Always || Edmund Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia) [1]

Chapter 5: A Prince and Prophecy ✔️

CHAPTER 5

EDITED 1/20/22

A low, growling noise awoke Mary the next morning. Her eyes flew open and she sat up with a start, looking around for its source. Though she was still trying to get her mind to fully wake up, there didn't seem to be anything unusual. That is, until she realized that Lucy was missing from their camp.

Edmund let out a snore, much to Mary's entertainment. However, her attention was pulled back to Lucy when she heard the younger girl say, "Aslan?"

Mary jumped to her feet and attached her sheath around her dress before brisk walking towards the direction Lucy had gone. It didn't take long to find her trudging through the trees carelessly, and she was just about to reprimand her for leaving their camp without anyone knowing when spotted a giant creature walking nearby. She got ahold of Lucy and pulled her down behind a bush, causing the latter to yep a little in surprise.

"Lucy, what are you doing?" Mary whisper-yelled. "Did you see that? That... that was a minotaur, wasn't it?"

Lucy peeked through the leaves. When she saw the creature with the built body of a man and the head of a bull, she realized Mary was correct.

"What if it's a Narnian?" she wondered.

"Or it could be wild. You know, like that bear?" said Mary. "Or is there, er, no such thing as wild minotaurs?"

"Well, he doesn't look like it."

Lucy had a valid point. The minotaur was wearing battle gear and walked almost human-like — not just on two legs, but as if it had a purpose. Upon seeing this, Mary bit her lip and gave in, agreeing with Lucy. Perhaps this creature was their ticket to finding the rest of the Narnians.

"Okay, I suppose we can approach it," she said. "But slowly. If he shows any signs of being wild, we run."

Lucy nodded in anticipation and the two stood up cautiously, careful not to make a sound. Mary was almost completely standing up when something long and shiny appeared right next to their faces — a sword. Lucy yelped at the sudden appearance of the weapon and tried to get away as quick as her legs could carry her.

Mary ducked when the sword swung at her face. She heard the sound of it slicing through something, and when she saw a lock of hair fall in front of her face, she realized that whoever was attacking her had cut off a piece of her hair. Then, she finally locked eyes with the attacker: a man with shoulder length black hair, soft eyes contrasting his sharp features, and looked to be a few years older than her. He had a determined expression on his face, giving away that he was willing to hurt Mary and win this fight.

He let out a battle cry upon swinging his sword once more, but Mary had fortunately unsheathed her own and the two weapons clashed loudly.

"Mary!" Lucy cried out in fear for her friend.

Back at the camp, the other four had heard the commotion. Edmund and Peter already awoke at the sound of swords clashing, and not a moment later, the sound of his sister yelling Mary's name was enough for Edmund to sprint towards wherever it came from. Peter didn't have time to stop him, so he got up and followed his brother closely behind, just as Susan and Trumpkin were getting up as well.

Although Mary had fought and defeated Trumpkin, this was different. She was coached and mentally prepared herself to fight Trumpkin, but she was caught completely off guard with this man. Trumpkin was also quicker, but this man was much stronger. Mary was getting by with defensive skills again, not having the advantage with any offensive techniques. The man moved expertly as if he had done this many times before and it impressed Mary, though she shouldn't have been thinking about that because her sword eventually got stuck on a tree trunk.