Fire and Ice(Narnia Book 3)

Chapter 2 New Allies

(Edmunds POV)

Water poured out of the painting at a rapid speed, soaking us as we all pulled at the painting, trying to get it off the wall. I got a particularly good grasp and suddenly the painting was on the ground in the middle of the room, water spurting up from it and reaching our knees within seconds.

I reached for Emmy as she bumped into Lucy, sending them both into the water. There was nothing we could do but swim up as the room filled to the brim and suddenly we were completely under water, barely having enough time to take one last breath of air.

I kicked as hard as I could to reach the light in the distance, feeling my lungs begging for air as my chest tightened. Finally reaching the top I burst from the water, sucking in air as though my life depended on it. "Lucy! Emmy!" I chocked out, looking around. The bright, blinding sun in the center of the deep blue sky beat down on my harshly and the calls of seagulls playing in the distance filled my ears, it was then I realized I was in the ocean.

I heard another burst behind me seconds later, followed by one in front of me as both girls reached the top. "Edmund! Swim!" I heard one of them shout as the ship from the painting approached us at lightening speed and three men jumped from it, hitting the water with a loud splash, swimming towards us.

I swam as hard as I could for a few seconds, moving my arms as hard as could to propel my body through the waves before hearing Lucy cry out. Glancing back I was surprised to see Caspian pulling her towards the ship. "Caspian!" She exclaimed, calling to Emmy and letting her know everything was okay.

Once we were all aboard the ship, Caspian accepted some towels from a few of his crew members and passed them out to us. "Are you alright?"I walked over to Emmy and pulled her towel tighter around her. She nodded and looked up at me as I whispered to her, "Welcome to Narnia." Her expression was blank for a moment before breaking out into a grin.

"Oh my gosh, how adorable." Emmy whispered in my ear, but before I could ask what she was talking about I heard Lucy call to Reepeecheep and knew that was who she'd been referring to.

"Well, you're new." Caspian smiled at Emmy as he approached us with Lucy under his arm. "Allow me to introduce myself, i'm Caspian, and you are?"

I felt my face grow hot with envy and jealousy as he reached for her hand, placing a kiss on the back of it after she introduced herself. "Is there somewhere we can change? These clothes are getting a bit annoying."

Caspian shook his head as if clearing it of all thoughts before turning his attention to me. "Of course. This way."

***

A little while later I sat in Caspians chambers, waiting for everyone else to join me. I heard Caspian talking on the other side of the door, followed by Emmys laughter. They came in moments later, smiling each other, only breaking eye contact when Lucy pushed through them.

"My cordial!" She exclaimed, rushing over to pick it up. "Oh," She paused, turning to Caspian. "May I?"

"Of course, its yours."She beamed, immediately securing the holder to her trousers and placing the healing cordial into the pouch.

"And Edmund." Caspian called, lifting up the beautiful sword I had always admired.

"Peters sword." I smiled a bit as Emmy reached my side and held my arm.

"For you." He held it out to me and I resisted the urge to snatch it.

"No, Peter gave it to you." He gave me an uneasy look before nodding and placing it back down.

"I do have something of yours here that I found shortly after you left." He turned around and searched through the cabinet, pulling out my torch and tossing it to me.

I smiled sheepishly as Emmy giggled and took it from me, switching it on and allowing the now dim light to hit the wall. "Look, Ed. It still works!" She switched it off and handed it back to me.

Lucy came over, pulling Emmy away from me and over to one of the portholes, looking out at the ocean and whispering to her. I looked at them the same time as Caspian did and grimaced at the way he stared when the sun hit her, making her appear to glow. "I'm sorry," He started. "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

I frowned as she darted her eyes back and forth before answering a little too quickly. "No! No, i've never seen you before. This is my first time here, remember?"

"Maybe you see Maggie in her. They are related after all." Lucy chimed in.

"Yes, maybe thats it. How is Susan doing? I would assume well, seeing as you havent mentioned her yet." He changed the subject, accepting Lucys comment as a viable reason.

"Better." I replied. "She was taken straight to the hospital when we returned and they were able to give her the proper antidote. How have you and Aslan held up your end?"

"Ah, yes." Caspian nodded slowly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "We are headed back to Cair Paravel as we speak. He is waiting for us there, and he has asked me not to tell you too much. He wishes to speak with you about the matter himself."

"How many years have passed since we left?" Lucy asked, looking annoyingly at Edmund who rolled his eyes at her random question and continued talking.

"So you have found the person who poisoned her then?" He pressed, eyeing Caspian as he paced around the room, contemplating an answer.

"Patience. As for your question," He turned to the youngest girl. "Only one."

"But wait," Emmy started, drawing all the attention to herself. "Narnian time moves much faster than ours does. A year our time should be thousands here." She froze as she noticed the quizzical looks she was being given. "Or, at least, I think thats what Ed told me."

"Yes." Edmund nodded, brushing off the comment. "How can that be?"

"Aslan has joined forces with quite a few interesting people over the past few months, people who have helped him get the answers he needed, and one of which has the power to control time." Caspian perched himself down on the edge of the wooden desk positioned at the front of the room.

"I didn't know there were people like that in Narnia." Lucy exclaimed with wide eyes and a smile playing at her lips as Caspian raised his eyebrows playfully. "Unless they didn't come from Narnia."

Caspian only smiled at her thinking. "You, Queen Lucy, will just have to wait and see. One thing I can tell you though, they will be quite the welcoming party."