Althea's POV
When we get back to the beach, there are baskets and barrels with odd-looking plants piled at the bottom.
"What food did you find?" Caspian asks.
"It's volcanic your majesty. Not much grows." Rhinse explains.
"Where's Eustace?" Lucy asks.
I scan the beach and ridges of rocks but there's no sign of him. We should have taken him with us instead of leaving it to chance that he wouldn't go off on his own. Aslan knows what he's gotten himself into this time.
"I believe he's out not helping us load the boats," Reep says sarcastically.
"Eustace... Eustace!" Lucy calls out. When he doesn't answer, she turns to her brother.
"Edmund, I've got a bad feeling." She says, her voice thick with worry.
"I'll go find him."
"I'll come with you," Caspian says and Edmund nods, accepting his company. I'm relieved things have seemed to calm down a bit between them. Lucy shoots me a troubled look. I'm not worried that they'll get into another argument, but if going with them makes her feel better I will.
The two of them walk away and I jog to catch up. I end up walking faster, giving them the chance to talk things out. I barely hear them speaking but an apology from both of them is exchanged. Once we're farther from the beach, we start shouting for Eustace again.
"Eustace!" I yell, cupping my hands around my mouth.
"Eustace!" Ed echoes.
Steam shoots out from the cliff next to us making me jump. Caspian leads us to a ridge that looks down a narrow canyon. The floor of the canyon is filled with endless piles of gold and various other things that are considered 'treasure.' It shines so brightly my eyes start to water.
"Treasure," Ed mutters.
"Trouble," Caspian says.
I'm the first to climb down and the first to notice a leather shoe that's partially burned a few feet away. My stomach churns as I walk over to it.
"Ed is that?" I let my voice trail off, not wanting to think about the hundreds of things that could've happened. He rushes over and picks up the burnt shoe, his face horrified.
"Eustace..." He says quietly.
We all search around for any other sign of him. Edmund cries out as he finds a singed pile of clothing that still has smoke coming off it.
"No." He falls to his knees and I lightly put my hand on his shoulder. "Our cousin..."
"I'm sorry," Caspian says in disbelief.
"He was just a boy." Ed holds Eustace's journal in his hands. "I never should've left him. What could've happened to him?"
"In this place? Anything." Caspian's gaze locks onto a burned up skeleton behind us. "And he wasn't the first."
He stands and walks over to examine the dead man. "It's Lord Artesian."
I start looking around for his sword while Edmund stays kneeled beside what remains of his cousin. One silver handle sticks out from a mound of gold. I grasp it tightly and pull it free. It's one of the seven.
"We should find his..." Caspian pauses when he sees me unsheathing it. "Sword."
"We should get back to Lucy and tell her what's happened," I say, sheathing the sword and heading back through the treasure-filled canyon.
"You're right." Ed follows and then Caspian.
The walk back is silent. Edmund feels so guilty, it's written all over his face.
"It's not your fault. We all should've kept a better eye on him." I say, trying to comfort him. He just nods and keeps staring at the ground, so Caspian pats him on the back.
A high-pitched screech pierces the air. Bewilderment is mirrored on all our faces.
"What was that?" I ask to which I get no answer. It can't be the volcano, since when did they make noises like that?
"We should hurry," Caspian says, urging us onward.
We pick up the pace as we hear more and more roars the closer we get to the beach. I glance back and a blast of fire is erupting from something hidden behind the rocky mountains. When we get back to the beach, a boat has been left for us and Edmund jogs ahead. What sounds like the flapping of large wings gets louder and louder. I look back and a massive dragon, with scales that shine like gold, is diving down towards us. Without even thinking, I grab Caspian and pull him down and the dragon glides over us, headed straight for Ed.
"Ed!"
"Edmund!"
We shout at the same time but it's no use. The dragon grabs him and takes off out over the sea to the ship.
"Caspian what-" I gasp and freeze as the creature soars around the ship, showing off his trophy. It circles back and disappears farther inland.
Neither of us knows what to do or say so we wait. It doesn't take long for the flapping wings to return and the dragon reappears over the volcano. Edmund seems to be unharmed as the creature gets closer. Caspian draws his sword and even though I'm not skilled with a sword I do the same. My daggers probably wouldn't even dent it anyway. The dragon gracefully descends and Caspian ever so slightly moves in front of me. I'm shocked when the dragon lets Edmund go and settles down a few yards away from us.
Edmund jogs over. "You're not going to believe this, but it's Eustace."
My jaw drops. "What?"
"How?" Caspian asks and Ed shrugs his shoulders.
We signal the ship that everything was okay and Drinian, Reep, Tavros, Lucy, and Gael, plus her father, all return to shore to discuss what we should do.
"He must have been tempted by the treasure," Ed says.
Eustace has been trying in vain to pull off a gold bracelet that's tightly cuffed around what would be his wrist.
"Anyone knows a dragon's treasure is enchanted," Caspian says. I jab him with my elbow and give him a hard look. "Well, anyone from here."
I cautiously walk towards Eustace, trying not to spook him. I hold out my hands to his wrist with the cuff and wait for him to move first. He hesitantly moves it within my reach. It's tightly wrapped around him so I pry my fingers under its edges and pull it free in one swift motion. He growls and yanks his arm away from me, grimacing from the pain. Lucy and I let out stifled giggles.
"Is there any way to change him back?" Ed asks. I go back to Caspian's side, tossing the bracelet onto a pile of nearby rocks.
"Not that I know of," Caspian says.
Drinian doesn't seem to have the slightest clue either.
"We'll figure something out Eustace," I speak up. I receive grateful looks but we all know it's going to be difficult to come up with any sort of solution.
"Aunt Alberta will not be pleased." Ed groans. Eustace stomps his feet and stares at the ground, frustrated.
"Sorry about the hand old boy. I can be a little overzealous sometimes." Reep says apologetically.
"A little?" I mutter. Only Caspian hears me and he chuckles lightly.
"The boats are ready sire!" Tavros shouts from the longboats packed on the beach.
"We can't leave him here," Lucy says.
"Not alone." I agree.
"Well we can't bring him on board, your majesty," Drinian says.
"Drinian. You and the others take one boat back. The rest of us will stay here till morning and work out what to do." Caspian says, handing the lord's sword to him. I do the same, even though I quite liked having it.
"But you have no provisions and no means of staying warm your majesty," Rhinse says.
It's quiet for a moment before Eustace screeches and fire shoots out of his mouth, catching a small pile of sticks on fire.
"You were saying." Reep laughs.
We set up camp as the sun sinks under the horizon, being swallowed up by the ocean. The fire is bigger now and we're all laying out blankets to sleep on. Edmund is next to Eustace's head, Lucy and Gael are sharing and Reep has curled up a few feet away from Mr. Rhinse. Caspian spreads out the blanket we're going to share while I go check on Eustace.
He watches me skeptically. "Do you want me to take a look at your hand?" I ask. He slowly nods and holds out his injured hand.
I examine it and find the small puncture wound caused by Reep. I can't very well wrap his huge hand so I gently clean it before generously applying some medicine I found on Coriakan's island. He eventually relaxes and isn't so tense. Huge fat tears are streaming down his snout.
"Hey, it's okay," I whisper, whipping under his eyes with my sleeves. "I promise that we'll find a way to turn you back to normal."
He stares at me with his glassy eyes then pulls his head away. I consider staying but I take that as my que to leave and go back to Caspian. He's laying on his back, hands folded behind his head and gazing up at the stars. I lay down next to him.
"I've never seen these constellations before," I say, noticing that the stars are different than they were several nights ago. It's like we're under a different sky, one that wasn't recorded in any book.
"Me neither." He says. "We're a long way from home."
I prop myself up on one elbow and turn to face him. My back is hot from the fire and blocks the light from his face.
"When I was a boy, I used to imagine sailing to the edge of the world and finding my father there."
"Maybe you will," I say.
"We'll find your aunt as well, I haven't forgotten." He says sincerely.
He sits up and caresses my cheek with the back of his hand.
"I didn't think you did." I laugh quietly.
He lays back down and I cuddle into his side. A thought occurs to me, it may have come to me earlier today but I didn't truly think about it until now.
"Caspian? Now that the storms past, what are we going to do about the person trying to get rid of me?"
He rubs my back. "Staying with Lucy seemed to work. He'll have to get creative because I'm not letting you out of my sight when we're back on the ship."
I furrow my eyebrows and look up at him. "I don't want to see him get creative."
He thinks for a few seconds. "How about this, I'll keep my eye on you under the ruse of teaching you how to sword fight."
"Wait really?" I ask and he nods. "That's genius and no one will suspect a thing. Truth be told, I've been wanting to learn for a while now."
"You have?"
"Of course, it seems like an important skill to have."
"Why didn't you ask me? I would've taught you before now." He asks while laughter makes his chest rise and fall.
"I don't know, I guess neither of us had the time."
"Well now all we have is time, what else are we going to do in the middle of the ocean?"
~~~
Extra chapter as promised! I hope you all enjoyed this one.
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