Chapter 9: Dreams and a Mysterious Island

After shuffling everyone around again, Ana ended up back in her original cabin. Caspian and Edmund were bunking together in some spare hanging beds. This left Gael and Lucy sharing the royal cabin. Ana was glad to have her own space, though she would've gladly shared with either of the ladies. It gave her privacy if she had any other memories as she didn't have to worry about waking anyone. And she was sleeping a little better. The memories seemed to have disappeared for the time being. She thanked Aslan for that small blessing.

Gael seemed to grow quite attached to the young Queen over the next few days. She followed Lucy everywhere. The only times she didn't was if her father could spare time with her or Lucy was called to a private meeting. Then Gael stayed in her shared cabin until Lucy was free again. And there was no doubt that the Valiant Queen had grown quite fond of the little girl as well.

With the two spending a lot of time together, Ana noticed Caspian and Edmund had been watching her more closely. Granted, Lucy was doing her best to keep Gael's mind off her missing mother while watching Ana. But she couldn't keep her eye on her all the time. However, the two Kings had fewer distractionsβ€”apparentlyβ€”as Ana often caught them regarding her closely, as if she was about to break. They at least tried not to make it obvious and she pretended she didn't notice. However, being treated like she was made of glass was beginning to grow irritating. So she was pleased that with better sleep they had started to back off.

Everything was going well. They had smooth sailing with no signs of the Mist and Ana's flashbacks were gone for the time being. Of course, that meant something had to go wrong. After a week of peaceful nights, Ana started having strange dreams. But at least she could handle these. Although they did get frightening at times, she didn't spend all night awake because of them.

~Dream~

The ship rocked violently, water slamming onto the deck and knocking men down. It was dark, the only light coming from the lanterns. Something foul lurked in the waters. Everyone was on edge.

Suddenly, a huge sea serpent reared its ugly head. Ana met the creature's pale eyes. They seemed to bore into one's soul. It let out something akin to a hiss before diving back into the water. Everyone drew their weapons as it made its way to the ship. Lucy dragged Gael inside, the poor girl too terrified and vulnerable to be of any use in the battle. Eustace was nowhere to be seen, Ana vaguely realized.

Edmund held his brother's sword tightly in his hand. Caspian held a sword but was armed with a crossbow as well. Ana and the other sailors waited for their orders to shoot at the beast. It slammed into the boat, rocking it once more and splashing more water onto the deck. A few threw harpoons at it, but they were sent flying overboard when the serpent jerked back violently. Diving back into the water, it intentionally bumped the ship and jostled the Dawn Treader's passengers.

Ana tried to shoot at the creature, but the serpent was making it difficult. It would either shake the boat and throw everyone off balance or fling its head onto the deck and grab unsuspecting crewmates. Ana was seemingly the target of most of its attacks. She spent so much time avoiding being dragged into the sea that she couldn't fire an arrow. Occasionally one of the crew members would get pulled from the ship instead of her. She could hear them screaming in agony just before they were dragged into the sea.

Feeling guilty for their loss, Ana finally gave up trying to kill the creature. She figured if the serpent was after her, she could at least stop the sailors from getting caught in the attacks. Or Their Majesties. But the only way she could do so was to get off the ship. She figured Phoenix would have a better chance against the serpent.

Scrambling up steps, she returned her bow and arrow back into its quiver. The serpent lunged for her again, and she narrowly avoided its snapping jaws. She was close enough to smell its breath and feel it on her neck. The beast retreated back into the water and Ana continued making her way to the ship's dragon head. Whether anyone noticed or not, Ana couldn't say. But she knew she couldn't let the others be dragged with her. She climbed atop the head as the serpent searched for its target.

Their eyes locked. Time seemed to slow. The serpent circled around, moving closer to its prey. Faintly Ana heard someone scream her name. She thought it might've been Caspian. The beast lunged and Ana jumped.

As she fell, a feeling of warmth enveloped her as her magic rose to the surface. Just as she was about to crash into the water, she came up short. Her wings barely touched the water as she glided up and away. After missing her again, the serpent received a mouthful of wood and disappeared into the water.

In the next moment, the serpent was after her again. Its focus was off the ship as it sought her out. Ana needed to keep it distracted but close enough to the ship so the others could defeat it. However, Phoenix was caught off guard. The beast sprung out of the water and grabbed her wing in its mouth. She screeched, pain radiating through the limb as she was pulled underwater. Others screamed her name, but she couldn't respond.

Though she was in pain and forced underwater, Phoenix clawed and pecked at the creature. It pulled her further down and she fought a nearly impossible battle. Even if she was released, Ana would have to transform back in order to get away. Phoenix wasn't made to swim and with wet wings, she couldn't fly away either. She tried to set herself aflame and hoped the beast released her but knew it was a futile effort. Fire couldn't burn in water.

Suddenly, the serpent let out a sharp hiss, and Ana was free. Transforming quickly, she tried to swim away. But her right arm was injured and it made it hard to swim. Her lungs hurt and she knew she was in desperate need of air. Ana pushed towards the surface, the serpent momentarily distracted by whatever had caused it to release her. Or else, it figured its prey was as good as dead and moved on to the others.

Just as those thoughts crossed her mind, Ana felt lightheaded. Her movements became weak and sluggish. She thought she had to be close to the surface by now but she couldn't find it. Noises started to fade away and suddenly she realized everything else was too. Her body felt heavy as she limply paddled her arms. She made one last attempt to kick her feet but found they didn't respond to the command. Ana started to sink and she knew no more.

~Dream~

Ana awoke with a start, breathing heavily. Her eyes flicked around, unseeing for a moment. Finally, they settled on the cabinets and she realized it was all just a dream. She was safe, inside her cabin. While it was dark, they were in smooth water. Nothing at all like the torrents in her dream.

Shaking her head, Ana stumbled out of bed and made her way to the table. There was a pitcher of water leftover and she quickly poured some into a cup. Taking slow, deep sips she was able to clear her head.

"That's the third one this week," she muttered quietly to herself. "Is He trying to tell me something?" Ana sighed and took another drink of water.

After a few minutes of pondering the dream, Ana headed back to bed. She normally only had one a night and would think about the reasons in the morning. Right now, she needed to get as much sleep as she could. She didn't want the others to worry about her any more than they had to. Thankfully she fell asleep rather quickly, dreaming of nothing.

꧁ π‘½π’π’šπ’‚π’ˆπ’† 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π‘«π’‚π’˜π’ 𝑻𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 κ§‚

The following morning, things continued as normal. No one bombarded her with questions about how she slept. Ana attended a meeting in the Map Room where they discussed their next course of action. The royals didn't regard her with concern, though they were worried about their current situation. With so many extra passengers, supplies were running out faster than they had predicted. If they didn't find land soon, they would run out within the next few days. And hungry sailors were never a good thing.

The evening, however, found Ana leaning against the rail, staring off into the sea. To anyone else, it appeared she was daydreaming. But to those who knew Ana well, they knew she was thinking. Unfortunately for her, there were three people on board who knew her quite well. And all three had noticed that she had been staring off into space more often in the past few days.

While Ana was trying to figure out what the dreams could mean, Lucy was the one to voice their concern.

"Ana?" she asked quietly, not wanting to startle her. If Ana was lost in thought, she was known to not hear someone approach. It was the only time she was caught unawares.
"Hmm?" Ana hummed, turning to look at her.
"Are you alright? You seem a bit..." Lucy paused for a moment, searching for the right word. "...Distracted."
"Distracted?" Ana frowned at her choice of words. "There's not much to be distracted from. I'm thinking."
"What about?"
"Just some dreams I've had lately." Ana saw the brief flash of concern on Lucy's face and elaborated a bit. "None of that other stuff..." She waved her hand in a vague gesture to the past flashbacks. "I know you're all worried about that, but I'm fine. Haven't had anything like that in quite a few days." Lucy relaxed a bit and they fell silent. But Ana could tell there was more the young Queen wished to say.

After a moment, she decided it wouldn't hurt to talk to Lucy. "These dreams seem more like premonitions and I'm wondering if Aslan is trying to tell me something."
Lucy looked at her, curious. "And has He said anything?"
"No. But that's not uncommon."
"No, it isn't." She smiled softly. "Care to talk about these dreams that are keeping you up?"
"They're not keeping me up," Ana protested. "I go back to sleep easily enough. They're just on my mind from time to time."

Lucy hummed in response and Ana didn't know if that meant she believed her or not. However, before either could ask any more questions, they were interrupted. A cry from the lookout had everyone looking to the sea. In the distance, they could barely see some sort of solid mass. It had to be an island of some kind and both ladies exchanged a knowing look. Hopefully, the answer to their problem would be solved.

As Caspian and Edmund made their way to the focsle, Ana left Lucy to join them. She thought Lucy was going to follow her, but she disappeared inside. Ana figured she was looking for Gael inside.

Caspian passed the spyglass off to Edmund as Ana joined them.

"It looks uninhabited," Caspian stated. "But if the lords followed the Mist east, they would've stopped here."
"Could be a trap," Drinian warned.
"Or it could hold some answers," Edmund suggested. He turned a little to study Caspian's face. "Caspian?" He handed the spyglass back.
There was a brief silence as Caspian decided what to do. "We'll spend the night onshore. Scour the island in the morning."
"Aye, Your Majesty," the Captain replied as he took the spyglass from Caspian.

On the King's orders, the longboats were loaded up. A few sailors remained behind to guard the ship, but most came ashore. Reepicheep stayed behind for this particular trip, though Ana didn't catch his explanation as to why. Everyone had packed a small knapsack of supplies and they were armed. They wanted to be prepared for anything.

A few went in search of firewood while the rest made camp. Bags were unpacked and bedrolls were laid out around the fire that was being prepared. Eustace pouted about having to make his own bed but did it in the end. Edmund tossed an extra pillow at his cousin, hoping to stop his complaining. It had very little effect on the boy.

Lucy was on Ana's left, with the two Kings to her left. Edmund first, then Caspian. Gael normally would have slept next to Lucy, but she was on Ana's right instead. Her father's bedroll was made just to the right. Drinian and the few remaining crew members were also spread out on the ground. Eustace had chosen to lay the furthest from everyone else. But no one was complaining about that particular detail. They soon learned the boy snored terribly.

Eustace was the first to fall asleep, but his snoring made it difficult for the others to do so. Ana heard several of them groan in annoyance, tossing and turning on their bedrolls. Some even tossed their pillows over their heads to try and block out the noise. It did take them a while, but eventually, they grew used to the sounds of his snoring and began to doze off.

Ana stared at the stars, trying to study the constellations. Star-gazing was one of the things she never quite grasped the concept of. Thankfully, there were plenty aboard the Dawn Treader that understood them at least a little, including Caspian. Lucy was reading silently next to her, but eventually, she put the book aside and she too was soon asleep. Ana listened as the sounds of everyone's breathing evened out. Once she realized they were all asleep, she allowed herself to relax a little. Her eyes fluttered shut and within moments she was asleep.

And then she was awake.

Eyes flying open, Ana carefully listened. She didn't want to risk looking around quite yet, but something was wrong. Something had woken her. There was nothing visible from her limited viewpoint, but she could feel the presence of someone. Multiple someones, she realized as she heard footsteps draw closer. Her hand slowly reached for her bow, prepared for a threat. Ana would've shouted to wake the others, but didn't know if they were just curious inhabitants or a threat. And she didn't want to scare the creatures into doing something rash before she had a chance to see them.

They drew closer and their steps grew louder. Ana remained still but poised to strike. She could tell the creatures were almost upon them, but she still couldn't see them. Closer and closer they crept, feet stomping lightly on the sand. Ana wondered how the others couldn't hear themβ€”they didn't seem particularly quiet to her. When the creatures started to whisper, she froze.