Greg kept my hand in his while Lucy kept her arm around my shoulder. Edmund and Caspian were slightly trailing behind us.

"What food did you find?"

Rhince knelt and tried to move the food around to make it seem like there was more. "It's volcanic, Your Majesty. Not much grows."

"Where's Useless-I mean Eustace," Greg said, being the first to notice that everyone favorite complainer was missing.

"I believe he's out, not helping us load the boats," Reepicheep said.

"Eustace!" Lucy called. "Eustace!"

Taking a deep breath I let go of Greg's hand, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"I'll go find him," Edmund said.

"I'll come with you," Caspian said.

Caspian left the lord's sword with Lucy and followed Edmund out.

Reepicheep gave me a kind look, "My lady, are you well?"

Giving him a small, strained, smile I said, "I'll be fine. Let's just get back to the ship."

We left a boat and a few men waiting on shore for Caspian and Edmund while we went back to the ship.

Lucy, Gael, and I stood at the edge of the deck, watching the shoreline for any sign that they had found Eustace and were returning to the ship. That's when we heard it. It was a roar of somekind.

We froze.

"What was that?" I asked.

A burst of fire could be seen from the mountain.

"Is it the volcano?" Gael asked.

I shook my head, "That's no volcano."

"All hands on deck there!" Drinian called out and I followed him. "Archers, arm yourselves!"

It wasn't long before we saw what the noise was.

A great dragon.

Every man was arming himself. I drew my sword and prepared to fight. Gael and Greg were ushered bellow deck for their own safety as neither of them could fight.

"Take your positions and wait for my command!" Drinian ordered.

The dragon didn't attack, though. It circled for a bit and landed on the mast.

"Fire!" Dinian shouted.

The men fired their arrows at the dragon.

The mast was breaking under the weight of the dragon.

Reepicheep, that clever mouse, scurried up the mast and stuck the thing with his sword. The dragon let out a roar of pain and then flew off.

We cheered, but our victory was short lived.

The dragon flew back, only this time he held Edmund in his claws.

"EDMUND!" Lucy and I shouted.

Lucy and I were helpless as we watched the great and terrible dragon fly off with Edmund in its sharp looking talons.

We stormed the shore; Reepicheep, Lucy, Greg, and I among the party. Caspian told us what befell Eustace. I speculated that the dragon had something to do with his disappearance.

Heavily armed, ready to take down a dragon. The scouts found the beast first, and after they sent word we made a charge against it. However, before we could get close, Edmund ran out to us. He halted our attack, telling us it was Eustace.

The dragon was Eustace.

We finally met the dragonfied boy. If he was anything less terrible than a dragon, it would have a piteous state. He was gnawing at a golden bracelet that he had placed on his arm before becoming a dragon. It looked like it hurt.

"He must have been tempted by the treasure," Edmund said.

"Anyone knows a dragon's treasure is enchanted," Caspian pointed out. Eustace gave Caspian a look and growled slightly. "Well, anyone from here," he amended.

Lucy approached her cousin and managed to pry the golden bracelet off of him. He let out a growl as she did so, but he was free of it.

Edmund then asked, "Is there any way to change him back?"

"Not that I know of," Caspian said.

"Aunt Alberta will not be pleased."

I gave a small giggle, but stopped when Edmund looked over at me. We still hadn't sorted out what happened by the pool.

Reepicheep spoke up and tried to comfort Eustace, "Sorry about the hand, old boy. I can be a little overzealous at times.

Eustace gave the mouse a look I almost knew was "You think?"

"The boats are ready, Sire," Tavros, the minotaur called.

"We can't leave him alone," Lucy said.

"We can't bring him on board, Your Majesty," Drinian pointed out.

Caspian then ordered Drinian and the others back to the boat. He, Edmund, Lucy, Reepicheep, and I would spend the night on shore until we could sort this whole dragon thing out.

Rhince pointed out that we had no means of staying warm.

To that Eustace responded with a spit of fire that set alight a small log.

We all smiled as Reepicheep said, "You were saying?" We would be just fine on this Island for the night.

That night we set up bed roles. Faintly I could hear Reepicheep tell Eustace stories of dragons and other adventures the loyal mouse had been on. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Greg talking adamantly with Edmund. This couldn't be good, but when I moved to go and break up what I thought was an argument in progress. I found Edmund walking toward me.

"Will, could we talk in privet for a moment?"

I nodded and followed him a little while away.

"Will, I'm so sorry." He said as soon as we were far away. "I'm so, so sorry."

Quickly I hugged him. "It's alright…it's alright. You just scared me…really, really scared me," I smiled and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek. "You weren't yourself. I knew that…"

He then started to give me kisses on the face. Over and over he kissed me. I started to giggle as he didn't stop. "E-Ed!" I laughed.

"Are you two gonna be there all night?" Greg shouted at us in, what I knew was, his perfect brotherly timing.

Giving him a peck on the cheek we returned to the camp.

That night, as Edmund held me close by the light of the fire, Edmund said, "I've never seen these constellations before."

I wove our fingers together, "Nor I. We don't see stars like this back home."

"Too many lights," Greg mumbled tossing a stray stick into the fire.

"Me neither," Caspian said in response to Edmund's statement. "We're a long way from home. When I was a boy I used to imagine sailing to the end of the world, finding my father there."

"Maybe you will," Edmund said quietly. He held me closer as the night went on. I could feel a sense of foreboding. Somehow I knew that this adventure was something I needed to savor for the rest of my life.

It could be my last.