Well, here we go! Surprisingly I keep updating early; does anyone mind? This one is long, the first third is pretty much just filler information because I wanted to include a bit of Lucy and Susan's perspective. Anyway, in response to a guest review; if you consider the movies, which I do, at least partially, then there is a possibility. Also, special thanks to Lydwina Marie for always beig an amazing and prompt reviewer! You're the best!
My name isn't Clive Staples Lewis and I don't go by Jack, so I still don't own Narnia. Bummer.
Susan was furious, but only those who knew her best could have guessed, and of those three two were now missing. She was outwardly calm, gracious, and in perfect control while in reality the Gentle Queen wanted nothing more than to shake her two, well-meaning but recklessly careless brothers. As days passed with no word from either Edmund or Peter Lucy became silent and withdrawn, her own sense of guilt driving her to wander forlornly through the deserted sections of the castle. Susan was too outraged by Lucy's part in Edmund's deception that she scarcely noticed her sister's absence.
Three days after Edmund's departure Susan realised with growing despair that King Lune could not reasonably be expected to delay negotiations with the Calormen ambassador for much longer. If her brothers did not return it was more than likely that Narnia would soon be on the verge of war with Calormen. She did not doubt for a moment that the Tisroc, who most certainly would not live forever, would not hesitate to take advantage of any perceived weakness in Narnia.
Susan rubbed her aching temples distractedly and began to draft a message to King Lune. The negotiations would have to proceed without Narnia's monarchs, whether that led to war or not. Neither her or Lucy could risk vanishing as Peter and Edmund had and leaving Narnia truly leaderless.
"Oh Aslan, won't you help us? Show me what I should do." But if the Great Lion heard her he remained strangely silent and Susan sighed and turned back to her parchment. She felt terribly alone.
Lucy too felt her brothers' absence keenly. This was different than the times they were away on campaigns against the giants in the North of the Fell Beasts which still occasionally appeared in the Western Woods. This time they were missing and she couldn't help but feel that it was partially her fault. It was she who had allowed Edmund to leave in search of his brother. It was she who had aided him in deceiving Susan.
She spent her days mostly wandering through her brothers' chambers. Their section of the Cair was largely deserted in their absence and the empty rooms had already begun to take on a strange, eerie quality of abandonment. In Edmund's room she found shelves, stacks and disorderly piles of books, a golden chess set and little else. The servants, it seemed, had given up trying to bring any semblance of order to the chaos. Lucy smiled but her heart ached with sadness; there was little comfort to be found in his room. Peter's room was far tidier, a testament to his less reclusive nature. The servants obviously had very little trouble tidying the few things he displaced on the rare occasions he was even in his chambers. Edmund's room was a refuge from the outside world, Lucy realized; Peter's was barely more than a place to sleep.
She closed the doors silently, as if afraid to disturb someone and tiptoed back into the sunlit hallways. She longed to run out of the Cair, down to the golden sand along the ocean; to turn her face to the East and to Aslan. But her guilt prevented her from seeking the Lion's council. In the end, she was the one responsible for whatever might befall Edmund.
Peter opened his eyes with a now familiar sense of confusion and found that once again he could not move. Across the cave Edmund was watching him with something akin to terror in his eyes.
"Peter? Do you know who I am?"
Peter stared at him in shock. "Of course, I do!" And then he remembered everything in a blinding flash of confusion and grief. "I dreamed you were dead. "
"I know. You didn't think I was really here last time you woke up." Peter frowned and tried to see his brother's face more clearly in the dim light.
Edmund looked awful, Peter concluded. His dirt streaked face was flushed with fever beneath the layer of grime and Peter realized that Edmund must have ridden out after him before he was recovered from his illness. Ordinarily he would have scolded his brother for being reckless but the memory of his far too real nightmare was still too vivid in his mind. So instead he forced a smile as much for his benefit as Edmund's.
"So, is this supposed to be a rescue? You couldn't have sent a fully armed patrol? You had to come tumbling into this mess after me?" He was careful to keep his voice light and after a moment Edmund smiled reluctantly.
"It seems I underestimated your ability to find trouble on your way to a peaceful meeting."
For a moment they were silent, Edmund appearing lost in thought and Peter trying not to think about the nightmares that had plagued him. Finally, he spoke. "Ed?"
"Hmm?"
"Have you been having strange dreams? Nightmares, I mean?"
Edmund shivered. "I don't know. I think so, at least, I hope what I saw was a dream, if not…" He let the sentence trail into silence and Peter waited for him to continue. "When you woke earlier you couldn't tell what was real. I don't know if it is this place or the creatures I spoke with earlier, but there is strange magic here. Something is clouding our minds, blurring the lines between dream and reality. You've been here longer than I have so it's probably worse for you, but I think it's starting to effect me too. I don't know how much of what I've seen is actually real."
"Edmund, what are you trying to say?" Peter frowned, Edmund only resorted to long explanations when he was frightened and trying desperately not to show it.
"I saw her, Peter." His voice shook. "I saw the Witch."
Peter felt a sudden chill at his brother's words. "That isn't possible; it can't be."
Edmund shook his head. "I don't know, Pete." He leaned back against the rough tree root and closed his eyes. "It seemed so real."
"I thought you were dead; that seemed real." Peter realized with a sense of surprise that he was unused to being the voice of reason. Sometime in the past ten years Edmund had quietly stepped into the role of being the calm voice in the midst of crisis.
Edmund nodded silently but didn't open his eyes. "We should try not to sleep; who knows when we'll wake up again." The if in his statement was far too clearly implied for Peter to miss.
They sat in silence for so long that Peter would have thought his brother had fallen asleep if not for the frequent coughing fits that forced his eyes open as he fought for breath. Peter decided that it didn't matter who was responsible for their capture, he hated them. He shifted uncomfortably, trying to loosen the vines that bound him but they seemed to only become tighter the more he moved. He gave up at last with a frustrated curse that would have had Susan scolding him for his lack of decorum. Edmund laughed before another coughing fit left him wheezing for breath.
They sat for what seemed like hours and nothing else happened. Edmund's coughing seemed to calm at last and Peter found himself fighting to stay awake. Then a hidden door in the wall slid open ponderously and both brothers tensed.
Edmund felt the sudden chill in the air and knew, even before the approaching figure appeared who it was. The Witch swept into the cave, a terrible smile upon her face and a wicked looking knife gleaming in her right hand. She passed Peter without a glance and stood towering above Edmund.
"Leave him alone!" Peter shouted, fighting the vines that bound him with a strength borne of sudden terror, but it was to no avail, they only grew tighter.
Edmund looked past the Witch, his eyes wide. "You can see her too?"
Wordlessly Peter nodded. He was furious at his own helplessness.
The Witch laughed; it was an ugly sound, filled with spite and Edmund flinched away from her. "Little king, I'm here to offer you a choice. You can go free or your brother can go free, your choice."
"Then let Peter go." Edmund didn't hesitate even when Peter shook his head in silent warning.
The Witch laughed again, gleefully. "What? Have you forgotten that you are a traitor Edmund? Selfish enough to trade his family for sweets? You would sacrifice yourself for your brother again? Surely you must know he would never do the same."
Edmund met Peter's gaze, his eyes calm now. Then he turned his gaze to the Witch and faced her without a trace of fear in his expression. "Yes, I was a traitor, but I never will be again."
"Not even to save your dear family?" Edmund stared up at her in silent defiance. "The price of your brother's freedom is your betrayal, little king. Tell me where you have hidden the shards of my wand, betray your kingdom and your brother will be free to leave with the rest of his rabble."
Peter wanted to call out, to order his brother not to take her bargain, but his voice seemed frozen within him. He fought the vines until the nearly crushed his chest. Edmund met his eyes once more and smiled reassuringly.
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I will kill dear Peter and you will be free to return to your beloved sisters. Though, I doubt they will welcome you back."
Slowly, terribly Edmund nodded. "Then I will tell you what you wish to know. What you seek is buried beneath the Stone Table. Now let my brother go."
"He will be free to leave with his guards as I promised." She turned on Peter in a swirl of white and suddenly Peter felt the inexorable pull of sleep descending on him. "You should have made me promise he would be awake; I can't have him warning your sisters."
Peter was falling through darkness though vaguely he heard his brother calling out to him. "Peter! You have to wake up, you have to remember! Warn the girls! PETER!" Then sleep took him.
Don't hate me! Or do, either way! :-) Just leave a review to tell me if you do or not!
Cheers,
A
