I saw the movie last night, and it was utterly AMAZING! If you haven't seen it yet, GO SEE IT. In 3D, multiple times. And tell your friends to as well. We have to get it to do well in the box office so that there will be more!
But anyway, I've decided to kind of mix some aspects of the movie with the book. Like this chapter. You'll see how it's different. But warning, there will be spoilers now, but nothing big.
I might also add that our favorite character was wonderful and gorgeous as always, and even more so. He did a spectacular job :D.
Chapter Twenty-Six
We went ashore the next morning in the little rowboat kept for such purposes. Everything about the island was sharp and rough. The jagged cliffs and mountains, the weathered and twisted trees, the dark green grass on the slopes. There were numerous waterfalls pouring down from the cliffsides, and a whitewater stream jetted out into the bay, which was as smooth as glass.
On shore, we set about the work that was to be done. Caspian sent me and two other men to go hunt for some game. I strapped my quiver of red-feathered arrows to my back and strung my longbow. I still preferred the longbow, even though the Telmarine men with me both carried crossbows.
We spent most of the day trekking over the unfamiliar turf, up and down steep, shale-covered precipices. Finally we came to a small flattened area of the hills that was so high up there were only a few twisted pines and that tough, dark green grass of the mountains. Here, a small herd of wild goats were grazing. They were brown, gray, or black, with long horns that curved outwards. I held my finger to my lips and then crept forward.
There were about sixteen, mostly female, with a few kids. The males stayed off to the side of the herd, and that's where I aimed my arrow. I held out my bow, slowly pulling back the string until my fingertips brushed the right corner of my mouth. I closed one eye, aimed for the biggest male, and released. With a twang, the arrow flew away from me, quickly finding its target. The goat fell with one pitiful bleat as the others started trotting away. My companions quickly took aim and managed to kill another before the herd disappeared into the mountainside again.
We collected our kills, and I swung my goat up over my shoulders. I couldn't help but feel smug that I had gotten the biggest one, and despite the protests of my companions, I insisted on carrying the heavy animal myself.
We made our way back to the camp on the beach, taking a bit longer since a heavy, cold fog rolled in, muffling all sounds and making it hard to see more than a few feet ahead. But soon we broke out of the cedar forest onto the rocky soil of the beach, where the others had felled a pine tree and built a bonfire.
We roasted the goats and drank the strong Archenlandian wine from aboard the Dawn Treader, who was sitting very pitiful and ragged in the bay. We had a hot, filling dinner for the first time in weeks.
It was only after we had finished that Edmund looked around with a puzzled look on his face and said, "Where's Eustace got off to?" We all looked around, but he wasn't anywhere to be found.
We started searching the woods nearby, sounding Caspian's horn and calling his name.
Lucy was pale and fretted. "Oh, he's nowhere near or else he'd have heard that!" she said, pulling on one of her braids.
Edmund was storming around in anger, although I could tell he was worried as well. "Damn him! What on earth did he want to slink away like this for?"
He continued to pace as I tried to calm him down, but the truth was that I was worried too. As much as I hated the little son of a bitch, I didn't want him to get hurt.
"But we must do something!" Lucy cried. "He may have got lost, or fallen into a hole, or been captured by savages."
"Or killed by wild beasts," Drinian interjected helpfully.
Rhince muttered under his breath, "Good riddance if he has, I say."
Reep, always noble, spoke up against him. "Master Rhince, you have never spoken a word that becomes you less. The boy was no friend of mine, but he was of the Queen's blood, and while he is of fellowship it concerns our honor to find him and to avenge him if he is dead."
We all sighed in hopelessness.
Then Caspian said wearily, "Of course we have got to find him, if we can, and that is the trouble." Then he turned and stalked off into the darkness, back towards the beach to assemble a search party to go deeper into the wilds of the island.
We sent off a party to look on the eastern side of the island, while Edmund, Caspian, and I went west. We searched through the thick woods of the mountainous country, finally coming down into a sort of rocky valley with many steep walls.
As I was walking, something glinted off to my right in the moonlight, catching my eye. I turned, narrowing my eyes, only to widen them when I saw what the shine was from.
"Edmund! Caspian, look!" I pointed down into a gulch wedged between two walls of the labyrinth-like valley. Between them was filled with gold items of all kinds.
We hopped down the steep rock walls to the dusty floor and looked around us. There were golden everythings; pots, goblets, talismans, scepters, jewelry, cuffs, chains, bowls, etc. I felt my heart quicken and couldn't help but long for the treasure, but knew that if I took anything, it could be dangerous.
"There's only a few reasons all of this would be here," I said quietly, surveying the treasure. "My best bet is dragons."
Caspian and Edmund nodded silently, walking among the piles, nudging a few things with the toes of their boots.
I walked with them doing the same when I smelled something burned. I looked around another pile of gold and saw, to my dismay, a heap of scorched clothing.
At the same moment I was about to call out to the boys, they called out to me.
"Rose! It's the Lord Octesian!" I looked back around the piles to see them standing next to a skeleton, his slightly rusted shield laying a few feet away, his crest upon it.
I swallowed, looking back at the pile of clothes and called them over.
When Edmund saw them, he sank to his knees. "He was just a boy. He was my cousin; I should have protected him. It was my job." He picked up one of the scraps of cloth left, the fabric still smoldering slightly.
I felt slightly sickened that Eustace should've had to have faced such a horrific death. Even if he was insufferable and rude, I never wished that fate for him.
Our journey back was silent and gloomy. Both Caspian and I tried to console Edmund, but he remained stony and silent, refusing to listen or respond. His gaze remained firmly ahead.
We reached the pebbly beach again, and I took note that the sun was now a good bit above the horizon. I suddenly felt quite exhausted and wanted nothing more than to curl up in my bed.
The other half of the search party had arrived back sometime in the night and were back onboard the ship already. We were preparing to set off in the rowboat they had left us when suddenly we heard shouts on board and a rhythmic beating sound in the air.
I looked up at the boat to see a great winged reptile soaring down upon it, landing heavily on the new mast. The ship listed heavily to the side the beast was clinging onto, and I heard the shouted of Tavros the Minotaur repeating Drinian's orders.
The men fired their cross bows at it and then after a short bit of scrambling, it alighted again and came soaring towards us on the beach.
"Edmund! Caspian! Run!" I screamed, turning to flee back towards the woods where I would have the shelter of the trees.
But the beast soared right over me, reaching one of its taloned hands down to snatch Edmund up off the ground.
"No!" I screamed, trying to hack at it as carried him away.
The dragon soared back over the Dawn Treader once before wheeling in midair and flying back over the island the way we had just come.
I ran to Caspian, in hysterics. "Caspian, we've got to do something, we've got to go get him back! Before it kills him, it'll be too late…!" I continued to sob. My king merely stared off into the sky as I clutched his strong arm and cried into his shoulder.
And then I heard the beating sound again, the sound of giant wings pummeling the air. I paused in my sobs for a moment, staring into the sky as the dragon came back into sight, still clutching Edmund. It landed on the beach not far from where we stood, letting Edmund go.
He had a stunned look on his face as he looked into the dragon's strangely human eyes.
"Edmund, what is it?" Caspian asked.
In a shocked voice, Edmund simply said, "It's Eustace."
When the others had come back ashore in the rowboats, Edmund explained that the dragon, who was apparently is cousin, had carried him over the island, showing him the words, burned into the terrain, "I AM EUSTACE."
Eustace the dragon was favoring his right front leg, and Lucy went closer to inspect why.
"Well no wonder, he's hurt, he's got this pinching him!" She cried, pointing to a golden cuff biting into his scaly flesh.
Edmund strode over and with a hard yank, jerked it off. Eustace roared with pain, shaking his horned head and spitting a few flames.
"Well that would explain it then," Caspian said. "Everyone knows a dragon's treasure is enchanted."
Eustace glared at him, growling low in his throat.
"Well, maybe not everyone," I said.
Drinian stepped forward, his arms crossed over his chest. "What are we to do with him?" he asked. "He certainly can't fit on the ship."
Eustace looked between us and with a mournful growl, flopped his head onto the sand. A fat, steaming tear rolled down his scaly red cheek.
Caspian looked between the dragon and he captain with indecision. He sighed, weary from the excitement of the last day and a half. "We will spend one more night here, and then decide in the morning," he sighed.
"Will you come back aboard the ship, sir?" Drinian asked.
We all looked back at pitiful Eustace. "No, I will spend the night onshore. We will be fine here," Caspian decided. I nodded in agreement.
Drinian sighed, "Very well." And then he and the rest of the crew returned to the ship, leaving me, Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, Reepicheep, and Eustace behind on the pebbly sand.
I set out my bedroll as the sun dipped low in the sky again. The air was growing cold again, and I began gathering bits of driftwood in a pile.
"How are we to light the fire?" I asked, surveying the pile. "We have no matches, of course-"
I was interrupted by a jet of flame whooshing past me to set fire to the logs. I whirled to my left, seeing Eustace looking rather pleased with himself.
"Thanks, Eustace," I said with a smile.
We readied for bed, with Eustace curled around one side of the fire and us on the other side nearest the ocean. I laid out my bedroll next to Edmund's. Caspian and Lucy were on his other side and at our feet.
As I lay wrapped in my blanket, I heard Eustace sigh and sniffle, in his dragony way. This went on for a while, and I considered getting up to talk to him, when I heard another voice.
I couldn't make out most of the words, but I could tell it was Reepicheep. He was trying to comfort Eustace, and I caught him say, "You know, extraordinary things happen to extraordinary people." He continued on, and then I heard him ask, "Shall I tell you of my adventures? Very well. Once, I met a dragon, though he was much fiercer than you…"
I smiled to myself as Reep continued with his story to distract Eustace, and finally went to sleep.
PolarBride: That's so stupid! Why wouldn't they show Dawn Treader too? I'm sorry that you'll have to wait even longer!
Fallen-Broken-Winged-Angel: Haha, yeah, when I was editing I figured I should probably specify what 'a dozen' are in case someone didn't know
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