Author Note:

This one-shot is set in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie. This is my favorite angsty scene, and I desperately wanted some introspective thoughts, so I wrote them. :)

I do not own anything from the Chronicles of Narnia, including Voyage of the Dawn Treader, books or movie related. The screenwriter, director, and producer deserve credit for the movie. C.S. Lewis deserves all his beautiful writing credit for the books.

...

Into Slavery

Edmund couldn't quite believe this was happening. One moment bells were clanging and swordsmen were dropping onto their heads, the next moment Eustace let out a single girlish shriek from his post outside the tower's door. Oh, that cousin of his! They'd been faring quite well in their swordplay too, before disaster.

Lucy immediately threw her sword down with a clatter, her expression fit with disgust and fury. Though judging by her line of sight, she was glaring at the captor holding their cousin hostage, while Edmund was rather more disappointed in the hostage himself.

"Eustace…" Edmund said in a sour tone. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Caspian lay Rhindon down gently on the stone floor, and Edmund felt his heart swell just slightly with pride at the dignity the king showed even now. Even here, in the middle of a lousy turn of events, Caspian's respect for the sword and the High King Peter shone through.

"Put 'em in iron!" Their captor demanded to the guards. The man was dressed in silks. No doubt his pockets were lined off the backs of the island's people, Narnian citizens. Edmund grit his teeth. Two men grasped his arms roughly, jerking them into iron cuffs with a heavy chain clanking between them. He tore at the men, wrenching his arms away. But it was two on one.

"Get your hands off me!" Lucy demanded. Edmund ripped his gaze to his little sister. She was dealing with the same odds.

"Let's take these two to market." The slaver gestured to Lucy and Eustace loosely with the point of his knife. The knife that Caspian had lent Eustace earlier. The knife his cousin had promptly been disarmed of. The slaver gestured just as arrogantly to Caspian and Edmund. "Send those two to the dungeons."

Even from where Edmund struggled, he saw Lucy stiffen. They were going to separate them. Lucy glanced at her brother, terror filling the space between them. Ed watched her breath catch in her throat, her eyes widen.

"Listen to me you insolent fool! I AM YOUR KING!" Caspian roared. He had two men on either side of his, holding him back even as he surged forward.

"Let go!" Lucy cried, struggling anew against her captors. Edmund clenched his jaw and bashed his head back into the foul-smelling man behind him. He heard a cry erupt from the body and tried to reel himself toward Lucy, but the guard held fast. One man approached him from the front, a fist tightened on the collar of his shirt. Before Edmund could blink, the man backhanded him hard across the face. He staggered from the impact.

"You're going to pay for that!" Edmund groaned, truly angry now. He blinked, his cheek stinging.

"Actually, someone else is going to pay," another man stepped out of the shadows, his words fat with entitlement, his frame dripping in wealth. Edmund glared at him. This must be the governor. "For all of you."

There was a yank on his chains and Edmund was wrested back with Caspian, the two of them grunting and struggling, dragged into an awkward, stumbling backward walk, their boots scuffing against the tile. Then Lucy screamed.

"NO! EDMUND!"

He whipped his head up, locking eyes with his sister. They were dragging her in the opposite direction. She had her heels dug into the ground, lunging toward him, but it made no difference.

"Lucy!" Edmund fought his captors with all his might. The terror that rasped through his sister's voice was enough for his own panic to bubble up.

"EDMUND!" It was a shriek to leave her throat raw. Her gaze was thick with desperation, eyes brimming with terrified tears. Her holder was heaving her toward the door like her weight was nothing. Edmund staggered under his captor's grip, lurching in Lucy's direction, straining his shoulders. Another jerk pulled him back and Edmund grunted. A third man added to the two already against him.

"NO! Edmundddd!" Lucy's voice broke into a wail.

His heart cracked. His breath caught in his throat. He strained even more at his bonds as they dragged her under the door. Her face twisted into despair. She clung to the doorframe with bound hands. He willed his eyes to say 'we'll see each other again'. He prayed she'd understand.

Her captor wrenched her hands off the door and Lucy disappeared from his sight.

Edmund thought he vomit right there and then. He elbowed at the guard on his right, throwing his body weight into the guard on the left, dropping and straightening swiftly as if to lunge away. But the captors' grips held.

From beyond the tower hall, he heard Lucy wail his name again, far more distant this time, and anguished. Like she was losing heart.

A growl tore from Edmund's chest. He ripped at his restraints. The metal dug into his wrists. His boots slid against the cobblestone. His muscles strained. He felt that his shoulders might wrench from their sockets. But his gaze remained on the threshold Lucy had just crossed. Her screams echoed through his ears. Her name was a mantra in his mind.

Lucy! No! I'll find you. Don't worry. Lu, don't worry. Keep fighting!

Edmund grunted, yanking at his arms again.

"That's enough of that!" One of the men heralded. An arm crossed his shoulders, wrapping his head in a lock. They dragged him backward, his legs flailing. Then suddenly, a shadow crossed his face. A sword pummel loomed over his forehead. It plummeted down with a crack, and Edmund slipped into unconsciousness.

...

Last time I watched the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, I noticed that in the scene directly after Lucy screams, Edmund regained consciousness, but they never showed him being knocked unconscious on-screen, so thus, I remedied that. It tears at my heart to think about him fighting so hard to save his sister that his captors have to knock him out to move him. And yes, I fully believe that after Edmund went unconscious, Caspian yelled "Edmund!".