CH4.

Edmund approached the large ornate ebony door to Peter's bedroom. He took in a deep breath trying to calm his racing heart. He pushed his still sopping wet hair from in front of his eyes. He straightened his tunic and slowly pushed the doors to Peter's chambers open., The rest of his siblings were already there. They failed to notice him at first as he silently crept inside. Peter and Lucy stood close, looking out the window at the ocean. He held her hand tightly in his. She was leaning her head on his shoulder lovingly. Lucy turned, let her hand fall and flopped onto Peter's bed, wearily, her legs flying up towards the ceiling. Well, that's a ladylike thing to do, he thought to himself. Susan stood hunched over a table in the corner. Her hands were on either side of the map of the kingdoms that was laid out beneath her. It was odd seeing her stately graceful figure bent over, as if something were troubling her. None of them seemed like themselves. Edmund wondered what they were all about.

"Oi. What are you all down for? Peace talks not go as well as planned?" Three sets of eyes shot up to look at Edmund.

"Well you would know how the bloody peace talks are going if you hadn't ran off to play hookie today in a rainstorm?" Peter said, a hard edge to his voice. Edmund cringed knowing Peter's displeasure was warranted.

"I just needed a break, Pete, you know how it gets."

"I do know how it gets, and I would have no problem letting you off the hook for the day, if I had known it was going to happen." Peter frowned at his brother, "Instead, the three of us showed up to our meeting and waited a whole half an hour for our brother to show up before we received news that 'King Edmund is no longer in the castle.' That in fact, he had been gone since sunrise, unchaperoned, with a single lady of consequence!" Peter looked like steam was about to come out his ears. Edmund stood silently, wringing his hands together. He really had not thought his morning excursion with Reyna through, he just had wanted to spend time with her.

"Do you realize what I had to say to her father to keep him from riding out after the two of you and challenging you to a duel? Quite a bit." Peter sighed loudly, rubbing his neck with one hand, the other pinching the bridge of his nose.

"And bedsides all that," Susan spoke for the first time, "we were worried for your safety - and that of your guest, I might say - being out in such a terrible storm."

Edmund simply nodded, justly chastened for his actions.

"Putting all that aside, however," Lucy said, having sat up, legs still dangling off the bed, "Peter, has news for you that he learned during the conference this afternoon." The tone of Lucy's voice told Edmund immediately that this was serious and no longer about him and his choice to skip out on political meetings.

Edmund's gaze flipped back to Peter. He looked upset. His brow was furrowed and Ed could see the lines that had formed around his eyes and his mouth - they usually only appeared when he was worried about something. He held himself with a tenseness that Edmund hadn't noted upon first entry. Edmund's eyes flipped back to Lucy. She was fiddling with some of the laces on her dress, purposefully not meeting his eyes. Glancing at Susan, having turned around she was leaning against the table with her hands on either side of her. Her forehead was drawn down in worry as well.

"Pete. What's going on? What's got everyone so worried?"

"The giants in the North. Our scouts tell us that they are mobilizing their forces." His eyes were locked with Edmund's while he spoke. Edmund let out a sigh of relief, he had expected far worse news based on the tension in the room.

"Oh, well that is not too horrible! We will just send a small army up there and take care of it. We have faced worse than the giants! You lot had me really worried, for a moment. The way you all look, it's as if the world is ending!"

"That's not all…" Said Susan,

"What? Well… What else?" Susan looked down, Peter was now looking out the window, his arms crossed over his chest, refusing to meet Edmund's gaze. Lucy looked up and said, "There is a sorceress amongst them. It is unclear as to who she is. She has reportedly been seen casting spells to do with the weather - creating cyclones of snow with a simple word, causing a mountain to crumble with the snap of her fingers. We think it might be the White Witch..."

Edmund felt his stomach clench. Her eyes, filled with worry, carrying a haunted look. She looked like she was twenty years older than she was. Edmund's mind was racing. The room was spinning. Ed thought he was going to faint for a moment. He walked to the edge of the bed, placed a stabilizing hand on it and took a breath before saying,

"…Tha... That's... impossible..."

"So we all thought. But it is true. The giants are rallying behind her. We don't know what other creatures are pledging themselves to her as well. The scouts say she is the spitting image of the White Witch. It is either her or someone claiming to be her." Lucy continued. Edmund walked over to where Lucy was, he sat down heavily on the bed next to her. His shoulders slumped dejectedly and he cradled his head in his hands. The room was still spinning. He took a few more breaths. He ran his fingers through his hair and lifted his head.

This was impossible. Aslan had defeated her once and for all. How could that woman be back after only a few years' time? He had watched as Aslan triumphed over death, sacrificing himself in Edmund's place before claiming victory on the battlefield. Narnia had lived mostly in peace since then, why now on the eve of even greater peace with their neighboring nations should this happen? It seems too coincidental.

Edmund thought back to the time he spent with the White Witch – Jadis. He had been manipulated by her; tempted by the promise of power, and of love and acceptance that he felt he was lacking. Did he still feel as if he was lacking some of that? Is that why she had returned? Had his discontent willed her back into existence? He knew that things were not always perfect between his siblings, but they did their best to rule fairly and to make sure that each other felt appreciated, and yet somehow he still felt as if he stood in the shadow of his elder brother. Feelings of resentment and anger bubbled up inside of Edmund that he was unaware he had been hiding. Are these the feelings that have caused cracks within Narnia's fortified and united front and allowed Jadis to rise from the ashes of her defeat?

All these thoughts were swimming around Edmund's head rapidly and he felt overwhelmed by them. He shook his head to clear it and gave a heavy sigh.

"So... The White Witch has returned… What do we do?"

The room was deadly silent for what seemed like an eternity. Peter finally was the one to speak first.

"Well, the first thing to do is to rule out that it is Jadis to begin with. To all our knowledge, she is dead and cannot return, so who could it be that is impersonating her? And, if for some reason it is her, how has she returned and how can we make sure she never does again."

"But even if it is someone else, we have no idea how to defeat her. It's not like we have magic or something to combat her sorcery skills." Said Susan.

"What about Aslan? Last time he was here he said we would be presented with a difficult new trial. Remember what he said? He said that it was going to be one of the hardest challenges we have faced since we first came to Narnia. He said we will need to lean on each other and only together will we be able to triumph." Interjected Lucy.

"I wish Aslan were here..." Said Peter, "He always seems to make things clear... I miss him." All the Pevensie's mumbled their agreement.

"Well, we can't all leave and go to the Northern lands right now, we are in the middle of a peace summit." Said Edmund. He paused, pondering. "Here's what I propose. You three stay here and continue with the peace summit, working towards an agreement as quickly as possible. I will take a small portion of our army and go to the Northern lands to scout and see exactly what is going on: where the Giant's camps are and who this sorceress is. I will send word back periodically or if I get into trouble so you three can come and help. As soon as the peace summit is over and the treaty signed, you three can follow up after me with the rest of the army. Brother, what do you think?"

"I don't like the idea of you going out there all alone. Especially when there's a sorceress involved." Said Peter thoughtfully. Edmund's countenance hardened; his lips becoming a thin line.

"C'mon Pete, you know I learned my lesson with Jadis the last time, I would never make the same mistake again!" Edmund said vehemently. He could feel anger bubbling up inside as Peter's lack of trust in him.

"No, Ed! I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that I'd much rather come with you so that we could have each other's backs. We always fight better when we are out there together. It has nothing to do with my trust in your military abilities or your faithfulness to the family and Narnia. You're my brother. I don't want anything bad to happen to you." Peter had crossed the room and had taken Edmund by the shoulders as he made this speech. A look of understanding passed between the brothers, Edmund's hand came up to cover one of his brother's and he squeezed it. Peter roughly pulled his brother to his chest, the girls joined the hug shortly afterwards. When they all drew back Lucy had tears in her eyes. She pulled Edmund into a tighter hug.

"I don't want you to go alone either, what if something happens to you?" She cried into his chest. Edmund held her while he said "It shouldn't take that long for the peace summit to be over, and it'll take a little while for us to mobilize the army. I won't be leaving for a while yet.

Peter looked at his siblings, he knew that Edmund's plan was logical, but something just didn't feel right. Aslan had said that all of them would be needed to defeat the threat, but he could not see another alternative. To disregard the peace summit, would insult and alienate all of his guests. Ed was right, the summit shouldn't take too long and it would take a few weeks to mobilize an army to take to the Northern lands. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"I still don't like Ed going alone, but I don't see another option, and hopefully, he won't be out there alone for long. I think that's the best plan we have right now, what do you girls think, do you agree?"

"I suppose so..." Said Lucy dejectedly. "I can't think of another alternative."

"It seems to be the most logical thing to do." Said Susan.

"It's settled then." Said Edmund, "We should start drafting messages to send out to our forces to meet in two months' time at Cair Paravel."

At this, the four siblings all sat at Peter's desk - Peter and Edmund began pouring over maps and discussing battle plans, Lucy started penning out the message that would be sent to the troops and Susan started making a list of supplies, ammunition, and weapons that would need to be compiled.