A Witch Out of Time

「 chapter seven 」

          "And where are we headed for?" asked Edmund.

          "Well," said Caspian, "that's rather a long story. Perhaps you remember that when I was a child my usurping uncle Miraz got rid of seven friends of my father's (who might have taken my part) by sending them off to explore the unknown Eastern Seas beyond the Lone Islands."

          "Yes," Edmund remembered, "and none of them ever came back."

          "Right. Well, on my coronation day, with Aslan's approval, I swore an oath that, if once I established peace in Narnia, I would sail east myself for a year and a day to find my father's friends or to learn of their deaths and avenge them if I could. These were their names—the Lord Revilian, the Lord Bern, the Lord Argoz, the Lord Mavramorn, the Lord Octesian, the Lord Restimar, and—oh, that other one who's so hard to remember."

          "The Lord Rhoop, Sire," said Drinian.

          "Rhoop, Rhoop, of course," said Caspian. "That is my main intention. But Reepicheep here has an even higher hope." Everyone's eyes turned to the Mouse.

          "As high as my spirit," he said. "Though perhaps as small as my stature. Why should we not come to the very eastern end of the world? And what might we find there? I expect to find Aslan's own country. It is always from the east, across the sea, that the great Lion comes to us."

          "I say, that is an idea," said Edmund in an awed voice.

          "But do you think," interrupted Lucy, emerging with Hermione from the deck, "Aslan's country would be that sort of country—I mean, the sort you could ever sail to?"

          Hermione slipped behind a wooden support. Although she listened with intent, she remained a tad vexed by the proposed destination. What exactly was Aslan's country if it could never be sailed to, and how could one reach the end of the world when it is common knowledge you'd only end up back where you started?

          "I do not know, Madam," said Reepicheep. "But there is this. When I was in my cradle a wood woman, a Dryad, spoke this verse over me:

Where sky and water meet,

Where the waves grow sweet,

Doubt not, Reepicheep,

To find all you seek,

There is the utter East.

I do not know what it means. But the spell of it has been on me all my life."

          After a short silence, Hermione perked up, "And where are we now, your Majesty?"

          Perhaps Caspian had forgotten the additional guest, or maybe her presence simply hadn't registered, but the female took him a little off-guard. Such an enquiry was expected from Edmund, not the tag-a-long - certainly not a fair maiden like Hermione.

          "The Captain can tell you better than I," said Caspian, so Drinian got out his chart and spread it on the table. But even with the distraction Caspian's gaze never faltered from Hermione, "But please, you can call me Caspian."

          His soft grin didn't go unrecognised by Hermione, even a mere blush formed in her cheeks. Yet, as she felt Edmund's stare, a palm shifted to conceal her features.

          "That's our position," Drinian said, laying his finger on it. "Or was at noon today. We had a fair wind from Cair Paravel and stood a little north for Galma, which we made on the next day. We were in port for a week, for the Duke of Galma made a great tournament for His Majesty and there he unhorsed many knights——"