Born For This

3. Words to Speak

Chapter 3 – Words to Speak

He could feel the wood floor under his feet and he stretched his hand out in front of him, feeling for the door.

Edmund’s hand connected with wood and he pushed. But the door refused to budge. He tried again and pushed harder but the door denied relenting.

“It is not yet your time, King of Narnia,” said a Voice. Edmund spun around.

“Aslan?” he called.

“King Edmund! Are you alright?” asked his bodyguard.

“Um, yes,” Edmund answered. He turned back to the door and lightly knocked. “Peter? Peter, can you hear me?” But there was no answer. Edmund pounded louder. “Peter! Lucy! Open the door!”

“Return to your sister,” commanded the same Voice from before. “Your time of departure has not yet come.”

Edmund let his hand fall from the door and took a reluctant step back. He was almost sure that Peter and Lucy had fallen through the door back to England. But how would he break it to Susan? Did she remember clearly the lamppost and the wardrobe? Edmund took another step back and nearly tripped on something lying on the floor. He frowned and stooped down to pick it up.

It was Peter’s crown.

Now all his thoughts were confirmed. His siblings had returned without him and now he could not rejoin them. But was Lucy’s crown there as well? He began to feel the floor with his hands, desperately searching for the circle of silver leaves. His fingers came in contact with the familiar shape and he lifted it to his face. The light from the lamppost shone across the fine silver leaves.

“You are gone,” Edmund said at last. “You have left Susan and me with a heavy burden to bear. I do not know how we will be able to rule Narnia without your strength, Peter, or without your faith, Lucy.” His fingers curled tightly around the two crowns and he tried not to think of his siblings trapped on the other side of the door. He knew they would be desperately trying to return. Perhaps they had been pounding on the wood just like he had only moments before.

The deep voice of the Tiger shattered his brooding thoughts. “Did you find anything, King Edmund?”

“Yes,” Edmund answered as he retreated from the gateway to his own world, turning his back upon the closed door and clutching the crowns of his siblings tightly in both hands.

~

“Oh, Edmund! There you are! I was afraid that you had disappeared as well,” Susan confessed as she came flying out the door to meet him. “Why, Edmund! Why is your face so grave? Did they find anything?”

“Indeed,” Edmund answered.

“And where have you been?” she asked. “You disappeared in the middle of the night. It was like – well, never mind. What did you find?” Edmund wordlessly handed her the two crowns. Susan took them and let out a strangled sob. “Oh, Edmund! Tell me it isn’t true!” She seized his arm. “It can’t be true!” Edmund didn’t answer. Susan let her hand fall from his arm and steeled herself against the news. “Where are they? What has happened?”

“Susan, can you recall a strange iron tree in the middle of the forest?” Edmund asked.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Susan demanded.

“Do you have any memories of our world?” Edmund inquired.

“They are faint,” Susan confessed. “All I can remember is a spare room that was empty except for a wardrobe. And I remember that we were in the middle of a war and that’s why we were separated from our parents. Aside from that, all I can remember is finding ourselves here and discovering Mr. Tumnus’s cave torn apart.”