Worth More Than Gold

Chapter 21 - Hold On

"How far are we from the stone table?" Lucy asked, from where she was practically laying on Diamond.

"We should hopefully get there later today." Peter answered.

Lucy nodded. "Good." She breathed. "This traveling is exhausting. I'm not sure how much more of it I can take."

Peter looked at her sadly. "Do you want to stop for a while?"

Lucy quickly shook her head. "It's 8 am, and we've only just started, we can't stop now. I'll be alright for a while."

"You sure?" Peter asked.

Lucy nodded.

"I wish I could say the same about Edmund." Peter said, looking at his brother."

Lucy looked over at her brother, swallowing hard. Peter had decided to walk alongside Phillip, so that Edmund could lie on his back. Peter, of course was holding on to Edmund tightly, so that he wouldn't fall off. But, since Edmund was becoming so dangerously ill, Peter thought it best to let him lie down, rather than sit up, while leaning against Peter.

"Is he still cold to the touch?" Lucy asked.

"Freezing." Peter replied. He rubbed his fingers across Edmund's palm, tears stinging at his eyes when it felt like ice. "I don't think he has much time left."

"Neither of us do." Lucy said. "I can feel myself slowly fading away, which means he is too.  And even quicker than me."

Peter took a deep breath, hating the fact that both his youngest siblings were so near death. "And that's why we have to get to the stone table as quickly as possible."

"But we can't even do anything until Susan gets there with the water."

"No, we can't, but Susan said she was at Aqua Translucent and would be on her way soon. She's probably on her way now, actually. The gryphon brought us that message last night."

"I really hope she gets there quickly." Lucy sighed.

"She said they would travel as quickly as possible." Peter reminded her. "But, at least you and Ed won't have to worry about the strain this journey has taken on you two anymore. It will be much easier on you guys to be able to stay in one place. And I can take care of you a lot better too."

"That's true, yeah." Lucy replied.

There were a few moments of silence before Lucy spoke again. "I never thought I would say this, but I am so tired of horse riding. No offense, Diamond."

"None taken at all Your Majesty." She replied with a small smile.

Peter chuckled slightly. "I never thought I'd hear you say that either, Lu. You and Edmund both love horse riding."

"We do." Lucy said, smiling just a little bit, but then her smile disappeared. "That's the whole reason we got into this mess."

"Lucy, it's not." Peter said. "Those hags would've done this whether you were out horse riding, or in Cair Paravel. We talked about this remember? Please stop blaming yourself."

Lucy took a deep breath, before slowly nodding a moment later. "I'll try. It's just hard seeing Edmund like this, and not being able to do anything."

"I know it's hard." Peter replied. "But we are doing something about it, right now. Edmund's going to be just fine, and so are you. I promise." He gave her a wet smile.

Lucy returned it, sniffing just a little. But you're not, she thought. Though she didn't say it out loud, because she knew it wouldn't change anything.