To Defend Our Land

Chapter 3 Spilled Food and Broken Dreams

I was getting ready to ride my horse, Fidelia. When I heard someone coming.
"Verity!" It was Edmund, I turned to look at him.
"Edmund," I answered coldly, climbing on my horse.
"I'm sorry, I should have stuck up for you. Anyways, I know what it's like. It was the same way with Peter." He said sincerely.
"Well, you don't actually know what it's like. Being enemies with Peter is totally different than being enemies with Susan. He's more easy to apologize to." I replied.
"You have always got along with him," Edmund laughed, he went to get Philip,"Mind if I joined you?"
"I don't care," I snapped.
"You don't have to be so rude," he scolded, mainly teasing.
"What do you expect, I'm angry," I answered.
We both took a long ride. Three hours about, then headed back home.
Susan met us at the stairs.
"You're late for dinner," Susan crossed her arms,"So I told Mrs. Beaver to serve your dinner cold."
"Cold, but..." began Edmund.
"I'm not hungry," I answered coolly, going to head upstairs.
But she grabbed my arm,"Oh, yes, you will," she barked at me, pulling me into the dining room, followed by Edmund.
"I'm a queen! You don't have to pull my arm out of my socket," I protested.
Susan pulled out a chair in front of a plate of appetizing food, if it were warm.
"Sit," she ordered.
"I'm not a..."
Edmund sits down, but Susan has to force me to sit down.
"Eat!" She told us.
I get up again, but she forced me down, again. I lay my arms on the table, watching my brother pick at his food.
"You will not leave this table till that plate is clean," Susan said, sitting down beside me.
"No," I crossed my arms.
"Fine, I'll just feed you myself," she picked up my force and piled some food onto it.
"I am not a 2-year-old," I snapped back,"I'm Queen Verity the Faithful. And you want it clean?" I take the plate and dump its contents on the floor.
Susan's mouth hung open and Edmund
shook with laughter.
"It's clean," I grinned, leaving the room.
"Verity Eleanor Pevensie, you will pay for this!" Shouted Susan angrily.
I met Lucy at the stairs,"What happened?" She asked.
"Pay back!" I smiled with satisfaction.
"Verity, you didn't!" She exclaimed.
"But I did," I answered.
When I reached my room, I sat down on my desk and picked up my pen to work on my story, satisfied.

3rd person Peter
What Peter found in the dining room, was beyond what he expected. Susan was crying at the table. One of the servants was hard at work, cleaning the floor.
"What happened?" He asked.
"It was Queen Verity, your majesty," the servant answered.
"What now," he sighed, sometimes he didn't know what to expect from that sister of his. Well, the two of them. They were forever at odds with eachother.
"She dumped her food on the floor, she's made up her mind that she'll starve," sobbed Susan.
"She what!" Exclaimed Peter, this was unlike Verity.
"Exactly what I said, Peter," Susan replied,"The girl's spoiled rotten, you gave her to much power."
"I did not give her that power, Aslan did," Peter answered.
"Well, she's out of control. If I tell her to do something, she does the opposite!" Susan retorted.
"You're being too hard on her," Peter reasoned,"Look, was that way with Edmund. Look where that got him," he sighed,"I should have made up with him sooner."
"I guess, you are right, Peter," Susan nodded,"I'll talk to her."
"And I'm sure she will be just as understanding," Peter squeezed his sister's hand.

Verity's pov
I heard a knock on my door, so I swung it open. There stood Susan with a flustered look on her face.
"I'm sorry, Verity, maybe I was too hard on you," she apologized.
This was unexpected,"Oh, I forgive you," I returned.
"But you were being selfish and immature. Just think of what Mother would think of you. She would be disappointed," Susan's next words stung worse than before.
"Mother would love me no matter what! You just don't care about how I feel. You don't. You are the one who's selfish. You are a mean unfeeling, hateful person! And you're not my mother. I don't want to see you ever again!" I fired back,"And you know why Lord Vervan left?" A smirk appeared on my face,"Beacause I told him you didn't love him." I lied.
"Verity Pevensie, how could you!" Exclaimed Susan,"You will pay for this!" She left the room in a storm.
Tears streamed down my cheeks. Susan was so cruel. Couldn't she just leave be alone sometimes.

I wasn't expecting my older sister to seek my revenge. I continued writing my story and didn't leave my room the whole day. I ignored my other siblings' fervent knocks. I did not want to speak to anyone, not even Peter or Lucy.
That night, while I was sleeping, I heard someone in my room. I sat up to see my awful sister, feeding my story to the flames at the fireplace.
"Don't you dare. My story! My dreams! My hard work!" I cried, running towards the fire. I put my hand into the fireplace, trying to get my papers out.
"No, Verity, Don't it's only a book!" Susan protested.
I felt pain shoot up my left arm. Flames ran up my sleeve.
"Peter! Come quickly! It's Verity!" Shouted Susan.
I jumped to action, knowing that the best thing, too do was roll on the ground, which I did.
"Verity!" Peter yelled, coming into my room.
He helped me get the fire out. Than he pulled me into his embrace. It was too painful to hug him back, but I tried with my good arm.
"What happened?" He asked,"Verity! What happened?"
I cried against his chest.
"What happened?" This time it was Edmund, Lucy, and Ruth.
"Is she alright?" Asked Ruth anxiously.
"What did she do?" This was from Lucy, she placed a hand on my shaking shoulder.
"It's my story, its gone," I sobbed.
"Are you alright," Peter said,"I hope you're arm's alright. Lucy, go and get your cordial."
"It hurts, but my story!" I cried, he ran a hand up and down my back to console me.
"Susan burnt it!" I finished.
I could imagine the cold stare, Peter gave Susan,"You almost killed her!"
"I'm sorry, Peter, I didn't know she'd do this!" Susan cried.
"You knew how long she's been working on this. Writing is her passion. It's a dream to become a writer someday. And you just went and crushed her dream. I didn't know you could be so spiteful," Peter fired back.
"Because she crushed my dreams," Replied an angry Susan,"And I'll never forgive her for that. She did more than just put spiders on Lord Vervan's bed. She told him......" She left the room in tears.
"Come on, Verity," Peter carried me to my bed. He still had a strong arm around me. I snuggled against him, as he played with my hair. I usually didn't like it when he did that, but I didn't protest this time. He was the best big brother ever.
"Are you alright?" Edmund asked concerned.
"I think the worst that happened was my story. And I'll never forgive Susan for that," I answered calmly.
Lucy came into my room with her cordial.
"Just one drop," she told me, opening her flask.
I obeyed my youngest sister.
"How does it feel?" Ruth asked, patting my arm.
"All better," I said smiling.
"Get some sleep," Peter ordered,"And I'll have a talk with Susan."
"Maybe you shouldn't," Ruth warned.
"She didn't seem to be to happy, when I last saw her. She slammed the door," Lucy added.
Peter pulled the covers up to my chin
"Good night, Verity," he said, kissing my forehead.
"Night, Pete, Ed, Ruth, and Lu," I answered, as they left the room.
I fell asleep. My mind deciding that tomorrow I'd run away. Away from Susan. Away from my broken dreams.