𝐀 𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄, caspian x ✓

one.

01

TEARS FOR THE DEAD

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The clouds had parted the next morning and the four mornings after that, providing the much needed sun and cooling breeze after weeks of storms and rain. Every sailor in the land was thankful that they could get some much needed rest and focus on their voyages. All but those who had been aboard the Hangman's Revenge.

Many crew members had been dragged down to the depths of the ocean, some cursed to be stranded at sea, very few picked up by ships and some would never be heard of again. However, their Captain, Kathryn, was perhaps the unluckiest of them all.

Sentenced to an entirety of floating on Narnian waves on nothing but a single plank of what was left from the Hangman's Revenge. If she were conscious, she would have noticed the shadow that swept across her face to protect it from the harsh rays of the sun that had already chapped her lips and burned half of her cheek.

And, because she was still lifeless, she missed the splashes of three crewmen jumping from the deck of their own ship to aid her. The three members of the crew worked on pulling her closer to the edge of their ship and tying a rope under her arms securely as another member holstered her aboard. 

"Is she breathing?" King Caspian asked as he got closer, having been awoken from his cabin at the first sight of someone floating on the water. Of course, that was expected after the weeks of ruthless storms. They didn't have much hope left.

Lord Drinian, one of the King's closest advisors and Captain of the Dawn Treader, bent down and moved the long, damp curls from the face of the girl. He gasped out in shock in chorus with those around him. Even the king's breath hitched in his throat.

"Is she dead?"

"Is that-"

"It can't be-"

"Aslan's roar- Is she breathing?"

The Captain went to his knees and pressed his ear to the girl's chest to listen for any signs of life. He waited a few seconds to the nothingness that radiated from her chest. And then he waited a few more seconds just in case he was being deceived.

He stood back up and pulled his hat from his head. "Nothing," he muttered with a shake of his head.

His crew followed in his pursuit by removing their hats to pay respects to the young Captain that lay lifeless on the deck. They stayed like that for a minute; in silence with their hats herd on their chests. Caspian had met the girl lying on the deck a handful of times, each of them starting with a plea or an arrest, and each of them ending with an elaborate escape.

"Should we put her with the rest of the bodies?" Lord Drinian asked, referring to the room that they had cleared in order to store the countless bodies they had found floating on the waters surface. Caspian insisted on returning their bodies to land for a proper burial, and the crew agreed.

"How far are we from land?" he asked, rubbing the top of his brow.

"A day or two until we are at the next routined supply drop."

"Yes, her body can go with the others." Caspian spoke clearly and replaced his hat. His mouth moved as to add something but fell shut.

Drinian nodded and, with the help of two other members of the crew, he carried her below deck where they promptly, yet carefully, placed her body on a blanket and rested her head upon a pillow. Drinian muttered a Narnian prayer and crossed her arms over her chest with her hands resting on the hilt of her cutlass so she could be at peace.