The Golden Age - Narnia fanfiction (Edmund x oc)

17. And rescue

"Aslan please let us find her." Edmund whispered a silent prayer as they continued through the forest. It was getting harder to track the wagon as the sun slowly sunk under the horizon.

"We're not gonna make it home tonight." Susan said gaining a glare from Edmund. "How can you think of that now?" He snarled at her, then immediately realized what he had done and apologized. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you." Susan looked worried. "It's fine, we're all worried about her."

"Shhhh!" Peter shushed them, and they all stopped, looking in the direction he was pointing. It was a camp fire, and some rough looking men were sat around it, chatting.

They all got off their horses, and slowly approached the camp from different sides all with weapons at the ready.

"Who's there!?" One of the guys sitting at the camp fire stood up pointing his sword at seemingly nothing. Lucy slowly appeared out of the woods and came into the soft light from the fire.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you lovely gents, but I appear to be a little lost." She said in the sweetest voice. The man lowered his weapon. "Oh, well we are pretty far away from anything here, where are you trying to go?" He asked. "To the market." She said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Well you are in luck little lady, we're headed there too. You can travel with us, but we will camp here for the night." One of the other guys piped in. "That would be lovely." She smiled. "Right this way, I'll show you where you can sleep tonight." The first guy got up from his seat, and she followed him to a wagon.

He opened the door, and grabbed her arm tightly, but he didn't manage to get her into the wagon before she pulled out her dagger with her free hand and stabbed his arm, and he was then knocked out with the hilt of Edmund's sword. They both looked at each other quickly giving a nod then looked into the wagon, seeing a bundle laying in the corner on the floor.

Edmund without a second thought climbed into the wagon, quickly picking up the princess from the floor into his arms. "She's chained to the wall." He whispered to Lucy. She searched the unconscious man to see if he had the keys, but did not find them. "Well it just had to be done the hard way." Peter who had arrived said with a sigh.

Edmund gently placed Diana on the floor again caressing her cheek. "Don't worry, I'll be back for you." He whispered. She was sleeping, but she stirred when he had whispered to her. She grabbed the sleeve of his shirt before he could leave. He smiled softly at her. "It's ok. I've got you. I just have to go make them pay for what they've done." He pressed a kiss to her forehead.

Soon after the three oldest Pevensies were approaching the men at the camp fire, while Lucy was comforting Diana.

"Right, ok, so you can all either choose to surrender peacefully and let us take you to prison, or you can face the wrath of my brother right now. If I were you I would choose the first option." Peter announced once they were within ear shot.

They all jumped up weapons in hand. Peter sighed. "Well, it's your funeral."  They charged, ignoring Peter's warnings, one of them quickly falling having an arrow from Susans bow, buried in his chest. Peter blocked an attack and quickly responded with his own attack, making quick work of the man he was fighting. Edmund didn't bother blocking the blow, just dodged and swung his sword, quickly running up to the last guy also finishing him off quickly.

The found the keys, and rushed back to the wagon. "Don't come a step closer!" The man they had knocked out was holding a dagger to Diana's throat. Lucy was sitting in the other end of the wagon with a bruise on her cheek. "Are you ok Lu?" Peter asked, she nodded quickly. "Yeah he just surprised me."

"Let. Her. Go." Edmund was seething. "Don't think I won't do it! This was the original job after all." The man sounded desperate, like someone who had nothing to lose. Those are the most dangerous and unpredictable people.

"What do you mean 'original job'? Were you hired to kill the princess? Who hired you?" Susan asked, still having an arrow ready on her bow. The man just laughed. "Shoot Susan!" Edmund shouted realizing the man was about to keep his promise.

The arrow buried itself in the man's hand, forcing him to let go of the dagger and the princess. Edmund rushed in, holding his sword to the man's throat, making him stay, while he tossed the keys to Lucy.

Diana was quickly freed, and helped out to safety. "You're lucky, I don't kill unarmed people, though I am tempted to make an exception because of what you have done to my princess." The man cowered, clutching his injured hand. Edmund walked out and they locked the wagon door.

Diana jumped into Edmund's arms the second she had the opportunity, and buried her face in his shoulder. "I knew you would come for me." She whispered. Edmund tightened his grip around her. "I'm so sorry... I should have stayed with you... It's all my fault." His voice was hoarse.

Diana lifted her head, placing both hands on his cheeks looking him in the eyes. "No! It's not your fault! My dad is the one who hired them to kill me." "What?!" The pevensies were stunned by her declaration, fury evident in their expressions.

"Well that explains why he didn't want us to go after you. He even offered his other daughters in your place." Peter said. Diana's face turned pale. Edmund smiled. "Don't worry princess, you're the only one I want to marry." Diana blushed.

"Sorry to interrupt this very sweet moment, but where are we gonna sleep tonight?" Susan said to break the silence. "I guess we will have to camp here for the night." Said Peter, "though I'm not so keen on sleeping so close to the others." He gestured toward the camp fire. So they found the horses, making another fire, and settled on the ground.

Edmund pulled Diana close to him. "I'm not taking any chances." He said as they were falling asleep in each others arms.