Always || Edmund Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia) [1]

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

EDITED 7/16/21

"Hurry up, Ed, we're about to leave."

Edmund shook his head to get rid of his floating thoughts, quickly getting back to packing and distributing the weapons that Mary, Caspian, and some of the Narnians were able to steal from the Telmarines the night before. He had hoped Lucy didn't catch him staring at Mary. It had only been an hour since he overheard their conversation and he still couldn't stop thinking about it.

His eyes flitted back to the brunette who was speaking to a centaur named Glenstorm. She looked very engaged as if what the man was saying was interesting, which Edmund assumed was about Narnia. He noticed that Mary tried to learn more about Narnia from whoever she spoke to, and it was admirable. It must have been pressuring for her to be part of such a great prophecy all on her own. At least Edmund had his brother and sisters.

At one point, Mary felt as if someone was watching her. She tore her gaze away from Glenstorm and locked eyes with Edmund. She sent him a friendly smile but he looked flustered, almost as if he had gotten caught doing something he shouldn't have. Mary raised her eyebrows at his reaction but let it slide, going back to listening to Glenstorm as he spoke of how Narnia had been like during the invasion of the Telmarines.

Eventually, the camp had packed up and were set to leave. On the way to Aslan's How, Mary and Edmund strayed away from the serious subject of the coming battle and to lighter topics instead to get their minds off of things.

"Who do you think would win in a fight: Caspian or Reepicheep?"

"Caspian," Edmund said without hesitation. "He's bigger."

"Reepicheep would totally win," Mary shot back. "He told me some of his battle stories already."

"And you believe them?"

"He said he took down dozens of Telmarines when they were chasing Caspian and that he would've taken him too if he didn't realize he was on the good side."

"Sure," Edmund scoffed in disbelief.

"Would you like me to prove it, Your Highness?" a voice said from below. Edmund and Mary looked down to find Reepicheep walking in between them, though they didn't know for how long.

"No need for that, Reep," Mary answered dramatically. "I'd hate to see Edmund lose terribly."

Edmund glared at the girl while she laughed and as Reepicheep smiled gratefully at her.

"I must say, you are my favorite by far," Reepicheep told her with a little bow. He scurried away to walk next to the others, but not before letting staring at Edmund for a moment, making the boy slightly uncomfortable.

"I think he dislikes me now," he said once the rat was out of earshot. "I bet the only reason he's not attacking me right now is because I'm a king."

"Well, it's not my fault you underestimated him," Mary told him, ducking as they passed under a particularly low thicket of trees and her hair almost getting caught in the leaves.

"I wouldn't have if I knew he was there," Edmund grumbled.

"Still underestimating him."

Mary found Edmund staring at her once they had arrived at a clearer path. She looked around, wondering if he was staring at something behind her before facing him once more with a frown.

"What are you looking at?" she asked slowly, stopping in her tracks.

Edmund blinked and shook his head, saying, "Sorry, there's a, uh, leaf in your hair."