The good news is I'm posting another chapter this week! The bad news is that the only reason I'm able to do so is because I caught a stomach bug and so I had to call off work today :(
Peter
The mountain of bones was gigantic. It reached halfway up the nearby trees, and was nearly as wide as the clearing itself. As far as I could tell, the bones were all animal. I was able to identify rib cages of large cats, several fish spines, lots of bird skulls, and quite a few monkey arms. The turtle shells were easy to spot, and the distinct shape of the snake skeletons were too. Some bones were big, likely belonging to animals such as boars. Some were small, which I guessed were rodents. There were so many mixed together, it was impossible to distinguish them all, let alone try to count them. There were some I had never seen anything like, and could only imagine what kind of creature they had come from. The skeletons were bare, without any trace of scale, feather, fur, or flesh.
"At least now we know where all the animals are," Edmund quipped.
I shot him a glare. The gruesome display unnerved me. My scowl had no effect on my brother. With all the enthusiasm of a world renowned archaeologist, he circled around the pile, whistling at its magnitude.
"I say, there's got to be every animal on this island right here," he exclaimed.
His words launched my brain to the conclusion that, unless a strange phenomenon caused all the animals to gather in one place to die at the same time (unlikely considering how fish have no legs), something had to have put them here. And if there was a being on this island that could kill every other living thing and drag their corpses here to rot until all that was left were the bones, I had no desire to meet it.
"Edmund, get over here," I snapped suddenly.
"No, Peter, you'd better get over here," Edmund returned, voice sounding weak.
For a moment, I didn't move, debating whether or not I should use my rank as high king and command him to obey. Considering our earlier argument, and my own abhorrence of the idea of abusing my power, I dismissed the thought and carefully skirted around the edge of the morbid collection.
"What is it?" I asked as I got near his side of it.
In lieu of a verbal response, Edmund pointed with a shaky finger to something in front of him. I fully rounded the corner and was able to see what had upset him. It was a human skeleton. With a golden tooth. The pirate I had fought only an hour ago. A chill crept over me. The bones were stipped clean. As I slowly backed away from the skeleton, the gold in the tooth glinted in the faint sunlight and I got an idea.
"The sun," I murmured.
"What?" Edmund said.
"The sun," I said. "All we have to do is follow the sun. The boat crashed on the south side of the island so we can use the sun as a compass to get back."
My excitement grew as I explained my plan. We could leave this haunting place. I wondered that I hadn't thought of this sooner.
Edmund tilted his head considering the idea. "I suppose it might work. Although, it is a bit hard to see the sun through all the leaves." He craned his head back to look at the sky and his expression changed to one of fear. "Peter, it's getting dark."
I glanced up sharply. He was right. Already the light was fading. We exchanged looks of concern.
"What are we going to do?" Edmund asked quietly.
The raised hairs on the back of my neck and the twisting in my stomach told me to run. To recklessly run, without thought, without reason, without stopping. Just run. Run and run and run. Because there was something evil in this jungle. And it was going to find us. It was going to kill us. It was going to eat us.
I swallowed my panic and forced myself to sound more confident than I was. "Let's think about this logically."
Edmund managed a thin smile at my reference to Susan's favorite word.
"We know it's not safe here in the jungle so we want to get back to the beach. Without map, compass, or sun, it's going to be difficult," I said. "But not impossible," I added with a optimistic wink. "As we saw from the beach, the jungle doesn't fill the whole island. Therefore, we have a limited amount of jungle to travel before we reach the end of it. All we have to do is keep moving."
"And what if we end up walking in circles?" Edmund questioned glumly.
I could always count on my brother to find the gloomy side of things. I brushed a hand through the air as if physically pushing away his pessimism.
"Come on, Ed. Think cheerful thoughts," I said.
Much to my surprise, and pleasure, he squared his shoulders and lifted his chin. "Alright. We're going to get out of this place. Aslan help us, we're going to get out."
"That's the spirit," I grinned. "Now, we've still got some light left. Let's make the most of it."
Edmund meekly handed me back my weapon. Accepting the lead once more, I set off purposefully at a brisk pace.
The lush greenery surrounding me would have been beautiful if I had the luxury of enjoying it. Every plant thrived in the rich soil, growing large and wild, untouched by the pruner's blade. The trees pressed heavenward, covered in untamable vines. I kept my gaze locked ahead, sure of my task. But as we continued on through it, my initial optimism faded, replaced by the tendency to lose focus. My thoughts drifted, meandering about my brain in no particular order. Sometimes I speculated about where the sand ended and the dirt began. Sometimes I contemplated the fact that Centaurs have two stomachs. Sometimes I wondered if the trees liked having all the climbing plants hanging all over them like they were. Once, I even caught myself meditating on the size of my boot. Each time my focus wandered, I found it harder to find again. After such an instance of struggling to concentrate, I came back to myself and discovered that I had apparently stumbled upon a stream at some point during my mental lapse. This caused me worry. If I couldn't pay attention to where I was going, how was I supposed to navigate the way through the jungle? I wrestled with my ego for a long minute before deciding that if I wanted to ensure our safety, I would have to admit my failures to my brother. I looked over my shoulder to talk to him but he wasn't behind me. His absence instantly banished all the frivolous thoughts from my mind.
"Edmund?" I called anxiously. "Edmund?"
I spun on my heel, scanning the jungle for him, and found him kneeling beside the stream. He was greedily gulping the water from his cupped hands. I stalked over to him.
"Edmund, stop!" I yelled.
He finished the handful he had and glared up at me. "Why?"
"Because this place is evil and we don't know what's in that water," I explained impatiently.
With a snort, he scooped up more water. "Places can't be evil, Peter."
"The water could be enchanted," I protested. "Or poisonous."
He only rolled his eyes and drank it. When he was done, he wiped his mouth with the back of his wrist. "Or it could be perfectly fine."
"But we don't know-" I started.
"I was thirsty," Edmund interrupted irritably. "And I'm hungry. I haven't had anything to eat or drink aside from that half an apple and that was hours ago."
His complaints caused me to think of my own, and I couldn't help but admit that my mouth was aching for a touch of liquid, that my stomach clenched hollowly, and a dull throb pounded in my head periodically. The water did look tempting. It was crystal clear, running smoothly over a pebbled bottom. Hesitant, I gingerly lowered myself to my knees and dipped my hands into the water. It was wonderfully cool, such a stark contrast to the oppressive humidity in the air. I brought the water to my lips and sampled it. It instantly soothed my parched throat, though it left a mineral taste on the back of my tongue. I closed my eyes to savor the sensation of the liquid refreshing me. When I opened them, Edmund was smirking at me.
"I told you so," he gloated.
I didn't care then if he was being a smug little prig. All I knew was that I needed more water. I couldn't get it to my mouth fast enough. I plunged my hands into the stream over and over, spilling it down the front of my shirt in my haste to drink it. It felt so good, I splashed some on my face and across my neck, allowing it to wash away the sweat. Feeling rejuvenated, I glanced at Edmund. He was leaning forward for another drink and I couldn't resist. Without warning, I gave him a friendly shove between the shoulder blades and sent him headlong into the water. It wasn't deep enough to do more than wet the edge of his shirt and the front of his trousers, but his high pitched yelp of surprise caused me to explode into a fit of laughter. After pushing himself back into his position on the bank next to me, he grudgingly gave into a few chuckles of his own. I knew he wanted revenge so I was prepared for the shove he aimed at me. But I forgot Edmund was a persistent bloke and his next attack came sooner than I anticipated and this time I was the one tumbling into the stream. Except for the rock that scraped my palm when I put out my hands to catch myself, I came away with no worse wetting than he. Until I pulled on his ankle and he landed on his rear next to me. We laughed as we engaged in a wrestling match, each trying to stand while pushing the other back into the water. I couldn't remember the last time we'd been like this-just two brothers messing around with each other. Finally I managed to shove him over far enough that he was too busy picking himself up to have time to grab me as I clambered onto the shore.
"I win," I declared with a giant grin on my face.
"Only because you cheated," Edmund grumbled playfully.
"You're the one who forgot to establish the rules before we began. No rules, no rule-breaking," I cheekily defended, holding out a hand to help him up.
He shook his head before laughing softly. "I'll remember that for next time."
His light-hearted expression switched instantaneously to one of apprehension. "Did you hear that?" he asked in a whisper, eyes skittering nervously through the trees around us, his hand reflexively seeking mine.
"Hear wh-?" I started but was interrupted by a far off howl.
Edmund's hand latched onto mine, his fingers circling my wrist painfully tight. I yanked him to his feet but he held on a moment longer, staring at me.
I stared back. "That sounded like a…"
"Werewolf," he confirmed, the waver in his voice betraying the mask he quickly schooled his face into.
"But how is that possible?" I wondered, checking the twilight sky through the tree branches. "It's not dark yet."
"Unless…" Edmund trailed off, snatching my wrist again. He flipped it over to expose the cut on my palm. We both stared at the blood sluggishly leaking out. When he raised his gaze to lock with mine, his eyes were full of guilt.
"Peter, I'm sorry," he said.
I pulled my hand away, wiping it clean on my pants. "It's not your fault."
"But I pushed you," he insisted.
"I pushed you first," I reminded him.
"And now there's a werewolf out there with your scent," he finished gloomily. "How long until it finds us, do you think?"
I had no answer. I could only shrug and watch the stream glide by. The stream was gliding by. It was moving. The water was flowing from its source in the jungle down to the beach where it would join the sea. Excitement lit up my face and I smacked Edmund's arm to get his attention.
"Ed, the stream!"
He frowned at me. "You have a bad habit of talking in incomplete sentences."
"No, think about it. The stream," I repeated.
"Alright. The stream," Edmund echoed, still not comprehending my meaning.
"It's moving," I hinted.
"Yes, it is," he agreed patronizingly.
"Where's it going?" I prompted.
I saw the moment the understanding dawned on him. "Thank Aslan," he breathed. "We can follow it to the beach!"
I nodded eagerly. "Come on!"
NarniaGirl: I'm relieved to hear your (undeserved) praise! The nice thing about the Narnia series is that age actually doesn't matter too much. Fans can pick whichever age they want the Pevensies to be and the story could still work, imho.
Girl Yaas: Thanks for being understanding about the age thing :) You're too kind! Honestly, sometimes I wonder if I even have a particular writing style so it makes me happy to hear that you enjoy reading it anyway.
CinnamonRoll4Lif: Did they like this chapter?
ChildofGod: Yes, she's brilliant, isn't she? ;) It is a little like that. I can only assume that my stomach bug wasn't connected to that flower I ate ;P