--Chapter 14: Argument--

I discovered Corin in the Orchard. His tunic was every bit as muddy as Lu's had been, if not a thousand times worse. With him was Geoffrey—Cook's nephew, I remembered—and Fio, staring at both the filthy boys with a look somewhere between disgust and approval. When Corin saw me, his eyes lit up.

"Ed! Where have you been all morning? You said you'd find us after the whole bothered council thing with Lord Irwin, but it's been at least three hours since then."

I patted Corin's head affectionately as I reached him, and then grimaced as I glanced at the mud that now streaked my hand.

"Not even two have passed, Corin. You're too impatient."

I turned to Fio and Geoffrey with a smile.

"Was the mud fight a success?"

Geoffrey laughed aloud, and Fio sighed with a rueful smile.

"Alas—I arrived just as they were declaring a truce; but I'm planning on joining them the next time war breaks out in the garden!"

"Count me in as well," I replied without thinking what Susan or Peter might have to say about this, and only remembering the glad smile on Lucy's face when she mentioned the occasion. "I suppose you've heard the bad news?"

A shadow fell across each of their faces, and Corin nodded sadly.

"Queen Lucy's cordial. We were just looking for it, because she came here, to the Orchard, before she went to the garden and I thought she might have dropped it."

I nodded at this, wondering with some fraction of my mind why Corin referred to Lucy with the title of Queen, but only called me 'Ed', or at best 'Edmund'.

Fio snapped her fingers.

"As a matter of fact, I remember her saying something about the garden maze, too." She gave me a meaningful look, glanced at Corin, and then back at me. "Come on, Geoffrey. Shall we search there?"

Geoffrey gave her a quizzical look, but then nodded willingly as she graced him with a smile. Corin started forward.

"I'll come too!"

Fio held up a hand and gave me another meaningful look.

"You and King Edmund can search the Orchard. Besides, I think there's something he wants to talk to you about."

I flinched as I finally caught the meaning in those words. Fio wanted me to make up with Corin, to make sure that I hadn't upset him with my untimely mention of the murderer. I nodded and put a hand on Corin's sticky shoulder.

"That's right, Corin. We'll see you later, Fio; Geoffrey."

The two of them disappeared around a corner, laughing at some joke, and I turned to Corin with a sigh.

"Lion's mane, Corin, you're a sight!"

The boy shrugged innocently.

"Twas a mud fight. What did you expect?"

I shook my head as I looked him over, and then sighed again, plopping down in the grass next to one of the trees that stretched their leafy branches overhead.

"Sit."

Corin sat.

"I thought we were looking for Queen Lucy's cordial," he protested weakly.

"We are. Or will, when we're through with this. Corin…" I leaned forward, though not meeting his eyes, "are you all right?"

Corin gave me a look that plainly said 'What in Narnia are you talking about? I've just been in a mud fight and have spent the day doing nothing but fun. What could you possibly mean by "all right"?', but I wasn't fooled.

"I was wrong to mention the…well, the poison. Apparently your father had warned everyone else, but I didn't get the word because I was in the infirmary—," I stopped.

Just like before, Corin had turned white at the mention of the poison. Inwardly, I cursed and wished I hadn't brought it up so suddenly without any warning, but it was too late to turn back now.

"Corin, I'm sorry about your mother. I had no idea; otherwise I never would've told you."

Corin frowned thoughtfully, staring off somewhere beyond the Orchard—indeed, possibly past Cair Paravel's walls, even Narnia's glades—to a place far in the past, in his memory.

"It's not your fault," he muttered, looking down and blinking a few times. "Just the poison's."

I waited for a second, unsure whether to press the point or to let it rest, but then replied, "Do…do you want to talk about it?"

The prince's brow furrowed, and he drew in a deep breath.

"It wasn't anybody's fault, really. There was a traitor at Anvard who wanted the throne. He had been friends with another traitor called Lord Bar, who was killed a few months after I was born, and this other chap was the one who poisoned her. Father said that it was a ruse to make him lose heart and surrender his lands to the King of Calormen, but I say that it was a horrid way to capture a kingdom. I'd rather there'd been a battle, for then Mother would still be alive."

Corin said all this while staring down at the ground. I couldn't see his face, but I had a sort of feeling that there were great crystalline tears welling up those blue eyes of his. There were certainly tears in mine. I reached out and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Corin. As I said, I should've been more cautious with my words. Will you forgive me?"

At last, Corin raised his eyes and met mine. To my surprise, they weren't sad at all, but passionate and filled with a kind of fury.

"Only if you let me help look for the murderer."

"What?"

I drew back a bit in surprise. I certainly hadn't expected this response from him, though now, looking back, I shouldn't have been so astonished.

"You want to help?"

Corin nodded eagerly.

"I can follow people for you; watch them and figure out what's going on! Oh please, Edmund?"

I shook my head doubtfully, but then I suddenly remembered Lord Irwin.

"Corin, the murderer's already been caught."

"No he hasn't."

I threw my hands in the air in defeat.

"What in Narnia do you mean? You've obviously been told about Lord Irwin. He's been put under arrest, and his trial is tomorrow. Now that he's in prison, there's nothing more to worry about—"

"Except for Queen Lucy's missing cordial," Corin put in with a calculated look that practically begged me to ask what he meant.

"Missing is exactly what it is," I replied, not asking, but giving the straight facts. "She left it in her room somewhere; or the ballroom. There's certainly no mystery attached to the thing."

Corin raised an eyebrow enigmatically.

"There isn't?"

"Well…"

"Think about it, Ed," the prince continued before I could say anything else, "You're poisoned at the ball. Right after Queen Lucy heals you with her cordial, it disappears mysteriously. So she can't heal anyone else, maybe?"

"Corin…"

But the rest of what I was going to say evaporated from my suddenly gaping mouth.

Great Scott, I'm growing slow witted! Why didn't I think of that!? What an idea!

Lord Irwin wasn't working alone. He'd been under surveillance by Peridan and Darm all of last evening and this morning. He hadn't had a chance to steal the cordial. But what if someone else, someone else who wanted all of us dead, sneaked into Lucy's chamber in the middle of the night and snatched the cordial from where it lay on her pillow—my blood turned to ice.

Since Corin had brought up such an interesting point, I couldn't help but ask him who he thought the villain was. His answer made me laugh aloud.

"Iliea? Where in Narnia do you get these hair-brained ideas? Why do you think it was Princess Iliea?"

"Because she was acting rather suspiciously earlier today," the prince replied seriously, half pleading with me to believe him.

"And because she called you 'sweet' and 'adorable' and was wearing pink at the ball last night?" I finished with a knowing look.

Corin flushed and looked down.

"Anyone who wears a shade of pink like that is a villain in my book," he muttered gloomily.

"Who else is in on this plot to kill off the entire castle?" I asked, somewhat amused by his first answer and curious as to whether the rest of the conspiracy would be equally entertaining.

"I'm not sure," Corin replied with a frown. "Reth, maybe. He could've slipped the vial into the saddle bag when no one was looking. There was a servant boy at the ball who looked suspicious too, the one serving wine. He had dark brown hair, but I don't know his name."

"Reth? The stable boy? You're mad!" I chuckled, not disappointed at his humorous reply. "And that servant boy happens to be Darm, one of my good Narnian friends."

Corin flushed again. He didn't grin after a moment like I'd expected he would. Instead, he gave me a doleful glare and stood, dusting his trousers off—though the grass gave way only to the fine undercoating of mud.

"You'll see," the prince said. "You think you've got your murderer with Lord Irwin in chains, but he isn't it. You've got the wrong person, and I'm not letting your mistake kill everyone else I love!"

His words cut deep, for my choice concerning Irwin still weighed heavily on my mind.

"Look, I didn't ask for your criticism," I said more sharply than I meant to.

"No, but you did ask for my opinion, and then you laughed at it," Corin retorted, his face flushed angrily. "Some 'Just King'. No wonder the murderer's targeted you first; you wouldn't be able to see the right villain if he stabbed you in the back."

As he turned and stalked off in the direction of the visitor's rooms where he and King Lune were staying, my anger rose unhampered, and I couldn't help but shout, "Go ahead and follow your suspects, Corin. Go on and save all of Narnia! Good luck—and good riddance!"

Though the prince stiffened visibly, he didn't hesitate in his stride, and he did not look back.

TBC............