A/N. I know recently I've been making you wait longer than I used to at first, and I'm sorry. I'm trying to get to my dad's work every time there's an opportunity like today. Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

Chapter 19

The next morning arrived pretty much the same as every other day. All the sailors were up the earliest and Edmund and Edelle-the latest. It wasn't that they were both very heavy sleepers, it's just the position they were in- next to each other-made it almost impossible to get out of bed every day. But when they eventually did and went to the upper deck, they saw the ship heading some unidentified island and looked around for Caspian. Edelle spotted him next to Drinian near the stirring wheel.

"Hey, Caspian!" she shouted as they approached.

"Morning…" Edmund muttered, still not really awake because of the nightmares.

Caspian smiled as he saw the two come closer "Good morning, Edelle, Edmund." He looked at either of them "I assume you already noticed the island."

Edelle nodded "We noticed. So, I guess we finally have a chance to get some more water and food."

Caspian shrugged skeptically "I'd love to hope so. The Island doesn't look too fertile to me…"

Edelle looked at the advancing land and sighed, there sure wasn't much to get your hopes up for, but as Reepicheep always said-«We have nothing, if not belief».

"Have you seen Lucy, by the way?" Edmund asked, looking around and not spotting his sister.

"And Eustace?" Edelle also turned her head and scanned the deck.

Caspian smiled "You would be surprised, but just about half-hour ago the both of them came up to me and said they wanted to go to the training room…"

"TOGETHER?" Edmund and Edelle cried in disbelief, their eyes growing plate-wide.

Caspian laughed "Indeed. Lucy said she wanted to teach Eustace to handle some weapons."

"Eustace?" Edelle cocked an eyebrow "With a weapon?" she huffed "This oughta be fun…To watch especially. Lucy, the selfish little girl, could've told us about the little show she's putting up."

Edmund and Caspian chuckled

"You know, darlin', that actually may be a good idea. I mean, whatever works to distract him, right?" Edmund smiled.

She instantly felt a bit guilty for scolding him, Edmund was right, he did need a distraction. Well done, Lucy.

Meanwhile the ship was getting closer and closer to the foreign Island and after another fifteen minutes they were close enough to get down on small boats and port. A sailor was sent to call Lucy and Eustace from the training room as everyone was boarding the boats. Caspian, Edmund, Edelle, Lucy, Eustace, Mr. Rhince and some sailor got aboard one and Reepicheep, accompanied by Drinian and several other sailors went on the other. The men, except for Eustace that is, took the paddles and got to work.

Reepicheep studied, from the nose of the boat, the land they were moving towards "I doubt the Lords stopped here, my leash" he told Caspian "There's no sign of anything living."

"Right." Caspian said "Well, once we get ashore, take your men and search for food and water. The four of us will look for clues."

"Hang on, you mean the five of us?" Eustace complained from the back, as every pair of doubtful eyes on the boat landed on him. "Come on, please don't send me back to the rat!"

"I heard that!" Reep informed from the other yacht.

Eustace rested his elbows on his knees "Big ears.." he mumbled.

"I heard that too!"

Eustace puffed out and the rest laughed quietly.

Finally the boats approached the land and the sailors began unloading them. Everyone was getting down, and Edmund jumped off first and picked Edelle up in his arms, carrying her to the sand.

As he set her down, she crossed her arms and grinned "Show off."

Edmund chuckled and Lucy smiled at their cuteness, while Eustace rolled his eyes, annoyed and wandered off into the Island.

"Don't get lost!" Lucy shouted after him. Eustace mumbled something incoherent and proceeded walking. She sighed heavily and hurried after Caspian, Edmund and Edelle, who had already gone off to explore.

Soon they reached a crater that looked like a deep hole in the ground, going so far down, you could barely see where it reached the ground.

"Look! We're not the first ones here." Caspian said as he pointed to the rope, which was tied to a pointed stone by the crater.

"The Lords?" Edmund asked, hopefully.

"Could be." He said and looked down the hole, throwing a stone in to check the depth "What do you think could be down there?"

"Let's find out!" Edmund said and tied the end of the rope to his waist, preparing to go down first. Edelle smirked at him, her brave knight. He carefully descended all the way to the end and jumped off, Edelle, Caspian and Lucy following close behind. They were walking through the crater and looking around. It looked like any ancient ungrounded cave would, with all the stone and some water. Despite it being so deep down, the light passed to here quite easily and the place was rather well illuminated. As they came close to a pretty big pond, something weird caught Edelle's eye.

"Hey, look over here!" she said and everyone turned to where she was pointing. There, just several inches under water they could clearly see a figure of a man, a full-size figure.

Caspian walked closer "What's that?"

Edmund bent his head down to get a better look "I don't know. Looks like some sort of gold statue." He looked around and then went to one of the stone walls and tore out a branch. As everyone watched what he was doing, he advanced the pond and eased the branch into the water. What happened then made all of them gasp- the part of the branch, that was under the water began to turn gold; the goldness crawled up even to the part that was above the surface and once it almost reached Edmund's hand, he let out a yelp and dropped the branch into the strange pond.

Everyone stared in astound at the water surface. It was all clear now that the statue under it, wasn't a statue at all, it was a real man…used to be.

Caspian stepped nearer "He must have fallen in."

"Poor man." Lucy sympathized

"You mean, poor Lord." Edmund said as he nodded towards the shield that was next to the statue.

Caspian looked closely "The crest of Lord Resterm."

"And his sword!" Edmund pointed to what they've been looking for.

"We need it." Caspian said and Edmund drew out his sword and eased it in to get it.

"Be careful" "Edelle and Lucy said and Edmund hooked the tip of his sword to the handle of the one under water, slowly pulling it up and handed it to Caspian.

"Your sword hasn't turned gold." Lucy pointed out.

"Both the swords are magical" Edelle whispered.

Lucy again sympathetically looked at the statue "He mustn't have known what hit him?"

Edmund's expression turned thinking "Maybe." He studied the pose of the gold man and the branch which he dropped down there "Or maybe he was onto something."

"He's right, Lu." Edelle said, looking at the water "I think he knew pretty darn well what could hit him."

Caspian looked suspiciously, as Edmund picked up a seashell and quickly ran it through the water and dropping it as fast as possible. The plain seashell immediately turned gold. He took it in his hand and stared at it in wonder. Both Edelle's and Lucy's expressions stiffened.

"What are you staring at?" Edelle asked with a tone of disapproval.

"Whoever has access to this pool…could be the most powerful person in the world…" he said, not lifting his gaze.

Edelle, Lucy and Caspian exchanged worried glances.

Meanwhile Edmund turned his head to Edelle and she gasped as she saw his eyes. They seemed darker than usual and the fire, which was always burning in them, seemed to gain something new…something wicked. His expression didn't even seem his own now.

"Edelle, we'd be so rich, no one could tell us what to do, or who to live with. No one could stand in our way anymore." His voice sounded strange…power-hungry, even a bit venomous, she didn't even know he had that in him.

"You can't take anything out of Narnia, Edmund." Caspian interfered, thankfully.

"Says who?" Edmund retorted carelessly.

"I do." He answered sternly.

That seemed to have done it for Edmund, and Edelle became even more worried. Edmund stood up, picked up his sword and turned to Caspian, a dangerous look on his face.

"I'm no your subject." He almost hissed.

"You've been waiting for this, haven't you, to challenge me? You doubt me leadership. " Caspian stated, rather than asked.

"You doubt yourself!" Edmund stepped closer to him.

"You're a child!"

"And you're a spineless sap!" he raised his voice "I'm tired of playing second-fiddle! First it was Peter, and now it's you! You know I'm braver than both of you, why do you get Peter's sword? I deserve a kingdom of my own! I deserve to rule!"

"If you think you're so brave…" Caspian hissed "Than prove it!" He shouted as both swung their swords around, papering to strike each other. The raging sounds of clashing metal instantly filled the cave.

"No! Stop it, both of you!" Lucy jumped in between them "Look at yourselves! Can't you see what's happening? This place has tempted you. This is exactly what Coriakin was talking about. Edelle…"

"I've got it." She said as she stood right in front of Edmund and put both her hands on his face, backing him away slightly.

"Shh, love." She half-whispered in a soothing tone, her face merely two inches away from his "You need to calm down, okay? It's not you, it's just this place and the mist."

Her touch and the sound of her gentle voice swiftly returned Edmund back to his senses as he looked in her almost-pleading eyes. He already hated himself for letting her see him like this. That was a small part of him he desperately wished for her not to ever know.

"Oh god…I'm sorry, darling." He whispered with regret and an ashamed look in his eyes.

Edelle knew he was sorry, she could tell.

Lucy sighed "Let's just get out of here." She instantly headed to the rope that let upwards, Caspian shooting one last glance and Edmund, and then following after her.

As Edelle was sure Caspian and Lucy were around the corner, she leaned in and kissed him, comfortingly. Edmund felt thankful, she knew just what to do with him. Her warm lips against his always lured him away from all his troubles. He returned her kiss just as gently and lovingly and put on arm on her waist.

After a minute she pulled away from him "We need to get back."

He nodded and she smiled, taking his hand in hers and leading him to the rope.

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