The Road to Middle-Earth

A fanfiction by MushrooomsPTook

Disclaimer: I own nothing. You might as well say it owns me!

Chapter Twenty: A Journey Across the Sea

It was well past afternoon hours when I awoke on the Seafarer, and Will invited me up deck to have an early dinner. If I hadn't been so anxious about finding Alice, I would have really taken the time to enjoy the beautiful scenery that was now staring me in the face. The sun was just setting on the horizon and it cast a gorgeous array of colors in the sky, ranging from blue, to purple, to pink. The reflection upon the water looked like someone had painted a canvas on the surface of the sea, and had swirled all of the colors together. There was a cool and peaceful breeze that swept through my hair, and I could smell the ocean as I was gently rocked up and down upon the waves.

It wasn't long before Will brought me a plate of salmon, bread, cheese, and wine. He told me the wine would help the soreness in my arm and also relax my nerves. The meal was wonderful, and I couldn't ever recall tasting any fish this fresh. I was offered seconds and I gratefully accepted. Obviously, my appetite had not been wounded as well. After I had filled my stomach, I sat down on a wooden chair on the poop deck next to Will and sipped on my wine.

"Do you think..." I started hesitantly, "do you think the king would harm my cousin and friends?"

"Harm them?" Will asked surprised. "No. The king wouldn't." He sipped on his wine. "Unfortunately, the king isn't here. He's been away on the Crusades, and there's some talk of him bringing back his cousin with him. He placed another in his stead to monitor his kingdom, but over the years, that power has taken hold of him, and he uses it as he pleases. He treats the people with contempt and takes their provisions and money as his own. He calls himself king, but he is nothing more than an impostor."

I bit my lip anxiously. "Would he hurt them?"

Will swallowed and stared unfocused at the horizon. "No. At least, I hope not. If he considered them a threat to his power, then...well..." Will said nothing more but took another sip of his wine.

I sighed and tapped the side of my glass and stared blankly in his direction. I wished I knew where Alice was and if she was all right. I suddenly remembered my last words to her and felt sick to my stomach. How could I have acted so selfishly, and treated her with such indignity, especially after she had barely survived? I silently whispered a 'thank you' once again to the mysterious Aslan and wondered if perhaps he knew what to do. Maybe he was with her, watching over her and keeping her safe until my arrival. This brought a sparkle of hope into my thoughts and I remembered that if Tom and Charming were with her, then they had a better chance of survival. Tom, himself, was a fighter and experience proved he was quite a handful too. If this person tried to mess with Alice, I knew Tom would not wait around to take action.

"Will?" I asked.

"Hm..."

"If this guy is as bad as you say he is, then why doesn't someone do something to stop him?"

"We are." He turned to look squarely at me. "In fact, you caught me on my return trip, from which I was hoping to recover an item to prevent him from claiming the throne."

"Oh? What was that?"

He eyed me with suspicion but then focused his gaze once more on the sea. "It's...it's nothing."

"Will, please tell me. Don't you trust me?"

"Trust hasn't been in my favor these days, I'm afraid." He sighed. "But I do trust you enough to know that you are not a friend of the enemy. I've been searching for a jewel that rightfully belongs to the king. It was lost, or stolen, long ago when the king went into a battle over the sea. When he returned, he realized the loss and sent trusted messengers and servants to try to reclaim it. He himself had made many trips to the place where it had disappeared, but to no avail. Years passed and the king had given up on its disappearance, and had to rely only on hope that one day it would show up on his doorstep."

"It must have been really valuable," I uttered. "What did it look like?"

"The jewel itself was red, but it had been molded into a key, in which it could open practically any lock or door. Unfortunately, I did not come across such trinket on my journey."

My neck felt suddenly heavy as I felt the cold chain that bore my secret, the secret, that had taken me all the way from the evil witch's gingerbread house to the middle of the ocean. I held it close to my chest but said nothing. How was I to know that this man, Will, was not the imposter himself, luring me into a trap?

As the night came on, Will demanded to see my wounded arm. He said he would need to check it every day to make sure it wasn't infected. I allowed him to gently take my arm in his hands and he began to unwrap the bandages. My anxious thoughts were interrupted as I felt his large and soft hands as they grazed across my skin. I shuddered, but thankfully, he didn't notice. I winced when I saw the huge gash that went from my shoulder to just above my elbow. He applied some kind of ointment to it, explaining that it would help to hasten the healing process, and then redressed my arm in fresh bandages. I had no extra clothes to sleep in or for the day after, so Will went to his cabin and returned with a bundle of clothes for me to borrow. I felt rather embarrassed at the thought to be wearing men's clothes, but Will didn't seem to have any problem with it and said he was more than happy to help.

That night, just before bed, I went back up to the main deck and laid down on my back to stare up at the sky. I'd never seen stars that bright before and I wondered if they formed the same constellations here as in my world. I thought about Alice, and Tom and Charming, and if they were all right. I wondered if maybe Alice was looking up at the same sky and thinking about me. I whispered a prayer for her safety and wondered if Aslan would hear it. If anyone could help, I knew it would be him. I stopped in mid-sentence during my plea when I barely missed the sight of a falling star. Tears swelled up in my eyes and I knew, though I didn't know how, that Alice would be all right and that everything would work out in the end. I wished my cousin a good night, and went to bed.

The next morning I woke up to feel a dull throbbing in my arm. I winced as I worked my way out of bed and tried to rub the soreness away. Surprisingly it helped a bit, but not as much as I had hoped. I dressed myself in the clothes Will had given me to wear. I pulled on some brown trousers, making sure to tighten the belt as far as it would go, and slipped on a white tunic. It was quite large on me so that one sleeve hung off my shoulder. I tugged it back up, but the other sleeve fell. I shrugged and decided I didn't really give a care, and headed up to the main deck in search of breakfast.

"How's your arm?" Will asked, handing me a plate of eggs and bacon.

"It's pretty sore today."

"Good. That means it's healing. It'll take a few days for it to completely heal, but you'll probably bear a scar the rest of your life. Sorry about that."

"It's all right," I shrugged and began eating. The rest of the morning went by rather slowly as there was really nothing to do but stare out at the ocean and talk to Will about what my life was like before I ended up stranded in the middle of nowhere. He was very private person and didn't speak much about himself, but asked me numerous questions about Chicago and Alice and about the lifestyle I had acquired for myself.

"Do you have a lover?" he asked at one point, to which I blushed profusely.

"Oh, uh...no."

The next day began very much as it did before. I pulled on an oversized white shirt, my shoulder peeking out just the slightest, and I messed with my hair a bit before going up deck for breakfast. I was greeted by a cold chill. The air had become dense and I looked up at the clouds and frowned. "Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning," I commented.

"Pardon?" asked Will and he handed me a plate of eggs and bacon.

"You've never heard that before? Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning?" Will shook his head. "It means there's going to be a storm. I don't know if it's really true though."

"What about a red sky at night?"
"Sailor take flight," I shrugged.

The day went on at a rather slow pace. The only thing to keep me from boredom was Will's incessant questions, but even they were becoming monotonous. He asked to see my arm once after lunch. It had made some improvement but it still needed to be tended to on occasion. He applied the same ointment as before and rewrapped the bandages.

"Thank you," I uttered softly as he finished dressing my arm.

"For what?"

"Saving my life. I could have drowned."

Will shook his head and shrugged. "It was nothing."

That night the waves had increasingly grown and I became a little seasick. I decided to go to bed early and try to sleep off the nausea. But I was awakened in the middle of night when I was thrown off my bed. There were numerous crashes and clatters as things tipped over and slid across the floor. I got to my feet, hearing what sounded like a battle going on upstairs. Will was already up and he was soaked as he was trying to retie the mast. He shouted at me when he saw me, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. I rushed over to him and tried to help him secure the mast. The shipped jerked suddenly under the waves and I was thrown off my feet and rolled a bit before crashing into the back of the ship. Water splashed onto the deck at a high rate that made it nearly impossible to see. Will pulled me up by the hand and said something, but the waves drowned at his voice. He had managed to get the mast tied down but there was a vast amount of sea on board. He handed me an empty bucket and together we did our best to get as much water out as we could.

The storm went on like this for hours and I was shivering and exhausted from the cold air. At last, the winds died down and the waves receded. We eventually managed to get most of the water out and Will ordered me to change into dry clothes immediately before I caught a cold. I didn't need any further encouragement, changed and went back to sleep.

1I hadn't even had a full night's sleep when someone was shaking me awake. I groaned and tried to pull the covers over my head, but the person ripped the blankets away from my prying hands. I opened my eyes and glared at Will.

"What!" I demanded.

"Oh nothing, of course. I just thought you'd like to know that we're about to reach land."

I tossed off the remaining covers and threw my legs over the side of the bed, sitting up. "We are?"

"Come." He smiled and held out his hand to help me out of bed. Together we went up to the main deck. The fog was immensely dense and it took me a while to make out my surroundings. "Where is it?"

"There," Will pointed. I squinted my eyes in an effort to see past the haziness that lingered over the ocean. The color in the water revealed that we were beyond the depths of the sea and that it wasn't much farther now. Finally, we reached the edge of the fog and I caught a glimpse of a range of mountains that peaked beyond the lushness of a dense green forest. Upon one of the low mountains that dipped down, there was a waterfall that released a rush of white foamy water that poured down into a valley. On the far side of this valley, stood what I had seen just before falling into the water: A castle. Even in the distance it looked enormous and it looked as though giants could live there. The sun slowly peeked out of the clouds and the water began to sparkle in the sunlight.

"It's beautiful," I uttered.

"Alayna," said Will. "Let me welcome you to my home. Welcome to Nottingham."

A/N – Sorry not much happened in this chapter... I know it's kind of short, but it won't be long till we get some action! I don't know what Nottingham looks like, nor will I claim to be an expert on Robin Hood. I've done some research and it seems like there are different variations of the story, so I'm just kind of picking and choosing how to put things together. Please don't hate me!

Next Chapter – Alayna meets Will's band of warriors, and together they must come up with a plan of rescue.

B The Shadow Ninja Samurai – I figured most people would, but he had to make an appearance and reveal himself to Alayna. This won't be the last time we see him.

The Author42 – Indeed?

xXChaoticOrderXx – Good guess, but the only reference to Narnia in this story is Aslan.

Seafarer – I'm glad you and Pecos Bill see eye to eye. In all his years of experience and travels, I figured I wanted him to try and knock some sense into Alayna. I wanted Alayna's meeting with Aslan to be similar to the Eustace's encounter with him, but also to Shasta's in the Horse and His Boy (my favorite of the series). I feel as though his meeting with Shasta reveals so much of Aslan's character just in the one bit and that's probably my favorite bit in the book. I thought you'd like the little part with Frodo and Bilbo. Won't be much longer now... Muahahahahha!

MeandLegolasFore – Thank you, I will try. ;)

1 The Island Soundtrack (Steve Jablonsky) - My Name is Lincoln