Author's Notes

Disclaimer: C.S. Lewis owns the Chronicles of Narnia, not I!

Rated: T for intensity and references to death.

Welcome to Chapter 4, everyone! Thanks to GuitarGirl496, LunaNigra, and Coralyne for their reviews of Chapter 3!

This chapter was actually written before 2 and 3. But as you will see, it makes the most sense at this point in the story. I enjoyed writing it because, well... you'll see *grins* Two more chapters to go after this one!

Enjoy the read, and please review!

... and by the way... has anyone tried to solve the Archenlander's riddle?

***

Edmund flung himself through the cellar door, and gazed about in panic.

"Where, Aslan?" Edmund pleaded aloud as he began rifling through the stores. "Where do I find my sister's healing? Where do I find the one thing she never lets out of her sight?"

He hadn't even noticed, when Lucy came to ask him if he should like to go swimming, that she didn't have the cordial with her. He supposed that they had all become so used to seeing the little bottle of red at her hip that they had actually stopped seeing it. Lucy always carried the cordial, leaving it at hand when she slept, just as Peter and Edmund kept their swords in reach and Susan her bow and horn. It had been how many years now, six? Seven? And Lucy never left that thing more than a stone's throw away! Until this day.

"And what a day!" he moaned.

He shoved aside a barrel of apples. Edmund had begun in the store room because he recalled hearing Susan and Lucy talking about it that morning at breakfast. Something about making it bigger. So he supposed his sisters had come down to take a look. After that, he wasn't sure what had happened. He hadn't seen Lucy for what seemed an awfully long time between breakfast and dinner. He himself had ridden Philip out to the Shuddering Woods, so that he might inform the Centaurs of the High King's decision to ally with Archenland. Edmund would be returning the neighboring country's visit in a week's time, and wanted a few Centaurs to accompany him and assess the castle's strategic position. When he came back to the castle, very hot and dusty from the long ride on a summer day, Lucy's suggestion of a swim in the Pond had been irresistible. He immediately changed into swimming clothes and joined her on the short walk.

In the cool green shadows by the Pond, they had sat down to take off their sandals. There was thick soft moss and a gentle breeze had come up. Edmund actually contemplated taking a nap before diving into the water. He lay back and closed his eyes for just a moment, sinking into the coolness of the moss. It was better than an ice pack, even. Then he heard Lucy laughing his name, and an indistinct murmur.

"Mmm." He sighed and opened his eyes. "What was that, Lu?"

Lucy gave him an impish smile as she reached to push herself up from the ground. "I said, Sir Edmund, that you can h-"

There hadn't even been time to think.

A hiss. A flash. A dull, copper-colored reptile. The snapping of teeth.

Lucy's cry.

Edmund, so accustomed to responding in battle, had been too slow. Lulled by the peace of a summer swim with his sister on the castle grounds.

He didn't even clearly remember reacting to the lizard's strike, just Lucy's gasp and the snick of his own sword. The lizard fell dead on the moss. Lucy sat clutching her bleeding hand. Edmund stared at her for a long moment before realizing that the monstrosity at his feet was a venomous one.

Lucy's eyes were far too bright.

"Lucy!" He grabbed her shoulders. "Your cordial! Quick!"

Her lips opened and closed, but she seemed unable to speak.

Edmund reached for her belt, but the little flask he knew so well was missing. Sweat broke out over him. "Where is it?" he gasped. "Lu, tell me where it is!"

She stared at him.

"Lu!"

She slumped forward in his arms.

"Lucy!"

There had been nothing for it but to scoop her up and run into the Cair. Her face was white and she trembled wildly – or was it Edmund himself shaking like that? He had choked for air as if bursting up from the depths of the Pond itself, but he couldn't remember ever running faster.

Through the Great Hall. Up the stairs. Into Peter's study.

Crying the whole time.

Peter's shout and his chair falling to the floor. Susan's scream. Lucy seeming to get smaller, wispier, paper-thin, with every second.

No cordial. No where. Not in her chambers. Not in this whole bloody castle.

"Oh Aslan!" Edmund leaned against a keg of honey, eyes closed, feeling sick in his stomach. "Help us, please! You've always come to us when we needed you. Lucy loves us, loves you! Loves all Narnia as only she can. What good would it be to let her die?"

He sank to the floor. "I love her, Aslan. Don't take her from me."

Lucy. Edmund had always loved his little sister, even long ago in – in that Other Place he couldn't recall anything else about, just the fact that he had been there with his brother and sisters. Yes, he teased and taunted and even betrayed her. Edmund remembered that even when he could remember nothing else. But had she once said I told you so? Such was against her nature, and her heart that sought only to give. Lucy, a bright and shining lamp in a dark wood, had been the one to lead Edmund from that Other Place where he was such a terrible creature, into Narnia where he became King Edmund the Just. He owed Aslan his life. But he owed Lucy the soul-deep gratitude that came with her having been his guide to Aslan.

And now she was slipping away from him.

Shuddering, Edmund cast his light about the cellar, hoping that at any moment he would see the comforting gleam of red that meant everything was going to be all right. The light shining on the wine bottles caught his attention, and he stepped forward to see if perhaps Lucy's cordial was hiding among them.

He didn't remember hearing the wine bottle crash to the floor at his feet.

He didn't remember the frightened cries of the courtiers as they raised wide eyes to the upper levels of the Cair.

He didn't remember his footsteps slamming up the stones steps two and three at a time.

He didn't remember the hollow echo of his hand slapping open the bedroom door.

He didn't even remember his own voice tearing in his chest, "No, no, no!"

All Edmund remembered hearing, then and after, was the sound of his brother and sister wailing in Lucy's chambers.