Author: Sam

Story: Angel of Archenland: 1 of ?

Series: Torn Between Two

Characters Introduced: n/a

Rating: M: Mature Audiences only, due to language, violence, and sexual situations.

Summary: Edmund learns a few truths about Lucy’s decisions.

Note: I would like to thank the following people for their wonderful reviews: Capegio, SugarHigh Nutcase, and TimeMage0955. I am humbled in return for your inspiring words, as I was unsure how my story would be accepted as I was adding OC’s. I do have one question, though. Which OC do you mean: Bethany of Archenland or Greybeak the Eagle?

Second Note: When using the word awesome, Edmund does not mean what is meant nowadays. He means overwhelming. Please keep that in mind, as he is not saying he is favourably impressed when using the word.

Author’s Note: I am sorry my updates take a long time. I have poor health, as well as holding a full time job and trying to finish university. Added to this, my father (at only 57) passed away on the 21st of January, so I am a bit slower than even my normal snail’s pace. I will try to update these teaser’s further as I find time. Please at least enjoy a hint of what is to come...

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive. samwise_baggins@yahoo.co.uk

Webpage: http://www.oocities.org/samwise_baggins/index.html

"Lu, who was that woman?" Edmund asked in a rather curious voice.

The young King of Narnia was sitting across a chessboard from his younger sister, Queen Lucy of Narnia. Technically, the chessboard was on his lap, as he was sitting up in his bed. They were in his military pavilion near the site of a recent battle they'd had with renegades, a battle in which Edmund had been so terribly wounded he'd been forced to stay abed this past sennight, gathering his strength once more. In truth, it hadn't even been his wounds which had proven so very nearly fatal; those had been healed by his sister's magical cordial. It was the poison from an unheeded scorpion sting that had nearly killed the young ruler. In fact, King Edmund the Just, as he was known by Narnians far and near, was only just come back to near full health after the poison-induced fever and delirium he'd suffered the week last and was allowing himself to relax, as he was alone with Lucy for the moment.

As the query had been so totally out of the blue (both siblings had been barely speaking for their intense chess game till then) the young woman gave her brother an odd look. "What woman is that, Edmund? King's castle to queen five. Your move." Edmund was brown-eyed where his sister, Lucy, was blue, and his hair was near-black and straight while her russet-tinted locks were a wavy mass down her back. The teenaged woman pushed her small hand through that selfsame curling brunette hair at her brother's curious question.

A frown chased across the young man's face and he took a long moment to study the chessboard, weighing moves and countermoves, before finally breaking into a pleased smile and reaching out a hand. He would have done better to recheck his moves first, however. "Queen's knight to king's rook three. Check." Then, as if suddenly recalling the inquiry he'd made of her, Edmund added, "Why, the woman with that aw... err... some red hair." In truth, he'd been about to be rather more rude and use the term awful, having only changed it upon realizing that it wouldn't have sounded very nice.

Lucy tore her gaze from the board, not missing the word replacement despite her brother's attempt. It took her a second or two longer before she realized what redhead Edmund was talking about; there weren't so very many redheads she was familiar with after all.

"Would you be referring to Bethany, Edmund, the healer from Archenland?"

Something in Lucy's casual tone put Edmund on the alert and he did a hasty check, lest she get any odd ideas. "How should I know? The only person I know from Archenland is King Lune, and he certainly doesn't have such bloody awful bright hair." Edmund flushed at Lucy's accusatory glare. "What I mean is... uh... Oh, bother it all, Lu. What I mean to say is why was she sleeping in my pavilion a week ago last?"

"She was sleeping there because she'd spent the entire night trying to find an antidote for your poisoning." Giving another glare at her rather insensitive brother... Just or not, when they were alone the man really did have a way of saying things without thinking them through... she finally made her move. "King's bishop to king's rook three. Capture and checkmate. Really, Edmund, that was far too easy a win. Are you sure you're up to this kind of thinking yet?" The playful look which crossed her face went unnoticed by her older brother.

"I'm fine, Lucy, I'm fine." His tone held annoyance. "I was poisoned? No one told me that. I suspected there was a fever or some-such." Edmund conceded his king and sat back in the cot, watching Lucy with a frown.

"You were stung by a scorpion. Peter found it and Bethany was able to make an antidote. Do you want another game, Edmund?" Lucy started setting up the chessboard once more, knowing Edmund would most likely jump at the chance of a rematch; he hated losing.

Predictably, Edmund started once more setting his pieces to starting position. "How was it she was here to do anything at all? I didn't think we had anyone from Archenland in the ranks this battle."

"That really was the puzzle, wasn't it, Edmund?" Lucy paused, rook held in one hand as she looked into her brother's face. "I asked round after and found that she often comes to battles for both Narnia and Archenland. She doesn't ever fight, only goes among the wounded, healing the really seriously injured. She wasn't at the Battle of Beruna, though. It's why we never knew of her until now actually."

Edmund glanced up from arranging his pieces with a roll of his eyes. "A nurse?" He didn't sound overly impressed, actually. It wasn't that Edmund didn't appreciate the importance of a good healer, or that he didn't realise the value of sacrifice one made when healing the injured and dying. It was simply that he was cranky from forced bed-rest and his recent, rather silly defeat at chess.

Unfortunately, his unkind tone was taken more harshly than he had intended. Lucy stood up, upsetting the board on her brother's lap, and thrust her hands on her hips, a fierce glare on her face. "Oh I like that, King Edmund!" and she stressed his title in such a way it sounded more insult than office. “That nurse saved your ungrateful life, you know, and the least you could do is show a little common courtesy..."

"Peace, sister."

His unexpectedly gracious sounding words put pause to her building tirade. Edmund continued in a soothing tone. "I meant no harm by it, Lu, truly. I am sorry for any offence. I really shouldn't have spoken like that. And if she saves lives, especially mine, I'm really very grateful. Truly, Lu, I am. Cry pax?"

Lucy frowned a moment further, causing her brother to squirm just a bit. True, they were grown up now, ten years having passed since they defeated the White Witch and were crowned, with their elder brother and sister, as rulers of Narnia, but somehow, alone together, the siblings could make each other feel like school children once more. It was part of being a close family and knowing just what one's guilty secrets and heartfelt dreams were. It was at times uncomfortable, being so close to each other, and yet it was a relationship that none of the Narnian rulers would even consider changing. That closeness is what helped them through the darkest times.

For an extended time, the eighteen-year-old woman started at her brother, a disapproving look in her eyes. At last, Lucy nodded and sat once more, recovering the board and pieces she'd inadvertently scattered at her hasty rising. "You really should start thinking before you speak, Edmund." She shot the twenty-year-old a glance to quell his impending comment and continued, "Oh, you are always thinking things through with dignitaries and at court and such, but you really should start practising such restraint with us as well. If you are to be truly Just, Edmund, you must be so at all times."

And he knew he deserved the rebuke. With a long sigh, slowly ordering his pieces once more, Edmund nodded. "Very well, Lucy, your point is well taken. I shall endeavour to be Just in thought as well as deed, in my most private chambers as well as in the most public of gatherings. Now, is it to be pax? Or do we meet at twenty paces at dawn?"

Both siblings started laughing at his silliness, the brief contretemps smoothed over once more.

The entrance of High King Peter, their older brother, interrupted the siblings in a pleasant way. Lucy turned a beaming smile to the tall blond man, her joy at his complete recovery just as strong as her pleasure in Edmund's recovering strength. He returned her smile and moved out of the way, allowing entrance to the slim woman behind him. "Lady Bethany wished to check on you King Edmund." Peter's tone was formal, if friendly, instantly causing his younger brother to shift into a more serious, courtly attitude.

Edmund straightened and nodded his head, his gratitude evident in his dark eyes; despite a repressed shudder at the sight of her orange-red hair... it was so very bright. "Lady Bethany. I understand you saved my life. I thank you."

"Oh, yes, Bethany. Thank you ever so much!" Lucy's words were enthusiastic as she rose from her brother's cot to stride to the other woman. Suddenly, she engulfed the woman in a heartfelt embrace, the surprise that crossed over Bethany's face effectively displaying how unexpected, though not unwelcome, Lucy's friendliness had been.

She quickly recovered, smiling gently at the woman. “I’m glad this can be a happy day. If not for the suggestion of scorpion poison, it would have been a much different meeting.” She turned towards the cot making her slow way to Edmund’s bedside.

Edmund studied her movements in confusion, taking a long moment to figure out that the woman couldn't see. He turned shocked eyes on Lucy and Peter, his brother nodding in acknowledgement of the younger man's sudden understanding. Fortunately, after ten years, Edmund had learned to disguise his surprise in public. "I understand you often aid the wounded at battles?" Edmund watched the woman in the shapeless plain brown robe slip into the seat abandoned by Lucy, who moved to his other side.

Bethany tilted her head, a serious look crossing her face. "As often as I can." As if answering the call of all medical professionals, Bethany's hand found Edmund's face and she seemed to be feeling for something, perhaps fever. The King held himself still, not quite comfortable with the stranger's touch, despite the knowledge of her skill. She seemed satisfied after a moment and pulled the hand back, to Edmund's relief. "Your strength returns?"

"Yes." Edmund looked away from those unseeing milky-brown eyes. "I should be able to get up now." Suddenly he was overcome with a guilty feeling of having been lazy.

The healer's laugh surprised him. Her voice was soft, but her laugh was deeper, louder. It drew his eyes back to her freckled face. "I would say you are most definitely recovered then. Your sister's healing has prevented complications so I see no reason not to indulge your desire to get up and back to your daily routine. I would be bored confined longer than absolutely necessary."

Peter smiled at the woman's words and glanced over his brother, noting the flush and correctly interpreting it as embarrassment for an appearance of laziness. "We wanted a medical opinion before giving in to his complaints. Thank you for returning, Lady Bethany."

Rising, the woman apparently determined that her visit was at an end. She nodded and smoothed her hands over the rough cotton of the covering robe. "A wise decision in most cases. I find no reason to keep confined any longer. I do, however," and here she turned her blind eyes over the entire room, as if to include everyone there in her advise, to employ netting to keep away the insects. Dryads have found a way to weave fishing nets so fine they serve well for such a purpose."

With a nod, the High King pulled back the tent flap to allow the woman to pass outside unimpeded, which she did slowly but confidently. "Thank you again, Lady Bethany. We shall heed your advice." Peter turned back to his siblings, letting the flap close behind Bethany's retreating back. "Well, Ed, you can get up now."

"It's about time, Peter." Edmund pushed started removing the chessboard as Lucy laughed at her brother's impatience. "Thank you for getting her here so quickly. I would have gone mad stuck in bed another day."