The Call - Edmund Pevensie

7

The fight ended in a tie with both of our swords pressed against the other's neck. A crowd had formed to watch, and they all cheered good naturedly when it was over.

Edmund and I were practically dripping in sweat since it had gotten extremely hot during our fight. The How didn't have much ventilation after all.

"Good fight," I said and I held out my hand for him to shake. He took it smirking at me.

"Yea, you're not bad," he said and I narrowed my eyes playfully at him.

"Not bad? Meet me on the archery coarse some time and I'll show you not bad'." His smirk widened and I pulled away, heading towards my stuff and Edmund turned the opposite way to go to his siblings who all applauded him.

"What was that?" Caspian asked as he followed me.

"What was what?" I asked casually although my heart was racing, and not just from the fight.

"Don't forget I've known you since you were born Catarina," Caspian said as he leaned against the wall next to me. "You've been taking out better sword fighters than Edmund since we were fifteen. You know you could have beaten him." I shrugged.

"He was better than I expected. I guess I underestimated him." That was a straight up lie, but I didn't want Caspian to know that.

"You never let anyone win unless...." he trailed off and my eyes snapped to his. He had the biggest grin I'd ever seen on his face and my heart stopped. "Unless you like them..." he finished. My eyes widened and he outright laughed. "I KNEW IT!" His voice was so loud, it seemed to echo across the whole How causing several Narnian's to glance at us. Including the Pevensies.

"Caspian shut up!" I yelled back, hitting his chest. "God do you have to be so annoying sometimes?" He just continued to laugh.

"Don't act like you're innocent either!" I told him. "Don't think I haven't seen how you look at Susan." His laughter stopped immediately and now it was my turn to smirk.

"I don't know what you're talking about," his hissed.

"Oh really? Why don't I just go ask her what she thinks of you then?"

"You wouldn't dare!" His eyes narrowed.

"Oh I know, even better! I'll tell her about how you got your ass handed to you the other day when you fell of your horse and got dragged for a few yards by your stirrup!" I smirked wickedly.

I made as if to walk over to Susan and I felt Caspian grab me from behind, lifting me up. I squealed and tried to break out of his grasp but was unsuccessful. "How about we call a truce?" he whispered and I agreed, laughing. He set me down, smiled at me, then went to go make his rounds and check on weapon preparations. I saw the Pevensies looking at me with amused glances and I waved at them, picking up my bow to go to the archery coarse the Narnian's had set up deep in the How.

Edmund's POV:

We watched Catarina walk away, a smile on her pretty face.

"They're definitely an odd pair aren't they?" Peter spoke up although he was smiling.

"I like them," Lucy announced.

"Me too Lu," I said, still watching Catarina walk away. "Me too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat's POV:

The stone I was leaning against was cool against my back as I watched Peter and Caspian discuss the next course of action. We were in the room with the stone table trying to figure out what to do. A faun sentry had seen a Telmarine soldier early this morning at the edge of the woods. It meant that our uncle knew where we were, and now it was only a matter of time before he took his chance. Edmund was sitting next to me, neither of us saying much as Peter and Caspian went back and forth. We'd been at the How for several days now trying to figure out our plan of attack. In those few short days, Edmund and I had grown extremely close. After our fight we practically spent every waking hour together either training or talking.

One night we'd stayed up talking so late into the night that before we'd known it the sun had begun to rise signaling the next day. We'd talked about everything from our families, to his first time in Narnia and how it had been fighting the White Witch, to these things Edmund called "planes" and "automobiles" which interested me very much, and even what kinds of weapons and flowers we preferred. We'd even set up a small chess board using rocks we found in the How and played each other often. Although we'd only known each other for a few days, I'd never met someone who I felt so connected to. It was like Edmund and I were two halves of the same person. Not to mention that his smile set off thousands of butterflies in my stomach which I was learning wasn't an entirely unpleasant feeling.

"It's only a matter of time," Peter tried again breaking me out of my thoughts. "Miraz's men and war machines are on their way. That means those same men aren't protecting his castle."

"What do you propose we do your majesty?" Reepicheep asked.

"We need to start planning..."

"We need to get ready for..."

Both Caspian and Peter started talking at the same time. After staring at each other for a few seconds, Caspian put his head down in submission to let Peter continue.

"Our only hope is to strike them before they strike us."

"That's crazy!" Caspian spit out. "No one has ever taken that castle." He was right of course. The Telmarine castle had been built to withstand any attack. It'd been standing for generations.

"There's always a first time," Peter countered.

"We'll have the element of surprise," Trumpkin added. I knew he of all people was itching to give my Uncle what he deserved.

"We have the advantage here!" Caspian argued back. I frowned slightly. I could see where Cas was coming from, but I wasn't sure I agreed with him this time. While the How was easily defendable, it could just as easily become a prison. I didn't like fighting in enclosed spaces, and the How was the definition of one.

"If we dig in, we could probably hold them off indefinitely," Susan piped up. Caspian turned to her, grateful to have someone on his side.

"I for one feel safer underground," Trufflehunter added.

"Look, I appreciate what you've done here," Peter said to Caspian. "But this isn't a fortress. It's a tomb."

"Yea, and if they're smart the telmarines will just wait and starve us out," Edmund said. I nodded in agreement.

"Knowing our Uncle, that would be exactly what he wants. Wait until we are weak from hunger and then kill us all with as little effort as possible," I added. Caspian shot me a hurt look but I ignored him. At this moment, I didn't care if I hurt his feeling by not agreeing with him.

"We could collect nuts!" the a red squirrel added.

"Yes! And throw them at the telmarines!" Reepicheep mocked. I smiled a bit at his attitude. He certainly had a large amount of it for such a little mouse. "Shut up," he said. "I think you know where I stand sire."

Peter looked at Gelnstorm. "If I get your troops in, can you handle the guards?" he asked. Glenstorm glanced from Peter to Caspian as if unsure but answered,

"Or die trying, my liege."

"That's what I'm worried about," Lucy spoke up. "You're all acting like there's only two options. Dying here, or dying there."

"I'm not sure you've really been listening Lu," Peter said as though she were a toddler.

"No you're not listening!" Lucy argued. "Or have you really forgotten who defeated the white witch Peter?" My eyes widened in surprise. I definitely hadn't been expecting her to call her brother out like that. She was definitely braver than I gave her credit for. Peter shook his head slightly.

"I think we've waited for Aslan long enough," he told her ending the conversation.

For the rest of the day, we planned our attack. Using Caspian and I's knowledge of the castle and Peter's ideas, we came up with a plan.

A plan to finally rid Narnia of my tyrant uncle once and for all.