CHAPTER 18

POSTED 6/23/19

A sharp, searing pain on her stomach. That was all Mary felt just as she had finished knocking out the Telmarine soldier before her. She stumbled back with a gasp and looked down, eyes wide as she saw a knife dug right into her stomach.

"Mary!" Caspian and Trumpkin came running towards her, eyes widening when they spotted the knife in her stomach.

For a moment, the pain had faded a way into a dull kind that Mary almost thought she couldn't feel it. She was just staring down at the knife in shock before she glanced at Caspian and Trumpkin.

"It... it doesn't hurt. Why doesn't it hurt anymore? Wait, oh my goodness... I've been stabbed," she started to panic. "Holy — wow. What do I do? Do I take it out? Will it hurt more? Will I die? Oh my —"

"I think you're in shock," Caspian explained, slowly guiding her to sit down against a tree trunk. "Don't remove it. It will only get worse."

Caspian then looked around and searched for the attacker. He barely caught a glimpse of Glozelle in the forest before the man ran away from sight, but another Telmarine soldier still stood there. When he made eye contact with him, he made a run for it as well. Caspian stood up and decided to go after them.

"Stay with her," Caspian ordered Trumpkin. "I'll stop the other Telmarines."

Trumpkin nodded before turning back to Mary.

"Do — do I just wait?" Mary asked anxiously.

"I —" Trumpkin stopped short when the two of them heard a mighty roar.

"Aslan," Mary mumbled knowingly. She felt a sense of respect and couldn't wait to see the one creature that every Narnian loved and revered so much.

Then, they heard shouts from where the river was. From between the trees, they could see the water going wild, creating big waves. No, it was a figure in the water doing that — a river god. Some Telmarines were washed away, but some still managed to escape.

"I'm going to go get help for you," Trumpkin informed Mary. "Just stay here and —"

"No," Mary cut him off. "They need you there."

Trumpkin turned around and saw some of the Telmarines successfully escaping. He looked back at the injured girl, conflicted. He knew she needed help as soon as possible, but she was also right. He needed to assist the other Narnians in preventing the Telmarines from escaping.

"You must be crazy."

Mary tried to laugh but the force caused pain and she winced.

"I can get help later," she said firmly. "When everything's over."

Trumpkin grunted frustratedly when he realized Mary truly was right.

"Don't move, okay?" he reminded her before leaving, running into the thicket of trees and towards the Telmarines trying to escape the clutches of the Narnians who were clearly winning.

Mary let out a shaky sigh and lowered her hands on the knife lodged into her, unsure of what to do. She almost thought about pulling it out but remembered Caspian's words and stopped. The pain was coming back now and she started to sweat and breathe heavily, hoping it would go away.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps. She looked up in panic and saw two Telmarines running her way but they halted when they saw her sitting there. There was a second where neither of them made a move as they calculated the next best action to take. Then, all eyes landed on Mary's sword that she dropped a few feet away. The two men made a run for the weapon while Mary tried to reach out for it as well. One of the men almost beat her to it but she kicked a leg out to trip him. The other one had shoved her away and her back roughly hit the tree trunk. It knocked the air out of Mary, but with the adrenaline coursing through her, she continued to try and fight them.

While Mary was busy fighting the escaping Telmarines off, hidden in the trees by the shore, Edmund was watching from the edge of the water as the fight finally began to die down. Most of their opponents were beginning to accept their loss now that the river god had wiped them out and Aslan had arrived.

"It's really over," Peter said softly from next to Edmund as everything began to settle down and they could see Lucy standing next to Aslan on the other side of the river. The raven haired boy nodded as it all sunk in.

"I suppose it is." He saw from his peripherals as Susan came to stand next to him and he jumped, realizing who was missing.

"What is it?" Peter asked.

"Have you seen Mary?" The two older Pevensies frowned and shook their heads. He hurriedly walked away from them to look for her, eyes searching the group of Narnians frantically. He asked those who he passed by if they had seen her, most of them saying that they hadn't — that was until he bumped into Trumpkin and Caspian.

"She — she was stabbed," Caspian answered his question.

"Where is she?" Edmund demanded. Caspian pointed towards the trees. "You just left her there?"

"I was with her," Trumpkin explained. "I offered to get her help but she forced me to continue fighting. I —"

Edmund didn't let them finish and broke out into a run, heading to the forest. He weaved through the trees and past the Narnians and Telmarines left there, calling out her name.

"Mary!"

Mary heard Edmund the first time he shouted her name, but she was too busy trying to stop the other Telmarines who still wanted to escape. However, it was a lost cause as she was already too weak. One of them had pushed her right where the dagger was, digging the weapon deeper into her. She gasped and fell back down, but not before catching a glimpse of the Telmarine's surprised face that made her wonder if he had meant to do that at all. The other one noticed his hesitation too and took this chance to finish Mary off. He pushed away his fellow Telmarine who had stopped attacking and reached out for the knife, forcefully pulling it out from her. Mary cried out in pain and could barely find the energy to move anymore as she lay limp on the ground.

"Mary!" Edmund yelled again, but it was for a different reason. He had seen the Telmarine pull the knife out of her stomach with his own eyes. Edmund's heart dropped and he sprinted towards them, tackling both the soldiers onto the ground. Trumpkin and Caspian followed closely behind and helped him, the three of them successfully taking out the enemy in a matter of seconds. Then, Edmund turned to Mary and kneeled down next to her.

"Oh no," he muttered, seeing the bright red blood staining her shirt. He then pushed the hair out of Mary's face and saw it scrunched up in pain as each breath she took was painful.

"We must take her to Queen Lucy," said Trumpkin. Edmund nodded a few times, placing his arms under Mary to carry her. She groaned when he moved her and his heart tugged.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he apologized. "You're going to be okay."

Mary attempted to keep her eyes opened, focusing on Edmund to make sure she didn't lose consciousness — she knew it wouldn't be a good sign if she did.

When they exited the thicket of trees, many of the Narnians stopped and watched worriedly as Edmund, Caspian, and Trumpkin brought out an injured Mary. Both Peter and Susan gasped when they saw, hurrying over to them.

"We need Lucy's cordial now," Edmund said, trying to keep his voice stable. The Pevensies, Caspian, and Trumpkin made their way across the shallowest part of the river with the help of some centaurs who offered to carry Mary higher over the water. When they had neared the other side, the centaurs transferred Mary back into Edmund's arms.

"Keep your eyes open," he ordered, his own eyes glazed with worry as he looked down at her.

"Okay."

She tried her best to follow his words, but her eyelids were becoming just too heavy for them not to flutter close every once in a while.

"Didn't I tell you not to do anything stupid?" Edmund continued to talk in the hopes of keeping her awake.

"I wanted to kick more ass," Mary defended herself, inhaling sharply as she spoke.

"Lucy!" Peter and Susan called out as they neared land. The youngest Pevensie initially hadn't noticed them for she was too occupied speaking to Aslan. Hearing the tone of their voices was enough for her to face her siblings anxiously, wondering what had gone wrong. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw Edmund carrying an unconscious Mary in his arms.

Edmund hurried to get out of the water which had been left with red trails of blood, only adding to his worry when he realized how bad Mary's state was.

"Hurry!" the oldest Pevensies urged Lucy as she ran towards them. When they had all reached the shore, Edmund gently placed Mary down on the ground, careful not to hurt her any further. Peter, Susan, and Caspian gathered around her while Trumpkin left to monitor the Telmarines as they surrendered their weapons and armor. Mary was thankfully still breathing, but she painfully whimpered upon being moved again.

"I'm sorry," Edmund apologized again, placing his hands on her gaping wound to add pressure to it. But she didn't reply because her eyes had eventually closed shut.

"No, no, no," Edmund denied before looking at his younger sister for help. "Do something already!"

Lucy uncapped her cordial that Santa gifted her with years ago, knelt on the ground next to Mary, and poured a drop of it into the girl's mouth. Edmund could almost feel the tears pricking his eyes as he kept his hands on Mary's bleeding wound, allowing him to feel her stomach stop rising.

Everyone watched and waited with their breaths held in anticipation. After a few tense seconds, Mary's eyes finally shot open and she coughed, looking bewildered at what had just happened.

"That tasted awful."

Edmund sighed and rolled his eyes at her first choice of words. When she sat up, he brought her into an embrace, holding her so tightly as if he didn't have any plans of letting her go.

"Ow," she winced, still a bit sore.

"Sorry," he said quickly, almost letting go. She actually didn't want him to, though, so she hugged him back until he returned his arms around her. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she reassured. Edmund's hug felt desperate and sincere as if holding onto her was the most important thing in the world. She could hear his shaky breaths and her heart tugged for him. It just sunk in that she almost died and it must have been scary for the others to see. When she lifted her head a bit, though, she found Peter, Susan, Lucy, and Caspian looking at them knowingly, some of them even wearing smirks on their faces. She blushed at the attention and quickly looked away.

"Fine?" Edmund repeated incredulously, finally pulling back but still holding her. "You could've died! Are you an idiot? How could you —"

"I almost die and a list of things you call me are stupid and an idiot?" Mary said, eyebrows raised. "Wow, thanks, Edmund."

Peter rolled his eyes fondly, glad to see that his brother and friend — or whatever Edmund saw Mary as — were back to their usual bickering. She was going to be just fine.

"Well, I obviously didn't want you dying right after we kissed, alright?" Edmund blurted out.

"You what?" Susan and Lucy exclaimed.

Edmund turned around and was met with the surprised faces of siblings.

"About damn time," Peter snickered while his sisters bombarded the two with questions.

"When did this happen?"

"Where were you?"

"Why didn't you say so?"

"Uh, in the middle of the battle," Edmund confessed, his ears turning red.

"You had time to do that while we were all fighting?" Susan said with a scoff. "Unbelievable."

"It was in the heat of the moment, okay? I thought we were all going to die."

"Glad to see you had some confidence in us, Ed," Peter said sarcastically.

"Besides," Edmund continued, ignoring that last comment. "I heard Mary telling Lucy a few days ago that she found me attractive, so I had hope."

Mary's jaw dropped and her face turned red in embarrassment, remembering her conversation with Lucy early in the morning back when they were still camping in the woods. It felt like so long ago that she had almost forgotten about it.

"You were listening the whole time?"