Warning: Torture


3. It should've been me


"So, how long do you reckon the journey home will take?"

Peter turned his head to face his brother, smirking a little. "The same amount of time it took to get here." He replied smartly.

Edmund glared playfully at him and rolled his eyes. "Funny Pete." He muttered. "Well, how fast do you reckon we can get out of the desert?"

Peter sighed a little. "By tomorrow morning?" He suggested. "Just make sure you drink enough and you should be fine."

Edmund raised an eyebrow and glanced down at Philip. "Always worrying about me and not himself." He said with a chuckle.

"Always." Philip replied, an amused tone to his voice.

Peter frowned at them both. "What are you talking about?" He questioned, gripping the reins of his own horse.

Edmund glanced back up at him and smirked. "That sentence should of been," He said slowly. "Make sure we both drink enough water, and we both should be fine."

Peter stared at his brother for a moment before shaking his head with a smile. "Alright, alright." He laughed.

"Atleast we are on the way home though." Edmund said after a moment or two. "That meeting was the most dramatic meeting I've ever attended."

"You can say that again." Peter said, shaking his head once again. "I still don't think we managed to reach a real understanding with them though." He added as an afterthought, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, I thought that." Edmund sighed. "But hey, at least we tried."

Peter smiled at him. "That's the important thing." He agreed.

Edmund nodded before wiping the sweat slowly from his forehead, sighing loudly. "It's just getting hotter." He grumbled.

"You complain when it's too cold, and you complain when It's too hot!" Peter exclaimed, unable to keep back a laugh.

Edmund just glared at him.

"But I do agree with you." Peter continued hastily. "It is hot."

"Almost too hot." Edmund sighed.

"It's pretty much midday." Peter told him, running a hand through his slightly damp hair (damp from sweat that is). "The hottest part of the day. It'll get cooler as the day goes on."

"Yeah, and then be freezing by night." Edmund grumbled.

Peter bit back a smirk. "We'll be fine in the tent." He said. "We've got plenty of blankets."

"I can't wait to get home and sleep in my own bed." Edmund said after a little while of silence.

"I have to agree with you on that." Peter muttered, staring ahead of him at the endless amount of sand with a sigh. "Sleeping in hammocks probab lsn't the most comfortable thing in the world."

"Ya think?" Edmund joked, raising an eyebrow at his older brother as he wiped his hand over his forehead again... not that it helped much.

After this the two (plus the two horses) continued on in silence for maybe half an hour, before Peter frowned. "Is it me or is the wind picking up?" He said hesitantly.

"I noticed that." Edmund sighed. "Sandstorm on the way?"

"Well," Peter said. "I suppose we can't be too careful." And with that he brought his horse to a stop and slipped down. "We should put the tent up, so we have shelter."

Edmund nodded in agreement and jumped down from Phillip, wincing slightly when sand all of a sudden pelted against his face.

"You good?" Peter asked, a worried frown on his face as he saw his brother wince.

"Yeah I'm fine." Edmund reassured him. "Let's just get this tent up before it gets any worse."


"How long is this gonna go on for?!" Edmund said, voice raised slightly so Peter could hear him over the wind and the sound of the sand pelting against the tent. "We've been sat in here for over an hour!"

"Hopefully it shouldn't last too much longer." Peter replied from where he was sat reading, trying his hardest to concentrate. "But It's definitely better than it was fifteen minutes ago."

"It's still bad." Edmund grumbled, glancing over at Philip, who gave him something of a smirk.

It was quite a squash in the tent, what with Philip and Peter's horse having to take shelter inside, whereas usually they'd sleep outside, but they all just had to deal with it.

Anyway, it wasn't too bad, well that's what Edmund told himself.

After a short while of hesitation, Edmund shuffled the short distance over to his brother and rested his head against his shoulder, reading the book Peter was staring at. "I've read this." He said with a laugh.

Peter let out a chuckle. "Ed I wouldn't be surprised if you've read all the books in Cair's library." He said, an amused tone to his voice as he shook his head a little.

"Not yet." Edmund said slowly. "But I hope to do that by the time I turn seventeen."

"7 months?" Peter questioned. "Are you sure that's enough time?"

"Pretty sure." Edmund replied with a nod.

"Well as long as you don't stay up until stupid o'clock in the morning reading." Peter said firmly. "Like I've caught you doing plenty of times before."

"You caught me twice!" Edmund defended. "How was I supposed to know you'd come in my room at 2am! That wasn't my fault."

"Wasn't my fault I had a dream either." Peter replied, a smirk on his face. "And anyway, I doubt you've only stayed up reading twice, knowing you you've done it plenty of time."

"You know me too well then." Edmund grumbled, sitting up straight again before laying down, linking his hands behind his head and staring up at the ceiling of the tent, which was being blown around wildley in the wind.

It was almost an hour later when the wind finaly died down, and Peter had to shake his brother awake, noticing that he'd fallen asleep, and had probably been sleeping for quite a while. "Ed, the storms over." He explained when Edmund's eyes finaly opened. "We should carry on."

Edmund nodded. "Finaly." He sighed as he slowly sat up. "How long was I asleep for?"

Peter frowned a little as he stood, stretching a little. "I'm not sure." He said with a small shrug, pulling his brother to his feet. "But it's been an hour since we stopped talking to each other."

Edmund nodded a little. "I'll fold up these blankets." He said after a moment. "You go check and see if the wind definitely has stopped?"

Peter nodded. "I'll do that." He said with a small smile.

Edmund watched him as he walked across the tent, stepped around Philip and ducked out the tent, before he bent down to gather the blankets the two of them had been sat on.

He was in the middle of folding up the third blanket when there was a rather loud groan from outside, and he recognized it immediately as Peter.

Frowning a little he turned towards the tent flaps. "You alright out there Pete?!" He called, waiting for an answer.

But when his brother didn't respond, he started to get slightly worried.

Dropping the blanket he had in his hand, he walked towards the flaps, giving Philip's neck a reassuring pat before stepping outside, the heat immediately hitting him.

"Pete are you okay?" He repeated, glancing around to find his brother.

"Ed! Look out!"

Edmund swung around, and the last thing he saw was his brother, held tightly by two men, looking more worried than Edmund had seen him look in a long time, before something hit the back of his head and everything went black.


He didn't know how long it was until he finally came around, but judging by the candles that lit up wherever they were, and the temperature, it was obviously night time.

He groaned quietly as he opened his eyes a fraction, his head pounding as he tried to figure out where he was.

Opening his eyes a little more he found that he was in a rather grand tent, probably bigger than his room at Cair Paravel, lit by candles or lamps with a few hammocks hanging here and there.

He blinked a few times, hoping to clear his vision a little seeming as it was slightly blurry, and when he was able to, he eventually realised that his arms were raised above his head.

Glancing upwards slowly he found his hands tied together, another piece of rope attaching them to the ceiling and pulling them high above his head. He was glad that he was still able to stand on his feet, but the ropes were digging into his wrists, causing rather a lot of discomfort.

His heart was beginning to pound now, and he felt like panicking... that was until he heard his voice.

"Ed?"

Glancing ahead of him, he sighed in relief at seeing his older brother, who was currently staring up at him. up at him, seeing as he was sat on the floor.

Peter was sat at the edge of the tent, his hands tied together and the rope attached to one of the poles holding up the hammock, and Edmund was worried to see that he had a black eye.

"What - What happened?" Edmund choked out, trying his hardest to get some feeling back into his fingers.

"Those men," Peter said with a sigh. "Have accused us of trespassing."

Edmund frowned a little, his arms aching from being held above his head. "Trespassing?" He whispered. "But - It's a dessert?"

Peter nodded. "That's what I said." He sighed. "But they explained that they have a mansion around twenty miles from here, and own the surrounding twenty five miles of land."

"Well how were we supposed to know that?" Edmund grumbled, blinking slightly and shaking his head.

Peter shrugged. "I told them that too." He said. "But they wouldn't listen."

Edmund swallowed hard before opening his mouth again. "Where's Philip?" He asked hesitantly.

Peter gave him a reassuring smile at this. "Both him and my horse managed to escape and are on their way back to Cair." He explained softly.

Edmund breathed a sigh of relief at this, before frowning a little. "Do these men know who we are?" He questioned.

Peter shook his head. "I don't want to risk telling them." He mumbled. "We don't know who they are for one."

Edmund nodded a little. "That's probably a good idea." He said slowly, glancing upwards again, trying to break the ropes, but they were way too tight. "What happened to your eye?" He asked after a moment, returning his stare to Peter.

Peter sighed quietly. "I got angry when they knocked you out." He practically whispered. "One of them had to punch me in the end, and it worked. They managed to tie me up before I got my strength, and sight back."

Edmund shook his head slowly. "You're too protective for your own good, you know that?" He said.

Peter forced a small smile. "I've been told once or twice, yeah." He breathed. "How's your head?"

"Pounding." Edmund muttered simply, and that was it.

Peter was about to open his mouth to speak again when the tent flaps (or more tent door) burst open and three men stepped inside, not looking at all happy.

"You say they were trespassing?" Muttered one that Peter hadn't seen before.

"Yes sir." Said the second.

"How were we supposed to know it was your land?" Peter spat, pulling at the ropes that bound him, but of course nothing happened.

"Don't take that tone of voice with me." The one who had spoken first said. "You're already in enough trouble as it is."

"What do you mean by that?" Peter asked, glancing worridly up at his brother, who was watching with an equally worried look on his face.

"Well, around here people get punished for trespassing." The man snapped, glaring down at Peter.

Peter's heart skipped a beat at this. "We didn't know we were!" He cried. "And anyway, it's not like we did any harm!"

"Enough!" The man roared. "You trespassed so therefore you must pay!"

Peter swallowed hard and squeezed his eyes shut. Aslan help us. He thought, before reopening his eyes, only to find the man now stood in front of his brother. "Don't - Don't you dare touch him!" Peter spat.

The man just chuckled, turning back to face him. "Your brother I'm guessing?" He asked, and Peter found himself slowly nodding. "Funny," The man continued. "You don't look anything alike."

Peter swallowed hard at this, knowing Edmund hated it when anyone said anything like that, and sure enough Edmund had looked down at the ground, tears in his eyes. "Yes - Yes we do." Peter replied firmly. "There are things only people close to us will see."

Edmund raised his head and gave his brother a small smile, feeling a little better at hearing that, but it still didn't get rid of the hurt completely.

The man glanced back at the other two men, before turning back around to face Edmund again, who looked up and stared at him, his worry going lost on everyone but Peter, who could always read his brother like a book. "As I was saying." The man said. "Around here, people get punished for trespassing..."

But whatever else he went on to say, Peter didn't hear, for his heart was pounding so loudly that that was all he could listen to.

It had suddenly hit him, the reason why Edmund was stood in the middle of the tent with his arms stretched and tied above his head.

They meant to punish him.

"No!" Peter suddenly screamed, loud enough to catch everyone's attention. "Don't you dare!"

The man in front of Edmund chuckled. "You're afterwards." He said with a shrug. "And then, once you've both learnt you lesson, we'll let you go, it's as simple as that."

"I swear if you hurt him I'll-"

"You'll what?" The man cut him off. "You can't go anywhere or do anything, so how an earth are you going to stop us."

Peter swallowed hard. "Please." He choked. "Punish me first. No, punish me twice over, just don't lay a single scratch on my brother."

"Peter no." Edmund whispered, shaking his head back and forth.

"You're both going to get punished." The man told Peter. "But I'm gonna punish your brother first, just because I'm enjoying your reaction."

Peter glared at him. "You monster." He spat, pulling against his bonds as hard as he could, but they didn't come loose.

"You brought this upon yourselves." The man said. "And we cant just not punish you. Because if word got out that we just let you go, then we'd have people walking on our land non stop, and I definitely can't have that."

Peter shook his head. "Please." He murmered. "I'm begging you, just don't hurt him."

"Peter."

Peter glanced up when his brother spoke, and swallowed hard at the look on his face.

"Just close your eyes and look away." Edmund told him gently. "You don't have to watch this."

Peter just continued to shake his head. "Don't hurt him." He choked, even as the man walked over to the corner of the tent and Edmund's tunic was quite literally ripped off him. "I said don't hurt him!" Peter cried.

His heart started pounding even harder (if that were possible) when the man returned holding a whip and smirking slightly.

"You're gonna regret this!" Peter screamed. "I'll make you regret it!"

"Peter!" Edmund cried, at once silencing his brother. "It's gonna be okay, it's not like this hasn't happened to me before. Just don't look."

"Make sure he watches."

Edmund's eyes went wide when the man said this, and his mouth dropped open when one of the other men walked over and grabbed Peter's face with one hand, and a fistful of his hair in the other, forcing him to look at Edmund. "No!" Edmund shouted. "You can't make him watch this! You can't."

The man laughed as he took his spot behind Edmund. "Oh, but we can." He laughed.

Peter struggled against the man's grip, but after a harsh yank of his hair, went still again, trying to divert his eyes, but he could still see his brother, no matter where he looked. "Please don't do this." He tried again.

"Twenty lashes." The man said, ignoring Peter completely, but it was obvious he'd heard him loud and clear.

"Twenty!" Peter exclaimed, looking horrified.

Edmund took a deep breath and slowly shook his head at his brother, before lowering his head and squeezing his eyes shut as tight as he could.

"Twenty." The man repeated with a nod, before raising the whip above his head and bringing it down on Edmund's bare back.

Edmund bit his lip against a scream, his eyes squeezing tighter shut. He didn't want to scream, not with Peter there, being forced to watch every second of this, so when the next lash came, he did everything he could not to make a noise.

"Stop it!" Peter screamed. "Leave him alone! He's just a kid! He's sixteen bloody years old!"

Edmund's heart broke at the desperation in his brothers voice, and had to fight to keep back his tears as the whip hit his back again. Even by this point he could feel the blood dripping down his back and onto the floor, and he didn't even want to know what the whip was made of. But whatever it was, it was cutting him deep.

"Please don't!" Peter screamed as the whip hit his brothers back for the fourth time, this time tearing an agonized groan from his lips. Peter could hardly bare the look of pain on his brothers face, but no matter how hard he tried, the man just wouldn't let him look away, and it was slowly breaking his heart. "You'll regret this!" He growled out as the whip cracked again. "You. Will. Regret. This!"

The man only chuckled and landed a sixth lash on Edmund's back, smirking at the quiet sob that escaped the boy.

Edmund's back felt like it was on fire already, but he was still trying his hardest not to scream.

Peter though wasn't. He screamed almost continuously as the next four lashes were layed on his brother. His throat was raw by now, tears streaming down his cheeks, but he didn't care, all he cared about at that moment was his brother, who by this point could hardly hold himself up, and was almost dangling from the ropes securing his wrists.

The eleventh lash came, and with it came a single scream from Edmund, not very loud, not very long, but still enough for Peter to let out a loud sob and struggle even harder against the man and the ropes.

Twelve lashes, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen, each one ripping a cry of pain from Edmund's mouth, and leaving Peter a sobbing mess.

Edmund managed to just about crack one eye open enough to see his brother, but wished he never did, for the look on his face was truly heartbreaking.

The sixteenth lash came, and Edmund managed to keep back a scream, but his head by this point was pounding and he just couldn't think straight.

Seventeen, eighteen and nineteen came within the next thirty seconds, and Peter was worried to see that Edmund could now no longer hold himself up, and was dangling from the ropes.

The man raised the whip above his head, before bringing it down one last time... as hard as he could.

Edmund's eyes snapped open in surprise and agony, his mouth immediately opening. "Peter!" He screamed before he could stop himself.

"Ed!" Peter screamed back. "Edmund, leave him alone! I'll do anything! Just stop it!"

"Twenty lashes." The man said, dropping the whip to the floor with a satisfied nod.

Edmund slumped forward, tears rolling down his cheeks. He was trembling hard by this point, and Peter was worried to see a coat of sweat covering his forehead. he's feverish.

"We'll be back in a few minutes to carry out your punishment, we just gotta figure out what it'll be." The man said to Peter, uniting the ropes around Edmund's wrists and allowing him to collapse to the floor.

Peter winced at the gasp that escaped his brother, and did nothing but glare at all three men as they left the tent, talking amongst themselves.

The second they were gone though, Peter turned back to his brother, who was laying on the floor, breathing heavy and laboured, tears rolling down his cheeks, and trembling so, so hard.

"Ed?" Peter choked, wishing he could just rush over and pull his brother into his arms, but his hands were still tied to the pole, so he couldn't go anywhere.

Edmund nodded in response. "I'm - I'm okay." He quite literally sobbed out.

Peter's heart broke. You're always trying to be strong... Oh Eddy. "Ed, can - can you look at me?" He choked out.

Edmund didn't answer him, and Peter frowned when he saw him reaching for his boot. "What are you doing?" He asked, worried about how much pain moving was causing him.

Edmund took a deep breath and reached down a little more, pulling a dagger from his boot and chucking it carefully to Peter.

Peter just managed to grab it in his hands, and stared at Edmund in shock. "You had this the whole time?" He choked, getting a nod from his brother. "And you didn't think to use it before they carried out your punishment?"

"How an earth was I supposed to do that." Edmund whispered, voice hoarse. "I was tied up, and so were you. But now I'm free, I can reach it. Now hurry up and cut yourself free, before they come back."

Peter didn't hesitate in cutting the ropes, and the second he was free, he crawled across the tent and pulled Edmund into his arms.

Edmund buried his face against Peter's chest and heaved a sigh of relief, grateful that Peter was clinging to his shoulders and staying well clear of his back.

"Oh Eddy." Peter choked, burying his face against Edmund's neck and just crying, not caring about anything else but his brother.

"Pete." Edmund mumbled when he felt his older brother open his mouth again. "We need to get out of here."

"You're too weak." Peter choked, nothing but panick in his voice.

Edmund shook his head. "I can walk." He whispered.

"Ed, you've just been giving twenty lashes!" Peter exclaimed. "And goodness know what that whip was made from, but whatever it was it's cut you deep. You're also coming down with a fever if you hadn't noticed."

Edmund shook his head. "I didn't feel well yesterday." He mumbled.

Peter sighed. "Why an earth didn't you say anything?" He breathed, running a hand through his brothers hair.

Edmund just shrugged, but even that caused him rather a lot of pain.

After a moment Peter grabbed the dagger from where he'd dropped it on the floor, before letting Edmund go and laying him down on his side.

"Lay here for me alright?" Peter murmered gently, wiping Edmund's tears away with his thumb.

"Where are you going?" Edmund choked.

"I'm not going anywhere." Peter reassured him. "I promise."

With that said, he stood from the floor and walked over to the entrance of the tent, hiding just beside it out of view from anyone coming in or out.

He waited in complete silence for a minute, all the while keeping a close eye on his brother, before the three men entered the tent.

Peter immediately knocked out the first one, sending him crashing to the floor which caught the attention of the other two, who swung around and prepared for a fight.

But Peter was much too quick.

He wacked one around the back of the head with the hilt of the dagger, before swinging around and embedding the blade into the others stomach, feeling a sense of relief when he saw it was the one who'd whipped his brother.

Once he was sure none of them were going to get up anytime soon, he rushed back to his brother, who immediately buried his face back against his chest, swallowing hard and biting down on his lip so as not to cry out.

"What - What do we do now?" Edmund whispered.

Peter sighed. "Well, If Philip ran most of the way, which he probably did, be should be nearly back at Cair by now, and he'll send help." He said. "In the meantime though, I should probably clean these lashes, I don't want them to get infected before Lucy can get here with her cordial."

Edmund nodded his head slowly. "Alright." He mumbled.

Peter took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry this happened Eddy." He whispered in his brothers ear. "It should've been me. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault Peter." Edmund sighed. "Promise, it's not. You couldn't of stopped them. But I truly am sorry you were forced to watch."

Peter shook his head. "It should've been me." He whispered, voice cracking.

"I'm glad it was me." Edmund said firmly.

"It should've been me." Peter sobbed again, placing a desperate kiss to the top of Edmund's head.

"Listen Pete," Edmund murmured. "I'm alright. I can cope until Lucy gets here with her cordial, and I'm gonna be fine. I've dealt with this before, and I was twelve then. I'm sure I'm gonna be alright now."

Peter slowly shook his head. "The white witch had no right to do that to you." He choked. "And neither did these men. trespassing? What rubbish."

"Peter please." Edmund choked. "I'm fine, just in a little bit of pain."

"A little-"

"Peter!" Edmund groaned. "Please, I just wanna - Wanna go - go sleep."

Peter sighed at the yawn he let out. "Let me clean you up and then you can sleep." He said gently.

Edmund nodded a little, forcing himself to stay awake for a little while longer.

But the second Peter was finished with his back, he fell asleep almost immediately.

Peter's heart broke at the fact that he'd cried himself to sleep because of the amount of pain cleaning his back had caused, but he was just glad that he was relaxed now.

And now all they had to do was wait.

"I'm so, so sorry Edmund." Peter murmered to his sleeping brother. "It should've been me..."


Gosh... Probably the longest one shot I've ever written. over 5k words.But I hope you actually read it all and enjoyed it.

Next update hopefully soon xx