A/N: Thank you all for your lovely reviews and constructive criticisms! It truly does mean a lot and keeps me going. I intended to have this chapter uploaded several days ago, but I've been facing problems with my internet connection and with the accumulating pile of homework lying on my desk, it does get a bit hard to get on the internet once in a while. But anywho…
.elysium: Thank you for pointing that out! I'll make sure to look out for this chapter, but I'm glad you're enjoying it.
Hain degistirildi & mainstreet52: Thank you so much for your kind words!
Also, I'm aware I misspelled Oreius in the first chapter…so I'll be sure to be more careful here on out.
Chapter 2: Ambivalence
The stag was a blinding golden brown. The crossbow lay steady and still in his hand, his aim was at its best, yet he still hesitated whether or not to release his strain and kill such a beauty. With a deep breath, he held the bow tighter, but was ready to ease his strain at any given second.
From behind him, a blur of a bow cleanly and swiftly penetrated the stag's abdomen and the once-beautiful creature toppled over, writhing on the forest ground before its final breath had left it. And when he turned around, he saw Queen Lucy Pevensie curtsy before him, carrying a bow almost identical to Susan's, a sly smile that almost instantly turned into a giggle.
Edmund glared and then heaved a sigh. "You're aim's almost equivalent to Susan's now," he said, a hint of reluctance in his voice.
As he turned on the spot to return to his trusted steed Phillip, Lucy followed in pursuit, a sudden pang of playful guilt overcoming her.
"Perhaps next time, my king," said Phillip, as Edmund mounts onto him.
"Oh come on Ed," said Lucy, looking up at her brother as she reattached the bow to her saddle. "Phil's right. It was going to get caught either way. What matters who shoots it?" She mounted on her white mare and beamed at him.
Edmund smiled back at his younger sister. She was beautiful and graceful now, seven years older than when they had originally entered Narnia, though not quite that different. It was only her golden brown hair that was nearing elbow length and her difference in height, but apart from that she still held the childish qualities she originally had when they had entered Aslan's kingdom, yet she still managed to maintain the necessities needed to be a Queen. It was that unusual balance of childishness and duty that Edmund ultimately loved her for.
"What do you say, Lu?" he said, and Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. "Care to call it even and come back to Cair with a stag each?"
Lucy opened her mouth delightfully, but in the span of a second the siblings were surrounded by Oreius and a dozen of the palace centaurs. Edmund observed his surroundings, and then said, his voice loud and dominant, "What is the meaning of this, Oreius? Let us pass, I command you."
"I'm sorry, my king, but I'm afraid you're Valiant highness and you're most Just majesty must return to Cair Paravel as soon as possible by order of the High King."
"Peter?" Lucy said, steadying herself. "But why –"
"Oreius, I assure you, everything's alright," Edmund said, his eyes not leaving Oreius'.
"I demand to know why such precautions are necessary," Lucy said, pushing a lock of hair out of her face. It was as if she had not even heard what neither Edmund not Oreius had said.
The centaur heaved a sigh and looked at the leaf-covered forest floor. "I am sorry, your majesties, but if you would come with me, please," Oreius said. "By order of the High King."
o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o
"Peter, for heaven's sake, you're going to pass out," Susan chastised him. She took his silver platter and dumped potatoes, beans and dried beef onto it, and then set it in front of him. "Eat."
Peter eyed her the same exact look he gave their mother back home in Finchley every time she wouldn't let him and Edmund go play cricket unless he finished his breakfast, and took a modest bite of the dried beef to satisfy her needs. "There," he said, settling the rest of the beef back down.
Susan smiled to herself. "First bite of the day is always the best."
Peter said nothing. The trauma of that very morning when he had gotten the message that Lune had renounced his affiliation with not only him, but to her and to Edmund and Lucy as well, had struck him too hard to even pay attention to what she was saying.
Susan set her fork down. "Peter, I know you're worried. But Aslan forbid Oreius come home without Ed and Lu. It's impossible to even think such an accusation," she said, staring directly into the High King's eyes.
"Is it, Susan?" Peter retorted, returning her gaze. "Lune is a valued ally of mine, truly he is, but answer me this: have you ever seen or even heard of him granting mercy to any of the residents of Anvard's dungeons?"
"You're saying Lune wants to kill two monarchical officials of Narnia?" Susan scoffed, leaning back in her chair.
"No," said Peter darkly. "But at this rate I bloody well hope not."
Before Susan could even refute such an objection or ask why in Aslan's name would Lune be plotting such fallacies, Edmund and Lucy, dirtied, worn out and not even out of their hunting clothes yet, simultaneously bombarded into the dining room. Lucy, who had decided to wear her favorite velvet red and gold dress that Susan had especially measured and made for her last Christmas, slumped down into her chair and piled heaps and heaps of blueberry tartar onto her plate, earning an exasperated look from Susan.
"How you manage to even aim with these things is truly mind-boggling," said Edmund, sweeping down to kiss Susan on the cheek and carelessly setting his training bow on the dining table as he did so.
"Oh for the hundredth time," Susan snapped as Edmund settled into a seat next to Peter. "Is it really even that hard to even set this back in your room, at the very least? We're not in Finchley anymore," she added matter-of-factly.
Edmund shrugged and instead reached out for the pitcher of wine in the very middle of the table.
"A bit too early for that, don't you think Ed?" Lucy teased, wrinkling her nose from across the table.
Edmund simply stuck out his tongue at his younger sister, and continued downing the goblet.
"Oh, may I have even the slightest sip, Peter?" Lucy suddenly begged, after a few torturous minutes of watching Edmund slink back in his seat. "You're never really too young in Narnia, are you?"
Peter's skeptical gaze was enough to silence her, and he instead turned to Edmund. "What's this I hear of the Shuddering Woods this morning? I thought I assigned you to train with Oreius."
Edmund set his goblet down and shrugged: a subtle warning, Peter knew, of his coming sarcasm. "In a rare occurrence, I find I am not as hasty nor as gifted with a bow as Susan. Hence, I decided to disband my bow training with Oreius and instead continue my clear sailing lessons in swordsmanship weaponry, which, by the way, are going absolutely swell, in case you were wondering," he added in mock sarcasm.
Lucy laughed as usual, but Susan merely sighed and closed her eyes. Not again.
"When the time comes, Ed," Peter begins, slapping the smile off of Edmund's face, "and there's a war or, Aslan forbid, an invasion of Cair and you are not in reach of a sword or a dagger or a crossbow, you'll thank me. But since youdisbanded the training that I specifically told Oreius to carry out, then I suppose there's no thank you to be said?" he took a vicious bite from the dried beef he previously refused to eat and began chewing almost as loudly as he had been speaking previously.
Edmund steadied himself. "So I took Lucy and a hunting party to the Shuddering Woods without telling you first," he began, his voice inching closer and closer to a downright yell. "What else do you want? An entire schedule of when I leave my room or bathe or even sneeze, all listed out with times and lengths and – "
"If that's what it takes to know when or why you might be planning to take Lucy with you," Peter said, his voice rising. Lucy buried her face in her hands, wishing to take no part in the match.
"So now you're saying I'm irresponsible?" Edmund replied grimly. "You're saying I think not of Lucy or even this familyevery time I leave Cair with about a dozen centaurs and a trunk full of weapons or even –"
"This isn't Finchley, Ed!" Peter finally said, lifting himself from his chair and shaking the table while doing so. "This is Narnia! You're a king! You better act damn well like it, not abuse it for hunting trips whenever you feel you could you use the fresh air!"
Edmund retorted by lifting himself from his chair as well, leveling himself with Peter and sending several apples toppling off the table.
"Edmund, Peter. Stop this. Now," Susan said, glaring at the two boys as hard she could. Lucy had lifted her face from her hands and was now nodding with Susan in agreement, tears threatening to spill from her crystal eyes.
Edmund ignored the Gentle queen's warning, and finally spoke, his voice now shaky with hurt and disbelief. "No, you're right, Peter. I shouldn't abuse my position. I shouldn't plan an entire day out for my younger brother with no sense of respect towards his consent or not, I shouldn't be sending half an army to reclaim him under fear he's being careless with his baby sister, I shouldn't do all those things with no explanation except for the fact that he's abusing his position and has not grown, not even a bit since that fateful betrayal years previous; you're right. I shouldn't. I really just shouldn't."
In a rare occurrence, Edmund's usually dry eyes were threatening to spill just as much as Lucy's were, and he grabbed his crossbow, honoring Susan's suggestion, and fled from the dining room, leaving the door gloomily swinging open as he exited.
Lucy's cheeks were rose red now and she refused to look at Susan or Peter. The young queen darted in pursuit of Edmund, leaving only the Gentle and the Magnificent behind, their plates half full, their faces flushed, the light in their eyes having departed once Edmund had left them behind.
And Peter slammed his fist onto the marble table, effectively creating a crack into the once perfect surface.
The slam did not seem to faze Susan, who instead looked unto the High King as he raked his fingers through his golden hair, his hands shaking. She extended her hand as steady as she could, resting it on his trembling bicep. "Peter. Please."
Peter sighed, and he withdrew his arm, reaching into his coat's pocket, and threw an eerily white piece of parchment onto the table, within Susan's reach. With her slender, pale fingers, she undid the bow of the porcelain-white page and turned it over to see what horrors Peter had been trying to fix the past few days.
And Susan gasped.
On a side note…I don't enjoy writing King Lune (who just so happens to be one of the characters I love most) as an enemy of Narnia or even to the Pevensies, but as the fic goes on it will be explained why he ceased his affiliation.
I've already started on Chapter 3 and I'm pretty excited on where this whole fic could go…so please review, as your kind words truly keep be going!
xx Izzy
