The loud noise of the party weaving through the dark tunnels with torches in hands was enough to cause the walls of the caves to tremble. From the heavy thuds of the bear's paws, all the way down to the squeaky pitter-pattering of the squirrel's feet, the sound of excitement and freedom enveloped everyone. Peter and Edmund led out, each holding a larger torch.
They had been moving along for several hours now, or what seemed like it—there was no way to really tell time in such a place—when all of a sudden the narrow tunnel of the cave turned into a wide, vast room and everyone stopped.
The ceiling of the place must have gone up at least 40 feet, and all four walls of the room met in a dome at the very top. Other than a small, abandoned fire pit in the center, the room was completely empty.
A young rabbit hopped up to Edmund. "Can we please stop and rest here? My paws are soo sore," It complained.
"Reginald! Do not talk to the king like that!" His mother joined his side, hushing him. "I am terribly sorry, your majesty."
Edmund smiled and turned to Peter. "Pete, I do think it might be a good idea to rest a little while and try to make better sense of where we are." Not wanting to worry the others, in a lower voice he said, "For all we know, we could be going in circles."
Peter gave him a curt nod, but then turned to speak to the crowd. "We will take a rest here for a little while and then proceed onwards. I am sorry about the food situation, for there was little at our disposal to take from the witch's place. But what little we have should go to the youngest in the party first, and then be dispersed evenly between everyone else with whatever is remaining."
At this news the creatures seemed to breath a sigh of relief, and made their way into the large room, settling in.
A little while later, once everyone was happily resting and eating, Peter and Edmund made their way out of earshot of the camp and into a small tunnel-outcropping.
"I hate to admit it Ed, but I don't know where we are anymore. We've been going for hours, and I lost track of where we were a while back." He leaned against the wall, arms crossed in frustration.
Edmund tried to think to himself where they might be headed and what direction to go in, but even he who was an expert at maps could no more decipher where they might be than Peter.
Edmund too, leaned against the wall behind him. "Well, I guess the only thing we can do is to keep going, and hopefully we'll end up—Ouch!"
All of a sudden before he could realize what was happening, Edmund felt himself falling backwards into the crumbling earthen wall that had collapsed under his weight. He looked around dizzily, and vaguely made out Peter's hand offering to help him up.
"What hap—Edmund look!" For in an instant, Peter noticed the last thing he would have expected to see in such place behind Edmund: gems. Hundreds, no, thousands of jewels and precious stones of all shapes and sizes glistening along the walls of the room that Edmund had fallen into. They gave off a light so bright that it nearly blinded them. Each gem seemed to be faintly humming it's own tune, but somehow they all blended together in a harmonious song that seemed to draw the boys in.
Pulling himself to his feet, Edmund followed Peter into the room, awestruck by the marvelous sight that surrounded them. A small gasp escaped his mouth as he walked up to where a cluster of aqua jewels lay, each one giving off an iridescent glow. When he reached down and picked one up it felt heavy in his hand, but he felt unable to put it down nonetheless. It's luminous blue color seemed to have many colors weaved into it, and white beams of light glowed inside of it as if it were alive.
But then the most peculiar thing happened. Just as Edmund stroked it's smooth surface, a red mist seeped up into a cloud around him and suddenly he saw himself back in Cair Paravel, in what should be the throne room. However something was different: instead of the normal four thrones, there sat only one that seemed to reach taller than any throne Edmund had seen before. Edmund saw himself walk slowly up the steps and take a seat in it, looking out over the hundreds of Narnians that were prostrated before him on their faces shouting, "Long live the High King!"
Suddenly Edmund was shaken out of his vision and snapped back into reality by a hand on his shoulder.
"Ed, we need to leave this place. There is dark magic here, I can sense it," Peter's voice sounded hollow to Edmund, who refused to take his eyes off of the gem that he held.
"Why should I have to go? Just because you say so, my king?" He spat out the last words as if they were something vile and grotesque.
"Edmund! What's the matter with you?! Come on!"
The dark haired king, however, was so lost in the enchantment that he turned to face his brother, never letting go of the gem, but instead sliding it into his pocket.
"I am not your slave," He hissed as he drew his sword. "You do not own me! I am a king of Narnia! Stronger than you, stronger than anyone, stronger than Aslan!" With that he lunged forward at Peter, attempting to bring his sword down on him.
But Peter was quick, and just before the weapon could crash down on him, he drew his own sword and blocked the blow. The sound of metal clashing against metal reverberated through the small room for several blurry moments, but in the end Peter prevailed, pinning his brother against the wall, his blade pressed against his neck.
Edmund yelled in anger as Peter held the sword with one hand, but reached his other inside Edmund's pocket and took out the gem, throwing it across the room.
"Come out of it Edmund Pevensie!" Peter shouted.
For one terrifying moment, Edmund did not seem to move. But all of a sudden something in his eyes changed, and the hardness that had been etched in his face only a minute ago shifted to something else: pain and fear. Peter slowly removed the blade away from his brother's neck and took a step back.
Breathing rapidly, Edmund sunk to the ground and onto his knees. His hands trembled as he crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes darted around the room as he tried to make sense of the situation.
"Where..where am I?" He rasped out.
Peter bent down on one knee in front of him. "Don't worry about that now. It wasn't your fault. It's this place, it's just thick with enchantments." He stood and helped Edmund up. "Come on, we need to leave now."
Edmund nodded as the two began to make their way out the door. But just before they arrived at the exit, Edmund stopped.
"We must tell no one of this place, not the Narnians, not even the queens. For if anyone from our land were to find out about these enchanted treasures, it would no doubt destroy them."
"I agree. We shall let no one know of this cave. Upon my order it is to remain a secret until the day we die."
With the vow now in place, the two kings headed out back to the Narnians arm in arm, for it was now time to move again.
What felt like days, but were in fact only hours, dragged on for the party as they steadily wound their way through the caves. Left, right, then left again, the tunnels seemed to have no end in sight, and Peter was beginning to hear some rumbles and whispers from the crowd about possibly turning around, or going back a different direction.
"I knew it, I just knew it! We should have made a right at that last turn!" A hushed deep voice whispered.
"Shh! Not so loud! Do you want to be punished for disobedience to the king?" A raspy female voice said in response.
Peter could hear everything, but he could not blame them, as he barley knew where they were himself. Beside him, Edmund leaned into his ear. "Pete, really, do you have any idea where we're going? We could yet be miles from the nearest exit."
The golden haired king let out a sigh of frustration. "No, I don't." But as he continued on, he muttered a small prayer under his breath that Aslan would help them and show them the way out. Their supplies and food were nearly gone, and he knew that some of the weaker creatures would not last much longer without food or water. Thinking of this made him add a fervent, "Please," to his prayer.
After a while longer, Peter held up his hand to the Narnians to pause and rest for a minute. Many of them sunk to the ground, exhausted, himself included. Edmund joined him by his side, and reached for the water canteen he kept at his side. Holding it up, he offered what was left to Peter, but he declined.
"You need it more than I do," He said as he gazed in all directions for what could be any possible sign of an exit.
Not wanting his brother to lose hope, Edmund said, "Well if it's any consolation, I'm sure we're not the first people to ever be trapped in a cave."
Peter gave him a sarcastic glare, and Edmund continued. "I mean, I'm sure we'll have to run into something soon like a door, or a hole, or oh I don't know! Blast it all, this—"
"Wait," said Peter suddenly, standing.
"What is—oh!" Edmund exclaimed, for he saw what Peter was looking at. Right in front of them what seemed to be a streak of light had appeared out of nowhere and was creeping along the side of the cave wall. Soon all the Narnians were on their feet, watching this wondrous scene unfold. For the light grew bigger and bigger until it covered the entire space before them. A loud cracking sound was heard a second later, an in an instant, there was no longer a light in front of them, but rather trees and a blue sky, and green grassy rolling hills. It was as if they were watching a movie play out in front of their very eyes, except the sudden gust of wind that blew through the cave and hit Peter's face convinced him that it was not a dream but rather reality.
Peter and Edmund squinted as their eyes adjusted to the bright daylight that they were now standing in. Taking a few steps forward, Edmund said, "This is the Western Woods! Look, Peter!"
Taking in the scene that was nearly too good to be true, Peter turned to address the Narnians. "My friends! Step forward into the light! For on this day Aslan has made a way for us and rescued us from the darkness!"
A loud shout went up from the crowd, as squeals, hurrahs, and the sound of clapping echoed through the forest.
"Long live Aslan!" A voice from the back cried, and at once everyone joined in with him.