Right by your side || The Chronicles of Narnia

He was ready

Peter frowned slightly, glancing down at his brother. "Are you sure?" He asked slowly after a while. He knew Edmund would've eventually told him, when he was ready, but he didn't expect that time to come quite so soon.
Edmund sighed a little. "Yeah." He choked. "I - I need to tell someone." He mumbled. "If you don't mind listening."
Peter gave him a sad smile. "Of course I'll listen Eddy." He assured his brother, before coughing a few times.
"You alright?" Edmund asked worridley.
Peter chuckled thickly. "I'll live." He joked. "Go ahead, I'm listening."
Edmund nodded slowly before resting his head back against Peter's chest, not looking at his brother as he began. "When - When I arrived at the witches castle, Maugrum found me." He mumbled. "I thought he was gonna kill me at first, but I then explained that the witch had told me to - to come to the castle. He 'apologised' after that and led me to the throne room, leaving for a while and coming back with Jadis a few minutes later. She - She got really angry because I hadn't brought you three to her, and I panicked and told her that you were all at the beavers dam. She seemed mildly pleased at that, but still - still ordered Ginnabrik, her dwarf, to take me down - down to the dungeons. The last thing I heard the witch say was 'you know what to do' before the wolves left."
Peter took a deep breath. "She sent them after us." He whispered, his arm tightening around Edmund's shoulders.
Edmund nodded slowly. "Yeah." He sighed. "Anyway, Ginnabrik took me down to the dungeons and left me, but not before shackling me. I - I was so cold down there, I couldn't feel anything. It was then that I met Mr.Tumnus, he - he asked about Lucy, and if she was alright, but of course I didn't know.
When - When the witch came down she said that her wolves didn't find you." Edmund continued. "She asked me where you'd gone, but I told her I didn't know. She - She then asked Mr.Tumnus if he knew why he was there, he replied with it was because he believed in a free Narnia, but Jadis told him it was because I had turned him in, for sweetie." Edmund's voice cracked as he said this, causing Peter to glance worridley down at him, but Edmund never once made eye contact with his brother.
"She dragged him out of the cell after that, going to turn him into stone. She left me alone, but not for long." Edmund choked.
"What do you mean?" Peter asked, frowning and trying to fight back the nausea.
"She came back down soon after, and I told you already that she asked again where you all were, and when I didn't tell her she hit me before forcing me to drink the - the poison." Edmund told him slowly, taking a deep breath. "But after that she - she did something else."
"What did she do?" Peted asked warily.
Edmund sighed. "She - She whipped me." He said.
Peter's breathing stopped completely, and Edmund quickly looked up at him, only to see his eyes wide and his mouth open. "What?" He choked after a while.
Edmund nodded. "I know." He whispered. "I still have the wounds. And I'm pretty sure they're gonna scar."
"Where?" Peter asked quickly.
"My - My back." Edmund said slowly.
Two seconds later Peter sat up, pushing Edmund up as well and lifted up his night shirt, before Edmund could even stop him.
"Oh my gosh!" Peter choked, staring at his brothers back. "How an earth have you managed to keep these hidden for so long?!"
Edmund shrugged as he sighed. "I dunno." He mumbled, before laying Peter back down and laying beside him, getting a sigh from his brother even as he rested his head back against the pillows. "I - I still didn't tell her where you were going, so - so she decided to go look for you herself.
We traveled on her sledge for ages, before the snow started to melt.
The sledge wasn't moving properly but the witch still made me get out and try and push it along. We - We finally came to - to a waterfall, Jadis then realising that the sleigh was useless.
She was obviously trying to figure out a way across the river when the wolves turned up, with a fox."
"Oh no." Peter choked.
"They said that the fox had helped you escape?" Edmund asked.
Peter nodded. "He had." He mumbled.
Edmund swallowed hard, a look of guilt on his face. "She asked where you were, but he wouldn't say, so - so she went to turn him into stone, but I - I stopped her and told her that you were all at the stone table."
Peter swallowed hard at the guilt on his brothers face, which caused his heart to break. "Oh Eddy." He whispered. "It's alright. It's all in the past."
Edmund took a deep breath. "She turned him into stone anyway." He choked. "Before hitting me again, telling me to decide which side I was on, hers or theirs."
Peter sighed slightly and placed a kiss to the top of his brothers head, wrapping his other arm around his waist and waiting for Edmund to continue.
It took a little while but Edmund eventually opened his mouth, his hand clamping around the material of Peter's shirt before be continued. "After that we had to walk, because all the snow had melted so the sleigh was useless.
They - They tied my hands behind me and forced me to walk as fast as I could, Ginnabrik holding onto the end of the rope."
Peter swallowed hard, feeling extremely angry at this, but he tried to stay calm.
"Every time I tripped or fell Ginnabrik would either tug the rope - really hard - or - or whip me on the back of the knees." Edmund said slowly, waiting for Peter's reaction. And sure enough his older brothers eyes went wide as he took a deep breath.
Peter was just about to sit up again when Edmund stopped him. "I'll show you later alright?" He said, staring up at his brother.
Peter obviously hesitated, but in the end nodded slowly, allowing Edmund to continue.
"We walked for hours before coming to her camp." Edmund sighed. "And in all honesty I think I would've taken the witches dungeons over the camp any day of the week, especially after what happened to me there."
"What - What did happen?" Peter choked, sounding unsure.
Edmund swallowed hard. "They tied me to a tree." He said. "My hands tied in front of me, and they - they gagged me."
Peter's eyes instantly filled with tears, and he found himself running his hand slowly through Edmund's hair again.
"Ginnabrik was getting far too much joy from torturing me that night." Edmund choked, barely able to get the words past his lips. Before any reaction could come from Peter, Edmund quickly finished. "Anyway, after a couple hours - four or five maybe - orious and the others rescued me."
Peter sighed a little. He knew that Edmund hadn't told him everything, and definitely had not gone into detail about his night at the camp, which told Peter that the torture must of been really bad, so bad that he didn't actually want to tell. But he didn't say anything.
And as Edmund let out a choked sob, overcome by memories, he just pulled his brother close, burying his face against his hair and tightening his grip around his shoudler. "It's all over." He whispered in his ear. "It's all in the past. The witch is dead and she can never, ever hurt you ever again. I promise."

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