(2) TELL ME TO STAY // Edmund Pevensie

A NARNIAN SWORD

THE NARNIANS CHARGED towards the Slave Traders, each drawing out their weapons as Reepicheep scurried over to where Lucy, Eustace and Catherine were being held, carrying the keys to their shackles.

'Thanks, Reepicheep!' Lucy gasped. 'I knew you'd come.'

'Your Highness.' Reepicheep bowed before untying Catherine, who ripped them off hastily and sighed, breathless from the pain.

'Nice one, Reep.'

Reepicheep winked at her. 'It was my pleasure.'

He jumped away with a yell, joining the fight as he drew his sword. Eustace and Lucy had left towards the battle, leaving Catherine in search of a weapon. She heard footsteps approach, crunching down on the floor and she started to panic, searching through her clothes only to realise that the Slave Traders had taken her dagger, too.

You have to use the dagger. She repeated, remembering what Caspian had told her the night they ran from the castle. Caspian's not here to protect you, you have to use the dagger.

But how was she supposed to use the bloody dagger, if the bloody dagger was nowhere to be found?

As the Trader emerged from the corner, Catherine improvised and grabbed the loose shackles on the ground, whipping them up to hit him in the face with a large grunt. He fell to the floor, limp and she gasped, slightly, panting from the heavy work. She was too busy watching her back when she ran into somebody else, her head connecting with their chest. An iron grip clutched itself onto her arm and she yelped out in pain.

'Ello, darlin'.' He drawled, presenting her with his sickly, cracked teeth. 'You're mine, aren't ya?'

Catherine growled and attempted to hit him, but he caught her wrist in mid-air and began to crush it in his palm, sending her a sinister smile. As he tightened his grip on her raw, burning skin, Catherine closed her eyes in pain and felt heat rush all the way up her body, crying out loudly.

Suddenly, a figure jumped down from the balcony and landed on top of the large man, the impact of their foot making the bidder collapse onto the floor.

Edmund stood up and dusted himself off, breathing deeply as he looked up at her, his lips morphing into a Cheshire grin. His hair messy and unruly from the action, his chest heaved up and down as his warm breath hit her face. Edmund's dark eyes seemed more like a light hazel in the light, glinting with an infamous cockiness and mischief, making her fear that she was about to melt right there and then – if not from how attractive he looked, then from the heavy weight on her legs that felt like they were going to crumple beneath her. A small smile crept onto her face.

'Are you alright?'

Catherine chuckled, reaching out to embrace her arms around him. He laughed, loudly, slightly surprised and hugged her back, not wasting an opportunity to snake his arms around her waist.

'Thank you.'

Edmund furrowed his eyebrows again – something he had started to do so often that it made his forehead begin to ache. He didn't understand why she was looking so broken and upset, she was more than capable to get out of the situation by herself. It was when his gaze darted to the burly man laying unconscious on the floor, the man that had been grinning and holding her so tight like he wanted something from her, he understood.

Catherine had been scared.

He swallowed the sadness and pity that rose in his throat and absentmindedly held her tighter, as if to send her a message that he was never going to leave her. But he did. And he will.