Hey guys! I decided to update a day early this time because I got it done early, so I hope you like it! Unfortunately, I have no review responses this time, because nobody reviewed, but I guess that just means that you guys can just read on then! Make sure to review for me!
Disclaimer: Do I legally have to say this anymore?
It had been three weeks since they had set sail. The last few weeks had been delightful as the weather went, and Susan often felt like she was the most fortunate girl she had ever seen. She woke every morning to warm sunlight drifting through the windows of her bedroom and the smell of breakfast coming from the galley.
Often she would get lost in the bright blue sky and forget what was around her for just watching as the waves went by and the clouds moved. It was the best three weeks had seen the best weather Susan had seen her whole life thus far, she thought.
Unfortunately, this didn't last.
There came an evening when Susan, gazing idly astern at the long furrow or wake they were leaving behind them, saw a great rack of clouds building itself up in the west with amazing speed.
Then a gap was torn in it and a yellow sunset poured through the gap. All the waves behind them seemed to take on unusual shapes and the sea was a drab or yellowish colour like dirty canvas. The air grew cold. The ship seemed to move uneasily as if she felt danger behind he The sail would be flat and limp one minute and wildly the next. While she was noting these things and wondering at a sinister change which had come over the very noise the wind, Drinian cried, "All hands on deck." In a moment everyone became frantically busy. The hatches wet battened down, the galley fire was put out, and men went aloft to reef the sail. Before they had finished the storm struck them.
It seemed to Susan that a great valley in the sea opened just before their bows, and they rushed down in it, deeper down than she would have believed possible. A great grey hill of water, far higher than the mast, rushed to meet them; it looked certain death but they were tossed to the top of it. Then the ship seemed to spin round. A cataract of water poured over the deck; the poop and forecastle were like two islands with a fierce sea between them. aloft the sailors were lying out along the yard desperate trying to get control of the sail. A broken rope stood out sideways in the wind as straight and stiff as if it was poker.
"Get below, Ma'ams," bawled Drinian. And the girls, knowing that landsmen - and landswomen - are a nuisance to the crew, began to obey. It was not easy. The Dawn Treader was listing terribly to starboard and the deck sloped like the roof of a house. They had to clamber round to the top of the ladder, holding on to the rail, and the stand by while two men climbed up it, and then get down as best they could. It was well they were already holding tight for at the foot of the ladder another wave roar across the deck, up to their shoulders. They were already almost wet through with spray and rain but this was colder. Then they made a dash for the cabin door and got in and shut out for a moment the appalling sight of the speed with which they were rushing into the dark, but not of course the horrible confusion of creakings, groanings, snappings, clatterings, roarings and boomings which only sounded more alarming below than they had done on the poop.
And all next day and all the next it went on. It went on till one could hardly even remember a time before it had begun. And there always had to be three men at the tiller and it was as much as three could do to keep any kind of a course. And there always had to be men at the pump. And there was hardly any rest for anyone, and nothing could be cooked and nothing could be dried, and one man was lost overboard, and they never saw the sun.
And it was during these times that, for the sake of knowing how long it had been since all of this had begun, Susan began to keep a diary. Her entries went something like this:
September 3
I have begun to keep this diary so that I may know how long this terrible storm is raging for. This is the twelfth day of the storm and already I can see it wearing on the crew. The men have begun to feel restless and weary, and we never see the sun anymore.
The mast has been lost, and there is only a stump left now. That happened only a few days ago. We have food enough to last for sixteen days. The poultry were all washed overboard. Even if they hadn't been, the storm would have stopped them laying. The real trouble is water. Two casks seem to have got a leak knocked in them and are empty. On short rations, half a pint a day each, we've got enough for twelve days. There's still lots of rum and wine but that would only make us thirstier.
If we could, of course, the sensible thing would be to turn west at once and make for the Lone Islands. But it took us eighteen days to get where we are, running like mad with a gale behind us. Even if we got an east wind it might take us far longer to get back. And at present there's no sign of an east wind - in fact there's no wind at all. As for rowing back, it would take far too long and Caspian says the men couldn't row on half a pint of water a day. We all voted for going on in the hope of finding land.
While the men are all above deck, Lucy, the little girl Gael, and I have been forced to stay below because we know that we are no help above, though this is very hard for me to stay below while I know that those I love are above, risking their lives. Already we have lost one man, and I am always fearful that Edmund, Peter, or even Caspian will be net.
For now Lucy and I are caring for those men that are falling ill, and little Gael is staying as far out of the way as her curious little brain will allow her to be. I sometimes don't know what to make of that girl. She reminds me very much of Lucy when she was a little girl, though at the same time she has something about her that is quite unique, something I have never seen in another person before.
We haven't seen the boys in days, and it is sometimes hard not to worry, though I do know that if nothing else Aslan will protect us. I learned long ago that it was naïve to lose faith in him.
What worries me is that I worry so much about Caspian. I am trying to ignore the fact that I still like him, after all that was our agreement, but it seems almost impossible for me to do so. I don't quite know how I could even bare it if he was to be lost to us, and yet I don't believe I should feel this way. I don't think he still does, after all, he wanted to remain friends just as I did.
I try hard to push these thoughts from my mind, however, and will try not to cloud up the pages of this book with such confusing things. I believe it in my best interest to try to keep my thoughts more on my work. I will have more time to think of Caspian later.
So while I ponder this all for a while longer, Lucy now needs my help with another sick crew member, so I shall have to bid you farewell for today, dear diary.
-Susan
September 4
The rations are short but I suppose it's all we can do. The sun has begun to let on immense heat, making the shortage of water that much more unbearable. I expect that I will be writing these short entries more often than not as Lucy and I are beginning to get increasingly busy trying to help those around us that are sick. I must be going now,
-Susan
September 5
Very hot. I think I might have caught something from the sick crew. More and more men come in every day in need of treatment. Most have colds, others are just sick with too much work and need rest. I'm sure I have a temperature, but we have no thermometers on board, so I can't actually check.
-Susan
September 6
Now I know for sure that I caught something from the crew. I woke up today feeling highly feverish and in need of water, but I couldn't have any. After all, over-rationing one person over the rest of the crew would be terribly unfair. So instead Lucy told the boys and they made sure that I would get a little bit of rest today, so that I could get my health back up a bit. It helped, though I still don't feel well.
-Susan
September 7
Only a little bit of wind has come today, but still from the west. The storm has stopped, but the heat is almost as unbearable as the storm. 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 lashed to the stump of the real mast.
I feel a bit better now thankfully, and I think I should be back on my feet again by tomorrow.
-Susan
September 8
Still sailing East. I have been much better now, though I do wish I were still sick so that I could lie down a bit more like before, and now Lucy and I have taken to sharing our rations with Gael as she is so much smaller and in more need of nutrients than we are.
-Susan
September 9
Land in sight finally! There is a very high mountain off to the south-east. It is, however, a very long way off.
-Susan
September 10
The mountain is bigger and clearer but still a long way off. Gulls again today for the first time since I don't know how long (yes I know that is the reason for keeping this diary, but I haven't the time to actually count the dates right now).
-Susan
September 11
The boys 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. The boys wouldn't let us go ashore because it was getting dark and he was afraid of savages and wild beasts. Extra water ration tonight."
-Susan
This was the last entry made in the diary for a long while, for what happened after made her forget about it for some time.
When morning came, with a low, grey sky but very hot, the adventurers found 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.
The whole ship's company went ashore in two boatloads and everyone drank and washed deliciously in the river and had a meal and a rest before Caspian sent four men back to keep the ship, and the day's work began. There was everything to be done. The casks must be brought ashore and the faulty ones mended if possible and all refilled; a tree - a pine if they could get it - must be felled and made into a new mast; sails must be repaired; a hunting party organized to shoot any game the land might yield; clothes to be washed and mended; and countless small breakages on board to be set right. For the Dawn Treader herself - and this was more obvious now that they saw her at a distance - could hardly be recognized as the same gallant ship which had left Narrowhaven. She looked a crippled, discoloured hulk which anyone might have taken for a wreck. And her officers and crew were no better - lean, pale, red-eyed from lack of sleep, and dressed in rags.
Susan and three of the best archers on the ship were sent to do the hunting, and several hours later they came back, with them a pair of wild goats which were now roasting over a fire. Caspian had strong wine brought on shore, the type that you had to mix with water before you drank it so there would be enough. The work was finally done, and everyone sat down for a good meal.
It was nearly dark when the crew set up camp and went to sleep, deciding to explore the island on the morrow when they had all had a good night's rest.
So? What did you think? Come on, you know you wanna! Just review for me! PLEASE? Thanks so much!
Due to a review I got, I have tried to correct spelling and grammar mistakes in this chapter. Hopefully I did so alright.
Now, before I go, I needed to let you all know that like last chapter, I preferred how they did the net chapter in the movie rather than in the book so the net one is going to be in movie-verse. Don't worry, for the most part the story will still be in book-verse, just certain scenes I prefer in the movie instead.
-CahillGirl2001