April 19th - Prompt: Heart
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"I don't know what to do, he's not getting any better."
Susan took a deep breath, fiddling with the ring on her finger. "I don't understand." She murmured, shaking her head. "We've brought one of the best healers in Narnia in, and even he doesn't seem to be helping."
Peter swallowed hard. "His heart beat is getting slower and slower every day Susan." He all but whispered. "It's like that poison can't be reversed, even though the healers said it can."
Susan frowned. "They said that?" She asked.
Peter nodded. "Yeah." He murmured. "Even that healer we brought in says it can, it just takes time."
"Well, if it just takes time-"
"It's been a week Susan." Peter cut her off. "Surely he should be getting better by now."
"Peter listen, you need to stop worrying." Susan told him gently. "The healer is doing his job, he's healing Edmund, however slow it's taking, he's doing it. It's not like someone keeps giving him the poison, it's not like-"
Peter froze as Susan continued talking, but he wasn't paying her any attention.
"This medicine should help cure him." The healer told Peter. "But slowly."
Peter looked up from where he was sat in the bed, Edmund held up against his chest and half conscious due to the poison he'd only recently been given. "Slowly?" He murmured.
The healer nodded a little. "I'm afraid so." He said hesitantly. "It'll be a long healing process, but he can be healed, I promise."
Peter sighed and nodded, allowing the healer to give Edmund the so called medicine.
Edmund turned his head away at first, moaning in pain as he buried his face agaisnt Peter's shoulder.
"Ed shhhh, its only medicine." Peter murmured, placing a hand on the back of his brother's neck to calm him. "It's gonna help okay?"
Edmund seemed to understand after this, and turned his head back, slowly taking the medicine he'd been given.
"I will give this to him twice a day." The healer told Peter. "And each dose will kill off the poison already in his body. I would kill it off all at once, but that could be extremely dangerous and no doubt would cause heart failure."
Peter nodded slowly. "Thank you." He breathed.
"That medicine that the healer's been giving Edmund-" Peter cut off whatever Susan had been saying.
Susan shut her mouth and frowned. "What about it?" She asked.
"Don't you think it's a little weird that it's supposed to be healing him, but nothing seems to be happening?" Peter said.
Susan continued to frown at him, but she got what he meant. "I mean... yeah." She murmured.
"Twice a day that healer gives Edmund that so called medicine," Peter all but spat. "And what's happening?"
Susan's heart skipped a beat. "He's getting worse." She all but whispered.
Peter wanted to sob as the realisation hit him, how had he not figured it out sooner!
"Peter no." Susan snapped, reading his thoughts. "You've been extremeley stressed and absolutely exhausted this last week, do not start beating yourself up over this."
Peter swallowed hard, but he just shook his head and dashed off down the corridor, heading for the healers wing which is where Edmund was.
Peter would've like him in his own bed, in his own room, but after taking Edmund there the day he was poisoned, Peter knew he was too weak to be moved.
He burst through the doors ten seconds later, and he wanted to scream when he saw the healer, the Traitor, giving Edmund what was clearly more poison, and not medicine at all.
Growling low in his throat, Peter dashed over, hitting the healer side on and sending them both crashing to the floor, clearly catching the healer by surprise if his shout was anything to go by.
"Guards!" Peter screamed at the top of his lungs as he pinned the traitor to the floor, Susan running in with wide eyes.
Peter turned to stare at the healer, who only stared right back. "You're a monster." He muttered.
At this the healer smirked. "Thank you." He hissed.
Peter growled again, lifting him up slightly and slamming him back to the ground, winding him and leaving him coughing slightly. "That's the least of the pain you're going to endure." Peter threatened.
After this two guards and Orious ran into the room, and all seemed startled at the scene in front of them, but Susan quickly explained.
The two guards ran over and took the healer from Peter, holding him securely so he couldn't get away.
Peter stood slowly, grabbing his crown - which had fallen off in the process of wrestling someone to the floor - off the floor and placing it back on his head. "Lock him up." He muttered. "I'll decide what to do with him later."
The gaurds instantly obeyed, and the healer said absolutely nothing as he was taken away.
Peter allowed himself to relax for only a second, but tensed again when Susan murmured her younger brothers name, fear lacing her voice.
Turning to Edmund, Peter was alarmed to see the uncomfortable look on his face, and the blood on his lips. "Ed?" He murmured gently, sitting on the bed beside his little brother.
Edmund coughed in response to this, and blood splattered the white sheets and Peter's trousers, before he began to choke.
Peter jumped into action, moving to sit behind his brother and pushed Edmund into a sitting position, sitting so that Edmunds back was agaisnt his chest and pushed his head forward, pounding hard on his back.
Blood drained from Edmund's mouth, and he was coughing harshly, groaning every now and then.
Peter hardly noticed Susan running from the room and returning a minute later with some actual healers, who made a dash for the bed.
"Let us have him." One said gently.
Peter's heart skipped a beat. "No." He snapped, pulling Edmund close to him which made him choke slightly.
Susan sighed. "Peter, they're here to help." She said gently.
"That's what I thought about the t-" Peter stopped, knowing how that word effected his brother. "About the other healer."
"Peter you know these people!" Susan murmured desperately. "Come on, let them help. Edmund - He's dying Peter, Lucy's cordial won't get rid of the poison, you know that, so the healers have to help him, or he'll die."
Peter hesitated, but in the end he nodded, letting Edmund go and standing from the bed, allowing the healers to get to work.
Peter didn't wanna watch anything, but he didn't wanna leave either, so he wandered over to the window, leaning against the sill and staring outside and the steadily falling rain, which perfectly displayed his mood.
He didn't turn around, not when he heard the healers whispering amongst themselves, not when Susan came over and placed a hand on his shoulder, not even when Lucy burst through the door and cried out at the sight of Edmund. The whole time he just stared out the window, every now and then a tear sliding down his cheek.
He looked up when a healer came and stood beside him, giving him a questioning look.
The healer took a deep breath. "Your brother has been given a lot of the poison, but it's a poison which is different to the first one he was given." He said slowly and cautiously. "This type of poison has settled in his stomach and is doing it's job-"
"What's its job?" Peter murmured. He knew it was to kill Edmund, but he needed to know how.
The healer hesitated, before sighing. "Once it settles, this poison burns anything it touches." He said quietly. "It's going to burn away all of King Edmunds insides, it already has been actually."
Peter felt sick, and he swallowed hard to steady himself. "Is - Is he in pain?" He whispered.
"Agony." The healer whispered back, nodding. "He just can't do anything about it, he can't even scream, it's weakened him too much."
Peter stared at the healer. "Tell me you have some good news." He murmured, voice shaking.
The healer looked hesitant. "Good and bad news." He said.
"What's the good news?" Peter choked.
"The good news is that there's a way to get rid of the poison."
"And the bad news?"
The healer sighed. "Is that he's gonna have to throw it all up." He whispered.
Peter was silent for a moment. "You mean, force him to throw up?" He murmured.
The healer nodded. "It's gonna hurt too, seeming as it'll burn anything on its way up." He explained. "But Queen Lucy can use her cordial as soon as its been gotten rid of, and your brother should be fine."
Peter ran a hand through his hair, "How could I have not noticed?" He choked out, sounding beyond guilty.
"Peter..." Susan sighed.
The healer too sighed. "You wouldn't of been able to spot the signs of this poison." He explained. "The poison is meant to not be noticed, all that will happen is an unexplained weakness that could easily come across as flu, it was lucky you saw him poisoned with a different poison in the first place, or we could have very well just thought this was flu."
Peter thought back to when he'd seen his brother poisoned, rage sweeping over him at the sight of the man's face as he had watched Edmund drink, and now to think that two people had been in on it, made him shudder.
"We really need to act now though." The healer added. "Before this poison burns the lungs or heart."
"It hasn't already?" Susan asked, sounding a little confused, it had been a week after all.
The healer sighed. "We think it reached his lungs today." He told her. "He was coughing up a lot of blood and his breathing isn't as it should be."
Peter nodded a little, before taking a deep, shaky breath. "Let's just get it over with then." He whispered. "Is Ed awake?"
"He's awake." The healer nodded. "He's just too weak to open his eyes."
Peter finally turned around, and slowly walked over to the bed, where the other two healers moved out of his way so he could sit beside his brother. "Eddy?" He whispered, noticing Susan going over to Lucy, no doubt to explain what was going on.
Edmund only groaned in response to his brother, much like he'd been doing for the past week, and Peter had to fight against his tears. "We're gonna get this poison out of you okay?" He said gently. "And I know you can be brave whilst we do."
Edmund seemed to take a ragged, short breath, before nodding a little, but he didn't do much else, his eyes squeezed shut.
Peter stared at him, he truly didn't look like he was in much pain, but he knew that wasn't true, and that's what broke his heart, into hundreds of tiny pieces.
The healer Peter had spoken to soon returned, with a large sort of bowl and a stick made of what looked like a smooth wood.
Peter got the unspoken hint and sat against the headboard of the bed, pulling Edmund into a sitting position and holding him close to his side.
Edmunds head fell forward, and he was completely limp in Peter's arms, but Peter knew he was still awake, if his struggle to keep breathing was anything to go by. "How quick is it burning his lungs?" He murmured in disbelief.
But the healer shook his head. "Slowly." He told him. "But just the slightest damage to either lung can be extremely dangerous."
Peter nodded a little, taking the bowl once it was given to him and placing it on Edmunds lap, brushing his hair back from his forehead. "You're okay." He soothed, voice calm and comforting, if a little shaky.
The healer glanced at Peter. "You wanna open his mouth?" He said quietly.
Peter nodded, doing as he was told, before the healer carefully stuck the stick of wood as far as he dared down Edmunds throat.
Edmund easily gagged a few times, trying to turn away, before he eventually threw up.
Peter held him while he was sick, murmuring comfort in his ear as he held the bowl, praying Edmund managed to throw up all the poison.
The healer was watching him closely, and seemed satisfied when Edmund finally stopped and collapsed back against Peter.
Peter placed the bowl on the floor, trying to ignore the fact that his brother had thrown up blood, before pulling him close and placing a kiss to the top of his head. "You're okay."
The healer quickly checked him over, and Peter waited with a pounding heart.
"Give him the cordial." The healer eventually said. "Quickly."
Peter glanced up at Lucy, just as she came running over, already opening her cordial.
Peter tipped Edmunds head back and opened his mouth, allowing Lucy to pour one drop onto his tongue, before she stepped away.
Edmund seemed to relax after a while, and he maybe even smiled a little, no longer in any pain by the look of it.
"He's gonna be okay." The healer murmured.
Peter's eyes filled with tears and he couldn't help but laugh gently, beyond relieved. "It's gone?" He whispered.
The healer nodded. "It's gonna take a while for him to recover, as in get his strength back, but he's fine." He told him.
"Thank you." Peter whispered, so, so glad they'd managed to get rid of the poison before it had got to his brother's heart.
The healer smiled softly at him, before walking away, and Susan and Lucy quickly hurried over. "Is he okay?" Lucy asked.
Peter nodded. "The poison's gone." He told them. "He's okay."
Both Susan and Lucy smiled. "Is he still awake?" Susan murmured after a moment.
"Y - Yeah."
Peter's head snapped down. "Ed?" He choked.
Edmund gave the smallest of smiles, but kept his eyes closed. "I'm 'kay." He slurred. "Water?"
Peter swallowed hard. "Sure." He whispered, pouring a glass of water and placing the rim to Edmunds lips.
"I'm so glad you're okay." Peter whispered in his ear once Edmund had finished drinking.
Edmund buried his face against Peter's shoulder. "Me too."
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