Whisked Away

31. Land Ho!

Shifra's POV
It was dreadfully hot now that the storm had passed and there was no wind. I had been feeling feverish all day, as everyone had, but I knew that there were people far worse off than me. Rynelf was extremely feverish, so I gave him all of my water rations one day and it thankfully seemed to help. He had refused at first saying that I was far more important than he, but I eventually convinced him.

About three days after the incident when I lost my temper with Eustace there was another incident including the irritating boy. I had been restlessly sleeping with Caspian in my hammock when I heard the shrill voice of Reepicheep, saying, "Then why do you have a cup if you were just going on deck?" I let out a groan and got up to see what all the noise was about. Caspian and Edmund followed me and when we had gotten into the biggest part of under the deck, where the rowing benches are, we came across Eustace holding his cup facing Reep, who stood in front of the water cask.

"Why on earth were you sneaking around the water cask?" Eustace demanded from the mouse.

"Because I, due to my small stature, am of little use on deck so I help my watching over the water cask so another man may sleep who must work on the deck tomorrow," Reep replied.

I buried my head in the crook of Caspian's neck, muttering, "It's too early for this."

As Reep and Eustace contenued arguing, he whispered, "Are you ok? You feel really feverish, more than the other men."

"I'm fine Casp," I replied, "I'm just a little dehydrated, I gave up my ration from yesterday for Rynelf because he looked even worse than me."

"Shifra," Caspian replied, almost scolding in his tone, "We can't have you getting sick."

We were broken from our conversation my Edmund demanding, "Well apologize!"

"For what?" Eustace asked.

"Trying to steal water!" Ed retorted, "And for causing a disturbance in the middle of the night when all of us have been sleeping badly already."

"Fine! Fine! I'm sorry," Eustace replied, but no one thought that he meant it.

"Anyone caught stealing water in future will get two dozen," Caspian called out. "I know that we all feel feverish, I can see that." At this I almost felt his eyes and the eyes of everyone on me. "But we need to save this water to survive." Everyone spoke up their agreement and Caspian continued, "We feel as bad as you do, Eustace, some even worse, but it can't be helped."

Caspian gently led me back to our hammock and we tried to get to sleep again, but even without the incident it was no use. I finally got some sleep, but woke back up again only an hour later, feeling worse than I already was, but I wasn't going to complain. I had seen some of the men looking worse than me, so I wasn't going to say anything.

When morning came, we finished the jury-mast we had been making with the remains of the mast and the sail. We had finally gotten some wind, but everyone was so thirsty we didn't bother to notice or be happy about it. Many people including Caspian, Edmund, and Lucy had noticed my weakened state and tried to offer me some of their water rations, but I refused every time.

The next day was no better, in fact I felt even worse, but apart from my flushed cheeks and sluggish movements, no one could tell. Again many tried to get me to take some of their water, but I still refused, for they were working far harder than I was so they needed it much more than me. The next morning I was so weak that I could not get up.

They had to force Eustace up to take over the steering that I normally did. He tried to complain that he was far sicker than I, but anyone could see that that wasn't in the least true. He even tried to argue that men needed more water than girls, but again no one listened. I was still not able to get up the next day, or the next, but since we were now so close to land everyone got more water.