The Chronicles of Narnia: The Telmarine Princess 2
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Chapter Five: The storm
The next few days were delightful.
Lucy loved being on the ship. She also enjoyed the company of Sophia and Gael. The three of them would often sit on the deck and talk while the men worked. The food was good too. Edmund and Peter had a lot of catching up to do, and Edmund often played chess with Razier when Peter was busy discussing the voyage with Caspian.
Unfortunately, this pleasant time for everyone (except Eustace) did not last. There came an evening when Lucy, gazing idly astern at the long furrow they were leaving behind them, saw a great rack of clouds building itself up in the west with amazing speed.
"A storm's brewing" She shouted. It was true.
All the waves behind them seemed to take on unusual shapes and the sea became a yellowish colour like dirty canvas. The air grew colder. The ship seemed to move uneasily as if she felt danger behind her. The sail would be flat and limp one minute and wildly the next.
"All hands on Deck" Drinian shouted.
Rain splattered Lucy's face as Sophia grabbed her shoulder.
"we must go" She said. "We have to get below" Lucy whipped the wet bangs out of her hair.
"I have to help them" She shouted over the wind.
"There is nothing we can do" Sophia cried. "Come on, hurry"
Whenthe storm was over Eustace made the following entries in his diary.
3 September. The first day for ages when I have been able to write. We had been driven before a hurricane for thirteen days and nights. I know that because I kept a careful count, though the others all say it was only twelve. Pleasant to be embarked on a dangerous voyage with people who cant even count right! I have had a ghastly time, up and down enormous waves hour after hour, usually wet to the skin, and not even an attempt at giving us proper meals. Needless to say theres no wireless or even a rocket, so no chance of signalling anyone for help. It all proves what I keep on telling them, the madness of setting out in a rotten little tub like this. It would be bad enough even if one was with decent people instead of fiends in human form. Caspian and Edmund are simply brutal to me. The night we lost our mast (theres only a stump left now), though I was not at all well, they forced me to come on deck and work like a slave. Lucy shoved her oar in by saying that Reepicheep was longing to go only he was too small. I wonder she doesnt see that everything that little beast does is all for the sake of showing off. Even at her age she ought to have that amount of sense. I'm so thirsty and all I get is one cup of water a day. Lucy for some reason tried to make up to me by offering me some of hers but that interfering prig Edmund wouldnt let her.
5 September. Still becalmed and very hot. Feeling rotten all day and am sure Ive got a temperature. Of course they havent the sense to keep a thermometer on board.
6 September. A horrible day. Woke up in the night knowing I was feverish and must have a drink of water. Any doctor would have said so. Heaven knows I'm the last person to try to get any unfair advantage but I never dreamed that this water-rationing would be meant to apply to a sick man. In fact I would have woken the others up and asked for some only I thought it would be selfish to wake them. So I got up and took my cup and tiptoed out of the Black Hole we slept in, taking great care not to disturb Caspian and Edmund, for they've been sleeping badly since the heat and the short water began. I always try to consider others whether they are nice to me or not. I got out all right into the big room, if you can call it a room, where the rowing benches and the luggage are. The thing of water is at this end. All was going beautifully, but before I'd drawn a cupful who should catch me but that little spy Reep. I tried to explain that I was going on deck for a breath of air (the business about the water had nothing to do with him) and he asked me why I had a cup. He made such a noise that the whole ship was roused. They treated me scandalously. I asked, as I think anyone would have, why Reepicheep was sneaking about the water cask in the middle of the night. He said that as he was too small to be any use on deck, he did sentry over the water every night so that one more man could go to sleep. Now comes their rotten unfairness: they all believed him. Can you beat it? I had to apologize or the dangerous little brute would have been at me with his sword. And then Caspian showed up in his true colours as a brutal tyrant and said out loud for everyone to hear that anyone found stealing water in future would get two dozen. I didnt know what this meant till Edmund explained to me. It comes in the sort of books those Pevensie kids read. After this cowardly threat Caspian changed his tune and started being patronizing. Said he was sorry for me and that everyone felt just as feverish as I did and we must all make the best of it, etc. , etc. Odious stuck-up prig. Stayed in bed all day today.
7 September. A little wind today but still from the west. Made a few miles eastward with part of the sail, set on what Drinian calls the jury-mast-that means the bowsprit set upright and tied (they call it lashed) to the stump of the real mast. Still terribly thirsty.
8 September. Still sailing east. I stay in my bunk all day now and see no one except Lucy till the two fiends come to bed. Lucy gives me a little of her water ration. She says girls don't get as thirsty as boys. I had often thought this but it ought to be more generally known at sea.
9 September. Land in sight; a very high mountain a long way off to the south-east.
10 September. The mountain is bigger and clearer but still a long way off. Gulls again today for the first time since I dont know how long.
11 September. Caught some fish and had them for dinner. Dropped anchor at about 7 p. M. In three fathoms of water in a bay of this mountainous island. That idiot Caspian wouldnt let us go ashore because it was getting dark and he was afraid of savages and wild beasts. Extra water ration tonight.
What awaited them on this island was going to concern Eustace more than anyone else, but he could not no this. He also misplaced his diary, which is good, considering that all he did was complain anyway.
When morning came, they found that they were in a bay encircled by such cliffs and crags that it was like a Norwegian fjord. In front of them, at the head of the bay, there was some level land heavily overgrown with trees that appeared to be cedars, through which a rapid stream came out. Beyond that was a steep ascent ending in a jagged ridge and behind that a vague darkness of mountains which ran into dull-coloured clouds so that you could not see their tops. The nearer cliffs, at each side of the bay, were streaked here and there with lines of white which everyone knew to be waterfalls, though at that distance they did not show any movement or make any noise. Indeed the whole place was very silent and the water of the bay as smooth as glass. It reflected every detail of the cliffs. The scene would have been pretty in a picture but was rather oppressive in real life. It was not a country that welcomed visitors.