soldier, poet, king || e. pevensie | slow updates

the king • 21

there will come a ruler, whose brow is laid in thorn, smeared with oil like david's boy, oh lei-oh lai-oh lord.

Edmund was sitting across from Coralia during luncheon, exchanging glances the whole time. King Lune had not spoken a word, which could mean anything. They didn't even know if Liletis had been made sick enough to miss the meeting. Perhaps the old king had postponed the meeting until she was well enough.

Every time Lune inhaled, Edmund braced himself for news, but every breath was just a breath. The meal dragged on and on in silence. King Lune finished his meal and stood, dismissing everyone. As soon as Edmund was out of the room, he could finally breathe without drawing everyone's attention. Coralia quickly caught up to his side.

"Do you think it worked?"

"He's either still under her magic or angry with her for opposing him," Edmund sighed. "We failed."

"You don't know that, he could've been quiet for a number of reasons," Coralia tried to smile encouragingly, but she couldn't even convince herself.

"We're done for, it's time to accept it." Edmund walked away. "You don't need to follow me, I'd like to be alone."

Coralia paused, but obliged and headed off to the attics.

Edmund needed to clear his head somehow. He set off to explore the capital of Archenland. After a long time of wandering through the castle fortress, he reached the library. It was an expansive room, with shelves upon shelves of books. Anything you could think of within the last 1,000 years was documented in this one room. He didn't even know where to start.

He eventually chose to sit in a window overlooking the city of Anvard. He watched children play in the roads, ordinary people walk through the market, and people sweeping their front steps. It reminded him of why he was there. Not to save himself, or his siblings. Not for his army, but for his people. Every citizen of Narnia needed protection, no matter who they were or where they came from. He needed King Lune's army to maintain the well-being of all Narnians. Further even, every Archenlander and Calormene and anyone else that could be targeted by Ettinsmoor.

After an hour of people-watching, he grew bored of sitting still. He needed to fight something. He needed a duel. It had been almost two weeks since he'd picked up his sword for a fight that wasn't army training. He needed to find Coralia. He stood too quickly, doubling over. His wound had healed already, but he was still moving slower than he would've liked.

He didn't have to go far to find his bodyguard. She was already on her way to him, talking about how she shouldn't have left him and claiming that he was in need of guarding now more than ever. He reassured her that he was fine, but she still seemed on edge.

"Do you want to do something fun?" Edmund grinned.

"Now I'm worried."

"Meet me in the courtyard, and bring your sword."

•

"This is a bad idea," Coralia said, getting into her fighting stance.

"Why, afraid I'll beat you?" Edmund smirked.

"No, I'm afraid I'll beat you." She lunged forward with her last word, trying to catch him off guard. It didn't work. He blocked her move easily.

"You've been training, Coralia. Not hard enough, apparently," Edmund attacked, but she easily parried. This repeated multiple times. They were at almost the same skill level, so it was hard for either of them to get the upper hand.

Coralia cut across, Edmund blocked it, she punched him in the face.

"Hey! No fighting dirty," He hissed, holding his jaw. He lowered his voice, "Damn, that was a good punch."

"No rules were laid out beforehand, so I took my opportunity. And thank you," Coralia curtsied.

Edmund swung his sword over his head, bringing it straight down towards his bodyguard. Her sword met his barely above her head, catching him in a lock.The pause lasted hardly a moment, but time seemed to slow down for the both of them. Their faces were so close. Too close. Edmund's eyes darted back and forth between Coralia's. She let out a small breath, before breaking the eye contact and disarming the young king.

"One would think you would know not to get distracted in the middle of a battle," Coralia tried to fight her growing smile, but was unsuccessful.

"I wasn't distracted. You just got lucky," Edmund scowled. The truth is, he was distracted.

Coralia just shot him an unconvinced look before putting her sword back in its sheath. "It's nearly time for dinner. Let's go find out what Lune has decided."

Instant dread fell over Edmund. In all the heat of the duel, he'd almost forgotten about the whole reason they were in Anvard. He looked up at the sky, orange with the setting sun, before following Coralia inside.

He changed into appropriate dinner attire and headed to the dining hall to wait for King Lune. Coralia stood next to him, twitching nervously. He kicked her under the table. Relax, he mouthed when she gave him a bewildered look. She rolled her eyes, but stopped moving.

King Lune joined them just moments later. "Sit, let us eat."

The servants brought out the feast. Once everyone was served and eating, the old king stood. When everyone went to stand with him, he waved his hand, beckoning for them to stay seated.

"I know these past 24 hours must have been a difficult and worrisome time for you all. I'd like to announce my decision now. I conferred with my advisors, who all had mostly reasonable ideas and advice. But I disregarded some of it, and I've made a decision," Lune turned to Edmund. "I will lend you fifty men. I give you six months to train your own army with the help of my men, then you must send them back. We will try our best to respond if you need help. I will send my men to you in a few weeks, after you've returned to your home and gotten settled. I wish you the best of luck."

Edmund quickly grabbed King Lune's hand to shake. "Thank you, Your Majesty. We will leave at first light tomorrow. You have no idea how grateful we are. If you ever need anything, please call on us and we will do whatever we can."

All of the knights stood and bowed to the old king, finishing their meals soon after.

King Edmund headed to his chambers, followed by Coralia. As soon as the door was shut behind them, Edmund jumped up and down like a child. "Either our plan worked, or perhaps Liletis isn't magic at all."

Coralia grinned. "You've got your army, and in just a few weeks you'll be training them with extra help."

"Our army. We have our army." Edmund ducked behind his screen and began changing. He took off his clothes and held a hand up over the screen. Coralia quickly handed him his pajamas. His pajamas being only a pair of pants.

"Where is your shirt?" Coralia asked quickly. He could hear her shuffling around the room, moving things to look around.

"You didn't pack enough, and I will not wear anything that's been dirtied." Edmund stepped out from around the screen, approaching his bodyguard.

"Dirtied? You wore this one for less than four hours last night, we didn't even get the chance to sleep. It's not dirty." Coralia held the shirt out in front of her, hiding her face.

"Fine," He snatched the shirt from her, taking his time putting it on. She was clearly avoiding eye contact, looking around the room at anything but him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! Just put the shirt on, please, and I'll go outside." She turned her head up at him, but kept her eyes fixed on the wall behind him. He laughed at her discomfort and turned his back, slowly raising the shirt over his head. Flustering Coralia was always the best part of his day.

"I'll see you in the morning. Remember, first light," With that, Coralia opened the door to stand outside. The last thing he heard was a heavy sigh as she shut the door. Satisfied, he climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep.

•

i am home for thxgiving break so i hope to write more bc im running out of my finished chappies :0