A/N: Here it is. The longest chapter and also climax of the whole fic. Here is where the truth comes to light (some of it), as well as a matter of life and death. Will Edmund and Corin survive this horrendous encounter with evil? Will Cair Paravel be thrust into the reign of a tyrannical madman? Where is Aslan in this darkest hour of need? *grins* It would be too easy to just tell you. Read on and find out!

--Chapter 17: Trapped--

When I came to, the first thing I was aware of was the terrible ache in my head. I moaned, and as I shifted my weight, noticed that my hands were behind my back in a most uncomfortable position. I tried to move them but found that they were tied.

Tied? With rope?

Then I remembered what had been happening before the blackness. That jerked me all the way awake. I opened my eyes slowly, just enough to see where I was. Darkness. I opened them a bit more. After a moment, I realized that I was still in the stable. The horsy smell was unmistakable, and I could just make out one of the stall doors in front of me.

I tried to sit up. At the sudden movement I felt a sharp, shooting pain pierce my temple like an arrow. I moaned aloud as it spread through the rest of my head, throbbing with pain at the spot where the heavy blow had knocked me into darkness.

"Ed?"

"Since when do you call me 'Ed'?" I said, quite clearly for someone who had just been hit on the head with a large, heavy object.

"Since I found that both 'King' and 'Edmund' are too long to shout when the person you're shouting at is being attacked."

I turned at the sound of the voice. The fog of pain cleared for an instant, replaced by an acute relief in my mind at the sight of Prince Corin, who was on the ground a few feet away, staring at me anxiously.

"You're awake," he murmured, similar relief filling his bright eyes. "I thought they had killed you."

"Corin! What's going on?" I hissed, wincing at the dryness of my throat.

Corin glanced over his shoulder, and then turned back to me. His hands were bound as mine were.

"When King Gavin was distracting you, Reth sneaked up from behind and hit you with a shovel. I tried to warn you, but…"

I flinched and looked away. The rope bit into my wrists, and I struggled to find the knot, hoping that I might be able to untie it. The sound of a horse's shrill whinny filled my ears. Then I heard a man's voice speaking to the horse softly. I recognized it as the voice of Reth, the stable boy. After that there was silence.

"I'm such an idiot for coming alone," I muttered, gritting my teeth as the pain in my head turned to dizziness. "How long was I unconscious?"

The prince's brow furrowed as he tried to remember.

"It's only been a few minutes. Why? Do you have a previous engagement that you can't possibly miss?"

Corin offered me a weak grin as encouragement, and I almost smiled back.

"Laughing in the face of danger, eh?"

Corin grinned again, this time a bit more convincingly.

"Always. Danger is my middle name, you know."

"Funny. I thought it was 'Trouble'."

Corin giggled slightly, but then winced, his grin disappearing.

"Are you all right?" I asked him, instantly concerned as I sat up—a bit more slowly this time.

Corin nodded, but then he grimaced and glanced down.

"I think so. My arm hurts."

My heart ached at the look on his face. I clenched my teeth and tore viciously at the knot with my fingers, which were beginning to numb.

"This is all my fault," I moaned, berating myself inwardly. "How could I have been so…so stupid? Can you ever forgive me, Corin," I added, giving him an apologetic look. "I treated you awfully …and you were right all along!"

"Of course," he replied with a quick grin, not specifying whether he was accepting my apology or agreeing that he had been right, though it was likely both.

"I'll get us out of here," I said with a grunt, struggling against the knot more ferociously. "I almost have it."

"You may not have to," Corin replied, shifting his gaze to someone who was behind me. "Just keep quiet for a few more seconds. And don't look behind you."

I felt a pair of strong fingers struggling with the rope that bound my hands behind my back. I tried to heed Corin's warning, but I couldn't resist the overpowering curiosity that came across me, and turned to see who our rescuer might be.

"Fio!"

The minstrel girl gave me a silencing glare and kept working the knot.

"What are you doing here? If they catch you, you're as good as dead! Go…get out of here while there's still time."

Fio raised an eyebrow at me, and then smiled.

"As it is, King Edmund," she whispered with a mischievous smile, "you're not exactly in the position to give orders. And there's no hope for you and Corin unless someone helps you."

"Then help Corin. Untie him first and get him away from here," I hissed, my head pounding with fear, joy that one of us might get away, and pain.

Fio paused and gave me a grim smile.

"But if I untie Corin first, how can you protect him when our enemies return?"

I hesitated, but then nodded, understanding her reason, and reluctantly shifted my weight to allow her easier access to my hands. In a few moments, she had picked the knot loose. I felt the rope come free, and almost gasped aloud with the wonderful freedom that my shoulders felt at last. I rubbed my wrists experimentally, and then reached for where my sword should be. Not there, of course. Fio noticed this action, and looked toward the stable door.

"They'd catch you if you tried to escape through the door. You could sneak into one of the stalls—"

She stopped as we heard footsteps echoing in the aisle. I grabbed the rope and looped it loosely around my hands, tying a simple knot in the hopes that they wouldn't noticed that I was untied. As the footsteps approached, Fio dove for a nearby stall.

"Don't worry, Corin," I whispered encouragingly, inching a bit closer to him, "Aslan is with us."

The prince smiled, but then stiffened as his eyes strayed to something behind me. I turned, and saw, with growing apprehension, that King Gavin stood there, surveying the two of us triumphantly.

"Aslan," he scoffed. "Do you Narnians really believe in that myth?"

I turned as well as I could to face him, glaring fiercely. Before I could speak up, though, Corin spat out an answer.

"The Narnians—and the Archenlanders with them."

I barely caught myself in time to suppress the ridiculous urge to grin at this. That was Corin: so determined and reckless that he hardly gave a thought to the consequences of what he did or said. I feared that the consequences to this hastily thrown comment would invoke violence from the Galmian king, which would, in turn, set Fio into action; but instead, Gavin threw back his head and guffawed.

"Listen to the little prince," he hissed, halting his laughter instantly when he realized that we might be overheard; he stepped closer to Corin and sneered down at him. "So brave and courageous. But he won't feel so good when he finds himself dead, will he?"

I started forward, but a sudden blow to the side of my head sent me spinning.

"None of that, your highness," said a low voice from behind me. "We don't want any trouble. If you two behave, then maybe—just maybe—we'll kill you quick and painlessly."

I turned as well as I could and spat in Reth's general direction.

"Traitor," I choked. "Coward. You would kill a boy—a mere boy—in order to ensure your escape."

Reth grinned broadly, showing me a row of very white teeth.

"Seems to me," he said, giving me a superior look, "that you were once a traitor too. If I were you, your Majesty, I would speak for myself."

"How fortunate that you are not me," I retorted, raising an eyebrow and trying to regain some of my lost composure.

Reth merely smiled nastily and leaned against the stall door.

"Not yet," he stated, an eager gleam entering his eyes as he watched me.

My blood turned to ice at the tone in his voice, and the calm assurance as well. Behind him, Fio's face leaned forward to hear better from the dark recesses of the stall into which she had escaped.

"What do you mean?"

Gavin stepped slightly away from Corin, approaching me with a sly smile.

"Aye, King Edmund. There's the rub. Now we get to the bottom of everything. The bottom of this whole ploy. Do you think that we don't know your brother is on his way here at this instant? That in but a few minutes, he will come bursting through that door," he pointed his dagger at the stable door, "and fall upon us?"

I swallowed the fear that rose in my throat and glanced at Corin.

"Than all of this…Irwin and the poison…your conference in the garden…Corin tracking Reth …"

"Were to lead us—and the High King—into a trap!" Corin finished, eyes flickering around the stable nervously.

Gavin threw back his head and laughed.

"What investigating for such young detectives!" he roared, patting the youthful prince's head.

Corin responded by biting the man's hand viciously. Gavin let out an outraged yelp and struck the boy's jaw, knocking him a few feet back. I was so furious that I could've blistered the king with my stare.

"Wicked brat!" Gavin hissed, kicking at Corin angrily. "When I kill you, I will be sure to savor the moment!"

For once, Corin didn't reply with a blazing retort. Instead, he winked at me—winked!—and put on a sorrowful expression.

"Please don't kill me, sir," he whimpered, lowering his eyes. "I didn't mean to get caught up in all this mess."

"Neither did King Edmund, here," Reth said. "Nor his 'High King' of a brother, I'd wager."

I pretended to struggle furiously with my bonds, hoping that Corin was trying to stall them. A dark bruise was forming on the lad's jaw where he had been struck, and I wasn't sure that the pained expression on his face was completely faked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fio, creeping away, toward the stable door. My heart leapt. She was going to warn the others.

"How do you know that Peter is coming?" I asked, making a show of fighting the ropes that bound me. "Perhaps I didn't tell him."

Reth snickered.

"Oh really, Sire," he remarked with a sly smile. "Not tell your worrywart of a brother? He'd be troubled to death if you were nowhere to be found; and of course you had to warn him, through your sister, about the murderer who was trying to escape by way of the stable."

The look that crossed my face was one of genuine astonishment. I risked a quick glance at Fio; she was almost at the door. My eyes widened as I turned back to the stable boy, and then I shook my head, not understanding.

"How do you know all this?"

A wicked leer twisted Reth's thin lips, but then he straightened and stood before me fully. Then, Reth did what seemed to be the oddest thing in the world to do at that moment: he bowed. It was a low, courtly bow, one that seemed oddly familiar. It was as he straightened, and I saw the smug, superior, hateful expression on his face that I realized the truth.

"You're Lord Ther!"

Reth's smile became bitter, and he nodded easily.

"Yes. 'Lord' Ther." He paced over to the wall and then back again, not looking at me. "I was one of the first conspirators in King Gavin's plans. The King needed someone on the outside, who could be inconspicuous and fit right in among the servants—even the kitchen staff. That's how that boy was poisoned, by the way. I did it the first time."

"I thought I recognized you," Corin muttered, mostly to himself.

"But Gavin also needed someone on the inside," Ther continued, ignoring Corin. "Someone who could get into the enemy's confidence and determine exactly what they were going to do."

He spread out his arms with a light smile that removed any shadow of a doubt in my mind that he was Ther.

"And that person was me. I arrived with the King's court, and your dear sister did her part, though unwittingly, and fell in love with me."

My blood turned to ice, as I realized the full meaning of this statement.

He must've learned about Peter through Susan! But how can that be? Corin was trailing Reth, and told Susan that he would meet me here at the stables. He had Reth in full sight the whole time; so how could he have learned that Peter was coming after I told Susan?

Ther must have read the expression on my face quite easily, for he smiled superiorly, and let out short laugh.

"That was the reason I was so late in returning to the stable—though just in time to catch you in the act of attacking King Gavin, it seems. Your dear sister was on her way to warn your brother and his men when I saw her running through the courtyard."

I clenched my teeth, restraining my anger as best I could, and tried desperately not to snarl at the man.

"What have you done to her?"

Ther raised an eyebrow at me, and then shook his head at me, as one would a child that did not understand.

"Why nothing. Nothing at all your highness. Yet. And so now she will warn your brother and his 'army', and send them here—to the stable. But we will be ready for them."

"You will die quite soon," Gavin remarked casually, glancing at the stable doors. "Your brother does take his time when rescuing you, doesn't he, King Edmund?"

I glared balefully at the Galmian King.

"Die?" I asked, hoping to stall a little longer. "Who's going to kill us?"

"Why me, of course," King Gavin replied in the same casual tone.

"You and what army?" Corin countered, glowering fiercely at both our enemies.

Ther gave him an amused glance, and then gave a shrill whistle that made my aching head throb. The back door of the stable swung open, and in filed dozens of men, silent and smooth in their movements. Most of them carried bows, with quivers slung on their backs; but a few, about twenty, carried swords, handling them like they were masters.

They probably are masters, I thought, my heart trembling at the thought of what was soon to occur under this roof. Be careful, Peter. Oh Aslan, let Peridan be especially cautious this time!

Ther turned back to Corin and gave him a triumphant grin.

"This army. The Galmian army, newly arrived from a secret compartment in our ship."

Not hesitating for an instant, Corin spat at the man's boots.

"You're a coward, a traitor, and a liar," the prince shouted. "Your trap will NEVER work! King Peter would NEVER fall for it! He'll—"

Ther leapt forward and grabbed Corin, muffling his cries with a large, calloused hand.

"Trying to warn the others, are you?" asked Gavin, smiling grimly as Ther tossed Corin to the ground. "Plucky lad."

He gave me a nervous glare.

"Now don't you start up. I won't hesitate to kill you if you do so much as cough."

I nodded, and then turned to glare at Ther, who was ripping a piece of material off his tunic. With ungentle hands, he shoved the fabric into Corin's mouth, making a sort of gag to keep him from shouting another warning. I would gladly have shouted an alarm to warn my brother and his warriors, even if it meant my death, but I knew that now was not the time. They weren't close enough to hear. Not yet.

"Just one question," I said, not having to pretend the half-frantic tone in my voice as I stared up at the Galmian king, "why? Why are you doing all this? I thought you wanted an alliance with Narnia…not control of it. If you lose this fight, you'll lose everything you've worked for with your daughter's marriage to Peter."

Gavin snorted and shook his head slowly. I saw a hint of desperation enter his eyes.

"Yes. Iliea's marriage. It was a futile hope at the best. We in Galma know how many princesses try for the High King's hand."

"Then it was a ruse," I finished, genuinely surprised. "It was a way to get into the castle and into Peter's confidence."

Gavin nodded reluctantly, looking a half-bit regretful for a moment.

"Poor Iliea. Unfortunately we knew from the start that such a match would not do."

"And the Adder's Blood in the kitchen was meant for Peter…you were going to kill us all off—one by one? And then when Peter and I were gone, you would bring out your army and defeat my sisters in their vulnerability." I was throwing out any ideas now, trying to stall and get as much of a confession from the villain as I could.

Gavin nodded again, but this time with a smile.

"You're quite the detective for such a young king. Fortunately it will never leave these stables. You will die quite soon, your highness, as will your brother. And then Narnia will be mine at last."

I opened my mouth again to speak, but it shut with a snap as soon as I saw two people in the doorway. One of the men approached us, half carrying and half dragging a struggling captive. I gave a cry of dismay when I saw that his prisoner was Fio.

"Well, well," said the king, as the soldier threw my friend to the floor. "What have we here? The little minstrel girl—a friend of yours, King Edmund?"

I clenched my teeth and tried desperately to remain calm, but this situation kept going from bad to worse. Fio obviously hadn't gotten to Peter with the warning, for she gave me an apologetic look, and then flinched as Gavin grabbed her arm and wrenched her to her feet.

"You've been spying on us, haven't you, my dear?" the king asked with a dangerous gleam in his eyes, though his voice was calm. "Do you know the punishment spies receive in Galma?"

Gavin glanced at Ther and jerked his head at the minstrel girl. Then he turned and began speaking quietly with one of the soldiers.

Fio shrank back as Ther approached, his sword drawn. I slipped my hands free from my loosely tied bonds and prepared to make my move. I met Corin's gaze for an agonizing instant, before I moved, and gave him a nod. He was still gagged, of course, and couldn't speak, but his eyes said everything. It was the exact look that I had given Peter dozens of times before, and tears sprang to my eyes as I suddenly realized how close my 'adopted brother' had become, even through all my best efforts to convince myself otherwise. I truly hoped he would survive this ordeal.

Ther placed his sword's point on Fio's delicate neck, just below her chin. I inched toward them, teeth gritted and muscles burning with adrenaline.

"You're not so bad looking as I first thought," Ther was saying, leering down at my friend. "It's a pity I have to kill you so soon after we've met."

Fio's eyes glared up at him, fear and anger intermingling. She truly wasn't like any other girl on earth. She had the grace of Susan and the valiance of Lucy, not to mention skill like Peter and wit to match mine. What a friend! She looked my way just before I leapt at Ther, and our eyes met for one long second.

And then I sprang. Ther turned halfway before I crashed into him, sending both of us sprawling to the stable floor. His sword clattered a few feet away. Ther scrabbled for it, but I grabbed his arm and pulled back to punch him.

Before I could strike, a rush of dizziness overcame me, and I paused. Ther took the opportunity to connect his fist with my jaw, a cracking blow. I swayed back from the force of the clout, but as Ther lunged for his sword, I caught his arm again and managed to land a solid punch in his stomach. Fio screamed my name, but I didn't heed it. I was taking my vengeance on Ther; for trying to poison Peter, for wooing and using Susan, and for almost killing Fio and Corin.

Before I could land another blow, strong hands grabbed my arms and dragged me off of Ther. Someone struck me in the jaw, and I spun backwards.

I closed my eyes and slumped back weakly. My head throbbed with pain, so terrible now that I could hardly think straight. Then I heard the sound of hooves on cobblestones; swords being drawn; shouts and horns blowing.

Peter and Peridan. It's time!

"RUN, Pete! RUN! It's a TRAP!" I screamed, jerking away from my captors frantically in time to shout a desperate warning. "STAY AWAY!!! TRAP!"

Something hard hit my stomach, and I folded over with a pained gasp as the air rushed from my lungs. I looked up, and suddenly everything was perfectly clear. It was like a dream; everything moved incredibly slowly.

Before me stood King Gavin. His thin lips were twisted into a snarl, most of his teeth showing, and his dark green eyes flashed angrily.

"I should've killed you the moment you set foot in this stable," he whispered, cursing and glaring furiously at me. "But even if I die today in this battle, at least the minstrels will sing of great King Gavin, who took one of the Prophesied Kings of Narnia with him to the grave."

Gavin drew his sword. The din of battle surrounded us now; the Narnians seemed to have entered the stable, and were now fighting with the Galmian men. I couldn't see Peter or Peridan.

With a strange, victorious smile, Gavin twirled his sword in a tight circle, and then drove it forward.

"Die!" he hissed, eyes bright and teeth flashing white.

I felt something hit my stomach. From behind me, I heard Fio scream, "NO!" I had the vaguest feeling of pain. My legs gave way, and I fell to the ground. Everything was so lucid; the colors so bright, but then everything blurred before my eyes, falling away so quickly…

"Edmund!" shouted Corin's voice from somewhere above. "Ed! No!"

I wonder how he got un-gagged, I wondered faintly. I thought I told him not to call me Ed.

The pain increased, and I became vaguely aware that it came from my stomach. I glanced down as well as I could, and saw, even in the dim light of the stable, that a section of my tunic was darker than it had been, and seemed to be wet. I touched it. My fingers came away red.

Blood, I thought weakly, my last conscious thought before everything faded into darkness. I'm bleeding…Pete…

TBC........