The Voyage - Edmund Pevensie

18

Time seemed to move in slow motion as the dragon bared down on us, claws out and sharper than my finest blade. I vaguely heard Caspian's shout of warning as I shoved Edmund, who was still turning around not fully aware of the danger, out of the way with all of my strength. Already off balance, he went sprawling on the ground right as I felt the dragon's claws wrap around my waist. The impact of them surprised me, but it was the feeling of my feet leaving the ground not even 30 seconds later that knocked my breath from my lungs. 

"CATARINA!" 

"CAT!" 

Caspian and Edmund were shouting my name, but I was too focused on the fact that I was now flying over the ocean, straight towards the Dawn Treader. The startled and horrified faces of the crew stared up at me and for a second I was worried that maybe the dragon would drop me on the deck. But instead, it just banked in front of the ship. I saw Lucy standing by the wheel and we locked eyes. 

"Cat!?" she called out, but as I called back to her the dragon veered away from the Dawn Treader and headed back to shore. I tried struggling in its claws to no avail, and because its claws were around my waist it meant I couldn't access my sword. My heart dropped to my stomach as we soared over the land, and if I wasn't so preoccupied with figuring out what it was going to do with me, I would've been gawking about how cool it was to fly. And for a second, I almost let myself get taken away with the thoughts of soaring above the ground, able to see everything in the distance. The sun was even beginning to set which had painted the sky in soft oranges and yellows. Truthfully, I could've stared at it for hours. But my thoughts were interrupted as the dragon took us over the crest of a small mountain. Steam rose in the distance, and panic began to set in. Steam usually meant that there was a dragon's lair was, which meant I was about to be dinner. I began to twist in its claws, at least trying to loosen its grip, when light caught my eye. No, not light I realized as we flew closer. Fire. And not only was it fire. It was fire that spelled out words. 

I AM EUSTACE

Shocked, I looked up to see the dragon, no, Eustace, looking down at me. While I hadn't seen his eyes before he'd scooped me up, I could see them now and there was no mistaking it. 

"By Aslan's mane," I half whispered. Eustace seemed to look at me with a guilty expression, then circled us around to head back towards the ship. 

"It's probably best if we land on the beach," I yelled over the wind. "That way no one can try and use their arrows." If dragons could blanch, Eustace did just that. I swore his scales became just a tad whiter. He immediately curved more towards the beach where he'd scooped me up, and I was relieved to see Edmund and Caspian's outlines still there. When they saw us, they immediately drew their swords. I tried waving my arms at them to get them to stand down, but they didn't understand my signal. Which was fair. I honestly would've been even more shocked if they got "don't worry, this dragon is actually your cousin who was a boy just this morning," from a few waves.

"Don't worry Cat! It'll be alright," Edmund called out as Eustace got ready to land a good distance away from them up the beach. I had to resist rolling my eyes at Ed's comment though. Clearly if things weren't alright, I would've been toast, or more like toasted, by now. 

"I'm fine!" I called back instead, finally able to be heard as Eustace's wings had stopped beating. Slowly, he let go of my waist and I stepped out of his claws, steadying myself a little as I did so. "It's Eustace," I said simply, straightening my shirt. Afterall, I didn't really see a point in beating around the bush about it. So when I looked up, I almost burst out laughing at the look on Caspian and Edmund's faces. Such pure shock and disbelief.

"What do you mean it's Eustace?" Caspian asked after a few seconds of silence. I glanced back at Eustace who looked unsure. 

"I don't really know how to make you believe me other than to have him fly you to where he took me. Spelled out "I am Eustace" with fire. Huge letters over the ground, can't miss it really." When Caspian and Edmund didn't look any less shocked, I shrugged. "It's probably a good idea to get everyone over here to talk this out so I don't have to explain it over and over again," I offered. "Then we can also figure out what we should do." Caspian was the first one to snap out of his daze.

"Good idea, I'll go get Drinian and the others from the Dawn Treader and bring them back here." I nodded at him, then went to Edmund who looked like he was starting to come out of his funk, 

"Are you alright?" he asked, grabbing my hand as I reached him. Although I insisted, he still looked me up and down with concerned eyes. 

"Ed." I finally stopped his searching by putting my palm on his cheek. "I promise I'm fine. Eustace would never hurt me." 

"Yea, but when he grabbed you we didn't know it was my cousin. Err, dragon. Um, cousin dragon?" I couldn't help but laugh at him and finally a smile came back to his face. "But seriously Cat, you scared the hell out of me when you pushed me out of the way." His face instantly turned serious again. "I know I should be thanking you for that, and I know it was just Eustace so you weren't in any danger, but my heart is still beating so fast." He moved my hand from his cheek down to his heart and I could indeed feel it pumping under his shirt. "I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you," he said quieter. I placed my other hand on his chest and stared into those dark eyes I adored so much and had missed with my entire soul while we'd been separated. 

"I'm not going anywhere," I smiled softly. His hands came up to cover my own and if I was chocolate, his smile would be melting me into a puddle at his feet.

"Good, because after being separated I think I've realized that I don't want to live without you." Happiness at his words and overwhelming emotion bubbled up inside me. Love, I realized. It was love that I felt for this King of Old standing in front of me. Who was goofy, caring, brave, just, and the only person I'd ever need in my life (outside of Caspian and my friends of course).

"Until he leaves you again," a nasty voice hissed inside my head. "He says he can't live without you now. But when he has to choose between you and his home, he will choose home every time." My chest constricted slightly at that thought. I didn't want to even think about what would happen when Edmund's time in Narnia was up. So, I didn't say those 3 little words that were on the tip of my tongue. Instead, I chased those bad thoughts away by rising up and kissing him. And the passion he returned my kiss with drove those nasty thoughts to the back of my mind where I could lock them behind a door and not touch. At least for a while. 

My hands slid up to loop around his neck and his hands went to my waist. Butterflies erupted in my stomach like they always did when I kissed him. Like every kiss was my first time. Like every single time, I couldn't believe that he was actually kissing me. 

I wasn't even sure how much time had passed before a loud snort from behind us made us separate, cheeks flushed slightly in embarrassment at forgetting Eustace was still there. As a dragon, but still. 

"Always ruining everything," Ed said quietly, although he was smiling and there was no real bite to his words. With one last peck on the lips, I brough my arms back to my sides and Ed let me go.

"Get used to it Eustace, you know one of these days you're not going to find kissing so gross," I told him. Eustace pulled a face, which was even funnier as a dragon, as if kissing was the most disgusting thing in the world. Ed and I just chuckled to ourselves as we picked a spot to sit and wait for Cas to return with the others.