The Lost Legacy

Chapter 14: Goodbye Friends, Family

The fog started to clear as the sun shone brightly on the surface of the deep blue sea, showing off the victory and achievements of the young king and queens against the centuries old of dark magic. The enchantment of the Emerald Enchantress was going to be destroyed completely as the sky grew brighter with the fall of the Dark Island. 

And there was one more change that was to be grateful for. "Hey! Hey! I'm down here!" The crew heard a very very familiar voice after a long time. "Lucy! Hey, Sophie! I'm in the water. Edmund!"

"Eustace!" Lucy exclaimed as she saw Eustace floating in the ocean. 

The boy that had been scared of water was now swimming with a big smile on his face. He didn't care that his clothes were torn or that his hair was wet. He was simply happy to be alive.

"I'm a boy again!"

"Eustace!" Reepicheep spoke with joy. "I see that your wings have been clipped." He jumped into the ocean, starting to sing. "Where the sky and the water meet. Where the waves grow ever sweet." The mouse noticed something different as he picked up the water in his paw and drank it. "It is sweet! It's sweet!"

"Look!" Someone from the crow's nest shouted and everyone turned to where he was pointing. In the wide blue ocean, there was a covering of white in the distance. 

"Lilies," whispered Sophie. 

What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?

"Aslan's country," acknowledged Caspian.

"Does that mean.....?" Lucy turned to her brother.

"I'm afraid that it does, Lu." He hugged her with one arm as she rested her head on his shoulder, holding back the silent tears that now crept upon her.

Caspian held Sophie's hand, making her look up at him. The voyage of the Dawn Treader was coming to an end, and that could mean several things. What if Aslan sent Sophie back to her world? How could Caspian say goodbye to her this time? Sophie squeezed his hand to let him know that she was with him then. And she was going to fight for him.

Eustace and Reepicheep were brought onboard and all of them changed into dry clothes, just as they had at the start of the journey. "We'll travel no further," Caspian informed Drinian. "Us six only."

"Certainly, Your Majesty." Drinian halted the ship until Caspian was to return. Maybe with his fiancee by his side, or without.

A boat was lowered from the main deck with the six of them - Caspian, Sophie, Lucy, Edmund, Eustace and Reepicheep on it as they journeyed towards the final part of the voyage of the Dawn Treader. 

Caspian and Edmund took to the oars and rowed towards the sea of lilies, knowing that at the end, someone was waiting for them.

"So, what was it like when Aslan turned you back?" Sophie asked Eustace. They had to keep a conversation going because those might have been their last for a really long time, maybe even forever.

Goodbyes were forever, but so was family.

"I collapsed onto an abandoned land and I didn't even realise it until I saw him standing in the distance. I couldn't pull the sword out by myself but Aslan could. It sort of hurt, but it was a good pain - like pulling a thorn out." The lilies covered the ocean for miles and miles but that just made it better for us to have longer conversations. "Being a dragon wasn't all bad. Perhaps I was a better dragon than I was a boy." He shrugged. "I'm so sorry for being such a pain."

"It's okay, Eustace." Edmund grinned.

"You did save us." Caspian pointed out.

Sophie punched his arm softly. "You're a hero."