A/N. I was thinking here… Caspian didn't have a temptation-instead he just had a nightmare about his father not being proud of him. So I decided that Edelle will have a nightmare too. It just made more sense to me than all the temptations I tried picturing on her. Enjoy the chapter!)
Chapter 20.
Once the four got up and out of the crater, they headed towards the boats to check on the sailors and what they had managed to gather so far.
"What food did you find?" Caspian asked as they advanced.
They looked over the baskets, which were at-best half full with some eatable plants and nuts.
Rhince shrugged "It's volcanic, Your Majesty-not much grows."
Lucy looked around "Where's Eustace?"
"I believe he is out, NOT helping us load the boats." Reepicheep said in a slightly annoyed tone. He and the Pevensies' cousin not quite hated each other…mutually disliked was more like it.
"Eustace!" Lucy shouted but no reply came. She tried shouting again, and Edelle, Edmund and Caspian turned their heads, looking around, trying to detect any form of movement or the quietest reply.
When they heard none Lucy turned to Edmund and Edelle "I've got a bad feeling." Her intuition never seemed to betray them, and perhaps that's what made Edmund sigh "I'll go and find him."
"I'll come with you." Edelle stated the obvious, and he wrapped one arm around her waist and they headed off.
"Wait, me too." Caspian said, catching up with them.
For countless minutes they walked around the volcanic land, calling for Eustace, but as before, they still got no reply.
Edelle looked all around, scanning the space "Eustace!...Hey, what's this?" she cocked an eyebrow, pointing to a large crevice in the land. The boys turned to where she was pointing and gaped slightly: the entire crevice was filled with gold, precious stones and treasure, forming somewhat of a golden river that led meters and meters away.
"Treasure." Edmund stated
"Trouble." Caspian corrected- he knew that in Narnia hardly anything is what it seems.
Then Edmund spotted something that looked like a burned shoe and the three jumped down into the crack. Edmund picked it up and examined it. Edelle gasped as recognition drooled over her.
"Eustace…" Edmund breathed out in shock and apprehension.
"It can't be…" Edelle shook her head in disbelief and then, just a foot away from her she spotted his diary and quickly picked it up, turning it in her hands. She slowly kneeled down, tears forming in her eyes and she hung her head. «How could we let it happen?» thoughts of guilt ran through her mind «It's all out fault…»
Edmund comfortingly wrapped one arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder.
Caspian kneeled beside them and looked sympathetically "I'm sorry."
Edmund slowly shook his head and took the diary from Edelle's hands "He was just a boy…I never should have left him."
They all looked down with grief.
"What could have happened to him?" Edmund asked and Caspian looked around "In this place? Anything."
He stood up and turned his gaze to a skeleton near the rocks "And he wasn't the first." He walked to it and studied the figure "It's Lord Octesium." He concluded "We should find his…" he looked at Edmund, who was picking the sword up from the pile of the deadly gold "…sword."
"Come on, love." Edmund took Edelle's hand and helped her up "We've got to get out of here."
She nodded her head, simply not being able to speak and let him lead her away.
As they walked back to the ship both Edelle's and Edmund's thoughts were practically the same «How are we gonna tell everyone? Aunt Alberta? Uncle Harold? Lucy? How would they explain, why there were five people to go exploring the Island, and four to come back? How could they go back to London without him? How could Aslan let that happen?...»
Suddenly, they were snatched out from their thoughts, as they heard a strange sound from not so far behind them. It sounded like roaring, but they couldn't clearly make out what could have made such a noise. Edelle shot Edmund a worried glance.
"Probably just the volcano." He assured her, though he, himself, wasn't so sure about it.
Caspian seemed to think about something and then his face turned serious and stern "I'm afraid not." He said.
The two looked at him questioningly "What?"
"We need to get to the ship, fast."
Just as he said the last word, the odd and rather intimidating sound dawned on them again, except, this time it sounded like it was mere feet away. They chaotically turned around and Edelle's eyes had grown huge, she felt like screaming, but she just couldn't, because that was the last thing she'd expected to see! There, flying right towards them, was an enormous brownish-golden skinned dragon-the source of the dreadful roaring noise. It all happened so fast, it took a few moments to comprehend what it was, but when she did, she turned around to find that Edmund was no longer beside her. The next thing she saw, was him firmly grasped in the dragon's claws, getting farther away with each passing second.
"EDMUND!" both she and Caspian screamed in terror, but could do nothing- he was already out of sight,
"No…Caspian!" Edelle turned to him, as if there was a way he could help. He put his hands on her shoulders in a shaky attempt to calm her down "Now, Edelle, it's not as bad as it looks. Dragons here rarely eat people; it's probably just taking him to its nest. We'll just have to find it and retrieve him. He'll be fine, he'll be fine!"
Edelle tried to believe him, honestly tried, but somehow it didn't make her feel any better."Well, let's go then!" she almost-shouted "If follow it now, we'll at least be able to see the area were the nest is!'
Caspian nodded "Yes, come on."
But just as they started running after the dragon, the roaring sounded closer again. Was it coming back? Apparently, yes. Their eyes widened even more as they saw the creature flying closer to them. Edelle and Caspian ducked swiftly, so it won't grab either of them, but in a moment, when no strike came, they slowly looked up. To their shock, and much to Edelle's relief, the dragon landed several feet away and let Edmund go, as he jumped from the grasp and walked to Edelle.
She looked completely bewildered as he advanced "Edmund? What's going…"
"That's Eustace" he cut her off, already knowing what her question will be.
"What?" she couldn't believe her ears, or her eyes. "How do you know? Did he tell you?" she asked in a slightly sarcastic manner.
He chuckled "No, but he, sort of, showed me. Just trust me- it is him."
"Wow…" was all she could say. She glanced at the dragon and it surprised her by giving a small nod. She finally smiled and looked back at Edmund "Don't you scare me like that again. I nearly fainted when it he grabbed you just a minute ago!"
Edmund smiled "Don't worry, I won't. Well…if I have something to say about it, that is." He leaned in to kiss her.
And then, just a moment before he could, he felt something burn his back, as he yelped "OW!" and jumped away. It wasn't bad enough to set him on fire, but bad enough to make him angrily turn around and shoot daggers at the new Eustace. Edelle also looked at him and noticed the change in his expression- if a dragon could smirk-that would be it.
She and Caspian chuckled "We need to tell the others. I'll go get them, and you stay here with him." He said and went away.
In several minutes Lucy, Rhince, Drinian, Reepicheep and the Minotaur joined the four. They figured out what happened, as Caspian mentioned "Anyone knows the dragon's treasure is enchanted. Well, anyone from here." They debated on what to do with the new…difficulty. They couldn't bring him on board, but they certainly couldn't just leave him here. It was decided that they stayed on the island for tonight and figure something out in the morning.
Thanks to Eustace's new ability of fire-breathing, all of them made themselves quite comfortable as they lay down. Edelle, as usual, snuggled to Edmund's side and he draped an arm around her and she looked up at him "Tell me something about the time when you and Peter and your sisters were here the longest."
"The Golden Age?" he asked. She nodded eagerly. He chuckled and told her about the time before Caspian was born…before Caspian's grandfather was born, when only the four of them were Kings and Queens. He told her about the hunts, the combat practices and the numerous balls Susan love to through on any occasion at all. He came to the part where he was about a year older than he is now, and the ladies on those balls were practically throwing himself at the "Young King": flirting with him, pretty much dragging him out to dance with them…
At this point Edelle propped herself up on one elbow "So in all the time you spent here, you didn't find yourself a queen? Ever?" she asked in a «Yeah, right.» tone.
He looked at her seriously "No. Not ever."
"Why?"
"They weren't you." He answered simply and pecked her on the lips. She smiled, thoroughly satisfied with his answer and leaned back down.
Then Edmund remembered the time when they first got here- the first several days. He sighed quietly, as his thoughts returned to what has been keeping him awake the previous night. And then he remembered something he wanted to ask Edelle for a while now.
"Edelle…" he began.
"Hmm?" she tilted her head to the side to look at him
"You never told me about your nightmare."
She tensed up slightly "That's because there's really not much to tell." In truth, Edelle was hoping he'd forgotten about the subject, but apparently, he didn't.
"It was bad enough to give you trouble sleeping." he said matter-of-factly and propped himself up on one elbow, looking down at her. "Come on, love, what was it about?"
She sighed, but couldn't resist his caring gaze "You." She answered simply.
"Me?" his eyebrows furrowed in confusion "Did something happen to me?"
She shook her head "No…something happened to us." She said in a solemn voice.
He sympathetically took her hand in his "What do you mean?"
A ghost of a smile appeared on her face the moment he touched her, but it quickly faded away, and she turned her gaze to the sky as she began explaining "I dreamt that we're back in London and everything is the way it is now: we're the same age, wearing the same clothes, but from the moment we came back from Narnia, you've changed. You were so cold to me…you didn't want to spend time with me anymore; avoided talking to me, you even avoided just seeing me. It was as if nothing ever happened between us." The last part came out in a somber almost-whisper and she looked back at Edmund.
The moment she finished speaking, he leaned down and gently kissed her several times in a comforting manner and then pulled back "You know that's never gonna happen." He put one hand on her face and softly caressed her cheek "You know I'll always love you more than my life."
She smiled adoringly "I know, and I feel the same. Oh well, I guess some dreams are just dreams."
He smiled too "Well, yours most definitely is. You went against all the rules for me; you gave me your heart...your body…" Surprisingly he didn't blush at the last words; apparently all inner modesty didn't work when you've already seen everything there is to see about the other person.
She looked at him amorously "I would give it to you again if it weren't for all the people around."
He grinned and kissed her again, this time with a lot more passion than before. Oh, if only they were alone right now...
But they weren't, and so Edelle delicately pushed against Edmund's chest before things get steamy.
He reluctantly parted from her "Goodnight, my love." He whispered against her lips and rolled on his back, pulling her with him, so she was snuggled to his side.
"Goodnight, Edmund." She replied and draped one arm around his neck, and within minutes they were both fast asleep.
A huge thank you to all those who review- you really are making my days. Please don't stop doing so)