Bring Back the Music (Return to Narnia)

Chapter 5

"Edmund! Ed? Where are you?" Aquena called. Reaching Ivy and me sitting by the stream, she said, "Hello! Have you seen Edmund? I thought he was out here talking to you."

"Isn't he inside? I haven't seen him since breakfast," I answered.

"Neither have I," Ivy said.

Aquena looked worried now. "He told me he was going to talk to Peter."

"Peter left four hours ago," Ivy said.

"But I've looked everywhere," said Aquena. "He's not inside, he isn't visiting either of you, and he isn't outside. Where is he?!" She was getting more worried by the second.

"Don't worry, we'll find him. He couldn't have gone...far..." Ivy's voice trailed off as we all realized the worst. We had received rumors from Darin that the enemy was looking for Peter, and Edmund would never let his brother be captured.

"He must have followed Peter," I spoke my thoughts involuntarily. Fear stabbed my heart like a nail through paper, and my friends' faces showed the same. Two men can be found much more easily than one.

"He said he'd be back by dinnertime. So he and Edmund will be here any minute," I tried to assure Aquena and Ivy. At least, I hope they will.

"I hope so," Aquena replied. She didn't look less worried. In fact, my pretended calmness seemed to have frightened her more.

Ivy's knitted, woody eyebrows suddenly brightened. "How about that stew?" she asked. "I'll make that so we can have dinner as soon as the boys return. I think I'll go for a 'Mushroom Surprise.' It's just what we need to cheer us up."

As Ivy began cooking, I mechanically set the table with Aquena in Ivy's cottage. Where are they? I thought. Why aren't they back? What if something's wrong?

"Lu! Ivy, darling! I'm back!"

Peter's jovial voice was music to my ears. He was safe! But...Edmund?

"No bad news from Darin. At least since last week, no more creatures have disappeared. They've all been careful not to make the tiniest peep of music," Peter said, kissing Ivy.

"How could they just disappear?" I asked. Peter and Edmund had told us this before, but I could not believe in magic so powerful and so evil that it would just whisk away any little creature or person who whistled a tune or sang a song.

"Lu, I've told you this before. They just disappear-like that." Peter snapped his fingers. "With a little gust of black wind." Peter's voice was still too cheerful for the conversation topic. He was too pleased that everyone was safe to worry about those who had already vanished.

"And we don't know where they're going? Or what happens when they get there?" Aquena asked. She tried to be interested in the conversation, but her crystal-blue eyes kept glancing out the open cottage door into the forest.

"No. I think at least some of them have been taken to the castle. More and more guards are placed outside the walls every week, and that wouldn't be necessary unless there were prisoners. We've got to find out soon where all those creatures have got to. Darin's own wife disappeared, you know." Peter sat thinking for a moment. "Where's Edmund?" he asked casually.

Silence. Ivy and I looked away, and none of us could say anything. Aquena's tears were about to spill over the edges of her lashes..

Peter's smiling face dropped and a look of concern came into his brown eyes. "Where is he?" he asked again.

"We don't know!" Aquena choked out. She and I both began to cry.

Stroking Aquena's hair, I said, as calmly as possible, although the tears were flowing down my own cheeks, "Peter, we haven't seen him since you left this morning. He must have followed you."

"Then he should be back by now. I'll go look." Peter's pretended confidence was only half convincing as he strode out of the cottage.

We all waited in intense silence. I knew we were all praying, Aslan, please let him be safe. Let him be waiting to surprise us outside. Several minutes later, Peter walked in again, this time slowly, looking more frightened than I had ever seen him. He was a ghost of Peter, his face white and pained, and hands shaking as he closed the door slowly behind me.

"Peter, what's happened?" I whispered. Oh, how it scared me to see my brother this way! Peter was always cheerful, prepared, strong. Now he looked like a man coming back from war.

"I saw it," Peter moaned, falling into a chair. His voice was hoarse and weak.

"Saw what?" Aquena asked, her voice pleading.

"Edmund!" he gasped. "I saw him coming back to our clearing, swinging his arms and - whistling. Then suddenly- nothing. It's all my fault!" Peter covered his face with his shaking hands, and sat silently.

"How could it be your fault? We didn't tell him to follow you, and you certainly didn't!" Ivy said.

"He's my brother. I promised Mum I'd look after him -years ago- but I've never forgotten it."

"Peter, he's not a little boy anymore," Ivy tried to console him.

I was in shock. "Edmund..." my voice drifted away. The tears again slid down my cheek. This couldn't be happening. The bond between us was strong, and Edmund was always quick to listen to me, and support me in all that I did. He had been my loyal friend for almost ten years. Now I didn't know if I would ever see my brother again.

Aquena was now sobbing onto Ivy's shoulder. "How are we ever going to find him?" she cried.

"Go and look for him, of course," Peter said, standing. "I'll go look near the castle. Pack some food, Lu? All of you can come as soon as I get back." He was forcing his small smile, but Peter was always determined.

"Don't leave, Peter!" Ivy pleaded. She, Aquena, and I had clearly all recognized the intensified situation. Edmund was gone, and who knew when, if ever, he would return. "We don't want you lost too! Perhaps he's still on his way..."

"No. I've got to go." Peter took Ivy's slender hand. "I've got to find my brother."

"Promise me you'll come back," Ivy pleaded.

"Don't worry- all of you. I'll see you soon." Peter took a biscuit from the table, for it was now near two o'clock and the stew was burned black. He sheathed his dagger and vanished into the forest.

Ivy, Aquena, and I got ready to leave and then picked at dinner-no one had much appetite. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. As the sun sank behind the trees, I told the girls goodnight and went to my cottage, exhausted from all the worrying and waiting. 

Where is Peter? was my constant thought. He said he'd be back soon. 

Then I argued with myself. He's just going near the castle to see what's going on! Nothing's going to happen. 

But what if it has?