It's not long before Serena decides this Narnian knight's competence is just infuriating. She'd insisted she was not an invalid the night before, but she's beginning to feel like one today. All morning she's tried to imitate Edmund's quick, precise gait— and the cords wrapped around the shoes actually did help quite a bit— but even though he's encumbered with the overloaded pack, she can't match the ease of his pace. He's slowed more than once, glancing over her shoulder as he waited for her to catch up.
"Let's stop for a moment," he says now, calling ahead to the Wolf. He walks a few paces further and meets Adan at the top of the slope they'd been trudging up. Serena stops right where she is, watching them converse while trying not to pant and wishing this hike were as easy as the other two make it look.
Fast and quiet, he'd said earlier, and Serena feels the tears prickle her eyes as she decides she just can't manage it. All the poise and dancing and riding lessons in the world couldn't have prepared her for this. Neither of them have said a word about it— and she's studiously avoided catching their eye— but her disappointment in her own clumsy plodding is more than enough.
Trying to focus on anything but her own inadequacies, Serena watches the Wolf's mouth move. It's still somewhat of a shock each time the knight speaks to Adan. She'd known, distantly, that most of the Narnian people were not people at all— and were, in fact, said to be the creatures of fairy tales and nightmares— but seeing it first hand was still incredible. She still marvels that she's met both a talking Horse and a talking Wolf. What other speaking animals do they have, she wonders as her breathing slowly returns to a more normal rate.
Before she can get too relaxed, though, their brief conversation— which involved far too many glances in her direction— has ended and the two start back down the hill toward her.
"We'll take a few minutes, but then we have to keep going," Edmund tells her. His tone is gentle, and even somewhat hesitant, but once again he glances past her, back down the trail they'd come up. He then shares a look with Adan, and the Wolf breaks off into the woods— back the way they'd come. Edmund watches until he disappears, then pulls the pack from his back and takes out the waterskin, silently passing it to Serena. The Wolf had been out ahead of them for the most part, so why was he now checking behind them?
"There's someone behind us," Serena realizes. Edmund glances up at her and then in the direction Adan went with a shrug. He's terrible at lying. Though the shrug seemed an attempt at nonchalance, she can see that he's worried in the set of his jaw and the tensing of his grip on his sword.
"They won't have caught up this quickly," he says at last. Serena's stomach flutters nervously. She'd been perfectly willing to believe, somewhat naively she acknowledges, that it had just been Edmund and Adan following her yesterday. But when had she first heard pursuers? And how far behind were they now?
"But they will catch up?" she asks, her voice rising and slightly tremulous. Adan must have found something last night. That was why Phillip had gone for reinforcements, and why they'd rushed to get moving this morning. It wasn't just eagerness to leave, it was fear of pursuit.
"Eventually," Edmund says at last. He stands again, one hand still clenching his sword. For a moment Serena is angry that they'd said nothing to her. Just as quickly, though, she lets the anger fall away. Would it have made any difference if they had told her? Would she have been able to move any faster with panic fueling her movements?
"I'm sorry," she says instead. Feeling the blush on her wind-chapped cheeks, she quickly takes a sip from the icy waterskin and looks up the hill. It's only a few more yards to the top. Surely she can make that rise, and then…
"We're heading into a valley," Edmund says, following her gaze. He holds his hand out for the waterskin and Serena passes it back. "There's not as much tree cover, so we'll be easy to spot until we get across," he adds, packing the waterskin away and resettling the bag on his back. Serena understands his meaning.
"Fast and quiet," she mumbles, wishing for all the world that she could move more quickly. She looks back at Edmund, about to warn him of this, when Adan reappears from the brush. He shakes his head once at Edmund and moves past them up the ridge.
"We have to go," Edmund says quietly. There's a hint of sympathy in his eyes, and suddenly Serena hates it. She is a princess of Corsecant, a capable and well-educated and, and—
Well, she may not have any experience scaling mountains, but she decides then and there that she will not be the object of this knight's pity. And there's no option to give up anyway, she reminds herself. With all the determination she can muster, she starts up the slope.
It's rather an embarrassing attempt, but she's undeterred. Still, after one too many near slips on their descent into the next valley, Edmund latches onto her elbow and doesn't let go again. Despite the blow to her ego, she realizes how much easier it is to have his aid and condescends to allow it.