Here's chapter 7. Enjoy
Chapter 7
They next morning, the walking started again.
Melendie was a bit ahead of the others. Edmund was the first to talk.
In a whisper, he asked the others, "Have any of you noticed anything about Melendie?"
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked, also whispering.
"I mean, she always looks like she's always tearing up."
"Yes, I have," Lucy told him. "I actually heard her crying last night.
"I've heard her too. And her eyes do look wet a lot," Susan agreed.
"I wonder why she's so sad all the time," Lucy questioned.
"Oh, come off it," Peter muttered as he started to walk past the other three.
"Excuse me?" Susan asked him, shocked.
"You shouldn't be talking about Melendie behind her back."
"We were just-" Edmund started to say something, but Peter cut him off.
"How would you feel if someone was talking about you? Besides, there's probably a good reason for it. So just come off it."
They took a moment to let this sink in. Peter very rarely ever spoke to anyone like that. Then it hit them.
"You know something, don't you Peter?" Susan spoke. He didn't answer. "Do you?" she kept pestering.
"I can't say anything," he told them.
"What?" Edmund asked. "You've never been one for keeping secrets."
"Look," said Peter, frustrated, "I promised Melendie that I wouldn't say anything, and I keep my promises."
Lucy then got a sneaky look on her face, "Fine," she said. "That's alright. You don't have to tell us."
"Thank you."
"It's probably not even that biog or important anyway."
"What?" Peter asked, not believing what he was hearing.
"Yeah, I mean, she's just a peasant girl. What could've happened to her that was so important?" She knew he was going to break.
"Her parents being murdered isn't something important?" As soon as he said it, he wanted to take it back. He let it slip out. He looked ahead, and to his relief, he saw Melendie completely out of earshot, setting up camp.
"What happened?" Susan asked, alarmed.
He sighed. He knew he had to tell them now. "When she was ten years old, some Macebreth soldiers broke into her house and murdered her parents. She was then sold to a couple who treat her horribly."
"Ohmigosh," Lucy gasped.
"Every time she goes to sleep, she has a nightmare of that night. She wakes up, and cries herself back to sleep."
They all looked over at her. She was bust=y setting up camp. She looked happy.
"I can't believe it. Poor girl. She's been through so much.," Lucy commented.
"Can we do anything?" Edmund asked.
Peter shook his head. "No. But do not tell her I told you. If she found out, she'd hate me."
"We promise," they all agreed.
They walked over to the camp. When they came over, Melendie looked up at them and smiled.
"What were you all talking about?" she asked them.
"Memories," said Lucy.
"Journeys," answered Susan.
"Battles," Peter answered.
"Adventures," Edmund said.
They said these all at the same time. When they all spoke, they just looked at each other.
"Um, memories about our adventures journeys to battles," Edmund tried to cover.
""Alright," Melendie responded, suspiciously. "I'm going to catch some fish for dinner. "I'll be back soon."
Once she was gone, they all sighed out of relief.
"She knows something's up," Edmund stated.
"Let's just make sure she doesn't actually figure it out. Remember, you all promised," Peter told them.
When Melendie returned, they cooked and ate the fish, and went to sleep.
The next morning, they started walking again.
"I don't remember a trip ever taking this long," Edmund complained to Peter.
"That's because we very rarely ever walked to the different countries. We either rode a horse, or took a carriage," Peter told him.
After many more hours of walking, they set up camp for the night. That's when trouble's started:
That night, Melendie woke up, again, crying. This time, Lucy woke up with her. She went over to sit and comfort her. "Melendie, I am so sorry. I mean, ten years old, and you lose your parents-" She stopped suddenly.
"What did you say?" Melendie asked her, very seriously.
"Uh..." she couldn't think of anything.
"He told you?" she asked Lucy, angrily.
Lucy sighed.
"I can't believe this. He went back on her promise," She took a long, deep breath. "Let's go back to sleep. Long day tomorrow. Goodnight."
They both had an uneasy sleep.
The next morning, they didn't leave right away. This is why:
When Melendie woke up, she immediately thought of what she found out the night before. Peter, someone who she had trusted, had betrayed her.
She went to find him.
"Peter!" she yelled walking over to him.
"What's wrong?" he asked her, concerned.
"What's wrong? You know what's wrong!" she answered.
"No, I really don't," he answered, very confuses.
"You promised! You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about what happened to me!" Peter now understood.
"Melendie, I am so sorry. I jus-"
"What? What made you feel it was okay to break your promise to me?"
"They... (he paused before saying it, because he was worried about how she was going to react) tricked me."
"Excuse me?" she asked, stunned.
"They tricked me into saying it."
"They tricked you?"
He sighed. "Yes."
"Well, how did it even come up?"
"I don't know. It just did," he told her, not wanting to tell her the truth.
Melendie sighed, then laughed.
"What?" Peter asked her.
"I'm just wondering how I could've been so stupid as to think we were friends."
"What are you talking about? Of course we're friends," he questioned.
"Really? Because friends don't tell each other's secrets when they swore they wouldn't. Then make excuses like, 'it just happened', or 'they tricked me'.
"Melendie-" he tried defending.
"I've heard stories about High King Peter. He was always too smart for people, and knew about tricks before they happened. He also never betrayed anyone, no matter what. Where was he?"
She turned to leave.
"Melendie!" he called out to her.
But she turned back around and only said, "No. Don't." And she went back to finish packing everything up.
All Peter did was stare after her.
They didn't know, but Susan, Edmund, and Lucy had been watching the entire time.
When Melendie returned to the camp, the other three ran over to Peter.
"What happened?" Edmund asked him.
"Like you don't know," Peter answered him, coldly.
"What?" Susan demanded.
"You told Melendie that I told you about her parents!"
"No we didn't," Edmund protested.
"Well, she knows. So one of you must've told her
"I didn't," Edmund stated.
"Neither did I," Susan told him. They turned and looked at Lucy.
"Lu?" Peter asked her.
"Well, I didn't tell her... exactly."
"What do you mean?" he demanded.
"What I mean is, I went to comfort her when she was crying last night, and it just, sort of, slipped out that I knew. But I didn't tell you told me. She figured that that out."
"Well, now she knows, and she hates me."
"Why do you care so deeply about this?" Edmund asked his brother.
"Because, I wanted to be her friend, and have her trust, and I really like-" he stopped, hoping they didn't hear that last part.
But, right when he said it, the figured it out.
"You like her, don't you?" Susan asked, with a teasing smile
"What? No. That's ridiculous. I don't like her. No. Don't be...silly," Peter tried covering. But, they broke him down, and he finally admitted, "Yes. I do. I really do. But now, I don't have chance with her. She won't talk to me."
"Why don't we go talk to her and explain everything?" suggested Susan.
"Yeah," agreed Edmund, "she'll listen to us."
They started to walk towards her, but Peter called to them, "No, don't. I have to be the one who talks to her."
"But you just said-" Lucy started.
"I know what I said. I'll give her a couple days to cool down. Then I'll talk to her."
"Alright," they all agreed.
When everything was packed up at camp, they started walking again.
Hope you enjoyed this. Next chapter coming soon!
p.s.- I know that small part between Peter and Edmund was pretty random, but it was just to explain why it was taking so long for them to get to Macebreth, if anyone was wondering.
