The Call - Edmund Pevensie

10

We made it back to the How in total silence. Once we hit the edge of the woods, all of us had dismounted from our horses. When I dismounted, I couldn't stop the hiss of pain that slipped through my lips because of my thigh. I'd pulled the arrow out on the ride back and had torn off a piece of my dress at the bottom to make a makeshift bandage. However, blood was soaking through my dress where it had rested against my thigh on the ride back, and I felt a little light headed.

  Caspian, Peter, Susan and our professor had already started walking across the grassy plain by the time I felt ready to walk. The How suddenly seemed so far away and I couldn't help but wonder if my leg would even make it to the How before it gave out. Suddenly, I felt someone come up next to me.

"Catarina are  you ok? You don't look so good," Edmund said. I nodded at him, trying not to let the pain show on my face. 

"Yea, just tired," I said as I took a step forward. Unfortunately, my thigh screamed in pain and I stumbled. Before I could hit the ground though, a pair of strong arms caught me and set me upright. 

"Just tired?" he asked, his hands sending tingles throughout my whole body from their places on my waist. I sighed as there was no hiding it from him. I turned so he could see the blood soaked patch on my dress and he frowned deeply. 

"You were hit." It wasn't a question. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?" I shrugged. 

"As long as I didn't fall off my horse I figured I was fine." His chocolate brown eyes were full of concern. 

"Catarina, you shouldn't push yourself like that. Or, at least let someone know if you're hurt. What would we have done if you had fallen off your horse?" 

"Help me back on?" I questioned playfully. He shook his head slightly and chuckled. 

"You're something else, you know that?" he asked. I smiled widely at him.

"Oh trust me, I'm one of a kind." He chuckled again at my antics.

"You are definitely one of a kind Catarina," he said softly. Before I could respond, Glenstorm interrupted our conversation as he appeared behind us holding an unconscious Trumpkin in his arms. My smile instantly vanished. 

"He took a fall from the gate tower," the centaur explained. 

"Come on," Edmund said putting an arm securely around my waist and guiding one of my arms so it was around his neck. "We need to get you both to Lucy."

By the time we caught up with the rest of the group, I was so light headed I felt as though I needed to sit down and my entire leg felt as though it were on fire. But the sound of yelling caught my attention. 

"You have no more right to lead it than Miraz does! You, him, your father... Narnia is better off without the lot of you." I gasped sharply at Peter's words and Edmund's arm around my waist tightened protectively. Over the few heads in front of us, I saw Caspian whirl on Peter and they both drew their blades, pointing them at each other. 

"Stop it!" Edmund cried out causing both men to look over in our direction. Caspian took in my appearance with an angry, sad look. Peter was staring at Trumpkin, purposefully avoiding my glare. 

Lucy ran over to us as Glenstorm began to lower Trumpkin to the ground. Edmund let go of me to help, and I instantly sank to the ground without his support holding me up. Lucy put a drop from her healing cordial into Trumpkin's mouth. With baited breaths, we all waited to see if it would work. I felt Edmund behind me as he sunk down so that he was sitting behind me on his knees. I didn't question it and leaned back so my back was pressed against his chest. I let my head fall back too and closed my eyes. 

I didn't think I'd ever been as content as I was right now sitting here with Edmund. It was as if the world had went fuzzy, and all I could hear was the sound of us breathing. My thigh didn't even hurt anymore, all I felt was peace. 

That is, until I felt a pair of hands pry my mouth open and a drop of something fell on my tongue. 

I felt the power of the healing cordial race through my blood straight to the thigh and my eyes snapped open. Lucy, Susan, Glenstorm and a few others were peering down at me. 

"Thank you," I said to Lucy although my voice sounded dry. She smiled at me then turned her attention to Trumpkin who was now awake as well. I felt something shift behind me, and then I remembered that I was leaning against Edmund. I instantly pulled away sitting myself up, my face as red as Lucy's dress. 

"Woah take it easy," he said placing a hand on the small of my back. Butterflies exploded in my stomach and tingles shot across my back and over my shoulders from where his hand was. "The cordial needs a little time to work and you lost a lot of blood." His face appeared to my right and I shook my head at him. 

"I'm fine now Edmund, I promise. Help me up will you? I need to talk to Caspian." He hesitated for a second, then stood and grabbed my hands to help me up. When he pulled, I wasn't expecting him to pull quite so hard which caused me to crash straight into his chest. Thankfully I didn't knock him over, but his hands grabbed my waist to steady me so I didn't fall again. I was sure my face as a deep scarlet by now. 

"Don't worry, I got you," he said softly so that only I could hear it. I looked up into his beautiful eyes which now looked like a rich light brown in the sun. A cough from behind Edmund had us both springing apart as though we'd been shocked. Lucy was staring at us with a knowing smirk and if it was even possible, I blushed harder. 

"Thank you Edmund," I said to him. "I'll see you guys around." With that, I turned and made a beeline for the How passing Susan who smiled at me, and purposefully ignoring Peter who I scowled at as I went by. 

After asking a faun who was in the How if he'd seen Caspian, I made my way to the stone table room. As I approached, I heard voices and frowned. One of them sounded like Nikabrik, but I didn't recognize the others. 

I entered the room to see Caspian being held by a wolf-looking creature as some bird creature sliced his palm with a blade. But the part that made my eyes go wide? 

In the middle of the stone arc was a wall of pure ice. A cool mist rolled off of the ice in waves, cooling the cavern considerably. And in that ice, was a woman. She had blonde hair that rippled around her as if she were in water and wore a snow white dress. Her hand was outstretched from the ice, her skin pale in the fire light. 

Despite only hearing stories, I knew instantly who this woman was. She was the cause of Narnia's 100 year long winter and the cause of so much suffering. She was who had hurt Edmund and turned him against his siblings. 

It was the White Witch.