A crossover fanfic of the crew of the Dawn Treader vs Scylla and Charybdis from Greek mythology. I wrote this during this year's Suvudu fantasy cage match March Madness tournament thing. Yes, I am commenter Rose on the Suvudu website.

Narnia and all its inhabitants are the creation of C.S. Lewis.

"No!" the pale Lord Rhoop shouted in anguish. "This is the island where DREAMS come true. Not…daydreams. Your worst dreams. Your worst nightmares!" The crew stared at him, aghast.

"Turn the ship!" Caspian shouted. "Turn about!"

Drinian was quick to comply, and all the other crewmen likewise leapt to their tasks in desperation.

"No!" Shouted Reepicheep. "My liege, Caspian! Surely we should face our fears, and conquer this darkness! What could send these, such valiant Narnian lords, to flight?"

"Mouse, you have never dreamed, but you should know, there are some fears no man should be asked to bear, now–" the ship lurched as a sudden violent current latched hold. Caspian caught Reepicheep as the mouse was nearly thrown overboard. "What happened?" the King shouted.

"I don't know, my Liege!" Drinian returned. "She's being pulled back into the Dark, and I can't hold her!" A low, rumbling yawn of a sound drowned out the captain's next words, and the current increased. Snatches of an eerie howls drifted out of the dark behind them. Lord Rhoop collapsed sobbing against the rail, and Lucy burst into tears, inexplicably stammering "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" even as she continued to tug on a line with her cousin to secure the mainsail.

Bewildered, and frightened, Caspian shouted over the din at her, "what is it Lucy? Do you know what this is?"

The little queen nodded miserably. "It was from a schoolbook… I wasn't frightened originally, but ever since that storm… I'm sorry. It's Charybdis. And the other sound has got to be Scylla." The Narnians stared at her blankly, but Edmund turned several shades whiter in the gloom. He jumped up to the wheel deck to help Drinian turn them out of the current. "Maelstrom!" He shouted. Even Reepicheep hastened to the lines then, securing loosened knots in the upper rigging so the other sailors could focus on deck.

The current let up slightly, then another yawning roar thundered over them, and the intense waves threatened to capsize the little boat. Still, Drinian and Edmund together were able to keep them on tack away from the monster. The current was easing again, and Lucy bundled Rhoop below deck for safety, then made her way over to Caspian. "We may be able to skirt the island to avoid the currents, but Scylla will be there. She is a monster with many heads that snatches and eats sailors from the deck."

"What charming schoolbooks there are in your world."

"Yes, well, anyways, in the myth, Odysseus set sail at full speed past the cliffs and managed to escape, so…"

"Yes, ok then. Drinian! We'll need to sail close by the edge of the island to get out, but we will likely be attacked as we do, so full speed! Reepicheep! You and I must fend off attacks from the cliffs, so you stay up in the sails to protect us from above. Everyone else keep your eyes open–we are all at risk!"

The ship edged toward the cliffs, leaving the roars of Charybdis behind. Soon, though, unholy screeches we heard ahead and to the port side. The sailors moved about the deck with ducked heads, peering fearfully up every few seconds, waiting for an attack. The first one came too soon, a great reptilian maw descending out of the utter blackness straight towards Lucy, as if it knew her for the unlucky dreamer. Caspian lept to meet it, swiping at the monster with his sword as Lucy scrambled for cover. Two heads at once dove down. Reepicheep speared one in the eye, sending it screaming back up into the dark. Caspian rolled out of the way of the other, shouting for everyone else to keep clear of the port side as much as possible. They seemed to crawl through the churning waters, as the beast screeched ceaselessly at them, jaws knifing through the air. The horrific cacophony just kept growing, and Caspian realized even as he fought back another head that it wasn't just Scylla now. Rhoop was screaming again, audible from below deck. The roar of the whirlpool behind them had somehow increased again. Other wails and shrieks came from the Dark Island, and a terrible chill that made Edmund now shrink into the shadows of the mast, arms clasped about himself as he gasped and muttered to himself. An unnatural snapping sound was added to the mix, apparently prompting Eustace to flee to the bow. Drinian was crying at the wheel and snatching fruitlessly at some invisible enemy. Another man clutched at his throat as if struggling to breathe. In despair, Caspian realized Lucy's was not the only dream attacking them now.

"Watch out Caspian!" The King instinctively ducked as Reepicheep slashed at yet another of Scylla's heads, whose jaws sliced the air precisely where Caspian's head would have been. They seemed to be making no headway at all. "I am glad I as a mouse have no terrible dreams to add to this adventure, but I cannot be the only one with a clear head, my King! You have to keep focused on the task!" And indeed Caspian tried, but suddenly, he knew with a certainty his own very worst nightmare. He had no real heir back in Narnian, and the peace between Telmarine and old Narnians was new and unsteady…his eyes snapped shut at the first ominous CRACK in the side of the ship. With the second CRACK, he forced them back open, back on guard against Scylla. They would all die here, but in Aslan's name he would go down fighting….Aslan's name.

"Aslan!" It was Lucy. "Oh Aslan, if you can hear us now, save us!"

A light fractured the shadows before them, and the ship surged forward as the vicious currents suddenly seemed to lose their grip on the ship. They pulled away from Scylla's cliffs, leaving the dying screams of the Dark Island behind. They sailed back into a calm sea and daylight, as if from a cloud of smoke on a stormy night. The crew merely stood there blinking at each other for several minutes. Then suddenly, the skeletal Lord Rhoop flung open the trapdoor from below deck, sprang out, and ran to the stern, staring back onto an empty horizon. Empty?

"Why, you've destroyed it!"

Destroyed it? Not us…

Note: There will be more Unlikely Contests in the future, probably some in March, who knows when else... :)