Author's Note: Yeah, so I know I'm evil because of the cliffhanger in the last chapter, but...they get worse. :) I'm so evil! Anyways, this chapter is a little bit...dramatic. Hopefully you'll like it. :) There's going to be a MAJOR cliffhanger in this chapter... You'll probably hate me for it, but...it has to be that way for my story line to work.

Once again, I want to thank everyone that has reviewed! :D You guys are wonderful. :) Thanks for sticking with me through the last story, and through what I have posted of this one as well. You guys are awesome! :D

Another thing that made me decide to post early, was that I now have 100 reviews! :D WOO! Anyways, go ahead and read!

Song for this chapter: I'm Not Alright by Sanctus Real

Edmund pushed his legs to move faster than they ever had before. Faster than in battle, faster than when running from assassins. He ignored the pain in his head and pushed himself further. The How loomed up at him in the distance. He knew he had to get help, and fast. Who knows what they could be doing to her!

He was running out of breath, but he wasn't concerned about himself at that moment. The minute his feet entered the How, he slowed down, but only a little. Just enough so that he would have time to move out of the way and dodge Narnians who were walking around. Some gave him strange glances at the fearful look in his eyes, but he didn't care. He reached the Stone Table within minutes.

"Edmund! Where in Aslan's name have you been?" Lucy asked as he raced towards the Stone Table.

"We were ambushed." Edmund said, out of breath as he finally stopped. "They took her! They took Ari!"

He face was full of anguish. Lucy knew that look all too well. He had that same haunted look in his eyes when Ari had spent nearly four months in a coma. He was a wreck that whole time, and he blamed himself. They thought she would never wake up. Just as Edmund's hope was about to slip away from him, she stirred for the first time in three and a half months. She didn't wake up, but she moved. That was enough to bring him back from the dead. It wasn't another two weeks before she was fully awake, but she did wake from unconsciousness long enough to say a few sentences. The first thing she had done when she was able to was tell him to go and bathe because he smelled like a dead animal. This gave Edmund comfort that she was still her same witty, sarcastic self. He did, in fact, smell like a dead animal. He hadn't taken much care of himself while she was unconscious. He rarely slept for more than two hours at a time, and ate next to nothing. He hadn't shaved in over a week, and hadn't bathed in longer. He rarely left her side, and he was deteriorating right before his sibling's eyes. Lucy never wanted to see him like that again.

Yet, here he was with that same petrified look in his eyes, like an animal that was cornered and had nowhere to go. She saw how his shoulders were hunched over in defeat, how his jaw was set in what might have been anger, or the determination to hold back tears. Edmund wasn't one to show vulnerability around anyone but his siblings, and even then very rarely. She hated seeing him like this.

"Who took her?" Lucy asked, finally speaking.

"The Telmarines!" He burst out as he started pacing the room. "Why didn't they take me?" He shouted at no one.

"Edmund, calm down!" Lucy shrieked as he started to hyperventilate.

"Don't tell me to calm down when my wife is out there with Aslan knows what happening to her!" Edmund screamed, his voice cracking. Lucy noticed a few tears slip out of the corners of his eyes before they disappeared as he wiped his sleeve across his face.

"We'll get her back." Lucy vowed.

"How?" Edmund shouted, his voice an octave higher than it normally was.

"I don't know." She sighed, wrapping her arms around her brother. "She's strong. She's a survivor. We'll get her back."

For the first time in many years, Edmund let himself break down and cry. Lucy held onto him for comfort, although it wasn't much, as the sobs wracked his slim frame. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground. Lucy knew that it would be best to just leave him, although she didn't want to. Edmund hated looking weak, and this was a time that he just needed to be by himself. He backed up to the Stone Table and buried his head in his hands and just cried. He cried and cried until he had run out of tears to shed, and even then dry sobs shook his thin frame. It felt like he had been hit repeatedly in the chest by a car running at full speed. Like he was under a lake of dark water and couldn't swim to the surface before he would drown. He was suffocating, and there was nothing anyone could do to save him. The battle-hardened war hero was broken, and this time it was possibly beyond repair.

Later that day, Peter stood in front of the Narnians in the Stone Table room. Edmund had composed himself since earlier today, but he was struggling to keep himself together. You could see it in his eyes and the way he sat, like he was ready to bolt and head towards the Telmarine castle all by himself to take on the entire army just to get back to her. Lucy sat near him for moral support.

"It's only a matter of time." Peter said to the Narnian troops. "Miraz' men and war machines are on their way. That means those same men aren't protecting his castle."

"What do you propose we do, sire?" Reepicheep asked. Caspian and Peter both began to speak at the same time. Peter looked at Caspian, who motioned for him to continue.

"Our only hope is to strike them before they strike us." Peter said.

"That's crazy!" Caspian burst out without a pause. "No one has ever taken that castle!"

"There's always a first time." Peter countered.

"We'll have the element of surprise." Trumpkin put in.

"But we have the advantage here!" Caspian said.

"If we dig in, we could probably hold them off indefinitely." Susan said, agreeing with Caspian.

"I, for one, feel safer underground." Said Trufflehunter.

"Look," Peter said to Caspian. "It's not that I don't appreciate what you've done, but lets face it. This isn't a fortress. It's a tomb."

"Yes, and if the Telmarines are smart, they'll just starve us out." Edmund said, finally speaking.

"We could collect nuts!" Pattertwig the squirrel said excitedly.

"Oh yes!" Reepicheep said sarcastically. "And throw them at the Telmarines! Shut up." Reepicheep then turned to Peter. "I think you know where I stand on this, sire."

"If I can get your troops in, can you handle the guards?" Peter asked Glenstorm.

"Or die trying, my liege." Said the centaur.

"That's what I'm worried about." Lucy said, voicing her thoughts for the first time since they all gathered.

"I'm sorry?" Peter asked for clarification.

"Well, you're all acting like there's only two options." She said. "Dying here, or dying there."

"I'm not sure you've really been listening, Lu. We-" Peter began.

"No, you're not listening!" She said, raising her voice. Everyone looked at her in shock because she never raised her voice unless she was very angry. "Have you forgotten who really defeated the White Witch, Peter?" She snapped at him.

"I think we've waited for Aslan long enough." Peter said coldly, closing any further argument she had. Everyone filed out of the room after a few more minutes of planning, but Peter asked Edmund to stay behind.

"I don't want you going tonight." Peter said. Edmund's eyes widened and then filled with anger.

"Why not?" Edmund shouted, jumping to his feet. "Ari's there!"

"Exactly." Peter said.

"Peter, you don't understand why I have to go after her!" He yelled as his hands clenched into fists as he tried to rein in his anger.

"I understand perfectly why you want to go! You love her!" Peter shouted. "Love makes people do stupid and reckless things. I'm not going to let you jeopardize this mission because she's there. Ari would understand."

"It's not the same!" Edmund said, running a shaking hand through his hair.

"How is this any different from the time we were taken by pirates and held hostage?" Peter fumed.

"For starters, we were all there that time." Edmund said. He opened his mouth to say something else.

"You're staying." Peter said, cutting his brother off. "No exceptions."

"But-"

"I don't want to hear it." Peter said coldly.

Edmund smashed his fist into the dirt wall hand enough that Peter flinched just at the sound of it. Edmund didn't even feel the pain that shot up his arm when his clenched fist hit the wall for a second time. He was shaking with fury. He slid to the ground against the wall and put his head in his hands. A choked sob left him before he looked up at Peter with a look so anguished that Peter wanted to run away and hid under a rock. Edmund then let out another sob and screamed three words at his brother as the tears started to flow again.

"Peter, she's pregnant!"

Author's Note: Sorry for the cliffhanger! So, you see what Ari was telling Edmund in the forest. You also see how much Edmund cares about her. This chapter was a very emotional one to write, and there is only more emotion to come from both Ari and Edmund... Hey, things are getting to be a bumpy ride now. Leave a smiley face if you liked it! Preferably with a few comments going on! :D