Chapter 7

The Ship That Sailed The Sky

They had nearly walked for hours through the forest toward the entrance to Ettinsmoor. As it was stated earlier, it was a two day journey. Susan looked at her watch (which had stopped) saw that it read midnight. But, the sun was still beaming overhead. Paravatia was trotting along on Susan's left and scanning the forest for any sight of a predator. The trail that they had now been following for the past hour turned upward. The longer Susan was back in Narnia, she had once again began to feel like a Queen. She had now been given her Gifts again and felt that she wouldn't miss a shot. A little way down the trail, Susan had stopped for a little target practice at a small orchard. She had shot three arrows back to back and got three ripe apples for lunch. They found themselves a nice shady spot in the orchard and ate their apples. The cool juices exploded into Susan's mouth when she bit into it. The taste of a Narnian fruit was unbelievable (I'm never tried it but I've heard its very good). It also made you dreadfully tired. At that moment, Susan yawned and Paravatia leaned against Susan's legs. Then, her eyes closed slowly.

The dreams of dancing Fauns and Dwarfs around a fire in the forest ran through her mind's eye. She had been standing in a field of gorgeous white roses, with all her family and friends standing on the other end. She began to run toward them.

"Peter! Lucy! Edmund! Eustace! You guys are OK!" Susan laughed. "Oh this wonderful."

But everything didn't seem wonderful.

"You guys why aren't you saying anything?" said Susan, who stopped suddenly.

"Your Majesty…." said Paravatia. She was standing right next to her.

"Para…what's happening? Peter!" said Susan.

At that moment all the white roses turned black. The sky turned a misty gray. Then lightning began to flash.

"Susan!" said everyone in a sing song voice. "Susan come to us in Devast! Susan, Susan come to us in Devast! Susan, Susan come to us in Devast! Susan, Susan come to us in Devast! Come to us in Devast! Come to us in Devast….." The last line began to grow faint.

"Edmund! Lucy!" said Susan.

A bolt of lightning hit them. They screamed and vanished in a flash of blinding light.

"NOOOO!" screamed Susan.

A loud soothing roar echoed and Susan awoke. Paravatia was staring at her.

"Your Majesty, are you OK?" asked Paravatia.

"Para, oh, Para! I had the most frightful dream!" said Susan.

"Your Majesty, we must hurry!" said Paravatia.

Susan quickly got to her feet and stepped out into a clearing in the orchard. When she glanced up at the night sky she saw a beautiful constellation of stars and a large moon. Then she gasped. For at that moment one of the stars was moving toward her. It was coming at a very fast pace.

"Para, do you see that?" asked Susan.

Paravatia (who had just stepped out into the orchard) saw the star moving and nodded quickly.

It turns out (as the star got closer) that it wasn't a star at all. But a ship. A magnificent beautiful Narnian ship. Its beautiful white sails glowed in the night sky with the red Lion imprinted on each of them. Its portholes were lit by candle flames. On the rim of the ship was the name of the ship, Rosetta Stone. The ship made a sharp turn to avoid a tall tree and soon settled itself in the clearing of the orchard. A plank fell from the deck of the ship. Someone was walking down it. As the person got closer, it turned out to a girl. She had long curly dirty blond hair and wore a beautiful pink silk suit. She had green eyes and smiled at the sight of Susan and the Elf.

"Hello," said the girl. "I'm Rose. Captain of the Rosetta Stone."

"Hi, Rose." said Susan. "I'm your Majesty Queen Susan the Gentle of Narnia, Empress of the Lone Islands, Lady of Cair Paravel, and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion."

Rose bowed.

"I am enchanted to meet you Queen Susan." she said. "May you accompany me on my voyage to the Height Islands?"

"I wish I could, but my Elf companion and I are headed to Claire Dome." said Susan. "We have to leave the forest and head into Ettinsmoor."

"Well, your Grace, my voyage will take me past both Ettinsmoor and Claire Dome." said Rose. "We can give you a ride there."

"That'd be wonderful. Thank-you, Rose." said Susan.

"Why are you going to the Height Islands?" asked Paravatia.

"Height Islands?" said Susan, confused. "What are they? I've never heard of them."

"Their the islands of the sky, your Grace!" said Rose with amazement. "There are three of them. I'm going to all three to retrieve the lost Relics of my ancestors."

"Lost relics?" said Susan.

"Yes," said Rose. "Before New Narnia was formed, I was in search of the Three Last Relics. The first is a Locket, the second a Ring, and the third a Spear."

"Lets go." said Susan.

Rose, Susan, and Paravatia boarded the Rosetta Stone. When they arrived on the poop deck, they were greeted by several men and women all dressed in the finest silks you could ever see. They didn't look like the hearty pirate crew of the Dawn Treader.

"Everyone," announced Rose, "welcome Queen Susan the Gentle of Narnia, Empress of the Lone Islands, Lady of Cair Paravel, and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Lion, to Rosetta Stone."

"Welcome! Hail Queen Susan the Gentle! Hail Aslan!" they chanted together.

"Roberta," said Rose, as a motherly like woman came over to them. "Please attend to her Majesty and Elf friend."

"As you wish, Rose." said Roberta, bowing. "Please my dear, come with me."

Susan and Paravatia followed Roberta to the bottom deck.