Chapter 14

After a long while again at sea, and when the men had just started to whisper that they had finally come to a sea with no end the lookout saw another island straight ahead from the Dawn Treader's course. This island unlike Deathwater Island, this new piece of land sat low to the sea with only some hills and no mountains to be seen. This in itself was not that strange, since many islands of sandier makeup do not rise any extraordinary height from the ocean because of their generally more unstable nature compared to say a volcanic island. What was strange was that upon making harbor in a wide and clear bay they could see that what had been thought to be a random grouping of trees looked to be more organized in nature.

When they finally had disembarked from the rowboats they found the grass not to be of a coarse beach variety but to be a well manicured lawn that any home owner would be proud to claim. The trees were also well looked after with evidence of them being trimmed into appealing yet often strange shapes like one would find in a fanciful garden. They lined a crushed stone pathway like strange sentry's and off in the distance they could see what looked to be a house made of stone.

Everyone was very eager to explore and see if anyone did indeed live in that house with its many windows that Kat and the children all thought looked a great deal like an English house you might stumble upon in the countryside of England, not on a strange island in Narnia. And it was a strange island for all the care that had been given it they had yet to see anyone and had only heard the coos of birds hidden well in the trees.

"I do declare this is the strangest place we have been yet." Eustace said to Kat as he shaded his squinting eyes from the trying to see the house far down the lane. They had grown to be like siblings more and more as the journey progressed, perhaps in part because they both where in Narnia for the first time unlike Edmund and Lucy. They were both able to relate better with each other even with their gap of ages and the times they had been raised in. "Why would there be an English house here when no one seems to be living here?"

"I have no idea." Replied Kat, "But I can't really say anything is strange anymore since we're in a different world or reality or whatever you want to call it. Who knows maybe we will find a Tesco on the next island." They both tried to keep straight-faced at the look Drinian had given them both as if they were crazy but they both broke down into fits of giggles as Kat tried to describe supermarkets and long checkout lines to a very confused Narnian. All the while no one saw that Lucy had been accidently felt behind as she tried to pry a stone out of her shoe.

It could have only been only ten minutes or so when Lucy had run red-faced and out of breath back to the group who had just made it to the courtyard of the house. If it had been anyone but Lucy who quickly forced out that an invisible army that was planning one cutting them all off from the ship they would not have been believed. But the fear in her eyes and her honest nature was all everyone needed to accept her story as true.

"So you have no idea what type of creatures they are Lu?" Asked Edmund gently, making sure to say it in a harsh way that would not make his already emotional sister cry. It was times like these that Katherine saw how grown up Edmund was for his age, and perhaps got a glimpse of the King of Narnia he was.

Even as Ed managed to calm his sister Kat could see the men were shaken at the news and even the brave Reepicheep looked taken aback at the thought of battling invisible foes.

Lucy sniffled back a few tears that had welled up in her blue eyes before responding. "How could I know what they are when I could not even see them? I didn't even hear the noise of their feet walking around only these ghastly thumping and thudding as they went away."

When Reepicheep tried to lighten the mood with a half-hearted attempt at humor, Kat did not even she the slightest twitch of humor on Drinian's now firmly set face. She could tell he was worried about the situation and doing his best to think of a strategy to get everyone safely back on the ship. Caspian had suggested signaling the ship to another part of the bay and leaving the rowboats entirely, but that was quickly shot down because the water was much too shallow and they would risk beaching the Treader.

At the talk of creeping away Reepicheep seemed to gather his gusto back. "Your Majesties and you Sir Drinian all know as I that it is folly to think that we could even think for one moment that we could avoid an invisible enemy with any amount of creeping and skulking. If they truly want to fight us then there is nothing that we can do to avoid such a confrontation, even now they could have surrounded us silently. I for one will sooner face them than to be caught by my tail unawares."

"I would have to agree with Reep, unfortunately I don't see any other way." said Edmund.

"Also if Rhince and the others see us all fighting they will come to our rescue right?" Lucy said with hope coloring her voice.

But Eustace interjected pointing out that they would not think anything of it if their enemies where invisible, that they might think they were just swinging their swords around for fun when they where instead fighting for their lives. A rather unfortunate thought to be sure.

Kat could feel her knees go weak at the thought of fighting in a battle; she had never even had archery lessons let alone knew anything about how to handle a sword. As all the men and boys got out their swords and even Lucy had her bow and quiver, while Katherine had nothing to defend herself with. As she contemplated arming herself with a large rock or branch or really anything for that matter, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Drinian's concerned yet a battle hardened eyes looking down at her. He handed her the long dagger from his belt, silently making sure her grip was correct on the handle.

"Make sure to stay close behind me." Was all he said to her before gathering up everyone together and march over to the beach, the great green lawns where completely empty and peaceful looking but it did nothing to dispel the tension in the air. When they arrived at the boats where undisturbed for an instant they thought that Lucy might have imagined it all.

"No further now." A voice called out. "No further I say. We need to talk to you, no need to try and fight us. We have more than fifty of us and we are all well armed."

"That's right Chief. You all can depend on him, he tells the truth." Came a chorus of voices all around them.

"I do not see these fifty warriors," observed Reepicheep.

"That's right, that's right," said the Chief voice. "You don't see us, and why not?" He asked rhetorically, "Because we are invisible of course."

Caspian told Reepicheep to stay quiet before talking to the chief. "What do you invisible want with us? What would we have we done to gain your enmity?"

"There will be no harm to you all if the little girl will help us with a problem. The other one is much too old."

"What would you have me do?" Lucy asked always ready to help others no matter the situation.

It would not be until after having dinner with these strange invisible creatures and everyone had been given rooms to sleep in the large house. After having breakfast Lucy had disappeared up stairs to free the Dufflepuds from their curse of invisibility. She was gone for many hours and eventually they started quietly talking about how they might rescue her from this vindictive magician if that worst happened.

However when she dashed down the stairs and promptly ran into her brother, they all assumed the worst.

"It's alright," she shouted. "The magician's a brick- and I've seen him- Aslan." And with that she had streaked out of the room and gone out to the garden like a streak of wind. Ed bound right after her and everyone else soon followed and came upon the strange sight of the Duffles. They where odd creatures, they looked like dwarves with their round bearded faces and they worn the most outlandish clothing but they only have one gigantic foot. They bounced on their foot as if they were using pogo sticks.

After reassuring the rest of the crew that they were indeed alive, even if they had had a rather strange past twelve hours, and ended the night off with eating and exchanging stories.

*Tesco is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer (think Wal-Mart) founded in 1919 and notorious for long queue lines. So thus I find it possible that both a modern visitor to England and a boy from the 1940's would both know about these stores.