Royal [E.Pevensie]

chapter twelve

When they arrived back at the boats, everyone was silent. There hadn't even been a single word exchanged since Edmund and Caspian's fight.

"What food did you find?" Asked Caspian. He looked down into the baskets that lay on the sand.

"It's volcanic, your majesty." Sighed Gael's father. "Not much grows."

The food in the baskets seemed very dry and plain. "Where's Eustace?" Lucy questioned.

"I was hoping no one would notice." Edmund mumbled.

"Edmund." Adela lightly slapped his arm.

"What? Now, the jokes aren't okay?" He put his hands up in defense.

"I believe he's out, not helping us load the boats." Exasperated Reepicheep.

"Eustace!" Lucy shouted. "Eustace!"

There was no response. "Edmund, I've got a bad feeling." Lucy looked to her brother worriedly. Edmund rolled his eyes. "I'll go find him."

"I'll come with you." Offered Adela. She followed after him up into the rocky and sandy hills. "Eustace!" They both called for the boy.

"Eustace!"

All of a sudden, Edmund stopped walking. He noticed a pit, and at the bottom, were thousands of golden artifacts. "Treasure." Edmund gasped.

Adela paused. "Trouble." She sighed. Edmund squinted his eyes. He noticed something odd in the sand. "There seems to be...a shoe." He furrowed his eyebrows. He carefully stepped down into the pit.

He lifted the brown, leather shoe and examined it curiously. "Eustace." He concluded. Adela spotted a cloud of smoke emerging from a pile of clothes just ahead.

When Edmund saw it, he ran to the clothes, lifting them up. "No." He denied. "Oh, cousin." All signs pointed to the worst possible outcome. Eustace was overtaken and killed.

Adela frowned. She pursed her lips, and looked to the boy. She pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry." She comforted.

"He was just a boy." Lamented Edmund. "I never should have left him." He shook his head. He parted from Adela with a look of regret.

"What could have happened to him?" Edmund questioned.

"In this place? Anything." Adela faltered. She looked off to the side. There was a skeleton leaning up against a rock.

"And he wasn't the first." She stood up. "It's Lord Octesian." She stated. "We should find his..."

By the time Adela spoke, Edmund had already found and taken the sword from the ground.

"...sword." She finished.

"We should.. we should head back." Hesitated Adela. She was broken by the look on Edmund's face. The boy stood in front of her. He appeared conflicted, as if he were holding back all of his emotions.

It was not long until he collapsed into the girl's arms once more. This time, he cried. He cried of regret and guilt for not having kept his cousin safe. No matter how many times he would joke about him, Eustace was still just a boy, and he felt guilty for a boy's death.

On their way back, Adela and Edmund could hear very loud shouting coming from the ship. Confused, they looked to each other.

Edmund, who was much further ahead, turned back around and continued walking. Meanwhile, Adela heard a sort of flapping from behind her. A dragon. A real dragon! It was ginormous and terrifying.

It charged at her, but she ducked. "Edmund! Ed!" She warned. It was too late. The dragon took Edmund, flying off with the boy.

"Ed!" Adela ran back in the boat's direction in a panic.