Essence of Narnia

Chapter 13

Arrrooooohaaa, I am back and with an updated chapter! Haha, keep on commenting! and tell me your thoughts. I wouldn't mind. =D

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Chapter 13

Unfortunately, Gruff said that the witch lived deep into the forest so the journey was going to take two days. After my previous incident, Peter and Caspian agreed that they would go with us along with Edmund while Rowley stayed back with Susan and Lucy as they tended to Avery's wounds.

"Over here." Gruff said after sniffing a tree. "There's vines on it so that must mean we are near."

The three of them nodded and followed him. It was hard to go through the forest since I didn't know the land well. Looking around for any possible sign that could help Gruff I sighed. We need to hurry, I thought to myself looking past trees and the grass.

A breeze flew by pushing against my back as if telling me to move forward. Following the force of the breeze it led me and my horse Sria in front of an old tree. I stared at the bark of the tree hoping for a door to appear. 

"What are you doing milady?" Gruff asked.

"Something told me to stop in front of the tree, so I thought a door might appear? Is that how this place works?"

"You're an odd one." Gruff stated and trailed his nose down the base of the tree before. "Witch hazel. It's her favorite plant so she must be near. Thank you Charlotte." 

Smiling I headed beyond the tree and silently thanked Aslan for the help.

"Are you alright?"

I looked to see Edmund and his horse beside me. My heart fluttered instantly. Oh God. Why him? I barely know him. "I'm okay. I'm just wary of my surroundings. For a place full of unicorns and fairies, I didn't expect Narnia to be such a dangerous place."

Edmund frowned. "It wasn't always this way. This isn't the worst of it."

I raised an eyebrow. "Things were much worse before?"

"Sadly, but I'm sure I could handle this problem."

"I?"

Edmund smiled. "I meant we."

"Getting a little cocky now aren't you?" I teased.

"I'm not cocky." he looked at me surprised. "I'm confident."

"Whatever you say, King Edmund."

He chuckled to himself and I followed Gruff who was ahead of us.

As I looked around my thoughts began to wander. I promised Caspian I would tell him who I liked, but I'm not really clear about my feelings. Was it Edmund? Possibly, but what if he didn't feel the same way? I sneaked a peak from the corner of my eye and shook the thought off and urged my horse to move faster. We traveled deeper into the forest for a long time but to no avail we couldn't find the witch's home.

My thoughts broke away as I felt a wet drop hit my nose. 

"I think it's best to stay the night." suggested Peter looking up at the orange sky. Caspian looked like as if he was about to protest, but Peter stopped him. "It would be too dark to get back."

Caspian furrowed his eyebrows and looked as if he was silently arguing with himself. He then nodded. We decided to sleep nearby where a large tree provided enough shade for the night and where the grass was soft. The horses were tied up in nearby trees just in case.

I lay my head down on the grass and looked up at the dark sky. The guys were off talking somewhere else. The talking stopped and someone lay beside me. I turned to look and saw Edmund beside me.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked him.

"Trying to catch up on some sleep."

"Oh... how about Caspian and Peter?"

"Caspian is on watch right now, Peter will be coming soon. Here he is now."

"Hi." said Peter. He looked at me and Edmund and he quickly looked away. "I'm going to bed now. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I called out to him.

My eyes drifted back to Edmund. He was looking up past the trees and into the sky. I did the same. We were only a foot away from each other and the thought of him being so close to me caused my heart to beat faster. I quickly faced opposite from him. I knew this feeling but I didn't want to believe it, but it has been too long since I last felt this way.

"Charlotte."

My heart skipped a beat at the sound of his voice causing me to break away from my thoughts. "Y-yes Edmund?"

"Are you afraid?"

I looked at him. "No, why should I be?"

He shook his head. "Nothing, don't mind it."

"Edmund?"

"Yeah?" he said quietly.

"Is it a bad thing if I never wanted to leave Narnia?"

I heard him chuckle somewhere beside me. "Sometimes. You can stay here, but you have to think about your family back home."

"Right." I said saddened by the thought of leaving Narnia. It truly was a beautiful place. Somewhere nearby I heard the horses neigh softly. The dark night was quiet and the only light came from the moon. We couldn't risk putting a fire for fear it might attract unwanted animals.

"I'm sorry." Edmund said softly.

"For what?" I said surprised.

"For getting you mad."

"What?" I asked then I remembered the recent incident that happened before I met King Gallath. I had almost forgotten. "Right, forget about it. It wasn't really your fault. I just over reacted."

Edmund turned to look at me with his eye brows furrowed. "Are you sure? We haven't considered your feelings."

Why was he so concerned all of a sudden? He's generally aloof if not teasing, but I can't get too ahead of myself. "Yeah, I'm fine don't worry about it... Goodnight Edmund." I said sleepily.

"Goodnight Charlotte." He responded.