Always || Edmund Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia) [1]

Chapter 7

He halted in his steps too, reaching forward to remove the leaf. He was extremely close to her, probably more than necessary. His hand hovered on her hair even after the leaf was gone, though, just barely touching her face. His eyes lingered on her face, too. Mary gulped, wondering what had gotten into him. His gaze was making her feel all weird on the inside — she had butterflies, if she wanted to be honest with herself, but she didn't want to admit that. She had always found his eyes piercing from the day she met him, and she found herself focusing on them. Her mind was telling her to look away to break the tension, but she couldn't.

"Edmund, Mary."

The two teenagers snapped out of their daze, looking behind them to see that Susan had called their attention.

"You're sort of... blocking the way," she older girl explained, both feeling awkward and guilty that she interrupted them.

"Oh," was all Mary said while Edmund cleared his throat, taking a step away from her.

The few Narnians with Susan whispered curiously amongst each other as they went ahead of the two of them. Susan smiled in amusement, glancing behind her to find the two still walking together, though with a little bit of awkwardness in the air.

"Well, it's good you have troops," Mary overheard Peter telling Caspian. "But we need some fortifications. Somewhere to train."

"How much time would we have to train?" Mary asked Edmund curiously.

"Not much," he admitted. "You've seen the Telmarines. They're prepared."

"That's a shame. I wanted to learn how to properly sword-fight."

"You still can," Edmund said almost too quickly, jumping at the opportunity. "I'll teach you."

"Really? I guess we'll see if your siblings are right, then. About you being an excellent fighter," Mary challenged, though she really was excited to learn.

After hours of walking, the group had arrived at a wide field. A hill was located at the end of it with a cave-like, rock formation underneath it. But, that wasn't what caught Mary's eyes. It was the rows of centaurs holding up their swords in respect, creating a path all the way up to the entrance of Aslan's How. Caspian allowed the Pevensie's to walk first, and Mary followed his actions. They soon made it inside. It was dark and noisy as Narnians of all kinds created, sharpened, and polished their weapons. It seemed to finally sink in to Mary that a war between the Narnians and Telmarines was inevitable.

"It might not be what you are used to, but it is defensible," Caspian said.

Susan, who had strayed away for a moment, said, "Peter, you may want to see this."

Curiously, Peter along with the other Pevensie's, Mary, and Caspian, walked over to Susan. She was observing the carvings on the wall, the lit torch she held faintly illuminating them. The walls were filled with drawings depicting two men and two women, clearly the Pevensie's as the kings and queens of Narnia.

"It's us."

"What is this place?" Lucy asked.

"You don't know?" Caspian said. Taking her silence as an answer, he picked up another torch and lead them through another dark tunnel. At the end of it, he lit a fire that spread around the room, revealing more carvings of Narnians and a lion who Mary now knew must be Aslan. What Mary didn't know anything about was the cracked table in the center.

"What's that?" she asked no one in particular.

"It's the Stone Table," said Lucy in realization, glancing back and forth at it and the large embossment of Aslan on the wall.