Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Narnia. They are owned by C.S. Lewis. I just write about them. Also, the stranger's (Lord Rhoop's) quotes are from "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and are the property of C.S. Lewis as well.
The Dawn Treader slowed as the ship's crew worked to haul a man onboard. The man had been heard by those on the ship, crying out in a rather inhuman way and begging to be taken aboard. Edmund watched as the wild looking man emerged into his line of vision and was met with a shock-the man looked terrified. He watched off to the side as the strange man told the sailors to turn around at once and leave. Edmund wondered why he was telling them this, and then heard the man say something very intriguing: "This is the Island where Dreams come true."
Murmuring broke out among the sailors, and Edmund himself was very curious. He turned away from the scene and squinted into the darkness, wondering if he could catch a glimpse of this strange land. All he saw was darkness. However, an odd feeling seemed to creep up on him as he stared ahead. It caused Edmund to wonder about dreams.
His mind immediately went to the daydreams he had, often during school. He would stare off into space and images would float disjointedly in his mind. They were stupid things, really. To have the daydream about having a sword fight with Peter back in England come true would have been nice, but it wouldn't have been particularly amazing. Nor would it have been enough to elicit the type of horrified emotions Edmund had seen in the strange man's eyes.
The feeling became stronger, and Edmund realized it was a cold feeling that was starting to chill his very bones. It started in his chest. Edmund thought about other dreams-the ones Peter called aspirations, and mused that it would be nice to have those come true as well, if he had known his aspirations at the moment, at least when concerning his life in England. Narnia was a different story altogether; he would have liked to stay a King of Narnia forever, and rule with his brother and sisters again and bring Narnia into another Golden Age. It would be quite the feat if this country could make that dream come true, especially since Peter and Susan weren't allowed back into Narnia now.
But we wouldn't be in Narnia-would we? Would it be real or in our heads? Edmund thought. I mean, would the dreams keep us here, in this country, or would we actually be able to have them come true elsewhere? This was a question that Edmund really wanted to know the answer to, and he thought about asking the stranger later.
However, the stranger suddenly cried out, "This is where dreams-dreams, do you understand-come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams." And Edmund, as well as the rest of the ship, understood suddenly and with feelings of dread what the strange man meant. Caspian immediately commanded for the crew to start rowing the ship away from this dark place.
Edmund knew he would not want his dreams-the ones he had when he was asleep-to come true. They were the worst types of dreams; nightmares, really. They were all about the White Witch, and how he would see her and her terrible pale face twisted in a cruel smile as she would hurt him, or else hurt Peter or Lucy or Susan until they were dead while he could only watch, helpless, and knowing it was his fault. Then everything would dissolve with the shattering of ice and he would wake up feeling cold and yelling and screaming and, eventually, sobbing because he really did not want to see any of it, because it had almost been a reality. After those dreams he would not be able to sleep for hours. Edmund suddenly realized that he did not want to know whether the dreams that came true were only in your head or not, and he understood now the terrified state of the ship's new passenger.
Then two things happened that made Edmund's heart leap into his throat.
As he looked out into the darkness he thought he saw Her emerging in a flash of white, though whether anyone else saw he did not know. And Edmund himself felt terrified, but he did not scream out for fear of distracting the sailors. However, at that moment the sailors began to become terrified themselves because they realized they were hopelessly lost, and had begun to hear things, which Edmund became aware of when he heard them talking. He wished Lucy would come over, but then took that wish back, because if his dreams started coming true as they seemed to be something terrible would happen to her.
Edmund continued to look into the darkness and, to his horror, clearly saw the Witch now, more defined and growing more real every moment. He opened his mouth but nothing came out, and she fixed him with her icy stare. Her lips curled into the trademark cruelly twisted smile, and Edmund couldn't move-her eyes rooted him to the spot. And his body felt cold, so terribly cold, as she seemed to get closer…
Edmund felt extremely helpless and did the one thing he felt he could do-he prayed to Aslan. Oh Aslan, please, please help us now. We are in terrible danger, and we need you. Edmund said the prayer over and over in his head as the Witch advanced. He felt she was going to do something terrible upon reaching the ship, though no one else seemed to notice her presence. They were distracted by the sounds they seemed to be hearing-their own dreams starting to come to life.
Edmund realized that if their dreams did come true, each person would see something different and be completely unaware of the other person's plight. After all, he could only see the Witch-he didn't hear what the others heard at all. For some reason, this terrified him more.
Then, suddenly, someone cried, "Look!" and a light fell upon the ship. The Witch started to fade, and Edmund was able to tear his eyes away from her and look around. He saw that the ship was lit up from above, and then saw an albatross gliding along in the light until it rested on the ship. Everyone seemed to be staring at it, and then it began to fly again by the starboard side of the ship-and everyone realized it was guiding them.
In the next few minutes that went by Edmund could do nothing but watch the albatross and have faith in it-and indeed he put every ounce of his faith in that bird, which he felt was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen at that moment. And then-thank Aslan!-they were in the light again, and everyone was astonished and then everyone started to laugh.
Edmund looked back into the darkness and saw nothing, and unspeakable joy leapt into his heart and warmth flooded back into his bones. He laughed as well-it was the only way he could react. He laughed for joy and for relief and just because the laughter was infectious. He peered into the darkness and remarked to himself, "I wouldn't have wished that even on my worst enemy." Then he thought for a second and added, "Well, except for Her." And he laughed again, but strangely he also felt a bit like crying, because his worst nightmares had been so close to coming true.
The stranger introduced himself as Lord Rhoop, one of the seven Lords Caspian was looking for. He told Caspian never to bring him back to that land again, but as he said this they all looked back, and the darkness had vanished.
Edmund smiled widely as he saw the blue sea and the sky, looking as bright as ever as if to mock the weaker darkness it had destroyed. He looked to the East and said, "Thank you Aslan." His voice carried on the wind and away from the ship, toward Aslan's country. That's where dreams really come true, Edmund thought.
The ship, safe and sound, steadily followed the sound of his voice.