Fic: A Great Escape Indeed
Title: A Great Escape Indeed
Author: caramelsilver
Rating: PG13
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Fighting, blood, killing of OC background characters.
Summary: Peter gets kidnapped and Edmund has to rescue him.
AN: Thanks so much to my beta sgrio. Written for the 2010 narniaexchange for wingedflight21
A Great Escape Indeed
“You have to hit me,” Lucy said, straightening out her skirt, and not meeting Edmund’s eye.
Swallowing, Edmund looked at his sister with disbelief. “What?” he exclaimed. Was she mad?
Lucy looked up, and said slowly, “To make this convincing you have to hit me.” Looking quite dishevelled already-- her skirt was ripped, her face smudged with dirt, and twigs sticking out of her tangled hair-- Edmund thought Lucy looked convincing enough, no need for blood.
“Absolutely not.” Edmund turned his back to her, hoping that would be the end of it. There was no way he would hit his sister. Not only would Peter and Susan have his hide, but he didn’t think he could physically do it.
A sharp tap on his shoulder made him turn around again. Edmund threw her a dark look, and she rolled her eyes.
“Edmund! Do you want to rescue Peter today or not?” Lucy said, with her hands on her hips. Despite the fact that she was a full head shorter than him, she still cut an imposing figure.
“Of course, I want to rescue Peter today, but I don’t think the plan calls for you to have a bloody nose!” Edmund shot back.
“Please,” Lucy said, widening her eyes, like she used to when she was a child.
“No.” This was not negotiable.
Lucy threw up her hands in obvious displeasure. “To get you into that fort I need to distract the guards. We decided that I was going to distract the guards by pretend that I had been robbed in the woods. I need to look like I have been humiliated and robbed of all my possessions, Ed!”
Shaking his head, Edmund refused. “I won’t hit you, Lucy.” When Lucy actually stomped the ground in petulance, Edmund had to laugh.
“You have to!” Lucy exclaimed. “No one else dares to do it!”
Edmund stopped laughing. “Of course, no one dares to hit you. If one of my soldiers lays his hand on you, I’d make sure he’d wish he’d never been born.”
“I know,” Lucy said, nodding. “That’s why you’re the only one who can do it. Susan would’ve done it, had she been here...” Her voice was cajoling now.
Edmund shook his head slowly, but he was starting to doubt himself. Why was he so reluctant to do it? If Lucy said she could handle it, then Lucy would handle it. He didn’t doubt Lucy’s courage or her ability to handle pain.
“We only have one shot at this, Ed, you said so yourself. After today more soldiers will arrive from Eduran and getting Peter out will be twice as difficult! And if I’m going to be able to do this properly, I have to bleed!” Lucy said quickly, without taking a breath.
He looked at her long and hard, assessing her. Lucy stopped talking and smiled softly- she knew she’d won. “It’ll be fine, Ed,” she said.
Edmund walked over to his horse, and signalled to the soldiers that they were on the move. Everyone knew the plan, and the enemy fort was only a thirty minute ride away from where they were right now.
The two of them rode in silence, the Narnians wisely keeping their distance. They could clearly see that the two monarchs needed some time alone. There was so much to say, but no way to say it right now, so both Lucy and Edmund kept quiet.
When they reached the clearing of the forest, the tiny fort right on the other side of the Narnian border came into view. Edmund sighed.
“Peter is being held in the northern tower,” he said and pointed. “And the only way in is through the main gate,” he continued and pointed to the plain stone gate, protected by a heavy iron grills, which at the moment was pulled up. Before the gate stood two bulky Edurans, their long blond hair easy to spot even here, from several yards away.
Lucy nodded and said, “So I’ll come storming out from over there.” She pointed towards a grove of trees only a couple of yards away from the gate. “I’ll draw their attention towards me, and you’ll slip in from the other side when they’re not watching.”
“Yes.” The plan was fairly simple. Maybe too simple. Edmund prayed to Aslan that this would work.
Taking a deep breath, Edmund turned towards Lucy and gave her a long, warm hug. He whispered in her ear, “I love you so much, Lu.”
She nodded.
When he pulled away, he punched her hard without giving her any notice. It would be best that way. A surprised yelp was all that escaped her as she bent over in pain. Edmund looked at her worried, but when she straightened up again she was smiling, despite the bloodied nose.
“Thank you,” she said. “Now go.”
He kissed her cheek, and slipped noiselessly into the woods.
*¨*¨*
The message had been like a punch to the gut. When the bat had arrived with the news that the High King’s scouting mission had been attacked by Edurans, Edmund had to sit down in surprise.
Peter’s mission was supposed to be simple. He had taken a few soldiers to scout out the territory before the rest of the group moved forward. They were dealing with stray wolves and they were still not sure where their alliance lay. Which was why Peter and Edmund had decided that it was best not to bring the army, as too many people might send the wrong idea; wolves were suspicious by nature.
When Peter didn’t come back when he was supposed to, Edmund sent out a bat to look for them.
The sight before him was truly gruesome. The corpses of Peter’s three guards where spread over the entire clearing. Not one body was left whole, and bile rose in Edmund’s throat and he had to swallow hard, before he could precede any further.
The first thought that struck Edmund was that Peter had to be dead. How could his brother have survived this? But the bloodhound quickly established that there were only three dead men in the clearing and none of them bore the scent of the High King.
The dog sniffed around some more and quickly found that Peter’s scent trailed away from the massacre. Edmund sighed in relief, letting out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. He asked if it was traceable.
The bloodhound, called Snarfer, gave him a disgusted look, or as disgusted as a dog was able to give, which wasn’t much.
“If there’s one scent in this world that I know better than any other, it’s his Majesty’s,” he said “I could track it with my eyes closed.”
Smiling in relief, Edmund held back a sudden urge to pet the dog. It would not have been appreciated. Instead he ordered him to get to it. As Snarfer bounded into the forest, Edmund hot on his heels, there wasn’t a moment in which he doubted that Peter would be found. There was a reason why they always brought Snarfer with them: he was the best tracker in the land. Edmund had never been more glad to have the dog on his side.
They went deeper into the woods, and Edmund had no idea where they were going, but Snarfer never strayed from his path, so he followed without question. After a while the trail became more noticeable, even to Edmund. When the trail led them to the Edurian border and the small fort, a mile away into Eduran, Edmund decided to turn around and go back to camp. They needed a plan.
The first thing Edmund did was send the news to Susan and Lucy. He told them about the situation and ended it with a note saying that they should start to assemble the army. This could get ugly.
While he waited for someone to arrive from Cair Paravel, Edmund spent all of his waking hours learning as much as he could about the fort where Peter was being held.
When they had left Cair Paravel, four days previous, their number had totaled fifteen. Peter had insisted that they did not need anymore men than that. Now, with three of Peter’s most trusted guards dead, and Peter missing, they were down to eleven.
Edmund sent in the one mouse on his team, and told her to not come back before she had some really good information. Jints was gone for two days, but when she came back, she had enough information for Edmund to finally come up with a plan.
The information Jints gave him said that Peter was held in the northern tower protected by two guards. They’d been told not to harm him too much, and that the Edurian king wanted him alive when he arrived. The rumours around the fortress said that they expected the king and his army to arrive in three days time.
The general consensus said that the King of Eduran had been greedily eyeing Narnia for some time now, and had decided that with the civil unrest in Narnia the time was perfect.
On the third day, Lucy arrived with ten soldiers int ow. She leaped down from her horse and said, breathlessly, that ten was all she could bring since she had no time to lose.
In the end, the main plan turned out quite simple. They would cause a distraction, Edmund would slip in and rescue Peter on his own. It was their only option; no one was as stealthy as Edmund. He was their only hope.
Lucy insisted on being the distraction, and Edmund saw no reason why she shouldn’t be. Lucy could pull off quite the scene when she wanted to.
*¨*¨*
It took him longer than he had expected, but Edmund finally managed to get into position. Giving the signal, he crouched down and waited.
Three minutes later, Lucy came storming out of the woods, her hair more ruffled, dried blood on her chin. “Help me! Oh, please somebody!” she wailed as she ran, her arms flailing around her.
Edmund watched the guards shuffle, uncertain if they should run to aid this young woman or stay put. Having always been a fast runner, Lucy took the issue out of their hands as it only took her a minute to reach them.
“Help me!” she said, tears running down her face. “Oh! I was attacked! I- we- my husband, oh my!” Lucy wailed, pulling her hair.
Edmund had to smirk when both the guards immediately moved to help her.
“Madam, what happened?” one of them asked in halting Narnian.
Making her eyes as big as they got, Lucy looked at him and said, “Oh sir, it was terrible. We were riding through the forest when fo- five robbers came at us! They killed my husband, and worse they stole my jewellery and--” Lucy sobbed for air, “--they hit me!” With that Lucy fell on the ground and both guards ran out to catch her.
Slipping through the gate, Edmund smirked as he heard the guards trying to “wake up” his sister.
In the courtyard everything grew abruptly quiet, and in the shadow of the tall wall, chilly. Edmund made his way on light feet, quickly figuring out which sets of stairs he had to use to find Peter.
The fort was very quiet, and just as the reports had said, there weren’t many Edurians here right now. Plus, this early in the morning many were still asleep. Edmund was banking on the fact that he could be swift and silent, so they’ll be out of there before anyone realised what was going on.
When Edmund reached the entrance to the tower where Peter was held, he slunk into the shadows and tried to make no sound at all.
From the day after their coronation one of the main things the new kings had been forced to learn was how to move soundlessly, even when wearing armour. Oreius had been most adamant. One of Edmund’s worst memories from training was when he threw up after running up and down stairs for hours wearing all of his armour. But now, at twenty-two, both Edmund and Peter had no problems with walking through a forest in autumn without making a single sound. Edmund couldn’t do anything but thank his General for insisting on the training.
A shuffling sound reached Edmund’s ears, a tell-tale sign that someone was standing right inside the door. Listening for another minute, just to make sure that he hadn’t been mistaken and that there wasn’t more than one guard, Edmund moved to enter. He easily slipped his knife out of its scabbard at his hip and quickly opened the door.
Inside stood a single guard. He was decked out in Edurian armour, comprised of only a clunky chain-mail and leather. The guard looked at Edmund with complete puzzlement and surprise, leaving him with enough time to drive the hilt of his knife hard into the guard’s temple. The Edurian fell over, unconscious. To avoid any attention Edmund caught the heavy man and gently let him down on the floor. Giving him one last look to make sure that the man was truly out for the count, Edmund turned and started running up the stairs.
It was further than Edmund had thought it was, and he was, embarrassingly enough, actually sweating a bit, when he reached the top. He stopped when he thought he was just a swing away, and when he heard the murmuring of a conversation, he was proven right.
Edmund crouched down low to get out of the immediate line of sight, as he assessed the situation. There were two guards; while Edmund had expected it to be, he had hoped he’d be wrong. Since there was two of them he would lose the moment of surprise with the second one. Closing his eyes for a moment, Edmund mentally sighed. There was no way to avoid bloodshed this time.
The space was tight, and more easily described as a ledge more than a corridor. Edmund quickly realised that there wouldn’t be enough room for attacking with a sword, and noted with satisfaction that the guards weren’t armed with anything else.
Taking out the second knife he always kept hidden away in his boot, Edmund was ready with a knife in each hand, waiting for the moment when one of the guards would turn his back on him.
The moment came a minute later, as the smallest guard turned to his mate to get more room to wave his arms. Edmund wasn’t too schooled in Edurian, but from what he could gather it seemed like they were talking about a woman. As the guard turned, Edmund leaped, and before he could start his sentence his throat was cut and the other guard looked at them in bewilderment. As the dead guard fell to the floor, the other one had enough wit to call out and reach for his sword. Though his efforts were valiant, he was too slow for Edmund who thrust one knife into his gut and put the other one against his neck. A heavy groan escaped the guard, before he fell over too.
A key was easily located and before either guard managed to bleed on his boots, Edmund was inside.
There wasn’t much inside the room and at first Edmund thought it was empty, until he spotted Peter tied up in the corner. His brother was sitting with his head resting on his knees, but otherwise seemed fine.
“Are you hurt?” Edmund asked while walking over to his side.
Peter raised his head and smirked slowly. “Not much,” he said, the big bruise below his left eye crinkling when he smiled. “Brother, you’re early. I didn’t expect you for another hour,” he said with eyes sparkling.
Edmund, who was making quick work of the ropes around Peter’s hands and ankles, snorted. “Thank Lucy. Her acting is getting better.”
Rubbing the chafing around his hands, Peter raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Lucy is here?”
“Of course. You think she’d stay away?” Edmund asked.
“No, I guess not.” Peter stretched his legs and rolled his shoulders. Edmund cast a critical eye over him, he needed to know that Peter could fight his way out, should it come to that.
“Here.” Edmund handed him one of his knives. “You can use that until we get your weapons.”
Peter nodded in gratitude. “Do you know where they’re being held?”
“Yes, in the other tower.”
Peter smirked. “Really? They deserved their own cell?”
“Of course,” Edmund said deadpanned. “The mighty weapons of the High King need protecting.” He walked over to the door and opened it an inch, making sure the coast was clear. “Are you ready?” Edmund asked without looking back.
“Yes,” Peter nodded, clutching the knife in his hand.
Edmund sent him a hard look, then frowned. “Stand up straight!”
Peter did, without much trouble.
“Move your arms!” Edmund said. He watched closely for any pain on Peter’s face while he did so. When he was satisfied that Peter could handle what came next, Edmund nodded and said, “Right then. Let’s go.”
The two left the room, Peter following Edmund’s lead. When they reached the two dead soldiers, Peter only gave them a quick glance before trying to avoid stepping on the blood that was pooling on the floor.
They walked down the staircase, not nearly as stealthily as Edmund had come up.
Suddenly, something heavy, and definitively something that hurt, was rammed into Edmund’s shoulder. On instinct, Edmund crouched down and rolled away from the next blow.
Peter yelled, and Edmund looked up in time to see their attacker turning on his brother. While Peter was an expert on dodging and maneuvering away from danger, he didn’t exactly have an offensive weapon on him, so dodging and maneuvering was all he could do until the attacker came into stabbing range.
Still a bit shaken, Edmund rose to his feet and pulled out his sword. The attacker, who Edmund vaguely recognized, but couldn’t quite place, was going at it with Peter. He could see that Peter had suffered several cuts and he knew that it was partly his fault. But since attacking someone who had their back turned went against everything he had been taught, Edmund shouted, “Oi, over here, please!”
Spinning on his heels, the attacker turned to him, and, abruptly, Edmund realised that it was the guard he had earlier knocked unconscious. Cursing his own stupidity, Edmund aimed for the exposed flesh between the guard’s shoulder and helmet. Instead of reaching its intended target Edmund’s sword rolled off the guard’s gauntlet, but still managed to make his opponent lose his footing. Never one to let an opportunity pass, Edmund aimed another blow, this time into the guard’s armpit. The feeling of his sword sliding into flesh was never a pleasant one.
This time though, the thrust wasn’t deep enough, and the guard still had some fighting spirit left. Roaring in pain, the guard managed to catch Edmund on his right shoulder, and Edmund let out a painful gasp, loosing his grip on his sword. He fell to the floor and looked on as the guard motioned to finish him off, unable to do anything to stop it.
Just as the guard’s sword was about to connect with him, a knife flew into the guard’s exposed throat. Letting out one last gurgle of life, blood dripping down his chest, the guard fell to the floor dead.
For a moment, everything was quiet, then Edmund let out a giant breath and relaxed to slow down his heartbeat.
Stepping over his brother’s prone form on the ground, Peter went to retrieve his knife. He swiftly pulled it out of the dead man, ignoring the squelching sound it made.
Quickly, he cleaned off the blood running down the knife with his shirt, before he got any of it on his fingers. He then walked over to Edmund and nudged him with his left foot. “Get up, we need to move.”
Edmund groaned and rubbed his forehead. “This is all my fault.”
Smirking a little, Peter snorted and said, “Yes, I know.”
“Are you hurt?” Edmund asked, while getting up.
“Barely,” Peter said, seeming unfazed. Still, Edmund could see the blood seeping through Peter’s shirt. It finally dawned on Edmund that unlike himself, who was clad in boiled leather for protection, Peter was only wearing a loose shirt, leggings and boots.
Not feeling like starting a fight, since at the moment it was much more important to just get out, Edmund nodded.
Pain seared through Edmund’s shoulder, and he clutched it protectively, before walking to the door. “We have to get your weapons.” His voice was clipped, and he could feel that both of them had lost energy and were ready to just get out and get home.
Silently, they made their way out of the tower and out onto the parapet. They stood looking over to the other tower, and Edmund’s stomach sank. It was an awfully long way over. How, for the love of Aslan, would they manage to get over there without being seen?
The sound of a horn being blown, reached them, and in unison they crouched down to hide behind the wall. Edmund sat in shock, eyes wide, and realised that he had not done enough research before coming here. What did that horn mean? He had no idea! The cold feeling of hysteria rose in Edmund’s chest and had it not been for the calming touch of his brother’s hand, he would’ve started hyperventilating.
“Calm down, Ed,” Peter said, looking him in the eyes. Peter knew better than anyone how much Edmund hated not being in control, not knowing what was going on. “It’s the signal for changing of guards. We better stay put.”
“No,” Edmund said, after calming down a bit. “We should use the commotion to move unnoticed.”
Soundlessly, the two men walked crouched down, yard by aching yard, across the parapet. Edmund’s thighs were burning by the time they reached the stairs that lead down to the courtyard.
The courtyard was buzzing with people milling to and fro. Mostly men, but there were a few women there also, carrying food and clothes ready to be washed.
“Let’s do what we did in Terringesia,” Peter said, standing up.
Edmund looked at him like he was mad, but then he looked down into the courtyard and realised it might just work. “Fine.” He straightened up too, and rearranged his clothes as best he could.
Together they walked down the stairs, tall and confident, as if they belonged there. Around them, people continued on with their jobs, barely sparing them a glance.
“Are they blind?” Edmund whispered out of the corner of his mouth. It was amazing that they could just walk here without being seen.
“No,” Peter said with a shrug. “It’s just considered bad form to look too closely at a stranger in Eduran.”
Peter had never been too fond of studying. After he finished with his schooling at eighteen, he’d avoided it as best as he could. Sometimes his old teacher would accost him in the hall, and he’d be forced to listen to a lecture, but all in all he’d successfully avoided to learn anything new, that couldn’t be used for anything. The only time Peter would sit down to study was before he was considering a war. He’d spend hours upon hours studying and learning about the country in question and absolutely everything would stick like glue in his mind. His teacher, an old Owl called Master Nostarius, wept and exclaimed over and over again, “Why couldn’t he have been like this when he was in school?”
They almost reached the stairs that led up to the tower, when two guards came ambling down them. Barely escaping notice, Peter and Edmund hid behind a cart filled with hay.
The two guards were engaged in a conversation, their voices loud and their hand-gestures rude. Edmund, who had just started to learn Edurian, he’d been more worried with perfecting his Calormene, than learning a new language, was confident in his guess that they were talking about a beautiful woman. Sneaking a look at Peter, he saw his brother’s expression darken as the guards got louder and more rude in their gestures. Peter, whose Calormene was atrocious, was practically fluent in Edurian.
“Let’s go, before I kill them where they stand,” he said harshly, his voice low and trembling with rage.
Sensing that now was really not the time to ask what they said, Edmund took the lead up the stairs. He let out a sigh of relief when he was finally hidden by the parapet walls once more.
Learning from his past mistakes, Edmund knew that they had to expect guards both at the top and right inside the tower door. He turned to Peter, who was still frothing at the mouth, and said, “Here, you’ll need this one too.”
Peter looked at him, and then down at the knife in Edmund’s outstretched hand. “Do you mean to tell me that you’ve had a second knife, while you let me cope with only one!?” he hissed.
Realising his mistake, Edmund looked sheepish. “Oops?”
With a scowl that would make a lesser man quiver in fear, Peter snatched the knife out of Edmund’s hand. “Let’s get this over with, so we can go home.”
The guard inside the door was easily taken care of. Peter cut his throat before he realised that there was anyone there. As the dead man fell to the floor, Peter gave Edmund a look that said, ”That’s how you take care of guards that want to kill you!”
Rolling his eyes, Edmund took point up the stairs. They stopped when they heard the faint buzzing of voices. Motioning for Peter to take the lead, Edmund hung back to let him pass. This was how they worked best, Peter in front, with Edmund at his back.
Slowly, they crawled up the remaining steps and when the boots of the guards came into view, Peter yelled and threw one of his knives, which went straight into the tallest guards throat.
The other guard roared with surprise, and went straight for Peter. Dodging left, away from the guard’s sword, Peter made room for Edmund to attack with his sword. They were nicely matched, since Edmund had lost a lot of strength and had to fight left handed because of his wounded shoulder.
For a few minutes all they did was match each other blow by blow. Edmund managed to draw some blood by cutting the guard’s cheek, but it was minimal and not nearly enough.
Peter had taken the time to go into the guarded room and get his weapons. Inside lied all of his armour, several knives, and his sword and shield. Ignoring the armour, Peter quickly pulled on the sword-belt, placed the knives strategically around his body, and strapped the shield to his back.
In the meanwhile, Edmund had finally managed to get the upper hand, and with a swing of his blade, the guard fell.
The two brothers exchanged a look of relief, both believing that the worst was over. Then there was a loud bang from the entrance of the tower.
Raised voices shouting in Edurian and approaching footsteps had Edmund panic for a moment, until a calm feeling descended on him. He was ready to do anything to get out alive.
“What’s the exit strategy?” Peter asked urgently, while pulling Rhindon out of it’s scabbard, preparing for a fight.
“Down in the courtyard there’s a small door that leads straight into the woods,” Edmund said.
Peter nodded. “Good.”
The two of them stood still to hear how far the guards had gotten while they’d talked. The footsteps were getting louder, and they weren’t stopping.
With Peter going down first, they decided on a “abandon all sensibilities, cross your fingers and pray to Aslan, barge down and hope you survive“ tactic. Edmund felt pretty good about this.
It didn’t take long to meet the ascending guards. Together they didn’t let up their speed, and managed to almost reach the door before they had to stop and fight. Now they were surrounded and all they could do was use their swords for all they were worth. Back to back, Peter and Edmund killed one guard after the other and slowly, in unison, they made their way to the door.
“Peter!” Edmund yelled over the din of the fight.
Peter only spared him a fraction of a frustrated look, before yelling back, “What!?”
“What did the guards say that made you so angry?” Edmund asked, while decapitating a nearby Edurian.
“You’re asking me now?” Peter asked with disbelief.
“I need to know before I forget.”
With his teeth clenched, new strength came into Peter’s blows as he said in a clipped, angry voice, “They were talking about how gorgeous the blonde lady at the gate was, and all the dirty things they’d like to do to her had she stayed around.”
New strength came to Edmund’s arms too, and for a blinding moment all thought of pain vanished from his head.
Suddenly fresh air blasted against Edmund’s face. The previous minutes were a blur of blood and pain. Without wasting any time, both men broke out running. Looking over at his brother, Edmund saw that Peter had acquired a huge gash on his left cheek, and blood was trickling down his right hand. Edmund himself was still suffering from the blow to his shoulder, and had gotten a new wound, gushing blood, on his thigh. It didn’t take him long to realise that he couldn’t run far with this injury.
Behind them came the few surviving guards, running after them. Edmund had to think fast and get them out now.
Normally, both of them was pretty good runners, but today, with all their injuries, it was going slow and the Edurian guards was gaining on them fast.
There was a horrible smell, and Edmund coughed in surprise. The compost dump must be close, Edmund thought absently. Then it hit him. Compost! Edmund knew that he only had to look for the hole and they’d be out.
Finding their exit, Edmund stopped, while Peter kept on going. “Oi, Peter! Over here.”
Stopping, and quickly turning around, Peter was beside him in under a second, not understanding with Edmund wanted. It was still a long way to the door.
Edmund pointed down to the hole that lead to the compost disposal.
Peter followed his gaze and wrinkled his nose. He looked down in the dung with distaste. “Do we really...” he began.
“Yes. Does that offend your delicate sensibilities?” Edmund asked, one eyebrow raised.
“A little bit.” Peter looked ill.
“Then the High King should avoid being kidnapped by dirty northerners who’ve never heard of soap!” Edmund snapped.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Peter hissed.
“Well, you were the one who got kidnapped, so you do not have any right to complain. Now jump, you ninny!” Edmund hissed, watching the approaching guards with apprehension.
Without an other word, Peter jumped, and Edmund could hear the disgusting noise of his body hitting the dung.
The guards saw Peter jump, and yelled out in anger. Edmund gave them a cheeky salute and followed his brother by jumping backwards. He figured it wouldn’t be so horrible if he couldn’t see the shit approaching.
He was wrong.
fin.
Original Prompt that we sent you:
What I want:
Here's a bunch of stuff I'd love to see written, and you can pick and choose (mix and match, do only one, choose to do all) what you'd like to write.
-I'd like to see some naiads or mermaids or some sort of creature in Narnia that doesn't feature in many stories.
-Lucy as a knight and the aspects of how that balances out with her healer side
-Some sort of battle/adventure.
-Edmund conducting a prison break (from inside or out) sometime during the Golden Age
And I'd prefer for it to be less introspective and more action-y. Preferably canon.
Prompt words/objects/quotes/whatever:
I don't have any.
What I definitely don't want in my fic:
Again, don't want any slash and/or incest, and preferably no romance. NO intense brotherfic in which Pete and Ed can't live without each other.
Author: caramelsilver
Rating: PG13
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Fighting, blood, killing of OC background characters.
Summary: Peter gets kidnapped and Edmund has to rescue him.
AN: Thanks so much to my beta sgrio. Written for the 2010 narniaexchange for wingedflight21
A Great Escape Indeed
“You have to hit me,” Lucy said, straightening out her skirt, and not meeting Edmund’s eye.
Swallowing, Edmund looked at his sister with disbelief. “What?” he exclaimed. Was she mad?
Lucy looked up, and said slowly, “To make this convincing you have to hit me.” Looking quite dishevelled already-- her skirt was ripped, her face smudged with dirt, and twigs sticking out of her tangled hair-- Edmund thought Lucy looked convincing enough, no need for blood.
“Absolutely not.” Edmund turned his back to her, hoping that would be the end of it. There was no way he would hit his sister. Not only would Peter and Susan have his hide, but he didn’t think he could physically do it.
A sharp tap on his shoulder made him turn around again. Edmund threw her a dark look, and she rolled her eyes.
“Edmund! Do you want to rescue Peter today or not?” Lucy said, with her hands on her hips. Despite the fact that she was a full head shorter than him, she still cut an imposing figure.
“Of course, I want to rescue Peter today, but I don’t think the plan calls for you to have a bloody nose!” Edmund shot back.
“Please,” Lucy said, widening her eyes, like she used to when she was a child.
“No.” This was not negotiable.
Lucy threw up her hands in obvious displeasure. “To get you into that fort I need to distract the guards. We decided that I was going to distract the guards by pretend that I had been robbed in the woods. I need to look like I have been humiliated and robbed of all my possessions, Ed!”
Shaking his head, Edmund refused. “I won’t hit you, Lucy.” When Lucy actually stomped the ground in petulance, Edmund had to laugh.
“You have to!” Lucy exclaimed. “No one else dares to do it!”
Edmund stopped laughing. “Of course, no one dares to hit you. If one of my soldiers lays his hand on you, I’d make sure he’d wish he’d never been born.”
“I know,” Lucy said, nodding. “That’s why you’re the only one who can do it. Susan would’ve done it, had she been here...” Her voice was cajoling now.
Edmund shook his head slowly, but he was starting to doubt himself. Why was he so reluctant to do it? If Lucy said she could handle it, then Lucy would handle it. He didn’t doubt Lucy’s courage or her ability to handle pain.
“We only have one shot at this, Ed, you said so yourself. After today more soldiers will arrive from Eduran and getting Peter out will be twice as difficult! And if I’m going to be able to do this properly, I have to bleed!” Lucy said quickly, without taking a breath.
He looked at her long and hard, assessing her. Lucy stopped talking and smiled softly- she knew she’d won. “It’ll be fine, Ed,” she said.
Edmund walked over to his horse, and signalled to the soldiers that they were on the move. Everyone knew the plan, and the enemy fort was only a thirty minute ride away from where they were right now.
The two of them rode in silence, the Narnians wisely keeping their distance. They could clearly see that the two monarchs needed some time alone. There was so much to say, but no way to say it right now, so both Lucy and Edmund kept quiet.
When they reached the clearing of the forest, the tiny fort right on the other side of the Narnian border came into view. Edmund sighed.
“Peter is being held in the northern tower,” he said and pointed. “And the only way in is through the main gate,” he continued and pointed to the plain stone gate, protected by a heavy iron grills, which at the moment was pulled up. Before the gate stood two bulky Edurans, their long blond hair easy to spot even here, from several yards away.
Lucy nodded and said, “So I’ll come storming out from over there.” She pointed towards a grove of trees only a couple of yards away from the gate. “I’ll draw their attention towards me, and you’ll slip in from the other side when they’re not watching.”
“Yes.” The plan was fairly simple. Maybe too simple. Edmund prayed to Aslan that this would work.
Taking a deep breath, Edmund turned towards Lucy and gave her a long, warm hug. He whispered in her ear, “I love you so much, Lu.”
She nodded.
When he pulled away, he punched her hard without giving her any notice. It would be best that way. A surprised yelp was all that escaped her as she bent over in pain. Edmund looked at her worried, but when she straightened up again she was smiling, despite the bloodied nose.
“Thank you,” she said. “Now go.”
He kissed her cheek, and slipped noiselessly into the woods.
*¨*¨*
The message had been like a punch to the gut. When the bat had arrived with the news that the High King’s scouting mission had been attacked by Edurans, Edmund had to sit down in surprise.
Peter’s mission was supposed to be simple. He had taken a few soldiers to scout out the territory before the rest of the group moved forward. They were dealing with stray wolves and they were still not sure where their alliance lay. Which was why Peter and Edmund had decided that it was best not to bring the army, as too many people might send the wrong idea; wolves were suspicious by nature.
When Peter didn’t come back when he was supposed to, Edmund sent out a bat to look for them.
The sight before him was truly gruesome. The corpses of Peter’s three guards where spread over the entire clearing. Not one body was left whole, and bile rose in Edmund’s throat and he had to swallow hard, before he could precede any further.
The first thought that struck Edmund was that Peter had to be dead. How could his brother have survived this? But the bloodhound quickly established that there were only three dead men in the clearing and none of them bore the scent of the High King.
The dog sniffed around some more and quickly found that Peter’s scent trailed away from the massacre. Edmund sighed in relief, letting out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding. He asked if it was traceable.
The bloodhound, called Snarfer, gave him a disgusted look, or as disgusted as a dog was able to give, which wasn’t much.
“If there’s one scent in this world that I know better than any other, it’s his Majesty’s,” he said “I could track it with my eyes closed.”
Smiling in relief, Edmund held back a sudden urge to pet the dog. It would not have been appreciated. Instead he ordered him to get to it. As Snarfer bounded into the forest, Edmund hot on his heels, there wasn’t a moment in which he doubted that Peter would be found. There was a reason why they always brought Snarfer with them: he was the best tracker in the land. Edmund had never been more glad to have the dog on his side.
They went deeper into the woods, and Edmund had no idea where they were going, but Snarfer never strayed from his path, so he followed without question. After a while the trail became more noticeable, even to Edmund. When the trail led them to the Edurian border and the small fort, a mile away into Eduran, Edmund decided to turn around and go back to camp. They needed a plan.
The first thing Edmund did was send the news to Susan and Lucy. He told them about the situation and ended it with a note saying that they should start to assemble the army. This could get ugly.
While he waited for someone to arrive from Cair Paravel, Edmund spent all of his waking hours learning as much as he could about the fort where Peter was being held.
When they had left Cair Paravel, four days previous, their number had totaled fifteen. Peter had insisted that they did not need anymore men than that. Now, with three of Peter’s most trusted guards dead, and Peter missing, they were down to eleven.
Edmund sent in the one mouse on his team, and told her to not come back before she had some really good information. Jints was gone for two days, but when she came back, she had enough information for Edmund to finally come up with a plan.
The information Jints gave him said that Peter was held in the northern tower protected by two guards. They’d been told not to harm him too much, and that the Edurian king wanted him alive when he arrived. The rumours around the fortress said that they expected the king and his army to arrive in three days time.
The general consensus said that the King of Eduran had been greedily eyeing Narnia for some time now, and had decided that with the civil unrest in Narnia the time was perfect.
On the third day, Lucy arrived with ten soldiers int ow. She leaped down from her horse and said, breathlessly, that ten was all she could bring since she had no time to lose.
In the end, the main plan turned out quite simple. They would cause a distraction, Edmund would slip in and rescue Peter on his own. It was their only option; no one was as stealthy as Edmund. He was their only hope.
Lucy insisted on being the distraction, and Edmund saw no reason why she shouldn’t be. Lucy could pull off quite the scene when she wanted to.
*¨*¨*
It took him longer than he had expected, but Edmund finally managed to get into position. Giving the signal, he crouched down and waited.
Three minutes later, Lucy came storming out of the woods, her hair more ruffled, dried blood on her chin. “Help me! Oh, please somebody!” she wailed as she ran, her arms flailing around her.
Edmund watched the guards shuffle, uncertain if they should run to aid this young woman or stay put. Having always been a fast runner, Lucy took the issue out of their hands as it only took her a minute to reach them.
“Help me!” she said, tears running down her face. “Oh! I was attacked! I- we- my husband, oh my!” Lucy wailed, pulling her hair.
Edmund had to smirk when both the guards immediately moved to help her.
“Madam, what happened?” one of them asked in halting Narnian.
Making her eyes as big as they got, Lucy looked at him and said, “Oh sir, it was terrible. We were riding through the forest when fo- five robbers came at us! They killed my husband, and worse they stole my jewellery and--” Lucy sobbed for air, “--they hit me!” With that Lucy fell on the ground and both guards ran out to catch her.
Slipping through the gate, Edmund smirked as he heard the guards trying to “wake up” his sister.
In the courtyard everything grew abruptly quiet, and in the shadow of the tall wall, chilly. Edmund made his way on light feet, quickly figuring out which sets of stairs he had to use to find Peter.
The fort was very quiet, and just as the reports had said, there weren’t many Edurians here right now. Plus, this early in the morning many were still asleep. Edmund was banking on the fact that he could be swift and silent, so they’ll be out of there before anyone realised what was going on.
When Edmund reached the entrance to the tower where Peter was held, he slunk into the shadows and tried to make no sound at all.
From the day after their coronation one of the main things the new kings had been forced to learn was how to move soundlessly, even when wearing armour. Oreius had been most adamant. One of Edmund’s worst memories from training was when he threw up after running up and down stairs for hours wearing all of his armour. But now, at twenty-two, both Edmund and Peter had no problems with walking through a forest in autumn without making a single sound. Edmund couldn’t do anything but thank his General for insisting on the training.
A shuffling sound reached Edmund’s ears, a tell-tale sign that someone was standing right inside the door. Listening for another minute, just to make sure that he hadn’t been mistaken and that there wasn’t more than one guard, Edmund moved to enter. He easily slipped his knife out of its scabbard at his hip and quickly opened the door.
Inside stood a single guard. He was decked out in Edurian armour, comprised of only a clunky chain-mail and leather. The guard looked at Edmund with complete puzzlement and surprise, leaving him with enough time to drive the hilt of his knife hard into the guard’s temple. The Edurian fell over, unconscious. To avoid any attention Edmund caught the heavy man and gently let him down on the floor. Giving him one last look to make sure that the man was truly out for the count, Edmund turned and started running up the stairs.
It was further than Edmund had thought it was, and he was, embarrassingly enough, actually sweating a bit, when he reached the top. He stopped when he thought he was just a swing away, and when he heard the murmuring of a conversation, he was proven right.
Edmund crouched down low to get out of the immediate line of sight, as he assessed the situation. There were two guards; while Edmund had expected it to be, he had hoped he’d be wrong. Since there was two of them he would lose the moment of surprise with the second one. Closing his eyes for a moment, Edmund mentally sighed. There was no way to avoid bloodshed this time.
The space was tight, and more easily described as a ledge more than a corridor. Edmund quickly realised that there wouldn’t be enough room for attacking with a sword, and noted with satisfaction that the guards weren’t armed with anything else.
Taking out the second knife he always kept hidden away in his boot, Edmund was ready with a knife in each hand, waiting for the moment when one of the guards would turn his back on him.
The moment came a minute later, as the smallest guard turned to his mate to get more room to wave his arms. Edmund wasn’t too schooled in Edurian, but from what he could gather it seemed like they were talking about a woman. As the guard turned, Edmund leaped, and before he could start his sentence his throat was cut and the other guard looked at them in bewilderment. As the dead guard fell to the floor, the other one had enough wit to call out and reach for his sword. Though his efforts were valiant, he was too slow for Edmund who thrust one knife into his gut and put the other one against his neck. A heavy groan escaped the guard, before he fell over too.
A key was easily located and before either guard managed to bleed on his boots, Edmund was inside.
There wasn’t much inside the room and at first Edmund thought it was empty, until he spotted Peter tied up in the corner. His brother was sitting with his head resting on his knees, but otherwise seemed fine.
“Are you hurt?” Edmund asked while walking over to his side.
Peter raised his head and smirked slowly. “Not much,” he said, the big bruise below his left eye crinkling when he smiled. “Brother, you’re early. I didn’t expect you for another hour,” he said with eyes sparkling.
Edmund, who was making quick work of the ropes around Peter’s hands and ankles, snorted. “Thank Lucy. Her acting is getting better.”
Rubbing the chafing around his hands, Peter raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Lucy is here?”
“Of course. You think she’d stay away?” Edmund asked.
“No, I guess not.” Peter stretched his legs and rolled his shoulders. Edmund cast a critical eye over him, he needed to know that Peter could fight his way out, should it come to that.
“Here.” Edmund handed him one of his knives. “You can use that until we get your weapons.”
Peter nodded in gratitude. “Do you know where they’re being held?”
“Yes, in the other tower.”
Peter smirked. “Really? They deserved their own cell?”
“Of course,” Edmund said deadpanned. “The mighty weapons of the High King need protecting.” He walked over to the door and opened it an inch, making sure the coast was clear. “Are you ready?” Edmund asked without looking back.
“Yes,” Peter nodded, clutching the knife in his hand.
Edmund sent him a hard look, then frowned. “Stand up straight!”
Peter did, without much trouble.
“Move your arms!” Edmund said. He watched closely for any pain on Peter’s face while he did so. When he was satisfied that Peter could handle what came next, Edmund nodded and said, “Right then. Let’s go.”
The two left the room, Peter following Edmund’s lead. When they reached the two dead soldiers, Peter only gave them a quick glance before trying to avoid stepping on the blood that was pooling on the floor.
They walked down the staircase, not nearly as stealthily as Edmund had come up.
Suddenly, something heavy, and definitively something that hurt, was rammed into Edmund’s shoulder. On instinct, Edmund crouched down and rolled away from the next blow.
Peter yelled, and Edmund looked up in time to see their attacker turning on his brother. While Peter was an expert on dodging and maneuvering away from danger, he didn’t exactly have an offensive weapon on him, so dodging and maneuvering was all he could do until the attacker came into stabbing range.
Still a bit shaken, Edmund rose to his feet and pulled out his sword. The attacker, who Edmund vaguely recognized, but couldn’t quite place, was going at it with Peter. He could see that Peter had suffered several cuts and he knew that it was partly his fault. But since attacking someone who had their back turned went against everything he had been taught, Edmund shouted, “Oi, over here, please!”
Spinning on his heels, the attacker turned to him, and, abruptly, Edmund realised that it was the guard he had earlier knocked unconscious. Cursing his own stupidity, Edmund aimed for the exposed flesh between the guard’s shoulder and helmet. Instead of reaching its intended target Edmund’s sword rolled off the guard’s gauntlet, but still managed to make his opponent lose his footing. Never one to let an opportunity pass, Edmund aimed another blow, this time into the guard’s armpit. The feeling of his sword sliding into flesh was never a pleasant one.
This time though, the thrust wasn’t deep enough, and the guard still had some fighting spirit left. Roaring in pain, the guard managed to catch Edmund on his right shoulder, and Edmund let out a painful gasp, loosing his grip on his sword. He fell to the floor and looked on as the guard motioned to finish him off, unable to do anything to stop it.
Just as the guard’s sword was about to connect with him, a knife flew into the guard’s exposed throat. Letting out one last gurgle of life, blood dripping down his chest, the guard fell to the floor dead.
For a moment, everything was quiet, then Edmund let out a giant breath and relaxed to slow down his heartbeat.
Stepping over his brother’s prone form on the ground, Peter went to retrieve his knife. He swiftly pulled it out of the dead man, ignoring the squelching sound it made.
Quickly, he cleaned off the blood running down the knife with his shirt, before he got any of it on his fingers. He then walked over to Edmund and nudged him with his left foot. “Get up, we need to move.”
Edmund groaned and rubbed his forehead. “This is all my fault.”
Smirking a little, Peter snorted and said, “Yes, I know.”
“Are you hurt?” Edmund asked, while getting up.
“Barely,” Peter said, seeming unfazed. Still, Edmund could see the blood seeping through Peter’s shirt. It finally dawned on Edmund that unlike himself, who was clad in boiled leather for protection, Peter was only wearing a loose shirt, leggings and boots.
Not feeling like starting a fight, since at the moment it was much more important to just get out, Edmund nodded.
Pain seared through Edmund’s shoulder, and he clutched it protectively, before walking to the door. “We have to get your weapons.” His voice was clipped, and he could feel that both of them had lost energy and were ready to just get out and get home.
Silently, they made their way out of the tower and out onto the parapet. They stood looking over to the other tower, and Edmund’s stomach sank. It was an awfully long way over. How, for the love of Aslan, would they manage to get over there without being seen?
The sound of a horn being blown, reached them, and in unison they crouched down to hide behind the wall. Edmund sat in shock, eyes wide, and realised that he had not done enough research before coming here. What did that horn mean? He had no idea! The cold feeling of hysteria rose in Edmund’s chest and had it not been for the calming touch of his brother’s hand, he would’ve started hyperventilating.
“Calm down, Ed,” Peter said, looking him in the eyes. Peter knew better than anyone how much Edmund hated not being in control, not knowing what was going on. “It’s the signal for changing of guards. We better stay put.”
“No,” Edmund said, after calming down a bit. “We should use the commotion to move unnoticed.”
Soundlessly, the two men walked crouched down, yard by aching yard, across the parapet. Edmund’s thighs were burning by the time they reached the stairs that lead down to the courtyard.
The courtyard was buzzing with people milling to and fro. Mostly men, but there were a few women there also, carrying food and clothes ready to be washed.
“Let’s do what we did in Terringesia,” Peter said, standing up.
Edmund looked at him like he was mad, but then he looked down into the courtyard and realised it might just work. “Fine.” He straightened up too, and rearranged his clothes as best he could.
Together they walked down the stairs, tall and confident, as if they belonged there. Around them, people continued on with their jobs, barely sparing them a glance.
“Are they blind?” Edmund whispered out of the corner of his mouth. It was amazing that they could just walk here without being seen.
“No,” Peter said with a shrug. “It’s just considered bad form to look too closely at a stranger in Eduran.”
Peter had never been too fond of studying. After he finished with his schooling at eighteen, he’d avoided it as best as he could. Sometimes his old teacher would accost him in the hall, and he’d be forced to listen to a lecture, but all in all he’d successfully avoided to learn anything new, that couldn’t be used for anything. The only time Peter would sit down to study was before he was considering a war. He’d spend hours upon hours studying and learning about the country in question and absolutely everything would stick like glue in his mind. His teacher, an old Owl called Master Nostarius, wept and exclaimed over and over again, “Why couldn’t he have been like this when he was in school?”
They almost reached the stairs that led up to the tower, when two guards came ambling down them. Barely escaping notice, Peter and Edmund hid behind a cart filled with hay.
The two guards were engaged in a conversation, their voices loud and their hand-gestures rude. Edmund, who had just started to learn Edurian, he’d been more worried with perfecting his Calormene, than learning a new language, was confident in his guess that they were talking about a beautiful woman. Sneaking a look at Peter, he saw his brother’s expression darken as the guards got louder and more rude in their gestures. Peter, whose Calormene was atrocious, was practically fluent in Edurian.
“Let’s go, before I kill them where they stand,” he said harshly, his voice low and trembling with rage.
Sensing that now was really not the time to ask what they said, Edmund took the lead up the stairs. He let out a sigh of relief when he was finally hidden by the parapet walls once more.
Learning from his past mistakes, Edmund knew that they had to expect guards both at the top and right inside the tower door. He turned to Peter, who was still frothing at the mouth, and said, “Here, you’ll need this one too.”
Peter looked at him, and then down at the knife in Edmund’s outstretched hand. “Do you mean to tell me that you’ve had a second knife, while you let me cope with only one!?” he hissed.
Realising his mistake, Edmund looked sheepish. “Oops?”
With a scowl that would make a lesser man quiver in fear, Peter snatched the knife out of Edmund’s hand. “Let’s get this over with, so we can go home.”
The guard inside the door was easily taken care of. Peter cut his throat before he realised that there was anyone there. As the dead man fell to the floor, Peter gave Edmund a look that said, ”That’s how you take care of guards that want to kill you!”
Rolling his eyes, Edmund took point up the stairs. They stopped when they heard the faint buzzing of voices. Motioning for Peter to take the lead, Edmund hung back to let him pass. This was how they worked best, Peter in front, with Edmund at his back.
Slowly, they crawled up the remaining steps and when the boots of the guards came into view, Peter yelled and threw one of his knives, which went straight into the tallest guards throat.
The other guard roared with surprise, and went straight for Peter. Dodging left, away from the guard’s sword, Peter made room for Edmund to attack with his sword. They were nicely matched, since Edmund had lost a lot of strength and had to fight left handed because of his wounded shoulder.
For a few minutes all they did was match each other blow by blow. Edmund managed to draw some blood by cutting the guard’s cheek, but it was minimal and not nearly enough.
Peter had taken the time to go into the guarded room and get his weapons. Inside lied all of his armour, several knives, and his sword and shield. Ignoring the armour, Peter quickly pulled on the sword-belt, placed the knives strategically around his body, and strapped the shield to his back.
In the meanwhile, Edmund had finally managed to get the upper hand, and with a swing of his blade, the guard fell.
The two brothers exchanged a look of relief, both believing that the worst was over. Then there was a loud bang from the entrance of the tower.
Raised voices shouting in Edurian and approaching footsteps had Edmund panic for a moment, until a calm feeling descended on him. He was ready to do anything to get out alive.
“What’s the exit strategy?” Peter asked urgently, while pulling Rhindon out of it’s scabbard, preparing for a fight.
“Down in the courtyard there’s a small door that leads straight into the woods,” Edmund said.
Peter nodded. “Good.”
The two of them stood still to hear how far the guards had gotten while they’d talked. The footsteps were getting louder, and they weren’t stopping.
With Peter going down first, they decided on a “abandon all sensibilities, cross your fingers and pray to Aslan, barge down and hope you survive“ tactic. Edmund felt pretty good about this.
It didn’t take long to meet the ascending guards. Together they didn’t let up their speed, and managed to almost reach the door before they had to stop and fight. Now they were surrounded and all they could do was use their swords for all they were worth. Back to back, Peter and Edmund killed one guard after the other and slowly, in unison, they made their way to the door.
“Peter!” Edmund yelled over the din of the fight.
Peter only spared him a fraction of a frustrated look, before yelling back, “What!?”
“What did the guards say that made you so angry?” Edmund asked, while decapitating a nearby Edurian.
“You’re asking me now?” Peter asked with disbelief.
“I need to know before I forget.”
With his teeth clenched, new strength came into Peter’s blows as he said in a clipped, angry voice, “They were talking about how gorgeous the blonde lady at the gate was, and all the dirty things they’d like to do to her had she stayed around.”
New strength came to Edmund’s arms too, and for a blinding moment all thought of pain vanished from his head.
Suddenly fresh air blasted against Edmund’s face. The previous minutes were a blur of blood and pain. Without wasting any time, both men broke out running. Looking over at his brother, Edmund saw that Peter had acquired a huge gash on his left cheek, and blood was trickling down his right hand. Edmund himself was still suffering from the blow to his shoulder, and had gotten a new wound, gushing blood, on his thigh. It didn’t take him long to realise that he couldn’t run far with this injury.
Behind them came the few surviving guards, running after them. Edmund had to think fast and get them out now.
Normally, both of them was pretty good runners, but today, with all their injuries, it was going slow and the Edurian guards was gaining on them fast.
There was a horrible smell, and Edmund coughed in surprise. The compost dump must be close, Edmund thought absently. Then it hit him. Compost! Edmund knew that he only had to look for the hole and they’d be out.
Finding their exit, Edmund stopped, while Peter kept on going. “Oi, Peter! Over here.”
Stopping, and quickly turning around, Peter was beside him in under a second, not understanding with Edmund wanted. It was still a long way to the door.
Edmund pointed down to the hole that lead to the compost disposal.
Peter followed his gaze and wrinkled his nose. He looked down in the dung with distaste. “Do we really...” he began.
“Yes. Does that offend your delicate sensibilities?” Edmund asked, one eyebrow raised.
“A little bit.” Peter looked ill.
“Then the High King should avoid being kidnapped by dirty northerners who’ve never heard of soap!” Edmund snapped.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Peter hissed.
“Well, you were the one who got kidnapped, so you do not have any right to complain. Now jump, you ninny!” Edmund hissed, watching the approaching guards with apprehension.
Without an other word, Peter jumped, and Edmund could hear the disgusting noise of his body hitting the dung.
The guards saw Peter jump, and yelled out in anger. Edmund gave them a cheeky salute and followed his brother by jumping backwards. He figured it wouldn’t be so horrible if he couldn’t see the shit approaching.
He was wrong.
fin.
Original Prompt that we sent you:
What I want:
Here's a bunch of stuff I'd love to see written, and you can pick and choose (mix and match, do only one, choose to do all) what you'd like to write.
-I'd like to see some naiads or mermaids or some sort of creature in Narnia that doesn't feature in many stories.
-Lucy as a knight and the aspects of how that balances out with her healer side
-Some sort of battle/adventure.
-Edmund conducting a prison break (from inside or out) sometime during the Golden Age
And I'd prefer for it to be less introspective and more action-y. Preferably canon.
Prompt words/objects/quotes/whatever:
I don't have any.
What I definitely don't want in my fic:
Again, don't want any slash and/or incest, and preferably no romance. NO intense brotherfic in which Pete and Ed can't live without each other.