The Call - Edmund Pevensie

12

After waking up twice from nightmares, I kept tossing and turning until eventually I gave up sleep entirely. Three hours was enough sleep anyways, right?

When I got up, everyone else was still asleep. The sound of soft snores filled the dark cavern as I rolled off of my sleeping mat. I crept through the How until I made it outside to one of the giant stone ledges that created the sides of the How. I sat letting my legs dangle over the edge as I looked out across the grassy plain. It wasn't long before I felt someone sit down next to me. 

"How are you feeling?" Caspian asked. I shrugged. 

"Fine honestly. My thigh is perfectly healed thanks to Lucy." He let out a breath of relief. 

"I'm sorry..." he started, then stopped. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you were hurt. I'm sorry I haven't come to you since we got back. I was just so angry at Peter and myself. I was mad at myself for not following the plans and letting my anger control me, upset that all those Narnian's died, and mad that I finally got the truth about our father's death.  But what I didn't think about was he was your father too. I know he died when you were young, but it doesn't make it any easier on you." I didn't say anything, afraid to break whatever trance my brother seemed to be under. 

"You've always been there for me Cat, ever since I can remember. We learned together, fought together, annoyed one another." I smiled at this. "But you're one of the only people in my life that I've ever fully been able to trust. I couldn't have made it here to the Narnians without you." I leaned my head against his shoulder and took a deep breath, breathing in the crisp early morning air. 

"I just helped you out of the castle. You did the rest by yourself," I told him. He shook his head.  

"You know that's not true," he said but I didn't contradict him again. It was nice just to sit here with him like this, almost as if there wasn't a war brewing. I didn't want to spoil the moment by arguing with him. 

As if he knew we were talking about last night, I saw the professor sit down next to Caspian out of the corner of my eye. I knew Caspian and I both had questions for him, and Caspian asked first.

"Why did you never tell us about our father?" It was the question that I'd had in the back of my mind since our professor had made his confession in the Telmarine cells.

"My mother was a black dwarf from the northern mountains." Both Caspian and I turned to our teacher in surprise. As I thought about it though, it made sense. Despite our uncle's ban on Narnian legends and the telling of stories of old, our professor had always taught them to us anyways. He'd always been so passionate about them, and now I understood why.

"I've risked my life all these years so that one day... you might be a better king than those before you." 

"Then I have failed you," Caspian said putting his head down. I grabbed his hand and squeezed reassuringly. 

"Everything I told you, everything I didn't," the professor continued. "It was only because I believe in you." Despite the initial shock, I understood where our professor was coming from. What would have been the gain of telling us years ago? All it would have done was get us killed years ago. By not telling us and letting us live in ignorance, we were safer from Miraz so that Caspian could eventually become the king our professor, and I, knew he'd be.

"You have a chance to become the most noble contradiction in history. The Telmarine who saved Narnia." The professor's words seemed to hang in the air. "Both of you."

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A little while later I was outside with a few fauns as scouts when I saw them. The glint of metal in the sun was what initially caught my eye, and soon enough Miraz's army stood at the edge of the forest. The fauns and I exchanged worried glances before I turned and ran back into the How. A horn blew, likely from one of the fauns, and everyone from the How began making their way outside to see what the fuss was. I found Caspian and Susan first as they were talking together near a fletching table.