Whisked Away

30. The Storm

Shifra's POV
Not a day after my conversation with Caspian, a dreadful storm hit us. Lucy, Eustace, and Edmund were all staying below deck, per Drinian and my request, for they knew the ship the least and would most likely only get in the way. Caspian and I were on deck nearly all hours of the day and night, doing our best to help fight the storm.

I generally kept to the tiller, where we tried to maintain the course. Two other men were with me, but even the three of us had trouble. After about three days of this, Caspian called a meeting with Drinian and I below deck. Edmund and Lucy joined in to see if they could contribute anything, but they were lost during most of our conversation.

"Is there no way you can ease this?" Caspian asked me.

"I can try," I replied, "but I will need to get up to the Crow's Nest. It is more likely to work if I can get up into the sky. At the very least I can help with the wind, but there is not much I can do about the water." Caspian nodded. The three of us went back out on deck. I lost sight of the others as I got myself up to the Crow's Nest by climbing the rope ladders, for I did not trust my wings to get me all the way up without being blown off course.

When I had finally made it to the top, I sat down and looped my legs around one of the bits of wood that ran from the rail to the bottom of the Crow's Nest. Then I focused all my energy into steadying the wind. It did help a little bit. The rain and thunder still came down as hard as ever, but the wind settling down was better than nothing, but it meant we were getting no where.

We did go a little ways, but only when I stopped for breaks for food or rest, but I made those stops as infrequently as possible, not wanting the crew to risk getting harmed by the harsh winds. I always warned them when the wind was going to pick up again by flashing a light down on the deck.

These stops became more and more frequent as I became tired more quickly and soon I was drifting off while in the Crow's Nest. Little spirts of wind would break out suddenly until, while it was still better than it was normally, I was now doing very little to help. After a week and a half of this, I was forced to get a decent rest by Caspian saying, "You're more help to us while well rested."

When I had gotten up, better rested than I had been in a long time, I made my way up the mast again to help by steadying the winds, but they were too strong, even for me. I always was good at controlling the wind in Narnia, but the farther we got from it, the less control I seemed to have. Then there was a great blast of wind and a huge wave that crashed over the ship. A thunderous crash sounded and I felt the Crow's Nest begin to fall over.

The mast had broken off and I was so frozen in fear that I did not react at first. When at last I had, I had to fly to get back on the ship, but the wind kept blowing me off course. Men were throwing ropes to me, for the wind was so strong, the ropes stood sideways without support. I managed to grab onto one and all the other men grabbed hold of it and pulled me back to the deck.

"Thank you," I told them, clutching my breath. One led me below deck, for I was quite winded and out of breath. Then he returned to the deck. I took a moment to catch my breath and went back out. Every man was on deck now, trying to make up for the lack of a mast. We had somehow saved the sail, but I had not noticed how. I took that large sail below deck first, for we would need it desperately later if we didn't have it, and then I began to help where I could.

Everyone apart from Reep was helping, for he was far too small and would have been washed off deck. Even Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace were on deck now, although Eustace was sulking and doing his best not to help. We went on like this for several more days, but finally the storm cleared and we were no longer being tipped about.

The moment the storm cleared, I ran to Caspian and said, "We need to let everyone rest. No one has had a bit of sleep since that storm started."

He agreed and called out wearily, "Go and get some rest, all of you! We will assess what we are going to do!" The men, all as weary if not more so than Caspian, gave their thanks and headed below deck. Then we all checked over food and rations and found we only had enough food for sixteen days and water for twelve days at half ration, for two of the casks got punctured during the storm.

"This is bad, Casp," I whispered to him.

"I know," he replied, laying his head on my shoulder.

"Well we can't turn back," came Edmund's voice, "We won't make it in time and anyways without a mast we'll be going even slower." Caspian seemed too tired to listen, for he only nodded his head and let out a small groan, not moving his head from my shoulder.

"If I may say so, your majesties," cut in Drinian, "I would say the best thing is to go on, but before we make any lasting decision we all need to get some sleep so we can think with clear heads."

"Agreed," said the small voice of Lucy. With that we all headed to bed and woke up several hours later. After we had all rested and told the crew how food and water was being rationed, we met in a small room near the back of the ship that was full of maps so Drinian could fulling explain the situation.

When he had finished, I said, "Well I think the answer is quite simple. We could never made in back to the Lone Islands with no sail and no wind and the men most certainly can't row the whole way." Everyone nodded and remained quiet, waiting for me to fully finish my thought. "Our only option is to continue on and hope to find land. There is a better chance of that than of making it back, even if I used every last bit of strength I have to get us back to the Lone Islands."

"I agree," said Edmund, "That is our best and, frankly, only hope."

The others all agreed, but Eustace's voice broke through and he said, "We don't know if there is any land."

"No, but we're far more likely to find some than to make it back," Lucy tried to explain.

"But you can't just rely on wishful thinking. Just have the crew row us back!" Eustace exclaimed.

Caspian pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger as he answered, frustration leaking through his tone, "No, with only a pint of water the men would never be able to row all that way."

"But exercising actually..." Eustace started.

"Why don't you just leave it to the people who have actually voyaged before," Edmund commented curtly. If I was not still so tired, I would have laughed at that, but my energy had not fully returned to me.

"Oh like you?" He asked, "I still don't believe you were even a king and you expect me to believe that..."

"SHUT IT!" I yelled, no one in that room had ever seen me lose my temper before, so the silence that instantly followed was tense and every eye watch me like a hawk. I was rubbing my eyes in frustration as I continued, "Your cousin was a king and a great one at that. I became his best friend during that time so don't you dare question me." Eustace scoffed and stormed out of the room.

I was still so tired I could not even register what I had said, but all I knew was that stress was filling every muscle in my body. The others soon left to take care of this and that, leaving me alone with Caspian. "I'm glad someone finally told him to shut up." I only groaned in response, still rubbing at my tired eyes. My shoulders were incredibly tense as I tried to think of the best way to deal with all of this.

I felt Caspian begin to work at the knots in my shoulders as he said, "You need to relax a little, ok? Your so stressed its stressing me out." I did not hear him though, for I had just drifted off to sleep.