Your worst fears || The Chronicles Of Narnia

27: An exchange for your brother's life

Peter swallowed hard as he paced back and forth, the stone table beside him and Susan, Lucy and Orious the other side.

"Peter, pacing won't make them come any quicker." Susan sighed, her hand placed gently on Lucy's shoulder.

Peter stopped only to glare at her for a second before going back to pacing, ignoring her with a sigh.

Susan glanced down at Lucy, who looked beyond worried and smiled reassuringly down at her.

Peter continued pacing for ages, his heart pounding, running his hand through his hair and sighing every now and then, until a voice reached his ears.

"Look who's here."

Peter's head snapped up and he froze where he was, tears filling his eyes when he spotted the hag and Edmund, slowly walking up the stairs to meet them by the stone table.

Everyone was silent as the hag forced Edmund to his knees, Peter unable to keep back a wince when his little brother gasped in pain... and it was no wonder he did.

Peter could see the bruises and cuts on his face, plus the huge gash on his cheek. His shirt was stained from an obvious cut, and there was blood seeping through his trousers from a slice in his leg. He couldn't see any more injuries, but now he came to think of it, Edmund's arm looked funny, despite it being tied behind him.

No one said anything for a very long time, Edmund kept his head down as well, tears stinging his eyes as his heart pounded against his chest.

"So you came then?" The hag finally spoke.

Peter glared at her. "Of course we came." He spat.

The hag laughed. "I don't know why you'd want to save a traitor like your brother." She said calmly.

"Hey!" Peter snapped, raising his voice. "Don't you dare."

The hag stared at him for a moment. "It's true though." She said eventually, ungagging Edmund. "Tell them."

Edmund winced when he was nudged, but sighed and opened his mouth to speak. "I'm a traitor." He said, loud enough to be heard but not really very loud at all. "I deserve everything that has happened to me in the last week."

The hag smirked, before gagging him again.

Peter's heart stopped beating. "What have you done to him?" He choked.

"Nothing but helped him see the truth." The hag said with a shrug. "Of course he believed it before, but I just brought those thoughts right to the surface."

"You cast a spell on him?" Susan whispered suddenly.

The hag nodded. "But don't worry, the spell will be broken when he is returned to you." She explained.

"Then return him to me." Peter muttered through gritted teeth. "Let him go."

The hag smirked, running her hand through Edmund's hair before grabbing a fistfull of it and yanking his head back, placing a knife to his neck. "Do you want to go back to your siblings?" She whispered.

Edmund let out a quiet sob and nodded his head as much as he could, unable to say anything around the gag.

Peter's heart broke at the sob, and it took all he had to stay where he was stood.

"The question is, do they want you back?" The hag said, playing with Edmund's mind.

"Yes." Lucy stepped in before Peter had the chance. "Yes we want him back."

"One last thing." The hag said, pressing down harder on the knife until a trickle of blood rolled down Edmund's neck.

"What?" Peter asked quickly, noting the pain in his brothers eyes.

"If you so much as come looking for me, then mark my words your brother will die." The hag told them. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Peter said. "Now let him go."

"There's one thing I need first." The hag said with a cruel smirk.

Peter frowned. "What?" he almost whispered, not liking the tone of her voice one bit.

"I need a few drops of your blood."

Peter was startled. "My blood?" He questioned. "Why?"

"No reason in particular, just an exchange for your brothers life." The hag said. "You didn't think I'd let him go for free did you?"

"But why would you need it?" Susan stepped in.

"Just to experiment with new spells." The hag said with a shrug. "Adam's blood is hard to come by you know."

Peter shook his head. "You can have it but just let him go."

The hag threw Peter the knife she had, followed by a small vial. "The blood first." She said with a wicked grin.

Peter hesitated slightly, before sighing and slicing the knife along his palm. He winced and hissed in pain before letting a few drops fall into the empty vial, and handing it back to the hag. "Now." He choked, holding his hand close to his chest. "Let him go."

The hag hesitated only for a moment, before she shoved Edmund towards Peter, clicked her fingers and disappeared.

Peter was too far away to catch Edmund, and winced when he hit the floor, a loud groan escaping him.

He ran forward as quickly as he could, forgetting about his hand, and fell to his knees beside Edmund, grabbing his shoulders gently and carefully helping him to sit up.

Edmund let out a sob and instantly buried his face against Peter's neck, Peter at once feeling blood coat his skin, which made him shudder.

He only waited a few seconds before reaching down to untie Edmund's hands, throwing away the rope before untying the gag.

Edmund relaxed one arm, but the other he didn't move, and he leant even more heavily against Peter, tears and blood coating his older brothers skin, but he just couldn't bring himself to move.

"I've got you." Peter whispered, his voice choked as he wrapped his arms hesitantly around his brother.

Edmund wrapped one of his arms around Peter, clinging to him with as much strength as he could, which he hated to admit, wasn't much.

"You're safe now." Peter whispered in his ear. "I promise you're safe. I've got you, she's gone, you're home, I promise." He continued muttering for ages, in which time Susan and Lucy came over and knelt beside them.

Peter knew that his sisters wanted to join the hug, but they were both too scared to hurt him, and if he was honest, Peter was worried he was actually hurting him.

But even if he was Edmund didn't seem to care, and only clung to him tighter. "Peter." He suddenly choked, voice desperate.

"Hey, shhh." Peter whispered, running a hand gently up and down Edmund's back to try and calm him. "I've got you, I'm not letting you go, I promise I've got you."

Edmund eventually broke down into tears, sobbing against Peter's neck and clinging to him as if he'd disappear at any moment.

All Peter could do was hold him, and that's what he did. He pulled him carefully into his lap, placed a kiss to the top of his head and buried his face against his hair, holding him close and murmuring comfortingly in his ear.

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