Chapter two: I won't let you die

Grabbing his sword, Edmund dashed from the room, his heart pounding as he ran for Peter's door, all four guards not far behind him.

He burst into the room, eyes going wide when he saw Peter slumped against the far wall, clearly in some sort of pain as his eyes were squeezed shut, and his face was extremely white.

He stared at Peter for a split second, before the other person in the room caught his attention.

A tall man, dressed in a dark purple velvet robe, the hood up and covering his face, was stood in the centre of the room, his hands outstretched towards Peter, and the only thing Edmund could see of his face was the vile, evil smirk as he enjoyed Peter's pain.

Edmund didn't say anything, he just charged at the magician before he could hurt Peter any more, his sword raised.

The magician didn't even take his eyes off of Peter, and only had to flick his hand in Edmunds direction for the young King to go flying across the room and collide directly with the doorframe, something cracking loudly as he slumped to the floor, gasping and choking as breathing suddenly became a lot harder.

He wasn't aware of much else, but he saw the guards rush in, followed by a few other people that had heard the commotion, before the magician let out a sound of frustration and disappeared, leaving everyone in the room stunned silent.

Edmund lay there, struggling so hard to breathe that his vision was going black and the world was spinning.

"Edmund?"

Edmund was shocked when Peter knelt in front of him. He still looked white as a ghost, and perhaps still in a little bit of pain, but he looked healthy enough for Edmund to be able to relax a little... but he still couldn't breathe.

Peter checked his brother over, placing a hand to his ribs and cursing under his breath when he immediately knew some of them were at least cracked.

Edmund groaned and tried moving away, his gasps becoming more desperate as the seconds ticked by. "I - I can't - can't - breathe!" He choked out.

Peter looked terrified, "Come on Eddy," He whispered. "In and out, deep breaths, please."

But this didn't work, Edmund just couldn't breathe, no matter what Peter said or did it didn't work, and before he'd known it, everything had gone black and his head collided with a hand that had stopped it hitting the floor, and he passed out.

He eventually came around with a groan, and he was beyond relieved to be able to breathe again, and quickly took a deep, shaky breath, coughing a few times as he let it out.

He soon realised he was still laying on Peter's bedroom floor, and after feeling a hand on his shoulder and hearing someone calling his name, he guessed he hadn't been out for long at all.

He eventually decided to let his brother know that he was indeed awake, and opened his eyes, being met with the worried eyes of Peter, who looked terrified.

"Oh thank Aslan." Peter muttered under his breath, and gently helped his brother to sit up.

Edmund choked as the pain from his cracked ribs made itself known, and he wrapped an arm around his stomach, eyes squeezing shut for a second before the pain faded once again into a sharp ache.

"Ed?" Peter murmured, sounding worried.

Edmund swallowed hard, his eyes flickering open. "I'm okay," He whispered. "I'm alright."

"Well you're clearly not." Peter sighed.

Edmund shook his pounding head. "Where'd everyone go?" He asked.

"To see if they could find that magician." Peter told him.

Edmund took as deep a breath as he could. "What happened Peter?" He asked.

Peter looked horrified. "Can we get you to a healer before I start storytelling?" He suggested, voice a little higher in shock.

"No, this is serious Peter!" Edmund cried.

"What, and your cracked ribs aren't!?" Peter argued.

"Tell me what happened Peter." Edmund all but growled. "I won't move until you do."

Peter stared at Edmund, mouth open for a while, before he took a deep breath. "The magician said the thing he wants, is to kill me." He muttered. "There, happy?"

Edmund's heart skipped a beat, before it started pounding. "An immortal magician wants to kill you!" He cried. "And he won't stop until he does, he can't be stopped until he does! He will kill you, and you don't seem that phased."

Peter hesitated. "My main concern is you right now," He replied.

"You were hurt too." Edmund reminded him.

"I was hurt by his magic," Peter told him. "Now that he's gone I'm no longer in pain."

Edmund swallowed hard. "You're not gonna talk anymore about this are you?" He grumbled.

"Not until you get seen by a healer." Peter told him. "Your ribs are cracked Ed, come on, please?"

Edmund sighed, but the growing pain from his torso area was really telling him he needed some sort of pain relief, so in the end he nodded his head. "Okay," He mumbled. "I'll see a healer, but then you are telling me, and Orious, absolutely everything."

"I will," Peter promised. "We should talk to the girls as well, they're gonna have questions when they see you laid up in the healers ward."

Edmund nodded slowly. "Yeah." He whispered. "Alright, come on then."

Peter helped Edmund stand, and after at least ten minutes they reached the healers ward, and Peter handed his brother over into the hands of the healers, sitting in a nearby chair to keep an eye on him.

An hour passed, and Edmund was feeling much better, laying in bed with bandages wrapped around his torso. He'd had some painkillers, some medicine, and was now feeling up for talking.

"So?" He asked, looking over at Peter who sighed and walked over to sit on the edge of the bed.

"The magician is here to kill me," Peter mumbled, looking down. "That's what he's here to do."

"But why?!" Edmund cried, wincing at little when he moved.

Peter shrugged. "I'm the High King of Narnia," He muttered. "I reckon there are a lot of people that would want me dead, it's just some people actually act on that feeling."

"And it doesn't help that the one person who is actually trying to kill you is an immortal wizard who can't be stopped." Edmund whispered.

Peter nodded slowly. "Yeah," He whispered.

Edmund stared at his brother for a long while. "Are you okay?" He whispered.

Peter said nothing for a while, before he took a deep breath. "I don't know," He mumbled. "It's - its tricky to get my head around. This wizard, this magician is going to keep trying to kill me until he succeeds, and you - today you jumped in - you got hurt, trying to save me. That can't keep happening Ed."

Edmund wasn't really surprised that Peter was concentrating more on his brother's wellbeing than his own, but that didn't mean it made him happy. "This is about you Peter," He said firmly. "This magician is trying to kill you."

"Yeah, but you jumped in, in the end you were the one who got hurt the most." Peter said, voice desperate as he tried to make his brother understand.

"If I hadn't of jumped in, you'd be dead right now." Edmund snapped. "If no one had heard you, you'd be dead."

"He'll kill you if you keep standing in his way." Peter choked. "I'd rather die, than let you die protecting me."

"I won't let you die." Edmund said firmly.

"And I won't let you die!" Peter cried.

"You're the one being hunted by an immortal magician!" Edmund argued, but choked on his words and began coughing, pain flaring in his ribs which made him groan.

Peter took a deep breath, calming down and deciding to push the conversion aside for the time being. "Okay," He murmured, placing his hands on his younger brothers shoulders. "Deep breaths, it's okay."

Edmund swallowed hard, before taking a shaky breath, nodding slowly. "Peter-"

"No," Peter cut him off. "We're not going to discuss this right now. You're in pain and you need to rest, this is just working you up."

Edmund glanced at him, before laying down properly. "I don't want you to die." He whispered, tears filling his eyes.

Peter's heart ached. "I'm not going to die." He whispered. "I'm not leaving you, I'm not leaving any of you, I promise you that right now-"

"Don't promise." Edmund choked out.

Peter took a deep, shaky breath. "I will not let that magician kill me," He said. "I won't let him kill me, you, Susan or Lucy, or anyone else, okay? I will do whatever I can to stop that wizard."

Edmund stared at him for a while, before slowly nodding.

"Now, why don't you get some sleep, you're exhausted." Peter said.

"You should sleep too." Edmund whispered. "You've been through a lot."

Peter nodded a little. "I'll try okay." He told him, pulling the blanket up to his brother's shoulders with a quiet sigh. "I'll be right here when you wake up."

Edmund bit his lip. "You always make everything about me." He whispered, but he was too tired and in too much pain to really argue anymore.

"It's the one thing I'm really good at." Peter said with an amused smirk.

"You really are." Edmund mumbled, and within five minutes he was fast asleep.

Peter ran a hand over his face, swallowing hard before taking a deep breath.

Someone wanted to kill him.

Someone who couldn't be stopped.

Was he really going to die?

Peter bit his lip, he wouldn't let anything happen to anyone, if this magician kept coming after him, that would mean Edmund would keep trying to save him, ending up with him being the one getting hurt.

"I will figure out what to do," He whispered to himself. "I promise."

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