Tranquility (Chronicles of Narnia fan fiction)

Chapter 15

The hands on the clock ticked by slowly, too slowly. Natalie sat alone in the library, staring into the fireplace, watching the embers snap and crackle. She wondered if she could have said something differently to Edmund before he left. She knew of course that there was no way of knowing that they would go to war a few days later, but she just wished she could have stopped herself from fighting with him. 'I shouldn't have said those things to him,' she thought sadly. Natalie knew it was useless to beat herself up over her actions, wish she could have said something different, or more meaningful, wish she wasn't so afraid of what could or could not happen. But oh how she missed her friends... how she missed him.

Had it been minutes? Hours? Days? The whole day seemed to just drag on by for Natalie and Lucy. The duties of being Queen only seemed to keep the younger girl busy, but what was Natalie to do, but worry over her friends and the status of the war? "You really should eat, Nat..." Lucy said quietly, noticing the distant look in her friend's eyes during lunch that afternoon.

"I'm not very hungry," The older girl replied barely above a whisper, but even as she said this, she took her spoon and ate some, knowing it'd be foolish to let her worry keep her from eating and get sick because of it. "How good are they, really?" she suddenly asked, glancing up at the younger girl.

"Caspian and Edmund? They're both very good warriors," Lucy answered. "Caspian has shown himself to be able to keep up with Edmund, don't you remember that duel we watched? Edmund is more skilled than him still, especially with all the extra training he's been doing since we all arrived here, but Caspian can hold his own against him. Together, they're a force to be reckoned with. They're both fine..." Lucy told her, though she didn't look as convinced as she sounded. "Hey, do you want to hear a story?"

"Sure?" Natalie answered.

"Alright, well, I'm probably not as good a story teller as my brother, but here goes! A long ago, and this is a true story, during what is referred to as the 'Golden Age', my brothers, my sister, and I became rulers over Narnia. None of us knew what we were doing, we were inexperienced and a bit scared that we would mess up horribly. At the time, Edmund was just a ten year old boy who could barely even lift a sword. So he trained for several years with our arms-master, Oreius, under Peter's order to get him to be the best sword-fighter in all of Narnia! Peter must have seen something in Edmund that none of us did, because he never doubted he could pull that off, even when we sometimes did. At around sixteen, the giants from the mountains attacked us, wanting more territory, and Peter had Edmund follow him into battle with us. This time though, Peter wanted Edmund to fight at Peter's side, instead of hanging behind to 'protect us' like he usually did. Edmund wasn't sure of himself, didn't believe he could ever become what Peter expected him to, but Peter believed in him.

"At one point, a giant got very close to Edmund, without my brother even seeing him approaching. Peter, of course, rushed over and tried to defend Edmund, but was knocked back with a huge club! Edmund had turned and seen the blood on Peter's armor. I don't think I had ever seen him look so furious. He lifted his sword and challenged the giant, knowing how ridiculous that looked. A mere boy, challenging a brute like a mature giant! The giant, of course, thought it was very funny and started laughing, not paying attention to the 'runt' by his feet. Edmund used the giant's distraction to rush forward lunge his sword at him, killing the giant instantly! Peter was still on the floor when he alerted Edmund to three other giants heading toward them, their clubs swinging menacingly. Things didn't look good, Peter was wounded and Edmund wasn't as experienced as him quite yet.

"All the same, Edmund helped Peter up and displayed an amazing feat of swordsmanship that none of us had ever seen. Oreius had this knowing look on his face, so I figured it was something that Edmund had been having difficulty learning, but finally got it during the battle. In the end, Edmund swallowed his self-doubt and fear, and helped defeat the enemy and send them running with their tails tucked between their legs!" Lucy smiled. "Edmund spent the next nine years sharpening his skills and went on proving Peter right, becoming even more skilled with a blade than the High King himself!" Lucy grinned.