Thank you for all the reviews I received for the last chapter.

I sent personal messages to the people who reviewed in thanks.

Here's the next chapter – I hope you all enjoy reading it!

"Go on Ed!" I cheered as Edmund and Caspian engaged in a friendly duel on deck.

The crew were enjoying it, and cheering from their positions around the deck – some on barrels, like me, some standing on the deck and some clinging to the mast and rigging.

Both Ed and Caspian seemed adamant to lose the duel to the other. Edmund ducked as Caspian swung his sword at him, before retaliating with a harsh swing of his own. They twisted and wove between each other about the deck, dodging all strikes and lunges.

It ended when Caspian's sword was across Edmund's chest, whilst Edmund's was across Caspian's collarbone.

The crew, along with me, cheered, all of us having thoroughly enjoyed watching the duel.

"You've grown stronger my friend," Caspian grinned.

"Seems I have," Edmund returned the smile.

"All right, back to work," Drinian, ordered, seeing the duel had ended.

Edmund gratefully accepted a goblet of water from a passing sailor with a "thank you", before sitting on one of the barrels on the port side. I went and leant on the railings on the right side of him, looking across the ship.

"You were brilliant," I told him, looking down to his eyes.

"Thanks," he replied, smiling at me.

"Edmund," Lucy began, sitting on one of the barrels beside Ed. "Do you think if we keep sailing to the edge of the world we'll just...tip off the edge?"

"Don't worry Lu, we're a long way from there," Edmund said.

However, Eustace, who had been sick for over a week, walked onto the deck and towards us.

Neither Edmund nor I realised at that moment, so seeing as Edmund had finished talking to Lucy, I slid onto his lap with a cheeky grin, so I was sideways to him, facing the bow of the ship. Edmund then leaned down and kissed me fervently, one arm around my waist and the other holding his water. I had one hand on his shoulder and the other in his dark hair.

Lucy had turned away; she wasn't unhappy that Edmund and I loved each other, but she still found it slightly weird when we kissed, so she subtly avoided the passionate kisses.

"Ugh, what are you doing, cousin?" Eustace's obnoxious voice made me turn my head, breaking the kiss.

"I'm kissing a girl, Eustace, something you obviously aren't familiar with," Edmund replied, sending a grin at me.

"With a harlot?"

"She is not a harlot!" Edmund roared, nearly standing up but remembering I was on his lap, so he tightened his grip on me instead. "She is called Alena, and I love her."

"They've been courting for over two and a half months," Lucy explained, at Eustace's puzzled expression.

"Courting, huh, I see you're still talking nonsense, the three of you," Eustace scoffed.

"Are you feeling better?" Lucy asked him nicely.

"Yes, no thanks to you. It's lucky I have an iron constitution."

"As effervescent as ever, I see," Reepicheep said, coming into view on the rigging. "Find your sea legs?"

"Never lost them," Eustace retorted. "Simply dealing with the shock of things. Mother says I have an acute disposition," Edmund took a sip from his goblet, so I leant to the side slightly, "due to my intelligence." Edmund promptly spat the water back into the goblet, trying not to choke as he swallowed his laughter.

I giggled at Edmund, who kissed my forehead in response as we shared an amused look with Lucy and Reepicheep. Lucy smirked, but looked down to hide it from Eustace.

"I don't think he has a cute anything," Reepicheep muttered beside Lucy.

"I'll have you know, as soon as we find civilisation, I'm contacting the British Consul. Have you all arrested for kidnapping," Eustace stood up and began walking away, before bumping into Caspian.

"Kidnapping, is it?" Caspian asked in a sarcastic voice. "That's funny; I thought we saved your life."

"You held me against my will," by this point, Drinian and some other members of the crew were looking over in amusement.

"Hah," Reepicheep guffawed.

"Did I?" Caspian was entertained at Eustace's never ending complaining.

"In, what I must say, the most unhygienic quarters, it's like a...like a zoo down there," Eustace looked at us all as he spoke.

"I'm going to kill him soon," I threatened lowly, so only Edmund could hear me.

"Not now," he replied, keeping his arm around me.

I turned around, still sitting on his lap, so I had my back pressed against his chest.

"He's quite the complainer, isn't he?" Reepicheep asked us.

"He's just warming up," Edmund replied carelessly.

Before Eustace could react to that, the sailor in the crow's nest shouted down to everyone on the ship.

"Land ho!"

I looked around the deck as the sun began to set, trying to see where Edmund was.

As soon as land had been sighted, the crew all bustled into action, preparing things for when we made port.

"He's by the helm, with King Caspian and Captain Drinian," a passing sailor informed me.

"Thank you," I smiled at him, before making my way to the helm, taking the steps two at a time.

I reached the railings, where Edmund stood with Caspian and Drinian by the bow of the ship, looking at the upcoming islands with a telescope.

"The Lone Islands, the port of Narrowhaven," Drinian said, handing Caspian the telescope to look through.

"Strange," Caspian muttered, handing Edmund the telescope. "Not a Narnian flag in sight."

"But I always thought the Lone Islands were Narnian," I said, slightly confused.

"Seems suspicious," Caspian, agreed.

"I say we prepare a landing party, Drinian?" Caspian and Drinian exchanged a glance whilst Edmund spoke.

"Forgive me, your majesty, but the chain of command starts with King Caspian on this ship," Drinian said apologetically.

"Right," Edmund nodded but looked away, so I reached for his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"We'll use longboats. Drinian, pick some men and come ashore," Caspian ordered Drinian, before they both walked off.

Edmund stood still, staying very quiet as he looked out to see; I could see he was hurt by Drinian's words.

"Ed?" I began cautiously.

"I'm always second best," he snapped. "I was crowned the 'Just King' so I was 'just Edmund'. Even Susan and Lucy received better titles than me, and I was always overshadowed by Peter – the 'Magnificent'."

"Don't say that," I said, standing in front of him. "You are not 'just Edmund', nor will you ever be. I love you, not Peter or Caspian, but you, and you will always be the Edmund I fell in love with – the one who was stabbed to save his brother's life, the bravest of them all."

Edmund pulled me flush against him in a tight hug, burying his face in my hair. I leant my forehead on his shoulder, returning his embrace, before reaching up and kissing him on his cheek.

"You missed," he murmured.

I giggled and let our noses brush gently against each other.

"Oh really?"

"Yes really," Edmund replied, kissing me full on my lips. I wound my arms around his neck as he rested one hand on my hip and the other on my back. He deepened the kiss by opening both our lips and gently exploring my mouth.

"Ugh."

I groaned as Edmund and I parted, due to Eustace once more.

"What, Eustace?" Edmund growled, keeping me in his embrace.

"Could you two please not do that in full view of everyone?" Eustace complained.

"If you were on the other side of the ship, you wouldn't see us," Edmund replied.

"Huh," Eustace scoffed and walked away, muttering under his breath.

I watched him go, until Edmund tilted my face up to his.

"Now, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?"

I giggled, before Edmund's lips brushed mine and I was lost in his kiss.

"Onward!" Reepicheep exclaimed from the front of the boat. "The thrill of the unknown lies ahead!"

I sat on a boat with Lucy, Caspian, Drinian, Edmund, Reepicheep, some sailors and, sadly, Eustace.

"Couldn't this have waited until morning?" Eustace complained, as the boat stopped and we began to file onto the dock.

Reepicheep heard him and turned to face him.

"There is no honour in turning away from adventure, lad."

Edmund climbed out, after Lucy who was helped out by a sailor, and held out his hand to me. I took it and allowed him to help me onto the paved docks.

"Listen," Lucy said, making us turn up to look at her. "Where is everyone?"

Caspian began to walk up the steps to get onto slightly higher land, followed by Edmund, Lucy and then me.

"Come on, jelly legs," Reepicheep said to Eustace, holding out a small paw to help him out of the boat.

"I'm capable of doing it myself," Eustace replied angrily, before his foot slipped and he fell onto his face on the cobbled stones.

"And you're certain he's related by blood?" Caspian questioned the two Pevensie siblings.

Lucy looked back at Eustace, whilst Edmund nodded with a grimace.

"I'm so glad you didn't inherit anything from his side of the family," I told Lucy and Edmund, who both let out a small laugh.

We carried on walking up the steps and looked around as we reached the base of a gentle, cobbled slope. Caspian slowly pulled his crossbow off his back, looking around for anything suspicious.

Suddenly, a bell tolled from further in the city, causing everyone to jump and draw his or her weapons on instinct.

As I looked up at the tall clock tower where the sound came from, a murder of crows flew out and away, 'cawing' loudly.

"What was that?" I asked, looking at the other nervously.

"Reepicheep, stay here with Drinian's men and secure the place," Caspian ordered, beginning to walk up the slope that led into the city. "We'll head on. If we don't come back by dawn, send a search party."

"Yes, your majesty."

I exchanged a nervous look with Edmund, before we all began to make our way into the city.

As we made our way through the paved streets and past the stone buildings, the sunlight gradually began to face. I looked around and saw some of the houses were missing doors and windows, and a few of them had wooden planks crudely nailed over the windows to provide some form of protection, and curtains covering the doorways.

I followed Caspian, with Edmund and Lucy, to the front of a large empty cathedral. This was where the bells had tolled, since this was the only place where bells could possibly be homed.

Eustace was a distance from us, looking through some wooden shutters and into one of the houses.

"Yeah, looks like nobody's in, so do you think we should head back?" he asked us, running away from the house slightly.

"Do you want to come here and guard..." I trailed off, unsure of how to end my question.

"Something," Edmund finished it for me, looking unsure.

"Ah, good idea, Alena. Very...uh...logical," Eustace said, as he ran over to us in a funny manner. "A clever thought from a clever mind."

Edmund didn't seem to like Eustace's comment, since he sent a glare at his 'beloved' cousin. I felt slightly uncomfortable with the way Eustace grinned at me, luckily, Caspian stepped in and handed Eustace a long dagger, before we turned to go into the cathedral.

"I've got it, I've got it, don't worry."

Lucy looked back at Eustace, obviously not happy with the idea of Eustace guarding us.

The door to the building creaked loudly as it opened. I walked closely to Edmund, before he turned his torch on; it illuminated the room enough so that we could see the features inside it. There were a couple of dozen bells hanging from the ceiling at different levels, with ropes hanging down from them. Situated on either side of the centre path were ten large statues of older men, dressed in royal robes, all holding their heads, and crowns, in their hands – the unsettling thing was that their heads weren't attached to their bodies.

"I'm ready to go when you are," Eustace said, as we reached a podium in the middle of the floor, with a large book spread open on it,

The book had names written on it, with most crossed out and a number scribbled beside them.

"Who are all these people?" Lucy asked, as Edmund's torch allowed us to see the book clearly.

"Why have they all been crossed out?" Edmund questioned, looking closely at the book.

"Look," I pointed to the numbers. "They appear to be a fee, but what are the charges for?"

"Slave traders," Caspian said, making me look up at him in alarm.

Suddenly, the bells began chiming once more as men slid down the ropes, shouting and holding weapons.

I unsheathed my sword and took a few steps forwards to meet my first opponent. I swung my sword, slashing him across his chest to he fell to the ground, before stabbing another. I blocked one blow, and then lunged at another.

"Duck!"

I followed Edmund's advice and ducked, whilst moving to the side, just as I heard the clashing of metal above my head. I looked up and saw Edmund had blocked one sword that sliced the air where I had been standing momentarily before.

"No you don't," I growled, slicing another man who was about to lunge at Edmund's back.

However, everyone froze when we all heard Eustace screamed, rather like a girl. He was being held by a man, with a knife to his throat. The man slammed the doors shut with a loud bang, which echoed about the hall.

"Unless you want to her this one squeal like a girl again, I'd say you should drop your weapons," the man said.

"Like a girl?" Eustace questioned angrily.

"Now!" the man tightened his grip on Eustace, ignoring his cry of anger.

I glared at the man, dropping my sword, as did the others.

"Eustace," Edmund seethed, glaring at his cousin.

"Put them in irons."

I started trying to escape as two of the men held me and put the irons around my wrists.

"Let go of me!" I demanded.

"Get your hands off me," Lucy yelled haughtily.

"Take these three to the market," the man held Eustace by his ear now. "Send those two to the dungeons."

"Listen to me, you insolent fool," Caspian snarled. "I am your King!"

I struggled to get free, reaching to Edmund, who almost got free but was punched in his face.

"Ed!"

"You're going to pay for that," Edmund growled to the man who punched him.

"Actually," a new voice joined in, as another man, evidently the leader, stepped in, "someone else is going to pay, for all of you."

I began to yell as the slave traders began to pull me to the door and away from Edmund.

"No! Edmund! Edmund!"

"Ed!" Lucy screamed.

"Alena! Lucy!"

"Edmund!"

"Alena!"

"No!"

I hope you enjoyed this chapter – I thought it was better to end it on a cliffhanger, even though most of you know what happens anyway.

I did my research, and I was correct in calling a group of crows a 'murder of crows'.

Thank you for reading!

Love,

Alexandra.