The High Queen of Narnia

Chapter 23

For the next two weeks, their ship fought a relentless storm as they continued to sail through the Eastern sea with no sign of the blue star. And with their current supplies, there was only so much more they could go before they ran out. They'd need to make port soon.

As for right now though, Elodie was sopping wet as she trudged through the hallways of the ship towards her cabin. Caspian, Edmund, Lucy and Drinian would be there discussing their next course of action there while she was steering the ship, Tavros then insisting that the queen head below when he saw the colour began to leech from her skin as it began pale. The rain pelted down like bullets of ice that sank through their clothes, through their skin and down to the bone as they struggled to keep the ship from overflowing with water and staying aloft as they fought to sail over the massive waves created by the tempest. She'd been out there for hours anyway as she sailed the Dawn Treader on her own before heading down, opening the doors to the room as all eyes fell on her. Caspian was quick to pick up the blankets from the sofa he was sitting on and wrap them around his shivering wife as he rubbed her arms.

"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly as he used his sleeve to wipe the water from her face.

"Cold," she breathed. "This storm doesn't look like it's going to let up soon," she said as he moved her near the fireplace in an effort to warm her up as Drinian kept speaking.

"So, we're stuck here," he said as he pointed at the spot on the map near where they'd marked Coriakin's island. "At half rations, with food and water for two more weeks, maximum. This is your last chance to turn back, your majesties," he advised. "There's no guarantee we'll spot the blue star anytime soon. Not in this storm as Queen Elodie said. Needle in a haystack, trying to find this Ramandu place. We could sail right past it and off the edge of the world."

"Or get eaten by a sea serpent," Edmund joked and Elodie had to chuckle despite the fact that she was still shivering as Caspian placed another blanket around her.

"I'm just saying, the men are getting nervous," Drinian continued as he shot Edmund an unamused glare. "These are strange seas we're sailing, the likes of which I've never seen before."

"Then perhaps, Captain, you would like to be the one to explain to Mr Rhince that we're abandoning the search for his family?" Caspian replied.

"Or explain to the entire kingdom of Narnia that we abandoned the quest to stop the mist that will soon be powerful enough to make our entire kingdom disappear," Elodie added as the captain lowered his head.

"I'll get back to it," he said simply.

"Thank you, Drinian," Elodie called as he nodded his head before going to put his leather coat on, not that it would make much difference out on deck.

"Just a word of warning," he said before he left. "The sea can play nasty tricks on a crew's mind. Very nasty."

And he disappeared out the door as Caspian continued to try and warm Elodie up with his body heat.

"We might call it a night Edmund," he said to the younger boy. "I need to get Ellie into some dry clothes before she gets sick."

"Of course. Goodnight," he farewelled, choosing to stay and study the map some more.

"Night, Ed," Elodie said as Caspian escorted her to their cabin that Gael was currently sleeping in. The king was quick to pull some of her clothes out of a drawer as she got behind the changing screen before they headed to their hammock. But that night was far from as peaceful as Elodie felt sleeping in her husband's arms. Because that night she had a dream so real she was convinced it was real. And what was even scarier was that her darkest dream wasn't what she thought it was.

Elodie had been so prepared to face her fear of being taken from Caspian, even though she knew there was no way to really prepare for that, but she was absolutely unprepared to face the reality that her darkest fear was that she'd willingly leave Narnia and Caspian behind.

She, Edmund, Lucy and Caspian stood before Aslan after they destroyed the Dark Island, a large wave before them and Aslan explaining once more that it was time for them to return to England but that they would not be coming back. And she'd been stuck inside a version of herself as she watched her siblings walk through first and then she voiced the fact that she wanted to leave.

"I want to go home," she said to the lion.

"What? But I thought you said Narnia was your home?" Caspian said worriedly as his brows began to knit with concern.

"For a time," she replied, absolutely no remorse or pain on her face. "But I was born in England. It was my home and it always will be my home. I need to be back with my siblings and my parents."

Tears lined Caspian's eyes as he had a completely broken expression on his face as he realised he was about to lose his wife.

"What about us? What about me?" he asked as his voice broke and she'd just smiled as she cupped his cheek.

"I love you and I love Narnia, but I belong in England. I don't belong here. I don't belong with you."

And she didn't even kiss him goodbye as she walked through the wave and disappeared. She had reappeared at a circular table covered in the daintiest cutlery and tea cups as Susan sat next to her and Elodie began to squirm in her sleep as she slept in a hammock with Caspian who murmured the word, "Father," over and over before he felt her moving, saying all the things she wasn't able to say in her dream. She was dancing in the arms of a naval officer, a dress of pink adorning her body as it was covered in white flowers, before they were finally able to shake her awake.

And when her terror-filled eyes opened to see Caspian hovering over her with an extremely concerned expression as their hammock swayed, she trembled as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I don't want to leave," she cried into his shoulder as he held her equally as tight. "I don't want to leave. I love you. I belong here and I belong with you," she sobbed as Caspian felt the shoulder of his tunic become wet with her tears as he cradled her head to him.

"I know, my darling. I know. I love you too," he whispered back, the only words he actually could say, especially after both he, Lucy and Edmund had woken from their own bad dreams. Caspian had been dreaming about his father's death before the scene had changed to Elodie's death. Elodie's death at his hand. His worst fear being that he was exactly the same Telmarine king as his uncle. Lucy had actually transformed herself into Susan in an attempt to make herself more beautiful with a spell she stole from Coriakin. Aslan had been the one to explain to her what happened, that she'd almost fallen to temptation and that she didn't need the spell to be beautiful. Meanwhile, Edmund had seen the White Witch emerge from green smoke, the young king actually drawing his sword before Lucy pulled him out of his trance and Caspian was able to wake himself up from his nightmares before they were forced to wake up Elodie.

"So either we're all going mad, or something's playing with our minds," had been Edmund's words after realising what had happened that could possibly scare his sister so badly that she'd be reduced to tears in an instant.

Looks like this quest really was more grave than they thought it to be.