The Call To The Old - An Edmund Pevensie fanfiction

Chapter seventeen

The sorrowful few returned to their base, blowing a horn to signify their return to those who had stayed behind. Lucy was the first to greet them, and she stood in shock at how little remained; the young girl searched for her siblings in the crowd, and luckily all of them stood tall, leading the way.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Ask him." Peter retorted, staring angrily at Caspian.

"Peter!" Susan exclaimed, telling her brother off.

"Me?" Caspian asked. "You could've called it off. There was time."

"No there wasn't time. Thanks to you." Peter called back, "If you kept to the plan, these soldiers might be alive." he spoke, his eyes staring at Caspian.

"If you'd just stayed here like we'd suggested, they definitely would be!" Caspian shouted.

"You called us, remember?"

"My first mistake."

"No. Your first mistake was thinking you could lead these people." Peter spat back, turning to walk away.

"HEY! I am not the one who abandoned Narnia."

"You invaded Narnia. You have no more right to lead it than Miraz does!" Peter hollered, and Caspian shoved past him walking away, Peter continued, "You, him, your father... Narnia's better off without the lot of you." at the mention of his father's name Caspian span around, drawing his sword on Peter, who did the same thing, and the pair readied to fight.

"Stop it!" cried a desperate voice, and all faces turned to the caller, it was Edmund.

Everybody turned to face the Minitour who carried a limp body in his arms, Talia's. Her wound had grown worse without the aid of the adrenaline and on the journey home she had passed out- Edmund was not able to wake her.

Lucy exclaimed rushing forward, with Trumpkin and Trufflehunter following behind her.

The Minitour rested Talia's body gently upon the stone floor, and Edmund rested beside her. Caspian and Peter watched on, hearts full of anxiety for the girl.

Lucy collapsed next to the injured Talia, bringing out her vial of liquid that had once upon a time been given to her, from the vial she poured a single drop into the poor girl's mouth, and she gasped awake, before she could even get her next breath Edmund engulfed her in a tight hug, pulling her upright. She rested her hands in his hair, and the pair stayed like that for a while, until Susan cleared her throat- they awkwardly pulled apart, and Talia turned to Lucy, "Thank you." she smiled.

Once Caspian had seen that his friend was ok, he stormed off into the tomb, not wanting Talia to see him so angry, and behind him followed Nikabrik, Peter noticed this, and was quite curious as to why- his eyes followed the pair, but he shrugged off his suspicions. The rest of the Narnians then followed Peter into the tomb, leaving Edmund and Talia outside.

Edmund grabbed hold of Talia helping her stand upright, Talia let him, even though really, she had never felt better and was perfectly capable of standing up by herself.

"Are you alright?" the boy asked her.

"You ask me that too often." the girl laughed back.

"Oh," Edmund hugged her again, "I thought you were going to die." he whispered into her ear.

She pulled back, "die?" she smiled, "never." she paused, "I suppose Peter has told you how it happened?"

"Yes, and it was stupid of you to leave your position in the first place."

"I had to."

"No, you didn't!" Edmund raised his voice, turning to face the girl, who looked shocked at his reaction, "take it seriously Talia, you could have died. You ran into a room with a King without even your sword to protect yourself."

"Yes, well, I must admit, maybe that was a bit stupid of me." Talia smiled, and it was not long before the boy also broke into a grin upon seeing hers.

"You're so stupid." he laughed, and she ran away from him, also giggling.

It wasn't long before he caught up to her, grabbing her waist and spinning her around, "Put me down!" she shrieked, beaming.

"Never!" he whooped. She managed to wiggle loose, grinning at the boy, before turning to run from him, once again he chased after her.

The pair burst into the tomb, not realising they were interrupting a serious situation. While they were gone, the scheming Nikabrik had given Caspian a preposition- the power of the White Witch. Edmund and Talia caught up to the others who rushed to stop him, and they entered the main room of the tomb, where Caspian had his hand outreached to the Witch who had called him forth.

"Stop!" Talia cried, and Peter and Edmund rushed forward, with their swords raised. One of the witch's beasts rose to attack Edmund, and Nikabrik drew his sword on Trumpkin. Talia ran to Caspian, as Peter was attacked by another one of the witch's beasts.

But Talia was stopped in her tracks by the sound of the wolf who attack Edmund throwing him to the floor, "Edmund!" she called, drawing her sword, running towards the wolf. But the beast was strong, and it didn't take long for Talia to be thrown to the floor alongside Edmund- both of their weapons cast aside. Peter didn't have much luck either, as the lizard like woman had also managed to disarm him. Nikabrik also towered over Trumpkin, who fell to the floor- Lucy came to her friend's aid, but Nikabrik was stronger than the young girl and she too was pushed aside.

When the wolf's back was turned, Talia managed to crawl over and grab both her and Edmund's swords. She threw his over to him, and he caught it with ease, returning to fight the wolf. Talia noticed Nikabrik about to throw Lucy a fatal blow, and she sprinted over to her younger friend, jumping in front of her, readying herself for the stab of Nikabrik, she looked to Edmund for the final time, and slammed her eyes shut, all within a second. But the blow never came. She opened her eyes to see Trumpkin with his sword through Nikabrik's back, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief, turning to wrap Lucy protectively in her arms.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw that both Edmund and Peter's luck was changing against their opponents. Peter looked to her to fend of the Lizard Woman, and she rushed to his aid, sword in had throwing hit after hit at the creature, out of sheer anger. While Peter ran towards Caspian, knocking him out of his trance, holding his sword at the Witch, "Get away from him!" he screamed.

"Peter, dear." the witch replied, "I've missed you." and again, the Witch brought her hand out from behind the ice sheet calling Peter towards her, "Come. Just one drop." she demanded, one drop of human blood and she would come alive again. "You know you can't do this alone."

Talia delivered a blow to the creature which knocked it out cold, and Edmund just so happened to do the same. They turned to each other, and as if thinking in sync ran to behind the ice sheet, both stabbing the Witch through the heart, ending her spell over Peter. With that the ice broke, and all that remained in its place were Edmund and Talia, both still with their swords raised.

Edmund turned to the girl, then back to his brother and Caspian, "We know. You had it sorted." he spoke before walking off angrily, leaving Talia behind him.