It was the little girl from the Lone Islands. Rhinces Daughter.
"Look!" Lucy had noticed too.
"Gael?" Rhince was shocked "What are you doing here?"
The poor girl looked about to cry. Rhince sighed.
"Come here," He pulled his daughter into a hug. Drinian suddenly approached with a not so happy look on his face.
"Well." He let a small smile slip. "Looks like we have an extra crew member," He handed her the orange Reepicheep and Eustace had been fighting over. Gael took it with a smile.
Lucy stood in front of Gael with her hands on her hips.
"Welcome aboard!" She smiled happily at the little girl.
"Your Majesty," Gael gave a small curtsy.
"Call me Lucy. Come on," And so Lucy took the girl under her wing instantly.
The Dawn Treader soon came upon more land.
"Seems uninhabited." Caspian said.
Ashlana shook her head. "Everything is not always as it seems. If the Lords followed the mist East they must have stopped here at this Island."
"Could be a trap," Drinian, as per usual, was suspicious.
"Or maybe hold answers," Edmund retorted, then remembered chain of command. "Caspian?"
"We'll spend the night ashore, then look around in the morning. Ash?"
"Sounds like a plan Your Highness. I'm going as a lion though. I need to stretch my uh...tail." She laughed, and Edmund decided he liked it far better then the crying he was now used to heaing.
"Okay. Drinian, you know what to do." At these words, Ashlana changed into the golden lioness. Edmund couldn't help running a hand through the soft fur, and her back arched in pleasure. The boy doesn't know what he does to her. It was crazy. He drove her to insanity!
It was dark. Ashlana was curled comfortably between Edmund and Lucy. She wasn't sleeping, but her eyes were closed. She could hear every little thing. The reason she couldn't sleep is because this Island had a familiar scent, that she just couldn't place. She wanted to figure it out, and so she refused to sleep until she did.
Then she heard thumps. Loud footfalls treking all over the camp. She kept her eyes closed and lay perfectly still.
"I think they brought a pig!" Something whispered loudly. Eustace was snoring so loud no one else would hear them.
"This one's Female!" A different voice whispered. Next to Lucy. Ashlana caught a huge whiff of that scent again as a thing walked passed her.
'Oh god! Dufflepuds, ew!' Now she remembered.
"So's this one." Okay, They've found Gael, then.
"That is one big kitty!" Ashlana was slightly put off at that. She was NOT that big. She only came up to Edmunds pec's in this form! Oh...
"It's asleep. This one reads." The one near Lucy said.
"Take her!" A whole new voice announced. She heard the feet mooving away quickly and run through the bushes. She couldn't hear Lucy anymore.
Ashlana got up and ran, following them quicly, leaving a path for the others to take once they woke up.
When Caspian did wake up, He noticed a missing Lioness right away, as well as the massive footprints all around the camp.
"Ed." He shook the other King. "ED! Wake up."
Edmund groaned and sat up. "What?" He yawned.
"Look." Caspian pointed.
"Where are Lu and Ash?"
"I don't know."
"Lucy? LUCY, ASH?" Edmund was quickly becoming frantic.
"Wake up everyone GET UP!" Drinian had woken as well.
"We gotta find them." Edmund said. Everyone raced in the direction of Ashlana's paws and claw marks.
They ran into the Dufflepuds. After getting beat by invisible fiends, they noticed something very strange. The invisible 'Frightening Creatures' were visible now, and not very frightening at all. In fact, they were really quite ugly, and funny looking. When the Dufflepuds looked down when the humans weren't quite so intimidated, they noticed they were visible.
Edmund pulled out his sword and pointed it at the Cheif Dufflepud's fat nose.
"Where are my sister and girlfriend you little pipsqueak?" He didn't catch his slip-up, and no one cared to tell him.
"Now, calm down," Cheif tried to reason.
"WHERE?"
"Tell 'im cheif"
"Better tell him!"
"Yeah"
"They're in the mansion!" The cheif shouted.
"WHAT mansion?" Suddenly out of nowhere, a huge, beautiful mansion appeared.
"Ohhhhhhh...That mansion."
Eustace burst from the bushes.
"I wish you all stop leaving me behind!" He noticed the new creatures surrounding his cousin and kidnappers. "This place keeps getting weirder and weirder!"
"Weird? He callin' us weird?"
The Dufflepud that spoke didn't get an answer, because the Mansion door opened and Lucy, an old man, and Ashlana filed out.
"THE OPRESSOR!" Cheif yelled. All the Dufflepuds began hopping but did not leave yet.
"And the Kitty, cheif! Don't forget the Kitty
"I AM NOT A KITTY DAMN IT!" Ashlana roared, and the Dufflepuds screamed. "Can a Kitty do that?"
"Ours can," Reepicheep called and Ashlana scowled at her mouse friend.
"Your Majesty's" The old man bowed.
"Caspian and Edmund..."Lucy began.
"This is Coriakin. This is his Island."
"Or so he THINKS! You've wronged us Magician!"
Coriakin began walking slowly towards the Dufflepuds, Lucy and Ashlana following at a short distance.
"I've not wronged you. I made you invisible for your own good!"
"That's oppressive"
"OPRESSOR!" Cheif wailed.
"Begone!" Coriakin tossed white stuff at them and they hopped away saying something about a spell.
"Was that lint?" Ashlana sneezed. Coriakin laughed. Edmund took his place next to her instantly. The wise magician took note.
"Yes but don't tell them that." the two began walking away, towards the door again. Edmund and Lucy followed.
"What were those things?" Eustace asked.
"Dufflepuds," Coriakin and Ashlana replied, perfectly in synch.
"Oh, of course, silly me." He rolled his eyes. and began to follow.
Inside, Coriakin rolled out a huge map of this World.
"It's quite beautiful, isn't it?" Everyone paused and looked at Eustace. "Well for a make-believe map of a make-believe world!" Ashlana rolled her huge amber eyes and lay at Edmund's feet.
"That sword you carry. There are six others." Coriakin pointed at Edmund
"You've seen them?"
"I have."
"Did they pass through here?" Caspian asked.
"Indeed."
"Where's they go?" Ashlana yawned, cleaing her paw. Edmund swallowed hard as he imagined other places he'd like to see that tounge. He shook his head to clear the image before he had a problem he couldn't take care of here.
"Where I sent them, Lioness," The map moved, and he pointed to a blue star in the middle, above an Island. "Ramandu's Island. Follow the blue star to get there. You must find all seven swords and lay them down at your Father's Stone Table. But beware. You are all about to be tested."
"How," Lucy asked and Ashlana sat up at this.
"Evil will do anything in its power to stop you from laying down all seven swords. It will even go so far as to twist the love you have for a person into near insatable lust." He looked back at Edmund and Ashlana as he said that. "You must be strong."
He picked up the map and it magially rolled back up.
"You must go. However, Ashlana, a good Lion friend gave this to me recently. He said to give it to you the next time you saw me. I can't for the life of me figure out what it is, however he said you know what it is for." Coriakin waited for her to become human before he held up an object. It was it was black. That's all anyone saw before she snatched it up and stormed away with a very red face.
"Go now," Coriakin laughed. "For your quest is now a long one."
It was raining hard, now that they were out at sea. It was late, but Edmund, Caspian, and Ashlana couldn't sleep.
Girly.
The voice of Ashlana's nightmares(Which she hadn't had since that episode with Eustace) woke her from her sleep, cuddled against Edmund. She opened her eyes, and there he was, standing in a smokey green cloud.
I'll get you girly. But don't worry. It'll feel Sooooooooo gooood! He laughed insanely, and Ashlana gasped, rolling off the hammock onto the ground with a thud. She covered her face with her arms.
Suddenly Edmund gasped. He pointed his sword at nothing. He looked behind him and saw Lucy, lowering his sword, then turning back and raising it again. Then he sighed, pulled Ashlana back up to lay, hyperventalating on his chest. He placed his hand on her knee and rubbed, having found out skin to skin contact calmed her down.
"Let me guess." Edmund said before Caspian woke with a shout.
"Bad dreams?" Ashlana finished. Lucy nodded. "Something is messing with us."
They all camped out on the floor that night.