A year as a Narnian || 365 Narnia one shots (Part one)

167: Injuries

June 16th - Prompt: Bruised

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Peter sighed a little as he sat on the grass, overlooking the camp which was silent in the middle of the night.

Torches flickered down below, flags fluttered in the slight breeze, but it was in no means cold.

Peter fiddled with the grass, ripping up blades one by one as he sat there.

He'd been unable to sleep, so had gone for a walk to clear his mind, and had ended up here, where he'd talked with Aslan earlier.

"He'll lead you to Edmund."

Peter swallowed hard... Perhaps that was the reason he couldn't sleep, he was too worried.

He'd found himself praying all evening that Edmund would be brought home safe, and alive. He was so worried it would be too late, worried that this witch would've figured out that if she killed only one of them, then the prophecy wouldn't be fulfilled anyway.

He was worried he'd never see his brother again, so worried he found himself not even caring what he'd done, he just wanted him back, he wanted him safe.

He glanced up when he caught movement out the corner of his eye, and spotted a small group of people entering the camp on the far side, torches lighting their way.

He sat staring at them for a while, before realising it was the search party that had been sent out to find the Witch...

Find the Witch and rescue Edmund.

Taking a deep breath, Peter slowly stood, there was no point going back to bed now, he had to know if his brother was okay, he had to know if he was alive.

He headed down to the camp, steps shaky and slow, before reaching the small group, where a faun spotted him and walked over.

"Your majesty." He said, bowing his head.

Peter swallowed hard, before taking a deep breath and straightening. "Edmund..?" He murmured, hope in his voice.

The faun stared at him for a moment or two, before sighing. "We rescued him." He said, slowly looking back at the group before quickly turning back to Peter. "He - He's been through a lot."

Peter's heart skipped a beat. "He's hurt?" He whispered.

The faun sighed. "Yeah." He replied.

Peter bit his lip. "Can I - Can I see him?" He asked, sounding worried.

The faun seemed to think for a moment, before he nodded a little and lead Peter over to the small group.

Peter's heart was pounding, unsure just how hurt his brother was, surely it couldn't be too bad, no one would do that to a child... right?

He was so very wrong though when Orious stepped forward, Edmund in his arms.

His brother looked to be sleeping, and when he stepped closer the injuries on his face became visible.

Blood from a split lip had stained his chin, the split deep and red, he could see a bruise covering his left cheekbone, a weird colour in the light of the torches. A scratch beside his left eye looked a little too deep for Peter's liking, that and his face was smudged with dirt and blood. Dark circles under his eyes added to the look, and all in all he looked so young and so fragile and so vulnerable, Peter forgot literally everything that he'd done all the way to when their Dad had left for the war and nearly burst into tears.