A Tale of a Voyage

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you saw in the book, dialogue included.

Chapter 10: Arguments and Voices

The day after we left Deathwater Island, part of my hopes were answered, just not in the way I'd have wanted them to be, meaning that instead of talking like adults, Rose and Art were screaming at each other. No one could get in between them, either. Someone sat down next to me as I attempted to ensure Rose and Art didn't kill each other; I didn't even have to look at who it was. "I thought they had moved beyond this when we 'disappeared' last time. Remember how worried Ed and Lu said he was?"

"Yes, and so did I, Han. So did I." Faith sighed and stared at them. "Who knows, maybe this will help them get along."

"Yeah, and maybe the White Witch loved summer."

"You're probably right." We were eventually joined by Caspian, Edmund, and James. Edmund cocked his head. "Who's winning?"

"Nobody," Faith and I chorused, sharing an exasperated glance.

James sighed. "What is it this time?"

"I think it's just overflow from Deathwater," Faith suggested.

"Well, since none of us really remember anything from that…."

"I know, but that's just my gut feeling."

"Which is likely correct," I added.

"You think?"

"I do." We watched them gesture and yell for several more minutes before Rose punched him in the nose and stormed off before he could react. I bit my lip and turned to Faith. "You want her or him?"

"I'll take her." She stood to follow Rose.

"Watch her fists."

"Don't worry." She left, and I walked over to Art. "Do I want to know what you said?"

"Pwobabwy not," he said, pinching his nose to try to stop the bleeding.

"Here. Put this on that nose." I handed him my handkerchief.

"Thangs."

"You're welcome. Now, I might not want to know, but I think you still oughta tell me what in the Lion's name you said."

"Well, I might have inthinuated that I withed that the hadn't come and altho that you were my thithter, inthead of hew."

I winced. "The first I can get why she punched you, but why would she have hit you over the second?"

"Don't know. All I know ith the got mad."

"Obviously." I put my hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Art?"

"Yeah?"

"Have any of us ever told you Rose's kids' names?"

"I think you did, but I forgot." He refolded the handkerchief because of all the blood.

"Lily-"

"Hew middwe name. Not thurprithing."

"Right. The other was Arthur."

His hand dropped. "Wait, what?"

I grabbed it and forced it back up over his nose. "Yes. So I don't think she truly hates you as much as she acts like. And maybe, just maybe, you love her more than you admit, too."

"Maybe tho…"

"And maybe she doesn't really know how much you love her. Maybe you should tell her."

"Maybe I thould. But what if the hitth me again?"

"I'll track you down another handkerchief. C'mon."

"Wait, now?"

"No time like the present." I dragged him off in the direction Rose and Faith had gone. Upon reaching us girls' cabin, we saw Jade standing outside pouting. "Faith made me get out."

"Good. Stay out," I snapped. Opening the door, I shoved Art inside and motioned Faith to leave. She did so, hesitantly. After the door was closed, she raised her eyebrows at me. "You sure that's a good idea?"

"Pretty sure."

Jade huffed. "Look, I want to know why you two think you can boss everyone else around except maybe Edmund, Lucy, and Caspian."

"Because we can," Faith said.

Jade opened her mouth, but I cut in. "Faith, why don't you go and tell the boys that they're alone, and they're either going to learn to coexist, or they'll kill each other. Either way, it solves our problem."

She involuntarily chuckled. "All right. But-"

"Go on. I'll handle this." After Faith was gone, I elaborated, "Jade, the two of us are Queens of Old. Therefore, we rank higher than anyone on this ship except maybe the three you mentioned. Make sense?"

"No. Why should you tell me what to do? I'm certainly not one of your subjects!"

"No, but you're in Narnia, on a Narnian ship. I think that qualifies."

"OK, you I guess I don't really mind obeying. But Faith? Why should I listen to her?"

"She is a queen. If you won't recognize that, she's older than you, bodily as well as mentally. And while we're on the matter, Jade, your attitude stinks. It has since you arrived on this ship. I thought it might get better in time, but it doesn't appear to be improving at all."

"But-"

I held up my hand. "I want no excuses or arguments. You cannot deny being belligerent and rebellious toward her, not to mention rude."

She sighed. "I guess not."

"Can you at least try to respect, if not her position, then her age (since she is older than you)?"

"I'll try."

"Thank you."

Once Rose and Art came out of the cabin, everyone noticed the marked improvement in their attitudes toward each other. They no longer yelled at each other nor did they avoid each other as much as possible. In fact, they stuck together often, laughed together, and smiled together. It was an accomplishment long in coming but well worth waiting for.

Several days later, Jade fell ill and remained in bed for the rest of the day. Faith checked her temperature, finding it to be a mid-level fever. While the illness wasn't serious enough to warrant the use of the cordial, it was bad enough for Faith to confine Jade to bed.

We sailed for a few days after that, eventually getting close to running out of stores. Just as we were afraid we would have to turn back, land appeared on the horizon. We made harbor in a wide bay about the middle of the afternoon and landed (Jade stayed on the boat). It was a very different country from any we had yet seen. Despite the silence and emptiness of it, the lawns seemed to be well-kept. "Well, this is odd," Rose said.

"I'll agree with that." Art cast his eyes about, looking for trouble. He carefully pulled his sister closer to him to protect her. She humored him with a small chuckle. We soon came to a long lane with trees lining either side of it. We walked down it, keeping a wary eye out for danger. A house soon rose up in front of us. It was a low building, only two stories, made of a beautiful mellow stone, contained many windows, and partially covered with ivy. Everything was so still that Eustace said, "I think it's empty," but Caspian pointed to the column of smoke which rose from one chimney.

We found a wide gateway open and entered a paved courtyard. Here we had our first indication that there was indeed something odd about this island. In the middle of the courtyard stood a pump, and beneath the pump was a bucket. Nothing was odd about that in and of itself. But the pump handle was moving up and down, though there seemed to be no one moving it.

"There's some magic at work here," Caspian said.

"Machinery! I do believe we've come to a civilized country at last," Eustace suggested.

At that moment Lucy, hot and breathless, rushed into the courtyard behind us, and it was only belatedly that we realized that she had been gone. In a low voice she began, "I've just overheard something dreadful."

"What's the matter, Lu?" Edmund asked.

"I had a stone in my shoe, so I stopped to take it out. There were both a horrible thumping noise and voices, though I couldn't see anything. They- they said that they were going to cut us off from the ship. They had weapons and-and-and, it's just terrible!"

"Invisible enemies," Caspian muttered. "And cutting us off from the boat. This is an ugly furrow to plow."

"You've not idea what sort of creatures they are, Lu?" Edmund questioned.

"How can I, Ed, when I couldn't see them?" she replied.

"Did they sound like humans from their footsteps?"

"I didn't hear any noise of feel, only voices and this frightful thudding and thumping, like a mallet."

"I wonder, do they become visible when you drive a sword into them?" Reep queried.

"That's what I want to know," James agreed.

"It looks as if we shall find out. But let's get out of this gateway. There's one of these gentry at the pump listening to all we say," Caspian led us back onto the path, trying to remain inconspicuous.

"Not that it's any good really, hiding from people you can't see. They may be all around us," Eustace mumbled.

"That's true," Will agreed.

Caspian sighed. "Now, Drinian, how would it be if we gave up the boat for lost, went down to another part of the bay, and signaled the Dawn Treader to stand in and take us aboard?"

"Not depth for her, Sire."

"We could swim," Lucy suggested.

"Your Majesties all, hear me. It is folly to think of avoiding an invisible enemy by any amount of creeping and skulking. If these creatures mean to bring us to battle, be sure they will succeed. And whatever comes of it, I'd sooner meet them face to face than be caught by the tail."

"I really think Reep is in the right this time," Edmund said.

"So do I," Art put in.

"Surely, if Rhince and the others on the Dawn Treader see us fighting on the shore they'll be able to do something," Lucy offered hesitantly.

"But they won't see us fighting if they can't see any enemy. They'll think we're just swinging our swords in the air for fun," Eustace said miserably.

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"Well, let's get on with it. We must go and face them. Shake hands all round. Arrow on the string, Lucy, Rose. Swords out, everyone else. And now for it. Perhaps they'll parley."

All hearts were pounding during the march back to the beach. Before we reached the sand, a voice spoke out of the air. "No further, masters, no further now. We've got to talk with you first. There's fifty of us and more here with weapons in our fists."

"Hear him, hear him. That's our chief. You can depend on what he says. He's telling you the truth, he is," a large group of other voices added.

"I do not see these fifty warriors," Reepicheep commented.

"That's right, that's right. You don't see us. And why not? Because we're invisible."

"Keep it up, Chief, keep it up. You're talking like a book. They couldn't ask for a better answer than that."

"Be quiet, Reep," Caspian whispered before adding in a louder voice, "You invisible people, what do you want with us? And what have we done to earn your enmity?"

"We want something the youngest of those little girls can do for us." (The others all agreed with the Chief.)

"Little girl! The lady is a queen!" Reepicheep exclaimed indignantly. Rose gripped her bowstring and stepped closer to Lucy. Faith and I also took a step toward her.

"We don't know about queens," said the Chief. ("No more we do, no more we do!") "But we want something she can do."

"What is it?" Lucy asked.

"And if it is anything against her Majesty's safety or honor, you will wonder to see how many we can kill before we die," the valiant Mouse added.

The Chief Voice began, "Well, it's a long story. Suppose we all sit down?"

The other voices all agreed, but Edmund said, "No thank you. We'd rather stand."

"As you please. Well, it's like this. This island has been the property of a great magician time out of mind. And we are all, or perhaps in a manner of speaking, I might say we were, his servants. Well, to cut a long story short, this magician that I was speaking about, he told us to do something we didn't like. And why not? Because we didn't want to. Well, then, this same magician, he flew into a great rage; for I ought to tell you he owned the island and he wasn't used to being crossed. He was terribly downright, you know. But let me see, where am I? Oh yes, this magician then, he goes upstairs (for you must know that he kept all his magic things up there while we lived down below), I say he goes upstairs and puts a spell on us. An uglifying spell. If you saw us now, which in my opinion you may thank your stars you can't, you wouldn't believe what we looked like before we were uglified. You wouldn't really. So there we all were, so ugly we couldn't bear to look at one another. So then what did we do? Well, I'll tell you what we did.

"We waited till we thought this same magician would be asleep in the afternoon, and we crept upstairs and went to his magic book, as bold as brass, to see if we can do anything about this uglification. But we were all of a sweat and a tremble, so I won't deceive you. But, believe me or not, I do assure you that we couldn't find anything in the way of a spell for taking off the ugliness. And what with time getting on, we were afraid that the old gentleman might wake up any minute. I was all of a muck sweat, so I won't deceive you. Well, to cut a long story short, whether we did right or wrong, in the end we see a spell for making people invisible. So we thought we'd rather be invisible than go on being as ugly as all that. And why? Because we'd like it better.

"So my little girl, who was just about your little girl's age, and a sweet child she was before she was uglified, though now…but least said, soonest mended. I say, my little girl says the spell, for it's got to be a little girl or else the magician himself, if you get my meaning, for otherwise it won't work. And why not? Because nothing happens. So my Clipsie says the spell, for I ought to have told you that she reads beautifully, and there we were, as invisible as you could wish to see. And I do assure you it was a relief not to see one another's faces. At first, anyway.

"But the long and short of it is that we're mortal tired of being invisible. And there's another thing. We never reckoned on the magician going invisible too. But we haven't seen him since. So we don't know if he's dead, or gone away, or just sitting upstairs being invisible and perhaps coming downstairs and being invisible there. And, believe me, it's no manner of use listening because he always did go about with his bare feet, making no more noise than a great big cat. And I'll tell all you gentlemen straight, it's getting more than what our nerves can stand."

That was the Chief Voice's story, but it is of course very much shortened, because I left out what the other Voices said. Trust me, it was enough to drive us all nearly out of our minds. When the Voice had finished, Lucy broke the long silence by saying, "But what's all this got to do with us? I don't understand."

"Well, bless me if I haven't gone and left out the whole point!"

"That you have, that you have! No one could have left it out cleaner and better. Keep it up, Chief, keep it up!" his followers chorused (quite loudly, too).

"Well, I needn't go over the story again."

"No. Certainly not," Caspian, Edmund, and Art all said.

"Well then, to put it in a nutshell, we've been waiting for ever so long for a nice little girl from foreign parts, like you, missy, that would go upstairs and go to the magic book and find the spell that takes off the invisibleness and say it. And we all swore that the first strangers as landed on this island (having a nice little girl with them, I mean, for if they hadn't it'd be another matter), we wouldn't let them go away alive unless they'd done the needful for us. And that's why gentlemen, if your little girl doesn't come up to scratch, it will be our painful duty to cut all your throats. Merely in the way of business, as you might say, and no offense, I hope."

"I don't see all your weapons," Reep commented. "Are they invisible too?" The words were scarcely out of his mouth before we heard a whizzing sound and next moment a spear had stuck, quivering, in a tree behind us.

"That's a spear, that is."

"That it is, Chief, that it is. You couldn't have put it better."

"And it came from my hand. They get visible when they leave us."

"But why do you want me to do this?" asked Lucy. "Why can't one of your own people? Haven't you got any girls?"

"We dursen't; we dursen't. We're not going upstairs again."

"In other words, you are asking this lady to face some danger which you daren't ask your own sisters and daughters to face!" Caspian exclaimed.

"That's right; that's right. You couldn't have said it better. Eh, you've had some education, you have. Anyone can see that."

"Well, of all the outrageous-" Edmund began, but his sister interrupted him.

"Would I have to go upstairs at night or in the daylight?"

The Chief Voice quickly replied, "Oh, daylight, daylight, to be sure. Not at night. No one's asking you to do that. Go upstairs in the dark? Ugh."

"All right, then; I'll do it."

"Lucy!" we all began to argue, but she interrupted.

"No, don't try to stop me. Can't you see it's no use? There are dozens of them there. We can't fight them. And the other way there is a chance."

"But a magician!" Caspian reminded her.

"I know. But he mayn't be as bad as they make out. Don't you get the idea that these people are not very brave?"

"They're certainly not very clever," Eustace consented.

"Look here, Lu. We can't really let you do a thing like this. Ask Reep; I'm sure he'll say just the same," Edmund said.

"But it's to save my own life as well as yours. I don't want to be cut to bits with invisible swords any more than anyone else."

"Her Majesty is in the right," began Reep. "If we had any assurance of saving our queens by battle, our duty would be very plain. It appears to me that we have none. And the service they ask of her is in no way contrary to her Majesty's honor, but a noble and heroic act. If the Queen's heart moves her to risk the magician, I will not speak against it."

Since none of us had ever known Reep to be afraid of anything, he could say this without feeling at all awkward. But the boys, Rose, Faith, and I, who had all been afraid quite often, grew very red. Nonetheless, it was such obvious good sense that Caspian and Edmund had to give in. (Remember, I knew that there was nothing to fear. Rose kinda remembered that, and I suppose Faith had guessed because of my lack of argument.)

Loud cheers broke from the invisible people when our decision was announced, and the Chief Voice (warmly supported by all the others) invited us to come to supper and spend the night. Eustace and Art didn't want to accept, but Lucy said, "I'm sure they're not treacherous. They're not like that at all," and the others agreed. And so, accompanied by an enormous noise of thumpings (which became louder when we reached the flagged and echoing courtyard), we all went back to the house.