A Queen of Narnia - Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian fanfiction NEW VERSION

The Volcanic Island

ii.

To say that the previous day had been a little more exciting than usual was an understatement. Within the course of a few hours, Derya had been tempted to kill me by her mother then lured into the sea to meet her only for Derya to deny her mother what she wanted and as revenge, Lilith kidnapped me and left me to drown. And, more importantly, Derya had kissed me. I knew it was to save my life as a kiss from a sea maiden saved any man from drowning, but I could still rejoice over the fact that she had done it. We didn't speak about it afterwards, the only thing she told me was that we needed to be more careful and that was that.

Edmund and I walked out on deck after our daily meeting, where Drinian and Derya stood and looked out over our crew. Drinian always looked concerned, that was sort of his face, but now he looked even more concerned than usual. Even Derya had a frown on her face. I knew she felt bad about what had happened the previous day, but this was not the cause of her worries anymore. Something else had happened.

"What is it Drinian?" I asked.

"The storm has blown us off course," he answered.

"So we keep heading east," Edmund said.

"And when we run out of rations?" I stated and looked at him. "It's just not that simple Ed."

"I don't like the looks we're getting," Derya said as she stood with her arms crossed over her chest, looking at the crew cleaning and muttering on deck. They were whispering about us, about me, because we were keeping them out on the sea for longer than what they had been wanting to.

I looked at my men and the animosity was so clear that I could almost see it in the air. It was hard sometimes to be king and to be the one to have to keep everyone going when I knew how hard it was here out on the sea. We didn't have much food and we were far, far away from home. I understood their pain.

"Something's gotten into the men," Drinian said. "They feel mistrust toward the Queen, their supposed navigating officer on this ship after the events of last night. They all saw what her people did to their King."

"They are not my people," Derya said sternly toward Drinian.

"Derya is not to blame, she saved my life," I said and placed my hand on her shoulder.

"They say she has you wrapped around her finger, just like the sea maidens who tried to take your life, your Majesty," Drinian said and despite him perhaps not feeling this way toward Derya, there was a sense of dislike in his voice as well. "That she is dangerous."

"She is standing right beside you," Edmund intervened. "If it weren't for Derya, the Queen of the waters you sail on Captain, we all would have died."

"Derya has pledged her loyalty to me, just like you," I said and glanced at her. She looked quite distraught and all I wanted to do was comfort her.

"What's going on?" one of the crew members called which brought our attention to the deck. "They got us lost!"

"Look, just order them," Edmund told me.

"It will just provoke them," I said and shook my head.

"Your Majesties!" another crew member called. "What some of us have been wanting to ask for some time now is, how are we going to get home? We'd like to know that hopes we have of seeing Narnia again."

I looked back at Edmund and Derya, for I was unsure of what to do. There was not much else than to try to convince them to stay on my side in this.

"Gentlemen I understand how you feel," I said as I walked down the staircase toward the lower deck. "But our mission is to continue east." Cries of displeasure spread across them.