The rocky terrain of the island wasn't something that Aramis could say he was used to. His robes were far too long, and caught often on the jagged edges they passed by. It was embarrassing being last in a small group, and even more so when Edmund held back to help him. There was far too much guilt associated with trekking that the spirit was not prepared for.
It would have been much more practical for Aramis to stay behind and gather food with the men. He would have been at ease doing that. However, after the experience on Coriakin's Island, Edmund wasn't willing to let the spirit out of his sight.
Really, it was a lovely gesture, and it did make Aramis feel very loved. Only, it wasn't practical for them. He was the black sheep, and he was letting them down.
"Look," Caspian directed their gaze down to a cavern at the top of one of the cliffs. There was a rope tied to a boulder, cascading down as the only way to access it. "We're not the first ones on this island."
Edmund raised an eyebrow as he attempted to look down. "The Lords?"
"Could be." The King sighed, pondering for a moment.
He picked up one of the smaller surrounding rocks, and threw it down into the hole without much concern for what may be down there. It was in hope that they might be able to see how far down the next level of ground was. They learned nothing new.
Caspian hummed. "What do you think could be down there?"
Edmund just shrugged, not having weighed up any of his possibilities. "Let's find out."
They decided it would be best if they took it in turns abseiling down, and that Edmund would be the first, since it was his idea. It was a rough journey, and it made Aramis nervous to watch his love leave into what could be a certain doom. However, when they called down, he was alright, and he could breath again.
They sent the spirit down next. He was the least agile of all the rest of them, and needed support from both ends to make it down safely. The rocks were jagged, and stuck out in awkward places. Aramis was slightly frightened he would impale himself, but he could hear Edmund's voice from the ground, calming him, soothing him. He truly was a lucky person.
When his feet hit the ground, it was a relief, and Edmund wrapped his arms around him, just for good measure. There was nothing better than being close to him, and it felt like a crime not being able to relish the moment.
Caspian came down next, and Lucy finally joining them, but by then Edmund had already decided to start exploring. He didn't go far so that Aramis could see him whilst holding onto the rope. The freckled King was truly enamoured by the very appearance of the cavern, and it was something he wanted to take in properly.
There was a pool not too far away, which enticed Edmund enough for him to stop at it. When the others were there, Aramis followed him over, just so that he could see what the King did.
Caspian peered over their shoulders, curiously, in the same way that they did. "What's that?"
"I don't know." Edmund ran his eyes over the water, searching for the thing that his friend was wondering about. "Looks like some sort of gold statue."
The Pevensie boy broke off one of the roots from the stone walls, and used it to poke at the statue they had found. However, as soon as it touched the water, gold started to spread rapidly up the wood. He yelped in fright as it climbed towards his hands, where he dropped it, and let it fall back into the pool. The action took them all by surprise, and it wasn't exactly what they were expecting.
"He must have fallen in." Caspian cleared his throat.
Lucy shook her head, empathetically. "Poor man."
"You mean poor lord." Edmund corrected, spotting the crest on a shield in the water.
"The crest of Lord Resitmar."
Edmund gestured. "And his sword."
"We need it." The King replied, to which they all agreed to. These swords were their path, and only by taking them from the lords could they complete it.
Edmund unsheathed his sword, and directed it towards the water. "Be careful." His sister warned, gripping onto Aramis' hand as they were both as nervous as each other.
With baited breath they waited as the tip of the sword touched the water, and was not effected by the gold. Slightly less nervous now, he caught it beneath the hilt of the other sword, and lifted it from the pool. All of which was done with great caution, and great skill, he handed it off to Caspian so he could step away from the edge.
"Your sword hasn't turned to gold." Lucy raised an eyebrow.
"Both the swords are magical." Caspian reminded them, which made more sense. Aramis could feel it tingling in his fingertips.
"Here."
Lucy shook her head. "He mustn't have known what hit him."
"It is very unfortunate." Aramis sighed. "He did not deserve this."
"Maybe." Edmund teetered, thinking it through a little more than his companions. "Or maybe he was onto something."
Caspian scoffed. "What are you talking about?"
Taking a conch shell, Edmund dipped it in the water, and waited. He was quick to drop it on the stone and saw as it turned into gold, like everything else. Once it was solid, and there was no risk of it affecting him, he took it back. There was an envious green to his dark eyes, greed and egotism flooding his nature. Aramis caught a glimpse, and shuddered. This wasn't him. This was not Edmund the Just. This was the mist.
Lucy squeezed his hand tighter. "What are you looking at?"
"Whoever has access to this pool..." Edmund paused, soaking in all of his thoughts. "Could be the most powerful person in the world."
Caspian's head snapped towards them. He'd realised it too. Something was tempting them, and appealing to all of their worst interests. It could have been any of them. It just happened to reach Edmund first.
"Lucy..." He trailed, catching their attention. "We'd be so rich. No one could tell us what to do. Or who to live with."
"You can't take anything out of Narnia, Edmund." Caspian responded, without being asked. His voice was low.
"Says who?"
"I do."
Edmund had not yet cloaked his sword, and stood with it in a battle-ready position. He was not normally a particularly frightening person. However, there was something about him as he approached Caspian with malcontent. Neither man seemed like himself.
"I'm not your subject." He spat, cruelly. Whatever this was, it was drawing upon every insecurity. His words were truthful, but it was nothing he would have ever said.
"You've been waiting for this, haven't you?" Caspian spoke to him like dirt stuck to the bottom of his boot. "To challenge me. You doubt my leadership."
Edmund retorted, swiftly. "You doubt yourself."
"This is not right." Aramis whispered beneath his breath, and Lucy nodded. "This is not them."
"I know." The Queen replied with as much distain as her guide.
"You're a child!" Caspian bellowed, still caught on the topic of worthiness.
"And you're a spineless sap!"
"Edmund..." Lucy tried to warn him; none of them wanted to fight. It would only making things worse.
"I'm tired of playing second fiddle." The freckled King exclaimed, ferociously. "First it was Peter, and now it's you! You know I'm braver than both of you. Why do you get Peter's sword? I deserve a kingdom of my own. I deserve to rule!"
It broke Aramis' heart. He had never heard Edmund say anything like this before. How couldn't he have noticed how unhappy he was?
Caspian pushed against Edmund's shoulders with their swords bared brutally. "If you think you're so brave, prove it!"
They danced for a moment, not daring to be the first to move, like something else was dictating their decisions. However, they did clash eventually, with a tin-like boom. It didn't take much for Lucy to run into the centre before they could attack one another again. In the process she let go of Aramis' hand, and he felt more exposed than ever before.
"No! Stop it!" She was far more frightening than they were. "Both of you! Look at yourselves! Can't you see what's happening? This place has tempted you. It's bewitching you. This is exactly what Coriakin was talking about." Edmund looked at the shell. "Let's just get out of here."
Lucy was the first to leave, leading by example, hoping the boys would follow. Caspian didn't waste a moment to look back. However, it did take Aramis a while. He couldn't keep his eyes off of Edmund. Both heartbroken and disappointed, he didn't know how he was supposed to feel. That was when he left, and didn't check whether to see if Edmund was following. Only when he had trouble clambering up the rope, and the King offered him a leg-up did he realise.
There were no words spoken between the four of them the entire walk back to camp. Half were ashamed, half were frustrated. It was not the nicest mix of emotions that there could have been.
Lucy and Aramis had taken the lead, staying side by side, united by their anger. Edmund lagged far behind them. He felt worse than everyone else did, but it was his fault, so they refused to act upon it. As soon as they arrived, Caspian took charge again, and felt something restored in him.
"What food did you find?"
Rhince showed him their baskets, which were scarcely filled. "It's volcanic, Your Majesty. Not much grows."
Aramis himself hadn't noticed too much different, because he was relishing the peace, which must have been a telling sign. Lucy was a much more observant person, and something clicked in his mind straight away. "Where's Eustace?"
"I believe he's out," Reep responded, pettily. "Not helping us load the boats."
"Eustace!" She called. "Eustace!" When there was no response, she turned to her brother. "Edmund, I've got a bad feeling."
"I'll go find him." He promised, not meeting their eyes.
Caspian nodded. "I'll come with you." Before leaving, he left the new sword with Lucy, as Aramis could hardly touch it without having a visceral reaction.
As the boats were loaded, and men were taken back and forth from the island to the Dawn Treader, Lucy kept Aramis close. She could see how distressed he was from all that they had just been through. For once, it was her duty to look after him, and she took great pride in it.
Eventually, it was their turn to be taken back, as Lucy decided it would be best for them to spend their time with Gael. It couldn't be much fun for her to be stuck between all of the adult, male sailors. He knew that it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Only when they were finally settling down, did they hear a great rumbling echo through the air.
More confident than the others, Lucy turned to Drinian. "What was that?"
And then it happened again. The roaring, the echoing, and fire bursting out from one of the cliff faces. It was horrible. He had never seen so much fuel to kill so many people if he had tried. Aramis only hoped he would never have to see it again.
"Is it a volcano?" Gael asked. She sounded just as petrified as he was.
"Oh, no... that's no volcano." Drinian shook his head.
Aramis agreed. "I believe it is much worse than that."
"All hands on deck!" Their Captain commanded, bracing them for worst. There were already many suspicions, but they couldn't be sure. Not until they saw it themselves. "Archers arm yourselves!"
Everything seemed to blur into one as all men on deck began to clamour. A dragon approached them, flying by, and taking one swift look before circling once or twice. It was a huge beast, and an ugly one at that, with great horns and tendrils sticking from its face. He was so frightened as the Dragon landed upon the mast that he could barely hear what Drinian was saying.
After rattling the boat for far too long, it eventually flew back to the island. Just for a moment it felt as if it was going to be alright. It didn't look like they were going to be troubled by it again. But Aramis heard Lucy cried out.
"Edmund!"
He turned around, and saw that the dragon had grabbed onto the freckled King, and held him tightly in its grasp. Aramis could feel his eyes welling. Their last conversation couldn't have been a fight. That wasn't fair. Not at all.
"Lucy!" They heard him call back faintly. "Aramis!"
With Drinian's orders, they sailed back to the island. At first it was an attempt to find Edmund, but when they arrived on the shore, they found him alive and well. Caspian was stood by him, as was the dragon, and everyone was far more calm than they expected them to be. Aramis didn't know whether he should embrace Edmund, or leave him be.
He decided against his gut, and stood with Lucy, again. It might have been petty, but that didn't matter.
However, it did come as a rather pleasant surprise when they found that the dragon was in fact Eustace. Aramis hadn't seen it coming at all, actually, like the deaths of both Romeo and Juliet at the end.
"He must have been tempted by the treasure." Lucy shook her head, sorrowfully.
"Well, anyone knows a dragon's treasure is enchanted." Caspian said, matter-of-factly, before Eustace, as the dragon, snarled. "Well, anyone from here."
Lucy approached Eustace, and removed the bracelet from his arm. He yelped in pain, which sounded much more frightening now that he was changed and not human. Of course, it was less than ideal.
Edmund queried. "Is there any way to change him back?"
"Not that I know of." Caspian replied.
"Aunt Alberta will not be pleased." He gritted his teeth, despondently. They had absolutely no idea what they were going to do.
"Sorry about the hand old boy." Reep apologised, softly. "I can be a little overzealous at times."
Tavros called out to them from the shoreline, having done what his instructions were. "The boats are ready, sire!"
"We can't leave him alone." Lucy protested.
"Well, we can't bring him on board, Your Majesty."
"Aramis?" Edmund asked, asking for his opinion for the first time since the cavern.
"Respectively, Your Majesty," The spirit responded, coldly and absently. "I do not have anything to say."
"The rest of us will stay here till morning and..." Caspian sighed, saving Edmund from further embarrassment. "Work out what to do."
"But you've no provisions." Rhince countered, caring for his King the way that many often hoped to do. "And no means of staying warm, Your Majesty."
Without blinking, Eustace breathed fire onto a nearby twig, causing Reep to smirk. "You were saying?"
It was not exactly how Aramis wanted his day to go, nor how he was expecting it to happen. Perhaps it was time. Edmund and him had never fought, and every good relationship was supposed to feel natural. This was the first time that they had ever interacted like a regular pair, and Aramis had decided that he didn't want to be normal. Abnormal was far better.
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Disclaimer!!!!
I do not own these characters. I do not own the Narnia series. I do not own the actors, or the characters. The only thing I own is my adaptation of the story, and my original character.