The group continued in silence, such silence in fact that a thud from behind us caused us to jump. I peeped at Edmund and could tell what he was thinking. Did that tree just collapse?
We hurriedly made our way to the source of the deafening thud. As we jogged through the familiar woodland my stomach felt tense and uneasy, I moved as the group did with baited breath. Rather swiftly we reached the spot of the thudding.
The tree had fallen over...
"It was Aslan!!" Lucy screamed with joy. "He provided us with a way! See! I knew it, I knew it was him that me and Amy saw!"
Edmund was staring at me, confused yet a small glimmer of excitement shone in his eyes.
"I don't suppose an apology would quite suffice" Peter said to Lucy.
"No..." Lucy said overly upset "but this might!" She laughed playfully punching Peter multiple times.
As their fight commenced I locked eyes with Edmund and the look plastered across his face matched mine. I had just suggested that the tree would make a good bridge and here it was, fallen over perfectly across the gorge. But I couldn't have possibly done anything.
Edmund began to speak "Amy was just saying that this very tree would make a great bridge"
I laughed nervously. I felt uneasy and I was not sure why, after all this was just a strange coincidence. Right?
As the siblings were discussing the uncanny coincidence, Trumpkin caught my eye, He was staring at me as if he knew something. I was not fond of the look in his eyes and the dreadful look strewn about him.
"alright everyone hold hands as we cross, it will be safer that way" Susan announced.
I held hands with the nearest two people as we crossed, Trumpkin (who I now felt slightly uneasy about) and Edmund who's grip felt extremely tight, i peered at his expression and it was that of panic as we walked suspended many metres up in the air. Was he afraid of falling?
"Watch out Amy, that moss is slippery" He said very quietly and sweetly so that only I heard.
"oh, thankyou" I replied. Wait, was he worried that I would fall?
We made it across the makeshift bridge and the strangest phenomenon occurred as trumpkin, who was at the back of the parade stepped off from the tree. The mighty tree began to lift itself from its position as a bridge, raising its branches to their original height swaying pleasantly in the wind, many leaves scattered down from the branches due to the commotion, they seemed to dance on their way down as the shining sun reflected through them.
Lucy began to giggle with a joyful expression. "its dancing! the tree is dancing"
We all watched in awe as the single tree moved gracefully about.
"it was magic" Peter said.
"it must have been Aslan" Susan Exclaimed.
Trumpkin was staring at me, the way one stares at a difficult puzzle or a text they cannot read. "I wouldn't be so sure about that" He said, not breaking his stare.
"oh, D.L.F surely you have to believe in Aslan now! you just witnessed magic!" Lucy replied still gazing hopefully at the tree.
I spotted Edmund look at me from the corner of my eye. I felt extremely uncomfortable with the way trumpkin was looking at me, I wasn't quite sure what I had done that seemed to offend him so harshly.
"were burning daylight," Edmund said and I was thankful for his remark "lets keep moving"
His words of wisdom swiftly worked as the group and even trumpkin moved along. Me and Edmund once again a pair at the back of the group.
"are you alright" He asked me, a worried tone rung in his voice.
"yeah, no, sorry" I awkwardly started to speak, as a soft smile appeared on Edmunds face. "Trumpkin has been looking at me rather oddly ever since you told the group about the coincidence" I finished saying.
"oh," Edmund said peering around his siblings to look at trumpkin who was walking with lucy.
"its like he knows something" I said.
"I'm sure its nothing Amy trumpkin seems miserable all the time, it cant be anything you have done, Don't worry" Edmund spoke reassuringly.
"thanks Edmund" I replied with a smile, that he returned ever so handsomely.
We joined in with the group conversation about what we were to do upon meeting Caspian, and walked another five miles or so before the daylight begun to fade rapidly.
"here's good" I heard peter shout, "well camp here for the night, Lucy and trumpkin go and collect firewood, enough for at least six hours" Peter spoke and lucy dashed off with trumpkin in hand "Edmund and Amy, see if you can find us some food over north, me and Susan will do the same south of camp"
luckily I had been carrying the same spare bow from the boat that I used to shoot the bear and still had many arrows I could use. Edmund and I began to explore the woods North of our camp as the daylight was thinning. We made our way through the maze of woodland climbing over large rocks, advancing further into the trees as quietly as we could searching for an animal to call dinner.
I spotted a large bird within the outstretched branches above. I waved at Edmund to gather his attention. As he looked at me I pointed at the bird. He nodded and reached around me to take the bow from my back, in doing this he moved extremely close to my face and we held eye contact. His deep brown eyes were gorgeous, a sight I could gaze into eternally and never bore. His pupils expanded as he gazed at me, never straying from my eyes.
The moment was unfortunately interrupted when the bird up above squawked rather ear piercingly, and extending its wings glided away.
"We lost it" Edmund sighed.
Only because you got lost In my eyes, I thought to myself smugly.
"shouldn't you be like amazing at hunting, being a king and all?" I asked playfully.
Edmund smiled as he scanned the canopy above. "you distracted me, its your fault we lost it."
"hey!" I laughed.
we continued our search for animals to catch. Edmund walked through the woods as if he had been here many times before, he knew exactly where to look for burrows and nests. He even informed me of creatures that are not found in England, such as the most miraculous of butterflies that we found within the foliage. I gazed in wonder at the new and exiting creatures all the while I noticed Edmund gazing at me.
"what was it like," I asked "being a king?"
turning his head as we walked Edmund answered "it was the best feeling ever, having everything you could ever want, all the food, all the clothes all the golden objects, at the click of a finger."
I chuckled at his response.
"but the part I miss the most is the respect that the Narnian's had for me, they trusted me with their lives, their loyalty in and out of battle was unmatched." He said, nostalgia glistening in his eyes.
"it must have been awful, to go back and get treated like a kid again" I said, empathetic of his situation.
"that's the thing," he spoke gently "even though I grew fifteen years older physically, I never matured mentally, I still am and feel like I'm 16. Time works strange wonders here in Narnia." He laughed to himself and his voice became slightly more nervous as he said "who knows maybe you'll find out."
I smiled sweetly in response and was about to reply when we heard a very loud and angry sounding yell "EDMUNDDD!" it was peters voice "AMYY!" he then shouted.
We dashed back through the thick and now dark forest toward the warm glow of our campfire. worry growing on our faces as we approached peter.
"there you two are!" he said laughing slightly and we looked at each other in confused with his cheery mood. "you have been in the woods for over an hour, did you manage to catch anything?"
Edmunds face dropped. we had completely forgotten the point of our wander in the woods.
"uh... well we tried, but uh, there was a distraction" He reported to his brother.
"don't worry yourselves" Susan shouted over from the campfire "me and peter were more than successful" she was roasting a wild boar over the fire. it looked almost cooked so we made our way over and sat down, readying ourselves for the meal.
A/N: thankyou for reading and sticking with the plot. Edmund and Amy very nearly had a romantic moment in this chapter. It might happen without interruptions soon!! ;) As always thankyou so much for reading if you enjoyed please vote and maybe even comment please?!