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Onto Forever
Chapter 12
Edmunds POV
"Oh this is not good. How on earth do you defeat a dragon?" Eric said in a whisper.
"It's not an easy task, let me tell you. Peter and I never faced one, and I was hoping we never would. Now he's not here and I'm facing one. Strange twist of events, I must say." I replied my voice as low as his.
"I believe the problem is that they aren't afraid of fire, they are protected against arrows, and their size is definitely a problem." Caspian stated.
Erins gurgle told me he was awake. I scooped him up, trying to keep him from making any further sounds. Thanks be to the Lion he only yawned and fell back asleep.
Alex gave a slight groan and opened her eyes. I clasped one hand over her mouth, causing her eyes to shoot open.
Once she saw it was me, she settled for a glare. "What are you doing?" she hissed.
"Don't go worrying, but look at what's between us and the Treader." I replied.
She sat up, resettling Lacey in her arms. Her eyes widened when she saw the dragon and she looked back at me. "It hasn't shown any signs of hostility, has it?" she asked.
I shook my head. "Not yet, but it may not know we're here. Reepicheep keeps asking if he can dual it, but we all know how that would turn out."
She nodded in reply. I was about to say that we still weren't sure what we were going to do when Lucy began stirring. I looked towards Eric and motioned over to Lucy with my head.
He nodded and moved towards her kneeling down beside her. "Stay quiet. We have a bit of a problem." he whispered to her.
"Hmm? Oh, what did Ed do now?" she mumbled sleepily as she opened her eyes.
Alex snorted and bit her lip, obviously trying to keep from laughing. Eric seemed to be having the same trouble.
"H... he did nothing." he finaly managed to say.
She sat up and stretched, her eyes now filled with worry. "Is it about Eustace?" she asked.
Eric shook his head. "There's a dragon on the beach. He landed not but a few moments ago." he replied.
Her eyes widened, and I saw a streak of adventure in her gaze. "A dragon? Oh, we've never faced one of those! I do wonder how we'll defeat it, if it even needs to be defeated." she said in the whisper everyone else was using.
"We must just keep close watch-" Caspian began in a whisper "-and as soon as it is light, we must go down to the beach and give it battle. I will lead. King Edmund will be on my right-" at this Alex gripped my arm "-and Sir Eric on my left." at this both Lucy and Alex gasped "There are no other arrangements to be made." he said, probably hoping to sound reassuring, as he had glanced at both Alex and Lucy "It will be light in a couple of hours. In an hour's time let a meal be served out and what is left of the wine. And let everything be done silently." he finished.
"Perhaps it will go away." Lucy said hopefully.
"It'll be worse if it does, because then we shan't know where it is." I stated.
When the time finally came to leave, I was torn between telling Lucy, Alex, and the twins to stay back, or stay in the middle of everyone. But Eric made the point they would most likely be safer in the middle and so the plan was set. As we walked towards the dragon, he retreated away from us.
"What's it wagging its head like that for?" I said, getting a close look at it.
"And now it's nodding." Caspian said, tightening his grip on his sword.
"And there's something coming from its eyes." Eric added.
Lucy stepped forward. "Oh, can't you see? It's crying. Those are tears." she said.
"I shouldn't trust that, Ma'am. That's what crocodiles do to put you off guard." Drinian said.
"It wagged it's head when you said that. Just as if it meant 'No'. Look, there it goes again." I said.
"Do you think it understands what we're saying?" Lucy asked. At this the dragon nodded his head.
Reepicheep stepped forward. "Dragon, can you understand speech?" he asked. The dragon nodded and glanced between Lucy, Reep, and I. "Can you speak?" Reepicheep asked. This time the dragon shook his head. "Then it is idle to ask you your business. But if you will swear friendship with us raise your left foreleg above your head." The dragon did so, but quite clumsily. I then saw that it's leg was swollen with a golden bracelet.
"Oh look there's something wrong with its leg. The poor thing, that's probably what it was crying about. Perhaps it came to us to be cured." Alex said, stepping forward.
Lucy pulled out her cordial and ran forward.
"Lucy!" I exclaimed, running after her.
"Be careful, Lucy! It's a very clever dragon but it may be a liar!" Caspian called from right behind me.
By the time we reached her, she was already pouring a drop on the dragons leg. Luckily the swelling went down, though the bracelet remained.
Caspian suddenly gasped and pointed at the bracelet. "Look!" he exclaimed.
"Look at what?" I asked.
"Look at the device on the gold!" Caspian said.
"Why I've seen it before." Drinian said.
"Seen it! Why of course you have. It is the sign of the great Narnian house. This is the Lod Octesian's arm-ring." Caspian said.
"Villian, have you devoured a Narnian lord?" Reepicheep asked. The dragon shook his head quickly.
"Or perhaps... this... is the Lord Octesian... turned into a dragon." Lucy said quietly.
"Under an enchantment." Alex added, now beside me.
"It needn't be either. All dragons collect gold. But I think it's a safe guess that Octesian got no further than this island." I said.
"Are you the Lord Octesian?" Lucy asked. The dragon shook it's head sadly. "Are you someone enchanted... someone human?" Lucy asked. The dragon nodded quickly.
It was then I realized his eyes were a familiar shade of blue...
"You're not... Eustace, by any chance?" I asked.
And finally the dragon nodded once more. All of us had to back up as the dragon burst into tears.
"Oh Eustace! Please don't cry!" Lucy cried, hugging his giant leg.
I stepped forward and put one hand on his snout, looking him in the eyes. "We will help you get back to normal." I said.
It was almost as if he were trying to say 'thank you' but couldn't. Though I understood. He looked over at Alex who was holding both babys. She smiled gently and stepped forward. He leaned his head down and very gently nuzzled Lacey who giggled happily, trying to stick her tiny hand up his snout.
Erin smacked him on the snout and gurgled, causing both Alex and I to chuckle.
"Uh oh, he's already a mini Peter." I said.
"Protective... Laceys in for it. She'll never have a suitor." Lucy said.
With what seemed like a smile Eustace layed his head down. Now we could only hope that we could get him back to normal.
