Author's Note: Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday :) I got a brand new computer which should help me update faster now that I don't have to share with the family and I can work on my own. So here we have the next chapter for you all, I hope you enjoy it! Please review!

Edmund woke up at the sound of thunder. His eyes shot open and he stepped out of the cave where he and Maria were keeping dry from the rain.

"It looks as if we will be staying here for a little longer. It seems the storm has gotten worse." Edmund realized his companion did not respond. "Maria?"

Edmund shifted around in the dark for a moment before grabbing his electric torch. "Maria?" Edmund asked again, with no answer.

"Maria!" Edmund shouted walking around the cave. Edmund went further back and bumped into the hare. "Ramillo, where did Maria go?"

"I have not seen her sire." Edmund's eyes grew large when he realized the truth. Maria was missing.

She would not have gone out into the storm by herself. Edmund began to run towards the mouth of the cave. This could not happen, Maria was an innocent girl and her life was on his hands. Edmund would never forgive himself if something happened to her. She was trying to help him, and how does he repay her? By losing her, she could be dead.

Edmund reached the entrance, once again he called, "Maria!" He looked out through the rain, running his electric torch across the trees, but it was hard to see with the rain. Edmund ran out into the pouring water, "Maria!"

He began to really worry. She was actually gone.

Edmund panicked. "Maria, please answer me!" He ran the electric torch across the ground when he saw a giant tree that had fallen over. There was a flash of lightening and Edmund went to take shelter in the hollow area.

When he turned into the tree, he saw her.

Edmund let out a great sigh of relief. "Maria, you're alright."

"Of course I am," she scooted over to make room for him.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Ed, you shouldn't worry so much-"

Edmund cut her off, "You should have let me know." He made sure that they had eye contact so she could understand how serious he was.

"I didn't want to wake you-"

Once again he interrupted her. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? There are Telmarine soldiers all of over these woods. And so is the White Witch, I don't know what I would do if she found you, the things…" Edmund looked ahead.

This time it was Maria's turn to talk. "I am sorry Edmund. Next time I will let you know."

There was a pause of silence as his dark eyes met hers. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"I was just enjoying the storm." Her brown eyes left his and she looked out into the rain. "I love storms. I quite know why, but they are almost peaceful to me. Relaxing."

"What could possibly be so great about the rain?"

"It's cleansing," she answered simply.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Do you always ask this many questions?" Maria joked before responding. "Whenever it rained back," Maria stopped, frowning, "Home." She cleared her throat before answering. "If I was stressed or worried about Papa, I would go stand out in the rain. I loved the feeling of the water washing over you. It's like you are being cleaned of all troubles."

Edmund listened but he was still thinking about how she sounded when she said home. To be honest, he never thought about how leaving her home affected her. It had to be painful, whether she liked it or not, leaving a home is always hard. He would know.

"What was home like?"

Maria looked quizzically at him, confused a little by his question. "What was home like?"

"Yes."

Maria huffed and patted her dress. "Well, for starters, I did like it. I didn't think it was all that bad when Papa was home. A lot of days I spent in the castle, but I really liked it when Papa and I were in the village, with Hywet, Lilliana, Helanna, and Jacobi."

"Is that your family?"

"No, but they are like family. Jacobi is a few years older than I, but we haven't been able to spend time together since the Narnians arrived."

Edmund felt almost sad about how Maria described her home life. Not because he wasn't happy she had family and friends. But because of what she said about the Narnians arriving. He always thought about how this war was tearing apart Narnian families, but he never once considered how Telmarines were impacted by the war.

Maria continued on, not noticing Edmund's reaction. "Hywet is my father's best friend; they have known each other since they were children. Helanna is Hywet's sister, her daughter Lilliana is six." Maria smiled. "They are wonderful people. Unfortunately Lilliana's father was killed during a-" Maria stopped suddenly. Even in the low light he could still see tears forming in her eyes. "Narnian supply raid. They took weapons and food like barbarians, but three men were killed, Lilliana's father was among them."

Edmund was shocked at her opinion of his people. They had caused her pain; she had every right to hate Narnians. Yet, Maria still helped him. Edmund couldn't say much but a three simple words. "I am sorry."

Maria rubbed her eyes. "It's not your fault." She looked back out at the storm. "Another thing I love about rain, people cannot tell that you are crying when you are standing in it. After my mother died, I really started liking the rain. Sometimes I would just think about her, and start crying. It was good to let it all out sometimes, and when people don't notice that you are upset, it's comforting." Maria realized she was rambling. "I'm sorry; you don't need to hear my life story."

"It's fine." Maria and Edmund sat again in silence. Edmund stood up, the storm had gone from fierce and loud to a nice spring storm, but it was still raining.

Edmund reached down, offering Maria his hand. She took it and allowed herself to be pulled up. "What are you doing?"

"Well, it seems like you could use a good walk in the rain. After all, it is refreshing."

Maria pulled together a smile and nodded. "That might be just what I needed, a good talk to just let it all out, and then a nice walk in the rain to rid myself of worries."

The pair started off, neither of them cared that they were slowly getting soaked. It was perfect in a way. All they could hear was the rain.

Edmund felt the water drip down his skin, and looking over at Maria; he saw her curls start to straighten out as the water pressed it down. His hair fell in his eyes, but he pushed it away to watch her.

She was walking very slowly with her eyes barely open, just enough that she could see where she was going. Her head was tilted back slightly so that the rain would hit her face, and her arms were held loosely at her side with her palms turned up so she could feel the water hit her hands and drip down.

They reached the cave and sat down. "Thank you for that, Edmund. It meant a lot to have someone to talk to."

"It was no problem. I suggest we get some rest, once the storm clears, we have a long way to go."

The horses stopped violently causing a commotion and waking Maria and Edmund up. "What is it now?" Maria rubbed her sleepy eyes and sat up. Edmund was awake now, but barely.

A deep and rusty voice filled the cave. "Who goes there?"

Maria didn't answer; she picked up Edmund's electric torch and shined it towards the voice. All she saw was the cave wall as the scanned the perimeter. She kept on looking quickly, and then she stopped and backtracked towards a little bump that was sticking out of the wall. But it wasn't a rock, but a dwarf. "Hello there, dearie."

Maria panicked; she had stories of the dwarves from Hywet. She quickly rubbed Edmund's arm, trying to get him up. "Edmund, there is someone here."

Edmund, who was already awake, sat up straight and looked where Maria was pointing. "Maria there is nothing there."

"Edmund, there is. It was a dwarf and he's somewhere in this cave."

The scratchy voice came from behind them. "Right you are child."

Edmund and Maria turned around and saw not one, but two dwarves smiling at them. Edmund lunged for his sword and stood up. Maria saw the dwarves holding weapons, ready to attack.

"Leave now." A simple and short command.

A third dwarf came up beside them. "We cannot do that, Son of Adam."

Maria found her voice. "Please just go."

Another appeared behind them, and then two more showed up standing at their side. "We found this location for Her Majesty to rest."

Maria felt Edmund tense beside her. "Maria, I'll find a way out of this." Maria knew Edmund was going to be strong, but she could also tell that he was acting differently. "I'll need your help."

Ramillo came bounding into the circle, sliding past the dwarfs and next to Maria and Edmund. "My lady, more dwarves are coming into the entrance, they are everywhere. I don't know where the Witch found so many."

Maria started to get sincerely worried. If Edmund was stronger, maybe he could take them, but he was already weak from his stay at the Telmarine castle. "What do you need me to do?"

"Get back to back, we don't want any more sneaking up on us." Maria did as she was told, but when she pressed her back against his, he winced. Maria took a small step forward, remembering he had injuries from a whip. "Good, now I am going to clear the way. Once I do that, I want you to get the horse and run them towards the group. That will make a path, the dwarves will move. If all goes as planned, we should make it out alive."

Maria nodded and braced herself. Edmund raised his sword and prepared to make a blow. But a dwarf's voice stopped him. "Did your scar ever heal from your first visit?"

Edmund turned around and in a matter of seconds Edmund had his sword at the dwarf's throat. "My scars healed when I returned to England."

"But this one didn't." Maria noticed Edmund lost eye contact with the dwarf, proving the dwarf's words were true. "The magic kept it, from the Battle of Beruna. It will always serve as a reminder of what you have done."

Edmund raised his arm to strike down, but when he did the dwarf noticed something else. "I see the scar my ancestor gave you, still remains." Maria looked down and saw it, Edmund's shirt had lifted just a little, and she could see a few letters carved into his skin. TRA… "Magic, very powerful."

Edmund wouldn't hear any more of this. He slashed downward, killing the dwarf. Maria saw as Edmund charged forward, Maria looked around and saw that the horses had gotten just on the other side of the line of dwarfs. Maria sprinted forward, before she could reach the horses, a dwarf cut her on the arm. She hissed in pain, but pushed forward.

She could hear the clashing of metal, and Maria quickly jumped on Melosa. "We must hurry, Lady Maria. Tulio come on, we don't have a moment to spare," the horse said quickly.

The horse talked.

The horse talked.

Maria mouth opened in shock. She didn't ask questions but allowed Melosa to run forward with Tulio in pursuit.

Edmund was holding off well, but he wouldn't be able to much longer. Ramillo on the other hand was biting at the feet, and Edmund had to yank him off a dwarf to get on Tulio.

The group ran out into the storm and Edmund pulled Tulio to a stop at the fallen tree. "We need hide." He jumped off with Ramillo and crawled in.

Maria followed, but she stopped and turned to the horses. "Go hide." Melosa and Tulio took off and went towards the river and out of sight.

She felt a tugging on her arm; Maria winced, remembering her injury. Edmund felt must have noticed because he moved his hand away and signaled for her to come back into the nook. They ducked down as the dwarves ran past, and thankfully they did not see the trio hiding. But Maria caught a few words. "Don't tell the Queen that we ever saw him."

Ramillo, Edmund, and Maria waited for a few minutes until they heard the horses come back. Melosa's soft voice filled the area. "I guess you know our secret. Tulio and I can indeed speak."

Edmund spoke next, confused. "How?"

Tulio answered this time. His voice was rough and stern. "We were captured years ago by Telmarines. They killed the centaurs and fauns, but they did not know the horses could speak. So they took us back to the castle."

"How horrible," Maria commented. "Why didn't you let us know earlier?"

"Tulio doesn't trust humans," Melosa explained. "He never has since the incident with Miraz."

"But not all humans are bad," Maria argued against his beliefs.

Tulio found a spot on the ground to rest. "My human, was kind and he took care of me when I first came to the castle. I trusted him greatly, and told him that I could speak. He accepted me, but Miraz saw how close we had become. He said that it was unnatural for a man to love an animal as my human did. Miraz said my human was mental, and had him killed."

Maria had known about this 'insane' man, her father was there when he was executed. "I am so sorry, Tulio."

Melosa nudged Tulio with her nose. "Cheer up my friend. Your new rider is very brave and is taking us to freedom."

"That he is." Tulio stood up. "King Edmund, could I please have a few moments alone with my fellow Animals?"

Edmund smiled. "Of course you can."

"Thank you, your Majesty." Before they left, Maria grabbed a bag off of Melosa to treat injuries. Then Tulio, Melosa, and Ramillo walked off into the forest and towards the river.

After they were gone Maria turned to Edmund. "How are you feeling?"

"Exhausted."

"Me too." Maria looked out at the forest then back at Edmund. "Are you hurt?"

Edmund nodded slightly. "Nothing a bandage or two can't fix. How are you?"

"I think one of those nasty dwarves caught me on the arm." Maria pushed up her sleeve and saw a cut running from her elbow down to her wrist. She reached inside the bag and pulled out a piece of cloth and began wrapping it around her arm. They sat in silence as she finished up; next Maria grabbed more bandages and waited as Edmund rolled up his sleeves.

He took one piece and wrapped it around his ankle, while Maria did the same for his upper arm. The dwarves must have got him when he bent down to get Ramillo.

Maria couldn't shake the words that the dwarf had said to Edmund out of her head. She didn't want to offend him, but she just had to know. "Edmund, what was the dwarf talking about in the cave? About the scars you had received?"

Edmund glanced up slightly and Maria was worried she had insulted him. "You don't have to tell me if you're uncomfortable."

Edmund shifted around to face her. "During my first visit to Narnia, I was horrible."

"You couldn't be that bad," Maria started to say, but he stopped her.

"I was a traitor. I couldn't stand my brother and sisters, I was selfish and stupid. Do you remember the White Witch, who came to the castle a few days ago?"

"Yes," Maria answered, wanting to hear what he had to say.

"I helped her, because she promised me power." Maria didn't know how to respond, Edmund didn't seem like a man who would do such a thing. "I realized how idiotic I was, and I tried to fix things. But it just got worse. I thought I would be a king, but instead I was a prisoner." Edmund lifted up the side of his shirt and Maria could now see the rest of the word.

Traitor.

"The White Witch had a dwarf, Ginarrbrik. He hated me, and so he took his dagger and carved that into my skin, so I would never forget what I had done. The White Witch was pleased, so she used magic to make sure it would never heal. When I returned back to England, all my scars healed but that one and another."

Edmund moved his hand over and raised the front of his shirt so she could see that other wound. "At the Battle of Beruna, I broke her wand. She used the shattered tip to stab me, I almost died. Lucy luckily used her cordial and I am here today. Aslan was who really saved me, without him, I would be dead. He gave his life for me, so that I would be free."

Aslan. Maria had heard that name before, and she loved it. It brought a warm feeling to her body and she felt like she was surrounded by all of her favorite things. The air smelled like vanilla, and outside of the tree she saw amaryllis flowers bloom. She felt truly happy.

"What is Aslan like? He sounds just wonderful." Maria asked with a smile.

Edmund also smiled. "There is no way to describe Him in a word. He is unbelievable, He knows everything. You may not know Him, but He knows everything about you. When you have no faith in yourself, He restores it. He said that he has known our plans from the beginning, and that we are not mistakes or failures, but His children. At first He seems far away, untouchable, but He is always there, whether we see Him or not." He looked straight into her eyes.

"I don't understand how he could care so much for people who have done wrong," Maria couldn't believe what Edmund was saying. If it was all true, then Aslan was incredible.

"Maria, He loves you with an everlasting love. Despite what you have done, what your people have done. He still loves you. I know this from personal experience, despite my mistakes; He has forgiven me and cares for me. Just as He cares for you," Edmund couldn't help but share the story of Aslan. "Look in your heart and you will find Him, seek comfort in Him. When you are broken, He carries you."

"Did He carry you?" Maria asked with a grin.

"Yes, He did. His death for me was the ultimate example of love. He is waiting for us to return to Him, all we have to do to find Him is look."

Maria laughed with joy. "Edmund that's wonderful. I have never heard such amazing news." She pulled him into a tight hug. "Thank you for sharing that with me."

"There no greater thing then what Aslan can do. He is a wonderful truth." Edmund smiled wrapping his arms around her.

"I believe you."