Disclaimer: Do I really have to say it again? You already know.
A/N: Okay, I'm pretty sure now I deviated from my old chapter divisions… Maybe… I don't know we can hope right? But whatever. Um… I don't really have that much to say at this point except review if you want to. And again I deviated. Get used to it.
~CON~CON~CON~
They reached the Witch's camp within an hour of their departure from the side of the river. It smelled of a combination of animals, sweat, and smoke. All in all, it wasn't a very pleasant odor. They were each tied, none too gently, to a pair of trees right next to each other. "Your treatment thus far has been fairly good. Disobey me again and it will be less than that," the Witch threatened then walked away.
"I'm sorry, Ed," Kaylee found herself saying.
"It wasn't your fault," Edmund mumbled. His cheeks were still drying from the tears he had cried before and he was oddly quiet. Never had Kaylee seen the little boy across from her in such a state. She sighed, stretched out her legs and closed her tired eyes. She had not slept for two days and her recent adventures only added to her exhaustion.
But she couldn't keep them closed for very long because mere seconds after she did, she felt an excruciating pain shoot up her leg. Her eyes snapped open and she let out a yelp of pain. There was a Minotaur right beside her leg that was mangled and twisted in the wrong direction. Blood was gushing from one side because something that looked horribly like bone ripped through her skin. "Enjoying your nap?" he asked with a cruel grin. He laughed maniacally and strode away. Edmund was staring in horror at her leg.
Even with tears in her eyes, she said, "It's okay. I'm okay." The boy did not seem reassured, but Kaylee didn't care. "Keep your legs in," she said and he pulled his knees close to his chest. For the next few hours Edmund continued to stare with a dreadful fascination at her leg and Kaylee struggled to remain composed and had to, at one point, physically bite her tongue to prevent herself from crying out.
Soon the pain lessened and Kaylee started to feel extremely tired. Her head lulled to the side and rested gently on the tree behind her. Tears formed in her eyes s thoughts of never being rescued entered her head. "Are we going to die?" she heard Edmund ask in a fearful voice.
"I don't know, Edmund," Kaylee said. "I don't know."
"Are you afraid?" he asked.
"Me? Nah." Kaylee forced a small smile. "I'm fine. I'm not afraid just…scared."
"Me too." Silence fell upon them once again and Kaylee's eyelids began to droop.
"I'm so tired, Ed," she mumbled. "So…tired." And it was as if her neck just stopped supporting her head, because it drooped and she said no more.
"Kaylee?" Edmund asked. "Kaylee, please wake up. Kaylee!" But she didn't respond. "Kaylee!" He continued to sob her name until Ginnabrik came up and gagged him so he couldn't speak. The whelp's yelling was getting on his nerves. Even then tears streamed down his face. The dwarf began taunting him and fooling around with his head. As Ginnabrik was moving around him Edmund could hear hooves. But he was sure he was imaging things… However, moments after that a half man half horse came running at them wielding a sword. His heart swelled. Kaylee just might be okay if they could get her help soon.
After a short battle, he freed Edmund. But Ed wasn't worried about himself for the first time in a long time. "Kaylee. Get Kaylee," he sobbed out. The centaur checked her out and Edmund asked, "Is she all right? She's not dead is she? Please tell me she isn't dead."
The creature looked at Edmund with sad eyes and before he said anything, Ed feared the worst. "No. She is wounded badly, but no more than that. We need to get her back to Aslan's camp. Get on." He picked Kaylee off the ground as Edmund climbed onto his back. As soon as he was secure, the centaur took off at a gallop towards the direction of Aslan's camp site.
~CON~CON~CON~
Oreius rode into camp with Kaylee in his arms. He had dropped Edmund off at the top of a hill at Aslan's request. As he galloped through the tents, heads turned to see who the soldiers had brought back from the Witch's camp. When they saw an unconscious girl with her leg dripping with blood, they whispered to each other, trying to come up with what could have happened to her. Oreius made his way to the children's tents just as Peter exited through the flap onto the grass.
Peter immediately saw Kaylee and the blood and went white. "What happened? Is she all right? Where's Edmund? He's not…"
"No, Your Majesty," he replied. "Edmund is fine and is speaking with Aslan. It is Lady Kaylee you should be worrying about presently."
Susan came out of the girls' tent wearing a green dress that went all the way to the floor, only to see Kaylee be taken into the boys' tent lying limp in the arms of a centaur. Her eyes widened and she stifled a gasp. Peter caught sight of her and said, "Get Lucy's cordial." Susan, finally understanding after processing this information for a moment, ran back into the tent behind her.
"Lucy, where's the cordial Father Christmas gave you?" she asked her younger sibling who was sitting on her hammock wearing a blue dress.
"Why? Who's hurt? What's going on?" Lucy asked, worried.
"No time. Where is it?"
"Here," she said handing the small heart-shaped bottle to Susan looking terribly confused.
"Stay here." And Susan ran out to the other tent. As she dashed inside she found Peter fussing over an unconscious Kaylee and staring in horror at the mangled limb that used to be her leg. "Here, Peter. I've got it," she said handing him the bottle of red liquid.
He tilted her head back and poured a single drop inside her slightly open mouth. Susan crossed her fingers that this would work; Peter silently prayed. They both sighed in relief as her wound started to heal on the spot. "Thank God," Susan said letting out the breath she didn't even realize she was holding in. "Where's Edmund?" Susan asked after looking around and seeing no one else.
"Oreius said that Aslan was talking to him," Peter replied solemnly.
She let out a breath and said, "I'm going to tell Lucy."
As she started to walk off, Peter said, "Wait. You're not staying?"
"No. You're the one who needs to be here when she wakes up. And Lucy doesn't like being left in the dark."
"I don't know-" Peter started to say but was promptly cut off.
"You've been very guilty about not apologizing," Susan said sternly. "And you care about her more than anyone else here, and you know it. You are the first person she is going to want to see when she wakes up." She finished with an inclination of her head and walked out leaving Peter to wonder if he really was the first person Kaylee wanted to see when she woke up.
"If you need me Sire, I shall be just outside." Peter acknowledged this with a smile and a nod and pulled up a chair to sit next to Kaylee. Oreius, nodding back to Peter, walked out of the tent as well. Peter then turned his attention back to Kaylee. He watched her lie there unmoving and quiet as the thought of her almost dying dawned on him. I guess it never sunk in until now. This is really dangerous. The first chance I get, I'm sending everyone home. As he finished this thought Kaylee's eyes began to flutter open. She moaned in pain. His heart sped up and he tried to think of something to say.
"Kaylee can you hear me?" Peter asked.
"Yeah. Where am I?" She was obviously confused and didn't know she had been rescued. "What's going on?"
"You're at Aslan's camp," he explained. "They found where the Witch was keeping you. You were out cold when they brought you in. I was so worried that you had..." He didn't finish his thought. He couldn't. Finishing it made the possibility very real and very frightening.
"How did they find me?" Kaylee wondered, grateful that Peter hadn't completed what he was about to say. To say death was a very real possibility when dealing with the Witch was putting it mildly. And just the thought that either she or Edmund could have… She shuddered just thinking about it. But she never voiced these thoughts. Instead, she continued with further inquiries. "I passed out and I know I was bleeding but," she checked her leg, "my leg isn't broken anymore. How is that possible? It was shattered and bleeding."
"Lucy had a cordial she got from Father Christmas," Peter said.
"What?" And Peter began to explain all that had happened since they had left her from the gifts to riding down the frozen then melting river. He told her about meeting Aslan and killing Maugrim.
"What happened to you?" Peter asked after he had finished his tale. "And your face?" He pointed to the cut on her cheek. "I wonder why that didn't heal." At that moment Oreius walked in.
"I believe I can answer that. The cordial worked on the larger wounds and only the larger wounds because they were the most prevalent at the time. The slight cut won't heal with the cordial but on its own." Kaylee nodded. He then addressed Peter, "Aslan is almost finished talking to Edmund and I thought you should greet him." He walked out.
Peter then addressed Kaylee. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you in the morning." Just before he walked out he said, "You know Kaylee. I'm sorry about holding that grudge for such a long time. I really shouldn't have." He couldn't look at her. "I wanted to apologize for being such a jerk. I really care about you Kaylee. And again, I really am sorry."
Kaylee was touched by all that Peter was saying. "Peter! I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have provoked you when you were already unhappy. I shouldn't have said that stuff about your mum and you as well. Thank you for being here, with me."
"You're welcome," Peter smiled. But his smiled disappeared as he thought about Edmund. He turned around and walked back to her bedside. "Did the Witch… I mean… did she hurt him? He's alive and talking to Aslan but…" Kaylee's eyes averted and he didn't need her to answer. He already knew she did. The question was how badly.
"I'm sorry…" Kaylee whispered almost inaudibly. "I tried to stop her but I… I couldn't. He was crying and… and I couldn't help him… It's my fault…" Her head hung low in shame and tears fell into her lap. Peter didn't at all blame her and he couldn't stand to see her crying.
So he kneeled in front of her, wiped her tears away with his thumb and whispered, "It wasn't your fault." She gave him a wet smile and laid her hand over his.
"Thanks Peter," she whispered back. She squeezed his hand and he pulled it away.
"Get some sleep, Kay," he said softly and even before he exited the tent, she was sound asleep.
~CON~CON~CON~
Peter had told him to get some sleep. Yeah right. He wasn't going to be able sleep after that. At least he knew Kaylee was okay. As he walked into the tent he caught a glance at the sleeping figure across the room. The cut was still pronounced on her pale cheek and as Edmund walked over to her, salty tears began to form in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Kaylee," he told the girl. "I know you told me it wasn't my fault, but I know it was. If I hadn't told them where you were, you'd be…I don't know. But I do know that it was my fault." He touched her cheek and she stirred, but she didn't wake. "Good night. God knows you deserve it."
He climbed into the hammock directly across from her and he had one last look at Kaylee before falling almost immediately into a deep and thankfully dreamless sleep.
~CON~CON~CON~
A/N: Okay. Still nothing to say. You know this gets redundant after a while…
