Heart and Home~ Edmund Pevensie

Chapter 10| Torture

Silvanus please help me. But I knew the spirit would not come. I was weak – too weak to heal myself. My body was starved for sustenance, and the Silvanus was too. There was no power for magic.

"Who are you?"

Silence.

CRACK.

Edmund POV

He could hardly hold himself up. Each footstep felt like he had tied stone blocks to his legs. He kept his eyes down, not wanting to show his saddness. But somehow, he knew everyone felt the same as he did. She was gone. The Narnians lost their leader. Edmund lost his heart.

He stared at Caspian's back, wondering if yelling at the Prince would make it any better. He was supposed to protect her!

Edmund gritted his teeth and shut his mouth tight. He knew any words he would say now would only make he situation worse. He had to be strong for her. He had to make sure her people were safe. It's what she would've wanted. Is she dead? He didn't know. He didn't see her final moments, but Caspian and Peter did. From the way they were acting, she might as well have been burned alive.

He tried to feel something, anything to show him whether she was alive. Maybe she had sent a sign to them, but so far he hadn't seen or felt anything that appeared to be her doing. It felt like she had simply disappeared.

Edmund followed his brother and Caspian through the ruins and up to the front entrance of the How. He saw Lucy and a few other soldiers who were left behind, but he couldn't bare to look at their faces. They had failed, and the consequences were extreme.

"What happened?" Lucy asked as they approached. Edmund's mind jumped to the last time he saw Amelia, but he pushed it away. He didn't want to feel the pain of her loss. He didn't want to feel worse than what he already did.

Peter sneered, "Ask him," he gestured to Caspian.

"Peter-" Susan tried to interject.

"Me?" Caspian questioned, "You could've called it off, there was still time!"

"No there wasn't thanks to you. If you'd kept to the plan, those soldiers might be alive right now."

"And if you'd just stayed as I suggested they definitely would be!"

Peter gestured around him, incredulous, "You called us, remember?"

"My first mistake," Caspian sneered.

"No," Peter paused, "Your first mistake was thinking you could lead these people."

"Hey!" Caspian yelled as Peter walked away, "I'm not the one who abandoned Narnia! I'm not the one who left Amelia to fend for herself!"

Caspian's words sent a blow to Edmund's chest, and he felt the familiar guilt creep into the depths of his heart and mind once again.

"No!" Peter countered, "You invaded Narnia! You have no more right to lead it than Miraz does!" Caspian pushed passed Peter and started making his way into the How, "You, him, your father. Narnia's better off without the lot of you." Caspian paused in his step, "You're the reason she's dead."

Edmund spotted a familiar body being carried by Glenstorm. Trumpkin. Caspian drew his sword with a yell and Peter did the same. The two faced each other, but Edmund rushed to stop the fight, "Stop it!"

He caught their attention, and their eyes landed on the limp dwarf in Glenstorm's arms. Edmund felt another piece of his heart chip away. Not Trumpkin too. Edmund helped to lower the dwarf's body to the ground, and he saw Lucy rushing towards them from the corner of his eye. He hoped with all his heart that she could save him. Despite his irritable personality, Edmund had grown rather fond of the dwarf. He knew Amelia would kill him, dead or not dead, if he let Trumpkin die. Stop it. It's not your fault. But it was. He couldn't shake the guilt.