That same night at the festival...
"What is wrong with her?" Edmund wondered aloud to himself as he searched the courtyard. After Elaina had run off, he went back into the square for about five minutes, questioned why he wasn't looking for her, and left to find her. She may not want him to know what was going on in her dressing room, but he had to make sure she was in no harm.
He went through an open arched doorway. He had not been here before. The area was bordered with large weeping willows who stood like silent, tired sentinels twined by strange dark blue ivy. The entire vicinity was carpeted by soft green grass except for the center where stood a grand fountain. There was something about it that made it appear to be shining as water poured silently into the pool surrounding it. The whole place had an eerie feel about it. He looked up. There was a ceiling in this room, apart from a sizeable circular hole directly above the fountain; there seemed to be mini stars falling from it into the shimmering cascade. The only noise was the sound of his breathing, the crowd from the fête had been silenced by this room.
There was a rustle from a tree. He turned quickly to find a tall, bulky man, dressed in a black and silver tunic. Although the room was well lit by the moonlight, his face was shadowed and all Edmund could see was the gleam in his eyes.
"Hello Edmund," he said, in mock pleasantry. "How are you this evening?"
"Who are you?" Edmund replied, drawing his sword. This smelled like a trap.
"Oh, I'm just a dear...friend of Elaina's. She's fine, no need to check up on her."
"What do you want, coward?" he snapped. His heart raced. The man drew his sword.
"I want you gone." With that, he came at him full force. Edmund raised his blade in defense. He would not kill this man unless absolutely necessary. The weapons clashed and clanged in a flurry of steel. A slice on the cheek, a gash to the arm, Edmund was inflicting this other man more by the second. If he kept it up, he would win.
"Edmund! Kemen!" Elaina screamed from the doorway. Edmund turned over his shoulder and saw her standing there. "STOP!" she shouted at them both. Before he could do anything, Edmund felt a slash of pain seer across his stomach. He twisted around and saw Kemen sneering.
"I don't think I want to kill you just yet. Farewell, Elaina," he said and ran out through some other way. Elaina quickly began running to Edmund. He stumbled as he looked down at the blood seeping through his tunic. He looked back at Elaina with a confused expression on his face as she ran to him before he fell with a soft splash into the shallow fountain. As he lay there, the world gave way to darkness...
As he slipped in and out of consciousness, he caught snippets of hectic conversation.
"...I don't care! Do whatever you have to do!" Elaina. "Find him and bring him to me, alive. He's gone too far this time. He will pay. You! Come here! I need..."
"The infection is spreading," unfamiliar voice. "We must find something to slow it down."
"Try this," was that Elswyth?
Someone felt his forehead. "He's burning up." They pressed a cold cloth to his head then rubbed some sort of balm on his stomach. "I hope this works..."
Then there was silence. Am I dead? He slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a stone room. Shutters to his right were partially opened, to his left, a door. Directly in front of him was a chair, tilted back against the wall and in that chair was a woman, her chin to her chest and eyes closed. The sunlight from the window poured softly onto the spot where she slept. If he was not mistaken, it was Elaina. He tried to sit up, but an intense pain in his stomach made him give a sharp, involuntary intake of breath. Elaina's eyes snapped open. She looked over at him, disbelievingly for a moment. She stood, walked to him, knelt by his side, and said,
"We thought we'd lost you," she brushed the hair out of his eyes. "How do you feel?"
"Thirsty," was all he could manage at that moment. She took a cup from the bedside and brought it to his lips. After a long, satisfying meal, he sat up in bed, feeling childish having everyone taking care of him. Elaina sat next to him; she had hardly left his side.
"We're looking for him, Kemen, I mean. He's gotten away before, but we should get him this time. There must have been poison on the blade because there was a serious infection that would not have come from a simple slice. The thing that saved you was some kind of cream that Elswyth made from the leaves of the Tree of Ahreddan. Nothing else worked."
"How long was I out?"
"About three days."
"People are probably wondering where I am. I need to get going."
"We sent a message to your bother and sisters. They are coming."
They sat for a moment in silence.
"How do you know him?" he asked.
"Who?"
"Kemen."
"He is—was a...friend of the family."
"Why don't you stop hiding?"
"What?"
"Hiding. You show emotion when you're happy, but when something bad happens, you seem totally emotionless."
"I beg your pardon, but—"
"Come off it, Elaina. You want to be out there right now, scrounging the island for him, but you have some kind of 'anger-reserve' coming up instead of what you are truly thinking. Now really, how do you know him?"
"I...it does not matter anymore. I've gotten over it."
"You are lying through your teeth, Elaina. You don't think—"
"Alright," she snapped. "We were romantically involved about three years ago. After my mother died, I felt so lost and he seemed like the only person there. I was depressed and vulnerable and...I was stupid. Of course, he only wanted one thing out the relationship." She looked down at the stone floor.
"Are we thinking about the same thing?" He eyed her suspiciously. All she did was nod. "And...Did you give him what he wanted?" Suddenly she felt like a little girl. She looked at him, opened her mouth as if to say something, and then put her head back down.
"No," she shifted uncomfortably in her chair and looked back at him. "He took it from me." The look in his eyes was hard to decipher. It was somewhere between shock and loathing. He cursed through clenched teeth. "Look, I haven't told anyone about that so please don't make a scene about it."
"I, uh...I'm sorry," were the words that came, but all he wanted to say was caught in his throat.
"No, don't be. I'm the one who's sorry. I didn't really try to stop him... It's my fault that this happened to you, and don't say that it is not because it is. But you're right. I try not to show any emotion when bad things happen because I don't want to overreact the way Killian does. I don't want to be like him."
He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
"You could never be like that."
Later that day, the rest from Narnia arrived, quite agitated about almost losing their brother again. About a week later, he was well enough to leave, with many apologies from Elaina and the royal guard.
um...yeah...so thats it...the new chapter 5. the next chapter (13 i do believe) is coming soon...possibly tonight. oh, sorry, this morning.