The Chief's voice made Kathleen's stomach drop. "We shall write with them and find a place in the dirt. That shall be our, uh, what do you call things to write on?"
"P-Paper," she croaked. This was going very well.
"Paper, yes. Bring the spears, I said. Bring them here." Shuffles and voices echoed away from where she stood. "No funny business, missy. Don't think I forgot what we'll do to your friends if you try anything."
Kathleen straightened her back. "No funny business," she said while letting out a breath.
"So," said a squeaker voice, "what are ya plannin' on teachin' us anyway." Kathleen was almost positive this was the voice that the others kept telling to clean their ears.
She cleared her throat, "Well," she looked around, "I was thinking we could start with the basics of the language. So that would be the letters of the alphabet."
"The what?"
"'Alphaboat?'"
She disguised a giggle by clearing her throat, "Alpha-BET. Its letters are organized into a specific order so when you disassemble them, you can make them into words. The letters by themselves make a specific sound, so when you put different letter's sounds together, they create a word. Does that make sense?"
"Yes."
"No."
"Maybe."
She figured there were at least three Beings with her at the moment. Each one had a different way of thinking like her students back home. In her world, she had only one student at a time. If the Beings that left brought the rest of their people, she didn't know if she could handle that many learning minds at once. She had no idea how teachers did it. Kathleen learned early on that everyone had a different learning style or method. That's why she only taught one mind at a time. Maybe she was a little over her head in buying time.
She forced a smile at the voices, "Excuse me if this may be rude, but what type of creatures are you, specifically?"
"We're the terrifying kind!" said Squeaker.
Kathleen took a small step back not fully believing it, "Yes, I know." Trying to think of a polite way to asked someone what type of creature they were didn't sound right in any way. "But, uh, does your terrifying beast have a name."
"Why do you want to know?" said the gruffer voice, the Shover. Kathleen can feel the presence of them right behind her.
"I'm writing in a notebook of my adventures while I'm, uh, traveling on the sea. I would like to record the terrifying creatures who were able to kidnap me. Truly traumatizing." Not Kathleen's most convincing performance, but the feeling of the bubble in her stomach returned and had enveloped her. The curiosity inside was growing, aching to break out. Luckily she was able to keep most of it bay, yet part of it was still showing.
"We are the Dufflepuds," said the Chief.
Shover said right behind her, "And that's all you need to know."
The bubble was shrieking, but she was able the hang on to the final feelings of it. "You are right. Absolutely. The terrifying Dufflepuds is all I need to know." As the feeling of curiosity reduced, the sounds of Dufflepuds running towards the group and herself could be heard.
It was a terrifying sight. Wooden spears were rushing in, floating above Kathleen's head. Thuds rocked the ground as they were getting closer.
"Boss. They're awake. They're awake! And they're coming this way," a newly arrived Dufflepud said, trying to catch their breath.
"Who?" asked the Chief, but once he said it out loud, he already knew. Everyone did.
Kathleen looked at the sky. It was minutes past the first light. Thirty minutes at most. She remembers what Edmund had promised her last night, though she had to admit, her memory was a little hazy from the exhaustion of the late-night read.
She felt a shove, "You told them, didn't you?" asked a new arrival.
"What? I've stood here all this time. Ask your Chief."
Another shove, this one she recognized. "You probably have magic of your own. You warned them somehow!"
"Magic? I have no magic! I would have used it already." She began to panic. How could she fight off these Dufflepuds if she couldn't even seem them?
Another push. Lucy's dagger. She felt her back get pushed into something firm. She jumped forward and held her ground.
"You've been holdin' us here. Stallin'. Haven't ya?" Squeaker snarled behind her. She could feel herself being surrounded again. They were closer this time, she felt it.
She looked around for anything shiny. Any possible glint that could be her way to defend herself and escape. As the thuds become closer, she saw it. A wink in from the morning sun placed on the floor.
The dagger.
She could dash it, but she didn't know how to get through people she couldn't see. She thought about her lesson with Edmund and the combinations she did. If she stiffened her arms and added for a force with every change, she could have a fighting chance.
So that's what she tried to do. She pulled force and elbowed Squeaker behind her and ran as fast as she could while her arms moving in port de bras. It may have looked ridiculous, but she felt bodies being hit and moved out of the way. The dagger was meters away, making her sprint even faster, but something caught her hand and lifted her in the air. She thrashed around as much as she could, but the Dufflepud held on a tight grip.
"I am truly sorry about this." It was the Chief. Kathleen calmed down and could tell they were face to face. There was sorrow in his voice, no doubt about it.
"They're coming over the garden." said the Shover.
It was then she could hear the faint echoes of swords hitting against their owner's belts. No voices, but she knew it was them. Long shadows and uneven shuffles were coming from the direction of the campsite. Since Kathleen knew it wasn't time to set sail yet, that must mean that Edmund woke up the rest of the crew to look for Lucy and herself.
Her breath hitched as the Chief spoke to her, "I wish there was another way, but we need more time." Before she could react, a pressure of what felt like a hand went around her waist then another hand over her mouth, making her arms held by her side, trapping her once again. The Chief held his grip as they moved behind one of the less whimsical-shaped hedges, hidden from sight.
Footsteps began to get closer. There were whispers a few feet away, but Kathleen wasn't sure what they were saying. The rest of the Dufflepuds must have been close because soon after the whispers, became yells. The yells were teamed with whooshes and thumps hitting the ground.
"Stop right there, or perish." said the Shover. He really did have the most intimidating voice. That must have been a queue of some sort because, at the end of the sentence, the Chief walked away from the hedges and in front of the Narnians.
In honesty, it looked like only Kathleen was there with them. The sight was slightly horrifying. She was suspended several feet in the air in a stiff position. The crew could see her trying to escape from the invisible being's hold, but it was no use for her. The Chief's grip was tighter than before. The hand over her mouth and nose pressed harder. It was getting difficult for her to breathe.
She could see everyone. From different directions, crewmen were being pushed left and right. Swords were being pulled away and Kathleen could see the crewmen wince in pain as invisible punches were being thrown. She couldn't stand to watch. As her throat started to burn from the lack of oxygen, she moved her head as much as she could and bit down hard on the Chief's hand.
The Chief yelled in shock and dropped her instantly. With a gasp, Kathleen crawled to her feet and to the nearest person to her which happened to be Caspian. She helped him up as a sword was lifted and pointed against them.
"What sort of creatures are you?" Caspian asked as he and Kathleen carefully walked behind him.
Concentrating on the direction of the voices, Kathleen noticed something off with the Dufflepuds that she didn't see before. The area where the voice was coming was beginning to look disoriented as if she was looking through the heat of an oven. Shapes that weren't there before were taking form.
"Big ones," said Shover, "with a head of a tiger and a body of a..." he trailed.
"Different tiger! Yeah." The Dufflepuds agreed with the other voice.
Kathleen shook her head slowly. "Stand down." She said slightly raspy to Caspian. He had positioned himself where he could stand in front of her at the moment of any danger, which she knew there was no need for. "They won't actually try to hurt us."
Off to the side, she could see a sword being tossed. She hoped Caspian saw it too and consider her words. From the way they interacted, Kathleen can concur that the Dufflepuds probably never held a sword in their lives. Yet, they continued with their vaguely colorful threats. "You don't want to mess with us." One said as they raised their sword to Caspian.
"Or what?" Edmund asked in the slightest panic. He could see Kathleen, but Lucy was nowhere in sight. He's probably going through the many scenarios in his head with regards to his sister.
Kathleen looked around as more swords were being tossed away. The Dufflepuds began to take more shape, looking like a water person of some kind. She took a step in front of Caspian who tried to stop her, which she ignored.
"Or I'll claw ya to death!" said a Dufflepud, which was becoming less like water and more like a creature. A visible one.
"And I'll ram my tusks right through you," said Shover, who actually turned to be different than what Kathleen picture him to be. And it wasn't just the Shover who appeared different than her imagination. The whole Dufflepud tribe did.
Not only were they not tigers, but they didn't have tusks either. Or any type of animal part on them. The wildest thing about them was their untamed hair. They were all men that stood at most four feet tall. The way they suspended Kathleen in the air was by standing right on top of each other. Two Dufflepuds were holding one's foot on their shoulders. And the strangest thing was that they only had on foot! All of them had one leg connected to their hips. Their foot size was probably bigger than their head. That might have been the reason the journey from the camp to where the door was a rough one. The Dufflepuds weren't running, but hopping!
"And I'll gnash you with my teeth," said the Chief, who was right in front of Kathleen and Caspian. Or more likely above. He had two others holding on to his foot below him.
"And I'll bite you with my fangs," another said as he growled.
pNow that Kathleen could see them and yet hear them with their meaningless threats, she began to pity them. And also feel slightly embarrassed. These were the ones who kidnapped Lucy and herself?
Edmund figured he started making the mickey out of the situation. "You mean squash us with your fat bellies?"
As Dufflepud nature, they agreed with a second after realizing what he said.
"Fat Bellies? Huh?" said one of the younger Dufflepuds.
Caspian decided to continue with the bit, "Tickle us with your toes?"
The Dufflepuds must have been confused with this new information. They could be seen once again. The two Dufflepuds holding up the Chief began to lose balance, making themselves fall back and the Chief falling forward.
Caspian laughed as Kathleen crouched down to the Chief's eye line, "They can see you now, Chief. We all can."
Honestly, Kathleen could tell he would be relieved if it was under a different circumstance. Behind her, Edmund came walking right in front of the Chief. The fear in the Chief's face opposed to Edmund's determined one. "What have you done with my sister, you little pipsqueak?" Edmund drawled his sword in front of him as Drinian had pointed his sword behind.
Kathleen stood up as the Chief spoke hesitantly, staring at the sword in front of him, "Now, calm down."
Kathleen looked between the weapon and the Chief, "Edmund," she tried, but her voice was still a little scratchy.
"Where is she?" his voice didn't falter but his face said it all. He was worried.
"Edmund," she tried again. She cleared her throat and got his attention. She didn't know what to say. How was she supposed to explain that his sister went through invisible doors and most likely lifted the spell on these creatures to make the "Unseen Seen". She knew that Narnia was a strange and magical place, but was there such thing as too strange and too magical? She stayed silent in an attempt to gather her thoughts.
"You better them him, Chief."
"Tell him!"
"Tell him."
The Chief took a shaky breath as he looked between the boy and the girl in front of him. "In the mansion," he said.
"What mansion?" Edmund asked in confusion. The Chief turned to Kathleen. The girl looked back and forth from Edmund and the Chief and tried to set between them.
"There was a spell," she said as she places her hand on top of his, hoping that he would lower his weapon, "to make the unseen seen. If we don't see the mansion now, then maybe..." she trailed off as a sound of water rang out. One that she didn't hear before.
Following the direction of the sound was the same haze that happened with the Dufflepuds before they appeared. It seemed to be happening again but on a greater scale. In seconds, a grand mansion covered in ivy appeared before their eyes. Peaking behind the ivy was grey stone and in space of every eight feet was a tall window. The mansion was three stories high with a small tower just behind the second story wall. The mansion looked gorgeous from where Kathleen was standing. Edmund must have thought so too, due to that he commented about the mansion as if it obviously looked like what he expected it to be.
The hypnotic spell of the mansion appearing was broken by the sound of an annoyed boy and brushed rustling. "You know, I'm really getting tired you all leaving me behi-" Eustace stopped and stood frozen at the sight of the Dufflepuds, whom she was pretty sure one of them called Eustace a pig. "This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Kathleen couldn't deny that.
Kathleen turned back to the Chief and noticed that her hand was still on top of Edmund's hand. She tried to casually take off her hand from his and turned to the mansion.
Edmund had noticed and almost wished she hadn't moved her hand at all. He turned to see what she was looking at. There was a movement from behind the hedges. He was about to pull up his sword again, but relief flooded through him.
"Lucy!" cried out Kathleen, causing the crew to turn. The Dufflepuds went into a panic, calling out the same words again.
"The Oppressor!"
"The Oppressor!"
"Oppressor!"
One by one the Dufflepuds were bouncing around on their one foot, gaining quite a bit of height. The clamoring and groaning were making Kathleen even embarrassed once again, but now it was more towards the Dufflepuds in how they were acting. Almost like small children.
A man was walking on the side of Lucy. He was much older than she was. His hair was salt and pepper and his wrinkles only seemed to be around his eyes. He had a short beard and mustache that was thin and grey. The robes he wore were long, touching the grass and dragging slightly behind him. It was open and has no sleeves. Under it, the man wore a chocolate brown tunic with matching trousers. He put one hand over his chest and bowed slightly at the Kings.
Lucy smiled at his side, "Caspian, Kathleen, and Edmund," she said as she looked at each of them, one at a time. "This is Coriakin. It's his island." The boys bowed and Kathleen followed a moment after.
"That's what he thinks." The Chief called from behind them. "You have wronged us, Magician." His voice cracked.
Kathleen took a step back as Coriakin walked between her and Caspian. "I have not wronged you," he said. Through his voice was calm, his face read as though he has been through his conversation a dozen times. "I made you invisible for your own protection." As he walked forward, the Dufflepuds bounced backward.
"'Protection?' That's oppressive! Oppressor!" As the Chief said this, Kathleen began to wonder if the Dufflepuds were using the word "oppressive" in the right context.
"I have not oppressed you," Coriakin said exhausted.
The Dufflepuds bounced further and further away, "But you could've if you'd wanted to."
At this, the Magician reached into his pocket, letting white-like flakes fly out of his hand, "Begone."
With that, the Chief and his tribe bounced away from the crewmen, shouting about it being a spell.
Kathleen hugged her stomach as Lucy asked what the flakes were, which was apparently lint.
As Eustace asked about the creatures, Kathleen scanned her eyes at what the rest of the crewmen were doing. About everyone was examining a spear or about the take one out of the ground. She furrowed her eyebrows searching for the captain. Once finding him, she sped to his side.
"What are they doing?" she asked Drinian. "The crew?"
He took a glance at her then to the crew, "Taking supplies for the ship."
She bit her lip, "But wouldn't the Dufflepuds try to come back for them."
"It would likely take a while for them to return to this part, but seeing as they aren't all right in the head, they probably would." He turned to her concerned face. "But we'd be long gone by then. Why do you ask?" The question made her feel like she was on the wrong side of the fence. Watching the crew take those weapons, ones that didn't belong to them, and taking them without permission made Kathleen feel uncomfortable, even if the spears belonged to creatures that acted the way that they did.
At this point, Edmund had come up from behind. He had seen Kathleen bunch up her hand against her trousers, a nervous twitch he noticed her do since before she came to Narnia.
Her words had caught in her throat as Edmund came by. "Are you all right?" He asked her.
She gulped and bit her lip again, "Yes," she said releasing her lip, "It's just, uh." She didn't know what was harder, try to explain herself to Drinian or talking face-to-face with Edmund. She figures that this is what crewmen of a ship did. She read books of pirates pillaging and plundering, and she knows that taking the Dufflepuds spears is an extremely watered-down version of it, but it still didn't sit well with her. "I told the Dufflepuds I would teach them the alphabet. They were going to use the spears as a writing tool. The ground was going to be their paper."
Drinian looked at her with disbelief as she stared at the sight in front of her, "Really?" He asked, "You were going to teach them to write?"
She brushed her hand across her stomach, "Well, they made Lucy go into the mansion and I was alone with them. I needed to stall in order for her to find the spell."
Drinian chuckled, "That does seem like something one of your character would do," he nodded to Edmund then left the help the others pack the spears, "Your Majesty."
As he walked away, Kathleen turned her back on the sight and stood silently.
Edmund was silent for the moment, deciding on how to continue. He turned to the crew of the Dawn Treader, who was carrying the wooden spears and getting ready to head back to the ship, then he turned to Caspian and his sister, who were speaking in hushed tones with Coriakin. Gripping his sword, he turned to face Kathleen who was staring at an area of grass in front of them. "This isn't just about the lesson, is it?"
She jumped slightly, "Uh... I just..." She tried to gather her thoughts but the situation was hard to explain. She took a flustered look at Edmund and was grateful that he was waiting patiently for her to continue. "Must we do this? I mean, take their weapons. We didn't ask for their permission and I know that they are not the brightest star in the sky but taking the spears. It doesn't feel right. And I know we have to take what we must for our journey for the Seven Lords, but this," she motioned to the crew leaving, "feels wrong. Doesn't it? Spears are used for fishing as hunting. I'm sure they need them more than we do."
Edmund nodded. He was certain that the situation would not agree with Kathleen, and he was glad that she took both sides already accounted for. He knew he couldn't change the rules of the sea, but he can offer a light of what can't be seen. "Those Dufflepuds have been here longer than we can be aware of. If they have a Chief, they most likely have a system of culture and power. The spears they mostly made themselves, and if they did it once, then they can do it again. Some of our men found a spring yesterday, so they have a resource for freshwater, and another party found more fruit. They won't go starving. They will be all right."
She nodded once before questioning, "Do you ready think so?"
Edmund gave a small smile, "We can only hope."
"Ed!" Lucy called, getting both their attention, "Coriakin wants to show us something."
"Right," he called back.
As he took a step, Kathleen stopped him by his arm, "Wait," she said, still looking at the grass, "Would you, I mean all of you, mind if I came too?"
Edmund studied what he could see of her. He worried that Kathleen would go back to interacting with him the way she did back in their world. He noticed she was less timid around him from the past few days. She had begun to keep to herself less. She had made more eye contact with him, but now it seemed like she was back where she started when they had first met. He didn't know what caused their first encounters to be distanced, and he feared it would go back to that. Back to the "hellos," and acting as if he didn't feel her gaze on him. He didn't want to go back to that.
He guessed that it might be due to being captured again or maybe it was because she realized what needs to be done to survive in Narnia, and she wasn't fully comfortable with it. Whatever it was, Kathleen was sinking in her thoughts and Edmund knew he could help.
"We wouldn't mind at all, Katie. In fact, we would be honored if you accompanied us."
