Chapter 7

Susan blinked. The world before her was like nothing she'd expected.

Of course her experience in world travel wasn't extensive. The only world other than earth that she'd ever been to was Narnia. Most of Narnia had a temperate climate. The deserts in the south and Calormen were the notable exceptions – after the White Witch's spell was broken of course. Before that the entire world had been trapped in what might as well have been an ice age. Either way, Susan was used to mild springs followed by warm summers – not the oppressive heat that was bearing down on her at that very moment.

"I say!" Eustace spoke first. "It's bloody hot!"

"I guess we won't be needing all the blankets and such that we packed," Jill said and started to shrug off her pack.

"Better to have and not need then want and not have," Peter told her. "Unless it becomes necessary to leave our gear behind, we keep all of it."

"But it's heavy," Eustace protested. "The more we exert ourselves the more we sweat and in this bloody rainforest dehydration might become a problem."

Peter and Edmund traded glances. Susan could tell what they were thinking. Eustace did have a point.

"We should hang onto them until tonight, at least," Edmund said at last. "We don't know how the temperature will change once the sun goes down."

"Rainforest, Cousin, rainforest," Eustace said. "Hot, humid, water hanging in the air. It's not going to get cold like a desert, for goodness' sake!"

"We might need them for something else," Edmund said. "Carrying them one day won't cause any problems. We have plenty of water and if we have to we can send someone back to the woods to fill our canteens."

"Enough talk," Susan said as Eustace opened his mouth again. "If you don't think you can keep up you're welcome to go home at any time."

"I didn't say that I wouldn't do it," Eustace said quickly, "I just don't think it's necessary."

"Don't think. You might hurt yourself and you're already dead weight as it is."

"Susan," Lucy said, disapproval in her voice.

Susan felt a stab of remorse and averted her eyes.

"We came here to find Caspian," Edmund said before an awkward silence could set in. "But here we are just standing around."

"We should start moving," Peter agreed, pulling out his compass. "Well, this world at least has a magnetic north. As long as we keep walking in one direction we should find something eventually – a road or a river that should lead us to civilization."

Edmund walked up to a tree with a nest of mangled roots that were even taller than he was. He vaulted up on top of one root so that he could get to the tree's trunk then rapped on it with his knuckles as though he was knocking on a door. "Hoy!" he said. "Anyone alive in there?"

"What is he doing?" Jill asked, looking bemused.

"Making sure that the tree isn't a Tree," Lucy told her.

"Of course the tree's a tree," Eustace said.

"She means a wise-tree," Peter clarified. "One that's sentient and has a soul."

"Why didn't you just say that then?"

"It's not one," Edmund told them, taking out his knife. He slashed an X into the tree bark. "This is so we know where we came into this world. If we get separated and have to use the rings as an escape line we can either regroup here, in this world, or in the Woods if we all leave."

After that they started walking. Susan wasn't sure which direction Peter picked, but didn't much care. He kept an eye on the compass so that they didn't end up walking in circles, which was all Susan really cared about as far as their direction was concerned. They had no idea where to go, after all. It was a daunting thought but not as intimidating as it could have been – if not for Aslan's intervention they wouldn't have even known if they were searching the right world or not.

It was, by no means, an easy trek. There was no path. Or to be more precise, there was no path before they made one. They had to bushwhack their way through miles of tangled undergrowth that ranged anywhere from their knees to their necks in height. Peter and Edmund alternated point, hacking away the worst of the plant matter before them with their swords – or their knives when it was easier. They didn't even come close to making it easy to follow them. That would have been impossible. The best they could really do was to hack through vines and branches that were directly in their way, and to clear away the worst of the plants with thorns and spines.

Jill, Lucy, and Eustace had a hard time, though Peter and Edmund seemed tireless. Susan thought that she would probably have been exhausted under any normal circumstances, but the knowledge that every step she took brought her closer to Caspian gave her reserves of strength that she never knew she had.

Crowley is going to wish he never stood between me and the one I love, Susan vowed.

Gradually, darkness began to fall. The thick canopy of leaves kept the travelers from being able to tell exactly when the sun started to dip below the unseen horizon, but little by little the light that made it through waned until it was obvious that they wouldn't be able to go much further that night.

"I say, isn't it about time we made camp?" Eustace asked.

"Shut up a second," Edmund said sharply.

Everyone looked at him oddly. That was the first time Eustace had spoken in about an hour, since apparently talking while bushwhacking proved to be too difficult for him.

"Listen," Edmund said when he saw their strange gazes.

Recognizing the intent look on his face, Susan realized that something of significance was afoot. She strained her ears and tried to hear whatever it is that had caught her brother's attention. It wasn't easy. Forest sounds were the main thing that she heard – strange insects, the occasional bird call, and the rustle of the leaves overhead as the wind stirred them. But beyond that there was something else . . . something Susan couldn't quite put a finger on until Lucy announced it.

"Water," Lucy said excitedly. She actually jumped up and down despite the fatigue that shadowed her face. "It's running water!"

"I don't hear anything," Jill said doubtfully.

"I do! I do!" Eustace didn't seem at all put out now. "It's water! A river! Or at least a stream! Hell, it might even be the ocean!"

"It's not," Peter told him. "We'd smell the salt if it were."

"A river then! A river is still bloody good!"

"Yeah, it is," Edmund agreed.

"Which way is it, Ed?" Peter asked. "You've got the best ears, it seems."

Edmund brought his finger to his lips motioning for them to fall silent again, then he closed his eyes. A moment later he opened them. "This way, I think," he said and pointed.

It turned out that he thought right. Not five minutes later the Pevensies, Eustace, and Jill stood on muddy bank of a river, listening to the melody of rushing water.

"Can we see about these packs now?" Jill asked, dropping hers where the riverbank gave way to the underbrush. "They're soooooo heavy."

"Yeah," Eustace agreed. "We should get rid of the stuff we don't need."

"Not really sure what you guys are complaining about," Edmund said, but he had a good natured look on his face. "Peter and I were the ones carrying all the cold weather gear we packed."

Jill and Eustace exchanged glances and looked chagrined.

"We can probably leave a few blankets here," Lucy suggested. "If we're making camp here then we'll need to put them down so we don't get covered in mud."

Crack.

Susan heard the noise, soft as it was, but would have written it off if Edmund's head hadn't snapped up.

Crunch. The rustle of plant matter caught Peter's attention this time. He froze then looked at Edmund.

"Something's coming," Edmund said softly. He dropped his pack and drew his sword. Peter followed suit. Susan quickly pulled out her bow and notched an arrow on the string as Jill struggled to string the one that Susan had loaned her after finding her old one in the Woods.

"What's going on?" Eustace asked, oblivious to the potential danger.

"Shh!" both Peter and Edmund tried to shush their cousin.

"What?" Eustace asked. "I don't hear any –"

Before Eustace could finish his sentence a feral battle cry split the air and half a dozen humanoid shapes barreled out of the darkness.

One of them fell immediately, Susan's arrow lodged in its throat. Susan hurried to set another arrow to her string. When she raised her bow again her heart leaped into her throat as she realized that one of the creatures was nearly on top of her. She got a glimpse of blazing red eyes and slavering yellow teeth, then her arrow hit it point blank and dropped it in mid-lunge. Only a quick dodge kept her from being pinned beneath its dead weight.

She heard the sound of metal grating against metal as her brothers engaged two of the other creatures. Even as she turned toward her younger brother one of the beasts fell at his feet. Edmund vaulted over its carcass and actually kicked off it as though it was a springboard to cut down another monster that was trying to circle Lucy, only just staying back far enough to keep out of her dagger's range.

A scream split the air – a human one, that is. Susan saw Jill hit the ground out the corner of her eye and swore aloud as she fumbled for another arrow. The younger girl was on the other side of the camp, too far away for Edmund to get to in time, too far away from Peter even if he wasn't still locked in combat with the only other monster still capable of standing. Susan didn't even see Eustace.

Before Susan was able to get another arrow on her bowstring a thunderclap split the air. It was so loud that Susan actually felt her ears pop and then when sound returned everything else – the gurgle of the monster choking on its own blood, the hollow thud as its body hit the ground, the mouse-like squeaks of Jill whimpering – they all seemed muted. For a moment Susan wasn't sure what had happened. She looked up and saw the creature that had been about to maul Jill. It was on the ground convulsing. Another thud followed by Peter exhaling in triumph indicated that he'd dispatched of the last creature. Susan looked over her shoulder toward her other two siblings and saw Edmund's grim expression. His sword was stuck in the ground, point down, at an odd angle as though he'd dropped it without really caring how it landed. A small, metal object glinted black in the dim light, still cradled in his hands and aimed at the monster, ready to shoot it again if it had the audacity to cling to life.

It was only then that Susan realized that that thunderclap had actually been a gunshot.

"Jill!" Eustace scrambled forward and dropped to the ground beside his friend. "Jill, are you all right? Speak to me!"

Jill looked at him then looked at the dead creature not four feet away from her. Her eyes made their way to Edmund who still had the gun trained on the thing. "I'm fine," Jill whispered.

"You brought Dad's gun?" Peter asked incredulously, the moment he realized what had happened.

Finally, Edmund lowered the weapon and clicked the safety on. "I did."

"What did you do that for?" Peter demanded. "That – taking a gun to another world –"

"Seemed like a good idea at the time. And you know it still does." Edmund unclipped the holster from the inner waistline of his trousers and put the PPK back in it.

Peter looked like he wasn't quite sure what to say. "You – Dad –"

"I didn't think he'd mind," Edmund said. "He taught us how to use it so we could defend ourselves."

"Still, it doesn't seem . . ."

"Honorable?" Susan asked. "Hang honor. Anyone who stands between us and Caspian deserves whatever they get. Besides, if he hadn't brought it, Jill might be dead right now."

"I am very glad he brought it," Jill piped up.

"I didn't say he was wrong to bring it," Peter told them. "I just . . . you should have said something, Edmund."

Edmund raised an eyebrow. "So we could have had a debate about it?"

Peter sighed. "Never mind . . . nice shot, by the way . . ."

"Thanks." Edmund held the gun out to Lucy, handle first. "You should hang on to this," he told his younger sister.

Lucy hesitated.

"Just because you have it doesn't mean you have to use it."

"All right," Lucy acquiesced.

"So . . ." Eustace said as he helped Jill off the ground, "What exactly are those creatures? They don't look like anything I ever came across in Narnia."

Susan frowned as she inspected the bodies, unable to keep her nose from wrinkling as she took in their ghastly pale skin and thick, misshaped limbs. "I've never seen anything like them either," she confessed.

"Neither have I," said Edmund, "but we've read about something like them."

"Oh hell," Susan groaned as she realized.

"What?" Eustace asked. "What do you think they are?"

"Morlocks," Edmund said darkly. "I think they're Morlocks."

End of Chapter 7

AN: Thank you everyone for coming back this week to read this newest chapter. Also, thank you especially everyone who reviewed: amber'eyed'countess, Autumnia, and HeadBangGirl.

Lara86 – The rubber duckie idea wasn't that bad, per say – if they weren't annoyed that he'd wasted time getting those ducks instead of his sword they might have thought it was funny.

Miniver, Diva. divine , and SpicyRoses – When in doubt, insult their grammar!

jxr1 – Don't worry, you didn't miss anything. I didn't write out the scene where Caspian actually got abducted but I'm planning to have him explain it in detail to the Pevensies once they're reunited.

rthstewart, garnetred, and mae-E – Thanks for the feedback. I was a little worried that having Aslan put them on the right path might seem a little too dues ex machine (or in English, I was worried it might seem like a clichéd cop out). But I figured that if I had the Pevensies stumbling around in other worlds while Caspian was languishing in an underground cage people might try to lynch me. Oh, and mae-E, I forgot to answer your question from the last chapter, but the yellow rings are the ones that take them to the Woods and the green rings allow them to get from the Woods into other worlds via the pools.

merlyn2 – You're right, Crowley doesn't have friends. No one likes him. Not even ugly non-people like Morlocks.

Next week our heroes find some kind-of allies, or at least non-hostiles. Anyone who's read The Time Machine or watched the movie can probably guess what they are (some of you have already asked about them). If you haven't read/watched The Time Machine, don't worry – I will do everything in my power to write this so that you don't need to have read/watched it in order to enjoy this story. I do recommend checking into it sometime if you get the chance though – it's a very short book and a fast read, and the most recent remake of the movie is excellent. Thanks again for reading and I hope you'll stop by again next week for Chapter Eight.