Hi! I was out of commission yesterday! Ugg, I hate throwing up...
Here is the next chapter!
I do not own!
Enjoy!
The crew of the Dawn Treader stayed as long as they could on the island, looking for the cure to Eustace's 'problem', but nothing was found. Nothing had ever been written about breaking the Dragon's curse, most victims of the curse went mad, turning into actual monsters. Why Eustace has not, none of them could figure it out.
They stayed a month, unable to stay longer, the food supplies were dwindling, and only so much could be found on the island, even with Eustace bringing them food and water from the mountains, where it was too high for the humans to travel. He would bring barrels with him up, coming down with them more than full, but it would only be so good for so long the trees couldn't feed them forever.
So after stocking the ship with enough food and drink for a month, they were off, the crew easily sailing away from the island with the massive dragon flying by their side.
Eustace was sleeping on deck a week later, humans and animals moving around his massive form with disdain, yet another reason people didn't like him. He huffed to himself, he could never do anything right. First he was a too spoiled human, and now he was a too big dragon, who eats much more than them without even filling up. He didn't mean to, he was just, a lot bigger now.
He would hear the crew members complain that he did nothing to help, only sleeps or flies along the ship. He doesn't scout out ahead, or go to find fish. He hated that his hearing was so much better, it was easier to ignore the talking when he couldn't hear it.
It wasn't like he purposely did none of those. Maybe if they taught him he would know what to do? He didn't know what to look for as a scout, and how was he supposed to fish? He didn't even like fish, when he was a human that is, and he wasn't sure if it would taste the same as a dragon.
He'd be willing to figure it out, if they'd at least tell him how. Did he dive for the fish? Going under the water? Or did he heat the water up and hope the fish die fast? Or does he wait for the fish to get close to the surface and just snatch them up?
He got his chance to find out one thing, how to scout.
He was awoke from his slumber by Caspian.
"Eustace, we need your help. There is an island in view, but it will take us three days off course. If you fly over there at top speed, you'd reach it in minutes, we need you to scout it out, see if there is anything we can get from over there, anything that is worth making a detour. Do you think you can do it?" He asked, giving some of the crew an eye when they muttered under their breath.
Eustace was almost used to it, the talking, so he ignored it, as best he could at least, and nodded his massive head. He noticed quite a few rolled eyes, but his cousins both gave him slight nods and smiles, and Reepicheep hopped upon his nose, grinning at him before turning to look out at the sea. He pulled his sword out of his sheath and pointed it in the right direction.
"Forward my friend! To complete the task asked of you!" Reepicheep cheered as Eustace took to the sky, holding onto Eustace's whiskers to keep from falling off.
"I see no edible plants." Reepicheep commented as they flew low over the land, just above the treetops. Reepicheep felt hurt at the dead trees, they looked to be burnt to a crisp, left there for all who stumble upon this once beautiful island to see.
"The river is contaminated." Reepicheep noted, looking at the near purple river, some unidentified liquid flowing through the streams. There weren't any fish nor other sea life within or around the water.
They flew around, going a bit higher, to the highest point, and found a few trees, some kind of oranges were ripe for the picking. A small stream, just high enough to escape the contamination. It would be a waste to go to the island now though, the food here wouldn't replenish enough of the food store for it to be worth anything.
"Look!" Reepicheep pointed to a small round item, thrown carelessly on the ground, it looked man-made.
"Curious, it's a coracle. Too small for any man I know." Reepicheep mused as he examined the small boat. It didn't seem to be damaged. He hauled the boat, with Eustace's help, onto the back of the dragon, using vines to keep it steady. Reepicheep happily jumped into it, perfect size for him, if a bit big.
"Let's get back to the ship. There isn't much here." He patted his friend on the back. Eustace nodded and took to the skies so fast, Reepicheep thought that he might have fallen out of the boat, but it was secured tightly. He looked over the dragon's head to see the land ahead of them, he was hit with another pang of sadness. It really did make the island look terrible.
"Was this all you found?" Caspian asked as they removed the coracle, Eustace slumped on the deck, his wings tired.
Edmund and Lucy smiled sadly at their cousin, but pride was also in their hearts. The boy was growing up, sadness again, because of why he had to grow up, and hurt that they couldn't help him.
"This, a couple of fruit bearing trees, not enough to restock for a week, not really worth wasting three days to restock for three days really. Also, a small stream, at the top, the only water there that wasn't contaminated with a mysterious purple liquid. Sire, I worry that something had happened there. The tree's, they were all burnt and dead, the water contaminated. And this coracle, it was abandoned at the top most point of the contaminated waters." Reepicheep whispered the last parts. His eyes held a fire, he wanted to know what could have done this, who had the power to wipe out an entire island of fruit bearing trees and bountiful rivers?
"I see. We may never know. I suggest continuing, we have already lost a good part of the day waiting for you. Let's not waste much more." Caspian looked at the island with a calculating gaze. He too wanted the answers.
I like writing this way, so much emotion was left out the other way, so much life and story.
It is a lot, a lot longer then I had anticipated. But hey. And look, more info about the thing that I forgot about last time! It is obviously powerful enough to wipe out an island.
Tell me what you think!
Mars
