A/N: Many thanks are again due to the great members of the eInklings: Online Writing Group. I am attempting to get my muse juiced up for a run at writing several more chapters during the next three weeks, so have patience, more is coming. I ain't done torturing Ed yet.
Chapter 4
Edmund coughed as deeply as his constricted chest would allow. The light, feminine coughs finally dislodging the dust that had lodged in his windpipe.
Deep concern welled in Lucy's eyes. "Are you all right Meri?"
Eyes closed, Ed tried to clear his irritated throat "Is there any water?" He rasped.
The rattle of the chain on Lucy's wrist jingled far too brightly as she moved across the hold. Opening his eyes, he watched her dip a ladle into the cask secured against the bulkhead. With great care, she returned to his side, crossing the deck without spilling so much as a drop. Kneeling, she tilted the brackish water to his lips.
Ed slowly swirled the liquid around his mouth. Its oaken flavor soaked into his parched tongue for a moment before the water was allowed to slowly trickle down his throat. A coppery aftertaste lingered long after the wetness had faded. Once the water had eased the soreness his coughing fit had caused, the disguised King felt much better. Looking at his sister leaning over him with concern, he felt a gleeful grin tug at the corner of his mouth and eyes.
"Thank you," he paused a moment, holding her eyes with his own. "Lily."
Lucy's eyes flared as the name registered. Long before they'd all stumbled through the wardrobe into Narnia, one of Edmund's pet names for Lucy had been 'Silly Lily'.
"Fine Meri, I guess I deserve that for getting you into this," Lucy mumbled unhappily. Raising her arm, she rattled the chain that was attached to her wrist. "Speaking of which, do you have a plan to get us out of here?"
"Perhaps." Ed looked up. "Would you have a hair pin?"
Lucy planted her hands on her hips and stared at her brother until the realization hit him.
Blushing, he slowly reached up and pulled a pin loose from his own hair, letting the tight curls cascade down around his face.
"Well," Susan's voice drifted around the cloudy mass of rag-curlers that now topped Edmund's head. "I guess it turned out to be a good thing you let your hair grow out, brother."
Edmund grunted as she stretched the final strand of wet hair out from his scalp, winding it tightly around the cloth Lucy handed her. Susan finished off by tying the ends of the cloth in a knot and patting the curler into the mass that now adorned his head.
Glancing in his sister's mirror, Ed could hardly believe what he had gotten himself into. Invisible beneath his hair, the skin was stretched taut as a full sail, pulling his forehead higher, arching his thick eyebrows and making his eyes look huge. He could feel every blink all the way to be base of his neck. Susan came up behind him and wrapped a thick, warm towel around his wet hair, easily flipping it into a stylish turban.
"Hmm, Lucy?" His older sister stepped around in front of him and stared hard at his eyes.
"Yes Su? Oh, they look like a couple of caterpillars." Lucy quickly turned, rummaging through the mess the three of them had made out of Susan's vanity.
A moment later, she turned back, handing Susan a pair of tweezers.
"Oh no! No Su! No, no, no, no, and NO!" He tried to get off of the chair and run, but Lucy leaped to grab his shoulders and pinned him back in the seat.
"Sit still Meri!" Susan leaned in with the tweezers. "It only hurts a moment and you must look your best."
Tears formed at the corners of his eyes, dripping free as Ed flinched. Using all his willpower to resist the urge to scream as his sister plucked the first hair from his eyebrows. His head shook back and forth, refusing to be still for her to continue torturing him.
Lucy leaned in close to his right ear. "Be still Ed, or she'll pluck your leg hairs instead of letting you shave them."
"S...sh...shave? M...my legs?!" Edmund froze.
"Of course, Meri." Susan clacked the ends of the tweezers together. "Unless you want me to pluck them. Now be still."