouble knowing what I mean, one on one moments are times when it was just two people having a moment together. It's like with Peter and Edmund speaking together alone, or Susan and Lucy, Aslan and Edmund etc...
Also, I wasn't really planning on entering in Susan and Lucy learning that it was Edmund that was arrested for Peter's poisoning, but I can try to integrate it if you would like?
"Ed!" Peter cried, dropping to his knees at his brother's side. He'd heard the sound of an arrow leaving its string, but only just turned in time to see Edmund fall to the floor.
Peter placed his hands on both of Edmund's shoulders and pulled him up, attempting to look him over for his injury.
"P-Pete?" Edmund's voice sounded small and afraid, but at least he was speaking.
Thwap!
Peter felt a white hot pain explode in his right shoulder. Idiot! He cursed himself. Never let your guard down in the presence of enemies! Oreius's teachings had come too late into mind. Now, he was paying for it with an arrow jutting out of his shoulder.
Resting Edmund back down and turning to face his unknown foe, Peter drew Rhindon from its sheath and held it at the ready, prepared for any attack that might come.
"Guards!" Peter shouted, though he feared it may be a while before any came to his aid.
Thwap!
With a instinctive flick of his wrist, Peter deflected the arrow that flew straight at his head from the darkness of a pillar in the corner of the room.
"Show yourself, you coward!" The High King commanded in a voice as authoritative as he could muster. "Face me yourself - or are you too afraid? Too afraid that I will win, so you think you must hide behind a bow to protect yourself."
"Not afraid." A voice said from behind the pillar. Quiet footsteps resounded through the throne room as the kings' attacker stepped out of the shadows. "Just too smart for your tricks." Said the same voice, though this time Peter could see who spoke the words.
He traced the notched arrow down to the string of the bow, then the face of his perpetrator. "You're a Red Dwarf." Peter's vocal conclusion must have made him sound quite dimwitted. Of course he was a Red Dwarf; it wasn't like the dwarf couldn't know that already!
"Aye, and you're just a boy." The dwarf said, his light colored beard bouncing with every word.
"I am your king." Peter could think of nothing else to say after being insulted so. A boy? He was tired of people constantly treating him as if he were a child. He wasn't a boy anymore; he had grown up - at least his mind had. Sure, his body still may be young and maturing, but Peter had grown up long ago. He was the High King of Narnia, now. There was no way could still be a child, even if he wanted to be.
"You're no king of mine." The Red Dwarf let his arrow fly, but Peter easily deflected it as he had done with the one before.
It was quite clear that this must surely be one of Ziddim's accomplices. Unfortunate that he didn't take the offer of mercy, but Peter couldn't help but find a little pleasure in it. If he wasn't worried sick over Edmund's state, then he might even be having fun. It's not every day that he's given a free chance to pay back one of the creatures who could think to hurt his poor little brother - even after all that he'd already been through.
More arrows flew, expertly aimed for Peter's vital organs, but the young king was able to easily deflect them, taking careful steps forward to close the distance between himself and his foe. It was clear to see that the Red Dwarf became more alarmed the closer that Peter got. The next few arrows flew sloppily - most not even worth deflecting.
"Drop your bow and fight me!" Peter command, once he stood near two yards away from the archer.
The dwarf reached back to draw another arrow from his quiver, but his fingers gripped empty air. Taking a short glance over his shoulder, the dwarf mumbled something under his breath, and threw his bow to the ground beside him. The Red Dwarf pulled a sword, designed for his own size, out of the sheath at his side, holding it tightly with both hands in a white knuckle grip.
"I don't have to beat you to know I've hurt you." The dwarf growled. "How does it feel to know that one of your own would desire to hurt you? Do you feel like you've failed? Cause that's how we feel. You may best me, but that doesn't mean that you'll win."
Peter tightened his jaw and gripped Rhindon's hilt more steadily. The only thing he had to answer that was a swing of his sword. The dwarf brought up his own sword and stopped Rhindon in mid path. Again, Peter swung his sword, and again, the dwarf stopped the blow. The exchange lasted only a few moments, with Peter delivering the most attacks, before it came to an abrupt end. The High King had sent a couple more swings before he found his chance and took it. The next moment, the Red Dwarf lay dead at his feet with one deep sword wound straight through him.
"Sire?" Peter was drawn out of his dazed state by Oreius's deep voice. "What has happened?"
The Centaur entered in through the previously closed door with two more guards behind him.
"Ed." Was all that could come out of his mouth. "Edmund." Peter's head turned from side to side as he tried to recall where he'd last left his brother. It was strange how the thrill of battle could throw you into a dazed sort of dream and make you forget some of the most important things.
A groan from the direction of the thrones set Peter into a sprint. He came to a halt only when he reached his brother's side, where he sank down to his knees. Edmund had been able to push himself to his elbows, and he now shot his eyes about in a frenzied motion, as if trying to decide on what object he should rest his gaze upon.
"Ed?" Peter asked, trying to get his brother's attention. Blood trickling from Edmund's hairline quickly set his heart rate up a notch.
"Pete?" Edmund asked, finally turning his eyes to meet Peter's. "Why does my head feel like it's about to explode?"
The High King immediately noticed how his brother's pupils seemed far larger than normal. He gently placed one hand to the back of Edmund's head and lifted the crown from his dark locks, setting it aside to examine the source of the blood. A fair sized gash was visible on the side of Edmund's temple, oozing droplets of blood. It looked rather nasty, but it was preferable to what injuries Peter had feared his brother might have - should have?
"This is where the arrow hit you?" Peter asked, looking around for the arrow that had been shot at his little brother, but it was not in his immediate sight.
Edmund's brow furrowed. "Arrow? What arrow? What's going on?"
Oh great. Not only an injured brother, but a concussed one, too.
"We should get him to the healers." Oreius's voice interrupted Peter's thoughts. The Centaur stood not ten feet behind the two brothers. "As well as yourself, My King."
Peter nodded, rising steadily to his feet and offering a hand to Edmund. The younger brother accepted and, with a little help from Peter, rose to his feet, and wobbled there, shakily. The High King then fetched Edmund's crown from the floor, but stopped when something on it caught his eye. A slight dent was visible in the silver leaves right where his brother's wound would be.
Peter could stare only in shock for a few moments as he realized that Edmund's life was saved only by the crown he wore.