Beyond The Lamppost

Write The Future

(Caspian and Edmund conversation in PC after Caspian almost brings Jadis back to life and Edmund destroys the wall of ice she is in)

"Hey." Edmund said as he sat down beside Caspian, who sat on a hill outside of  Aslans How.
"Hey." Caspian said.
"You okay?" Edmund asked.
Caspian shrugged.
"Not really."
"What were you thinking?" Edmund asked. "I mean....what in Narnia happened ?"

Caspian looked guiltily at Edmund.

"I don't know. I mean it all happened so fast. I had no idea they were bringing her back to life, I never would have agreed to it if I had. I know she made all the Narnians miserable during that one hundred year winter. But when she talked to me, she had this sweet voice, yet a little sick at the same time. And it almost felt like she could give me...anything I wanted."

"That's what she does." Edmund said.
Caspian looked up at him.

"First, she makes you like her. She acts kind and sweet, and will give you whatever you ask for. But don't fall for it!  It's all just a trick so she can get you to do whatever she wants. So you can willingly come to her. She puts you under a spell. And suddenly, your so deep into it, you don't think you will ever make it out alive."

"What exactly happened with Jadis Edmund?" Caspian asked.
Edmund squeezed his eyes shut tight.
"What do you know?" He asked.

"Just that she gave you something enchanted to eat that made you betray your family when you all came to Narnia.
You were her prisoner for a while and then Aslan rescued you and took you to your siblings and you all made up."
"That's it?"
"Yup."
Edmund took a deep breath.

"Well she gave me Turkish Delight, which I asked for. I ate loads of it. She told me she could see me as a Prince or even, King of Narnia one day. She said all I had to do was bring my family to her.
But, when we all got to Narnia and were at the Beavers house I got tired of waiting on them. So I left and went to her myself.  I soon realized I had made a huge
mistake. She locked me in her dungeons, and kept asking where my family was and trying to get all this information out of me. She would torture me for it most of the time. I never knew if my siblings were alive from one day to the next. I found out later that they never knew if I was alive or not either. She whipped me more times than I could count.  She slapped me across the cheek. She made me pull the sleigh when the snow started melting and it couldn't go anymore. She tied me to a tree and gagged me.
Finally - right when they were about to kill me -  Aslan sent Orious and some other creatures to rescue me.
I talked with Aslan and made up with my siblings."

"Wow." Caspian said in shock.
"That's not even the worst part" Edmund said as he wiped a stray tear from his cheek.
"What do you mean?" Caspian asked.

"Do you know about the Battle of Beruna."
"That's the Battle where we defeated Jadis victoriously, even though we were much smaller. Oh and Peter led the Battle."
"That's right." Edmund said.
"But one of us almost didn't make it out alive."
"What?!" Caspian asked, eyes going wide.

"I saw Jadis, heading towards Peter with her wand, he didn't see her. So I ran over to her and tried to smash her wand. She moved it out of the way in time though. After that she tried to turn me into stone, but I dodged the wand and smashed it with my sword instead. "

"Woah!" Caspian said

"There was this huge flash of blue light. Then she quickly disarmed me."
Edmund took a deep breath.
"Then she-she stabbed me."
Caspians eyes went wide."
"She stabbed you?!"
"Yeah."

"What happened after that?"

"Well after I fell to the ground I don't remember much. I could hear swords clashing every now and then, but they sounded really far away. I remember barely being able to hear Susan shout my name. Next thing I know I'm surrounded by my siblings, and Susan (later they told me it was her) removed my helmet.
I was trying really hard to breathe but I just couldn't get any air.
All of a sudden I tasted this cold liquid, then everything went black. Then I opened my eyes and my siblings sat around me, sad, and almost crying at first, but then they started smiling down at me. It felt like only a second between Lucys cordial and opening my eyes, but my siblings said it was much longer, and felt like an eternity."

Edmund wiped the tears away, wishing to forget this painful memory.

Caspian stared at him wide eyed.
"Edmund I hadn't realized you had been through all that."

Edmund just sniffled.

"Your strong Edmund. Really really strong, and brave."
"Thanks." Edmund said as he continued to look at the ground.
"Thanks for telling me." Caspian said.
Edmund nodded.

"Look." Edmund said, after a few moments silence.

"The point is, you can never trust Jadis. Ever. No matter what she says to you or how nice she acts it's fake! All she wants is someone to bring her back to life so she can make me and Narnia miserable.
You can't trust her."

"I know that now" Caspian said.
"Good."

"I see now why you stabbed her so quickly without hesitation."

"I'll admit I was a little scared to do it. But I knew that I had no choice. You and Peter were about to bring her back to life and there was no way I was letting her come back to life. I'm honestly proud of myself for doing it."

"You should be Edmund. That was a very brave thing to do."
Edmund nodded, but looked a bit dazed.

"Edmund." Caspian said.
Edmund looked at him with tears in his eyes.

"She's gone. She's dead. Aslan killed her once and you just killed her again. She can't hurt you anymore."

Edmund looked down at the ground.
"Yes she's dead. But she still hurts me, every day. She haunts me in my dreams and causes me pain all over again. Anyone mentions the past or winter and I remember what I did and am immediately filled with so much regret I can hardly bare it. The scar from Beruna hurts sometimes.
So yeah. She may be dead, and she might always be dead. But that doesn't mean she can't hurt me. She will always hurt me and she will haunt me for years to come because I will always regret what I did."

"Edmund the past is unchangeable. No matter how badly we wish to change it we just can't. But the future, is brand new. It's a clean slate. We get a brand new chance everyday to write the future. And I have a feeling the future your writing, is pretty amazing ."

Edmund smiled at him.
"Thank you Caspian." He said as he gave him a hug.
"Your welcome Ed."