outburst ~ edmund pevensie

IV.

The group rushed down the mountain edge to the sand. Susan drew her bow, quite naturally, to Grace's surprise. Susan had told her about the fighting and training, but seeing it is a whole new experience.

"Drop him!" Susan shouted, as the armored men held a much smaller person in their grasp. Grace stepped forward, realizing the mistake in Susan's words.

"No wait! Don't drop-" She couldn't finish her sentence before the men had thrown the small one into the water. Grace started towards him, but was held back by Edmund. He looked at her quickly before handing her his sword.

"It's alright, we've got this." She gave him a small nod and watched as he and Peter dove after the boat. Susan quickly shot the armored man as he pointed a weapon at the three girls, and the other jumped after him. Grace backed up to Lucy and gripped her shoulders, a protective wave washing over her. Lucy, of course, was quite used to this behavior and wasn't very frightened. But she let Grace hold her anyway, perhaps to comfort her. The boys waded up from the bank, and Lucy left Grace's hold to cut the bounds off of the small man. Grace helped Edmund pull in the boat, and returned his sword to him. He gave her a nod of thanks and they returned to the group as the small man was yelling.

"Drop him?! That's the best you could think of?" Grace was taken aback. The small man had a beard, and a husky voice. What the heck is he? Edmund must have noticed the look on Grace's face, because he leaned in and mumbled in her ear. "He's a dwarf. It's not too polite to stare." Grace nodded slowly, wiping the look of confusion from her face. She looked down, trying to ignore the goosebumps that Edmund had left on her skin.

"A simple thank you would suffice!" Susan scoffed at the man. He pointed accusingly to the empty waters.

"They were doing just fine drowning me on their own!"

"Maybe we should have let them!" Peter yelled. Grace found this a bit harsh, but said nothing. This wasn't her fight.

"Why were they trying to drown you anyway?" Lucy asked besides Peter, and the dwarfs eyes shifted to her. "They're Telmarines, it's what they do."

"Telmarines? In Narnia?" Edmund questioned.

"What are Telmarines?" Grace spoke up. The dwarf's head snapped to her, as if he was just noticing her. He gave her a long and confused stare, as if he were remembering something from long ago. He ripped his gaze from her and spoke.

"Where've you lot been for the past few hundred years?" He scoffed. Lucy looked at her feet.

"It's a bit of a long story." Her voice was ashamed, and Grace felt pity for the girl. She could tell that Lucy was absolutely infatuated with this place, and she never intended to leave. Susan passed Peter his sword, which he had given her before his rescue mission. The hilt glimmered, catching the eye of the dwarf and Grace. A lion. The girl thought. That must be Aslan, the lion that the Pevensies spoke so highly of. The dwarf groaned.

"Oh no..you're it? You're the Kings and Queens of old? And.. guest.. I presume." He looked at Grace, she looked down sheepishly and couldn't help but feel out of place. Edmund rubbed her back lightly and she gave him a small smile in return.

"High King Peter, the Magnificent." Peter held his hand to the man, who looked at it oddly. Grace laughed to herself.

"You probably could've left off that last bit." The dwarf snickered, as he had heard her comment.

"Probably." He remarked. Peter looked taken aback, and drew his sword.

"You might be surprised." He held the sword up to the dwarf, who snapped back, "Oh, you don't want to do that boy." Peter shook his head, turning the sword so that the hilt was facing the dwarf.