Personally, I don't like having the separate tabs for the different versions and all; I kinda liked just posting the episodes on the main page of the blog. What about you? What do you think?
I think I'm going to put the stories back on the main page and just make a poll for whose version you liked better. :)
Friday 29 April 2011
The Sea Dodecagon of Love - Episode Three
EPISODE THREE:
KINGS AND QUEENS
Putting GONE back on the shelf and completely unaware of what her latest snap had done, Vanessa decided to try a different book. Maybe GONE was faulty or something.
Her fingers trailed over the various books on her shelf as she wondered what to read next. The Alice in Wonderland series? No, she’d read those too recently. Thirteen Reasons Why? No, she wasn’t in the mood for that one. Sapphique? No. The Chronicles of Narnia?
“Hmm.” Vanessa paused and then snatched The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the shelf and thumbed through it. She hadn’t read the Narnia books in ages. Vanessa actually liked the movies a lot better, but hey, you can’t read movies, and she didn’t really want to go out of her room just yet, so she settled on her bed with the book and made her wish.
Vanessa snapped again.
And…nothing happened. Again.
Groaning, Vanessa dropped her head down in defeat. What good was a teleporting power - even if it was the result of a brain injury - if one couldn’t teleport into to other worlds? “Really?” she demanded, looking at the cuts on her hands.
She was really beginning to despise that shiny purple rock.
Caspian the Tenth, twenty-one years old, king of Narnia, Archenland, and the Lone Islands, was having a rough day.
First, the general of the Narnian army and his soldiers had come back from a long campaign in Archenland and alerted Caspian to the fact that the Archenlanders were angry with the way he was handling things and had declared war on Narnia. Their armies were marching towards Cair Paravel at this very minute, and Caspian was very worried that they wouldn’t be ready when the Archenlanders got there.
Second, Peter kept giving him that smug ‘I told you so’ look every time he saw Caspian and it was driving Caspian insane. Peter already thought he was a better king than Caspian and this seemed to only confirm it, to Caspian’s dismay. So he had grudgingly offered Peter control of the army and full authority to try and fix this problem anyway we could - it wasn’t like Caspian had anything to lose, anyway - but Peter had declined, adding salt to the wound by telling Caspian - in an obviously sarcastic way - that he believed Caspian could handle this mess perfectly well without any help from him. Caspian had never felt so humiliated in his life.
And third - Susan. Caspian sighed heavily just thinking about her. Since the four Pevensies had come back, three years after their first encounter when they had helped rid Narnia of his uncle Miraz, Susan had acted like he didn’t exist, and if she did speak to him, she acted cool and indifferent, like she was speaking to her inferior and not her friend. Lucy had told him it’d only been one year back in their world since they had been in Narnia, which made it even more puzzling - had she really dismissed him and his affections for her that quickly? Or was there something else behind her strange actions? Caspian had asked Lucy about it once or twice, but she hadn’t any more idea about her sister’s indifference than he had - apparently Susan hadn’t told Lucy anything either.
“Caspian,” he heard Edmund say. He turned and saw Peter’s younger brother - and his good friend - standing at the door.
“Yes?”
“Drinian” - Caspian’s ship captain - “want to see you,” Edmund said. “About the Dawn Treader.”
Puzzled, Caspian asked, “What about it?” The Dawn Treader was Narnia’s finest and most beautiful ship, built by Drinian and his skilled crew only a year ago. It was in that ship that Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace had sailed to the end of the world - Aslan’s country - and said farewell to Reepicheep, the talking mouse that had helped them fight against Miraz those three years ago. They had also had many other strange adventures along the way, and had grown closer as friends and as a family. Caspian only wished Susan and Peter could have been there as well.
Edmund shrugged, looking equally bemused. ‘He didn’t say anything other than ‘it’s urgent’. I don’t know. He looked pretty upset…”
Alarm raced through Caspian at that. What if something had happened to the Dawn Treader? He couldn’t bear the thought of something terrible befalling that beautiful ship that so many people had worked so hard to build. The Dawn Treader was the pride of Narnia; Caspian didn’t know what would happen if the great ship was damaged or ruined.
He stood quickly and followed Ed out of the room, anxious to hear what his captain had to say.
Lucy met them along the way and greeted the boys with a smile. Caspian smiled back, glad to see her. Behind Susan, Lucy was probably his favourite Pevensie - though Edmund came in a very close third - because she was always cheerful, kind, and willing to help no matter what. She was never short-tempered with him - like the other three were - and always encouraged Caspian to keep trying, no matter how badly he failed. Of course, she was like that around everyone, but it meant a lot of Caspian that ‘everyone’ always included him, too.
“Where are you two off to?” she asked cheerfully as she fell in step beside her brother.
“Drinian asked to see me; something about the Dawn Treader,” Caspian explained, his previous worries about the ship returning.
Lucy seemed to sense that there was something ominous about Drinian’s message, for a frown crossed her face and she asked, “Has something happened, Caspian? Is something wrong?”
“We don’t know,” Edmund replied. “Drinian didn’t say.” But he sounded worried as well, which was not very comforting to Caspian. Edmund was usually very nonchalant and not worried about anything, especially since he had been king of Narnia for nearly sixteen years and Caspian had only been king for three and Ed had had much more experience with the difficult things and situations that Caspian now faced. So to hear Edmund sounding worried now…it only made Caspian more anxious.
“Well,” Lucy said. “I bet it’s nothing that bad. Maybe he just wants to ask you if he can sail to the Lone Islands again.” Drinian was from the Lone Islands, which were several hundred miles away from Narnia, and his family still lived there. He had used the Dawn Treader once or twice before to sail there, but for some reason, Caspian didn’t think that was what this message was about.
Edmund echoed his thoughts by saying, “I don’t think so, Lu. I think he would have just told Caspian if that’s what he’d wanted. This sounded too…urgent to be something like that.”
Lucy still looked unsure.
Caspian forced a smile and said, “Maybe you’re right, Lucy. Maybe we are overreacting.”
It turns out they weren’t.
Drinian was waiting at the dock for them, looking grim. The Dawn Treader was nowhere to be seen, Caspian realised with a sick feeling. The waters where the grand ship usually sat were empty, though all of the other navy ships were still there. The Dawn Treader should have been there, where it always was when docked, but it wasn’t. It was just….gone.
“What…?” Edmund said beside Caspian. “Where is it? Where’d it go?”
“No explanation, no warning,” Drinian said gloomily. “It just….disappeared-”
“Disappeared?” Lucy asked in disbelief. “How could a ship like that disappear?”
Drinian shrugged. “That’s what I’d like to know, too, Your Highness. One minute it was here and the next it wasn’t. I don’t see how it could’ve been stolen. Luckily, there was no one on board.”
Edmund, who had walked down the dock to the edge and now stood staring at the empty spot where the Dawn Treader ought to have been, turned and called back, “Could it have been magic?”
“It’d have to have been a very powerful magic to make a ship disappear,” Caspian said, doubts and speculations filling his mind. Drinian was right; it couldn’t have been stolen. And while Edmund’s theory went along with how the Pevensies usually got to Narnia, Caspian very much doubted that the Dawn Treader would have been transported elsewhere by magic or by any other means. To what point and purpose, too?
“It’s so strange,” Lucy said softly, gazing out at the gently lapping waves, her blue eyes searching for some sign of the majestic Narnian ship.
By now, a crowd of people and ship-hands had gathered at the dock, all murmuring amongst themselves and shouting questions out to Caspian, Lucy, and Drinian. Edmund stayed where he was at the edge of the dock.
“My King, what happened to the ship?” Caspian heard once voice call.
“Where’d it go?” another said.
“I saw what happened! It was there and then it wasn’t!” yet another cried. “It was like magic! If you blinked, you would’ve missed it.”
That only caused the volume of voices and questions to increase, to Caspian’s dismay. What was he to do now? How was he supposed to find a ship that had just disappeared with explanation? He glanced down at Lucy and saw that she was still looking out at the waves, a frown on her face. “What do you think, Lucy?” he asked her.
She didn’t reply for a moment, but when she did, she looked up at him and said helplessly, “I don’t know, Caspian. I’ve never seen anything like this before. If it was magic, I don’t know why….”
“What do you want to do, Your Majesty?” Drinian asked, still looking grim. Caspian could understand why - Drinian had had a large part in building the Dawn Treader, and it was his pride and joy. To know that it had vanished in such a strange and unexplainable way must be hard on him, as well as frustrating. Caspian put a reassuring hand on his captain’s shoulder. “I don’t know yet, Drinian, but we’ll find it. I promise. There must be some way to get it ba-”
Caspian never got to finish his sentence, for one moment he was on the Narnian dock with Drinian, Lucy, and Edmund, and the next, he was standing alone on the deck of a ship, looking out at the clear, blue ocean. Caspian staggered back a few steps, taken by surprise. The ship was identical in every way to the Dawn Treader, except that it was black instead of being so brightly coloured, full of greens, golds, and blues. The only thing that was the same was the bright purple, square sail.
But where was he?
Caspian wondered if he had somehow been transported into the world of the Pevensies, like they were transported into his. As magic was common in Narnia - at least, it was when one spent any amount of time around the Pevensies - Caspian was not completely shocked by this strange turn of events, like someone who had never been around magic would be.
But was there any way to get back to Narnia…? Caspian did not want to be away too long from his kingdom, especially if it would be turned over to Peter - as he knew it would be - in his absence. The very thought made Caspian shiver with frustration.
Then he heard a low gasp from behind him. Caspian turned quickly to see Lucy, her eyes wide, standing a few feet behind him. He was relieved that someone else was here in this strange place, but puzzled as well. Lucy obviously didn’t recognise this location…so were they in her world? Or were they in some other world? Caspian frowned. How many worlds are there? he wondered.
“Lucy, do you know where we are?” he asked, hoping she would. If not…that would be very bad indeed.
Lucy walked slowly to the railing of the ship. Caspian followed. She put her hands on the wood and gazed out at the wide open ocean before them, blue eyes narrowed in concentration, as if she were trying hard to remember if she had been here before. Then she happened to look down.
Lucy gasped, startling Caspian. “What?” he asked. “What is it?”
She pointed, finger trembling.
Caspian looked down and saw two boys in the water. Both looked unconscious and while one was face up, the other was face down, making Caspian doubt very much that he was still alive. Who knew how long they had been there?
Then he realised that Lucy had climbed over the railing and was now descending on the ladder, down towards the boys in the water. “Lucy!” he said. “What are you doing?” He began to follow her, alarmed and afraid she would fall.
“They might still be alive!” she explained.
“I don’t think-”
“They might be!” Lucy replied irritably. She reached the end of the ladder and lowered herself into the water, reaching out and pulling the closest boy, the one that was face up, to her. Caspian paused, waiting to hear her verdict. Lucy put her hand on his bare chest and waited for a moment, concentrating hard. Then she beamed up at Caspian, eyes sparkling. “He’s alive!” she exulted happily.
Surprised, Caspian was silent. He wondered how long the boys had been in the water, if they were still alive. Surely not very long. “Caspian! Can you lift him up on deck?” Lucy asked, looking like she was having a hard time holding the boy out of the water; he was muscular, and Lucy was very small - no doubt she was not strong enough to hold him up for much longer.
Caspian looked about for a rope he could lower down to her and, seeing one, he took it and used its pulley to let down the rough rope to her. “Lucy, tie the rope around him and I’ll pull him up,” Caspian instructed.
She reached out and caught the rope. Lucy struggled to tie the rope around the boy, as it required both hands and she therefore could not hold onto the ship, but she eventually got him secured and called, “All right!” up to Caspian.
He began pulling and Lucy guided the limp boy until he was out of her reach. When the boy came close enough, Caspian, one hand still on the rope, reached out and pulled him over the railing. He lowered him gently to the deck and untied the rope from his waist. The boy made no movement, making Caspian doubt again that he was alive, but when he put his hand to the boy’s heart as Lucy had, he did indeed feel a heartbeat. He wasn’t dead yet, at any rate.
Caspian left the boy and went back to the railing. Lucy was swimming strongly out to the other boy, who had begun to drift away from the ship. The first thing she did when she got to him was turn him over, as he had been floating face down in the blue waters. Caspian was dead certain he was no longer alive; how could he be? Lucy brushed the boy’s shaggy black hair away from his face and then she listened for a heartbeat. Caspian saw her frown. She listened again, but once more, he saw no hopeful spark in her eyes.
Lucy sighed heavily and then began hauling the boy back towards the ship anyway. Caspian wondered what she intended to do with him since he was dead, but he also did not want to leave the boy for the fish.
She grabbed the rope and tied it around the other boy’s waist, and Caspian dutifully him towed him up to the deck. He set the dead boy down beside the other, but just to make sure, he put his fingers to the dark-haired boy’s throat. Caspian thought he felt a flicker, but when he didn’t feel another, he confirmed mentally that the boy was dead. When he checked the other boy, he found that he was still alive.
Lucy came climbing up the ladder and swung her legs over the side, looking grave. She came to stand beside Caspian and looked down at the two boys for a moment before saying softly, “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
Lucy knelt down by the dead boy and put her hand on his chest, to check one more time for a heartbeat. Caspian knew she wouldn’t find one. She drew her hand away a moment later, looking defeated.
“Lucy,” Caspian said softly. “Do you have your healing cordial? This other boy looks like he could use a dose of it.” He gestured to the blonde boy.
Lucy glanced at her waist, saw the diamond bottle strapped to her belt, and brightened. She took it out and unscrewed the cap, setting it down beside her. Then she reached out, lifted the blonde boy’s head, and let a drop of the cordial fall into his mouth. It was several breathless minutes before he reacted. At first, Caspian wasn’t sure he was going to, but finally, the boy began to cough weakly and then harder. They were deep, hacking, painful sounding coughs, and Caspian guessed he had some water still in his lungs.
The boy sat up slowly, looking like every movement pained him greatly and coughed hard for several minutes, his hand pressed to his mouth. Lucy watched anxiously, like a mother guarding her sick child.
Caspian stood and said to Lucy, “I’ll get him some water.”
“Thank you, Caspian,” she said, smiling at him, and then she focused on the boy again, worry crossing her face.
When the blonde boy finally stopped coughing, he slumped back against the sun-warmed deck, eyes closed and breathing shallow. Lucy pressed her lips together into a firm line, hoping he would be okay. At least he was alive, though, unlike the unfortunate other boy. Lucy felt like she had failed him, though she knew there was nothing else she could do. Except…She could give him a drop of the cordial, just in case, but since neither she nor Caspian had felt a pulse, it would just be wasting the precious fireflower juice. Still…
Not optimistic, Lucy put her hand on the back of the dead boy’s neck and lifted his head up gently, resting it on her lap. She carefully let a single, ruby-red drop of the fireflower juice fall into his mouth, but even after five minutes, nothing happened, as she had expected. Sighing, Lucy stroked his hair back from his face, wishing there was something more she could have done to save him. He looked young, perhaps her age or a little older. Either way, far too young to die. Lucy struggled not to cry; she had seen death so many times over her fifteen-year reign as queen and in all of the numerous battles she’d fought over the years, but it always broke her heart even more to see people her own age dying and dead. They still had so much life to live! It wasn’t fair, but Lucy knew it was the way life worked.
Caspian came back and knelt beside her. “You tried to cordial?” he asked, noting the bottle in her hand.
She nodded sadly.
“And…?”
“Nothing,” she confirmed. “He’s gone for sure.”
“I’m sorry, Lucy,” Caspian said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder as he saw how grieved she looked. She was such a gentle, caring soul; to have someone die so recently and so nearby…it had to be hard on her.
She smiled gratefully at him and then took the cup from his hand, glancing at the blonde boy a few feet away. “Well,” she said, “This one’s still alive, and no doubt thirsty.” She scooted over to the other boy, and, lifting him gently, put the cup to his lips and let a little of the liquid flow into his mouth. The boy jerked a little as if surprised and though he did not open his eyes, he weakly lifted his hand as if to take the cup himself, but Lucy took his hand, assuring him gently, “It’s all right, I’ve got it. You just rest now.”
And he relaxed, letting her continue to give him water. When the cup was empty, the boy’s head sagged against her shoulder and Caspian could tell his energy had been spent completely by the simple act of drinking. Lucy said something to him softly and reassuringly, but it was too low for Caspian to understand her words.
The boy moved his lips like he was trying to answer, but no sound came out, and after a moment, he stopped trying and just laid there, obviously still too exhausted to do anything else.
Lucy looked up at Caspian. “I wonder what his name is,” she mused aloud, her gaze flickering first over the blonde boy and then over the dead boy beside her. Caspian wasn’t sure what they were going to do with him; he really didn’t want to leave the poor boy for the fish, but he didn’t see what else they could do with him.
The boy started to speak again, but the words just wouldn’t come out. Lucy listened dutifully, however, encouraging him to keep trying. “What’s your name?” she asked gently. “Can you tell me?”
He tried once or twice more, and then finally, a hoarse, cracked whisper rasped from his lips, but it was so faint, Caspian couldn’t tell what he said. Lucy could, however, for she looked back and exulted, “Did you hear that?”
“No.”
“Sam,” Lucy told him. “His name’s Sam.” She grinned and then told Sam something softly.
Suddenly there was a violent fit of coughing from behind Caspian, and, stunned, he whirled around to see the dead boy - the boy they had thought was dead - coughing hard, some pale colour starting to come back into his cheeks. Caspian and Lucy stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, too shocked to do or say anything. The dark-haired boy had been dead - of that, Caspian was sure. Both he and Lucy had checked for a pulse numerous times! How could he be alive now? The cordial was a wondrous healer, but even it could not bring people back to life. Perhaps the boy had just been so close to death that his pulse had been unregisterable by external searchers, and the cordial had been administered just in time. That, or Aslan wasn’t ready for the boy to die just yet.
Sam stirred and shifted restlessly at the sound of the other boy’s frenzied coughing, but did nothing else; he was probably still too weak and exhausted. Lucy laid Sam’s head down gently on the deck and then she hurried over to the dark-haired boy, kneeling next to him with an expression of pure wonder. Caspian watched carefully, amazed himself.
Caine knew he should be dead. He felt dead. He had gotten enough water in his lungs to be dead. He knew he hadn’t reached the surface in time. Those last minutes were still a blur - he had seen lights flickering behind his eyes before they closed, and then darkness. He remembered nothing after that, but he fancied that he had heard Sam’s voice calling to him from somewhere deep and far away, but he knew that had just been his imagination. Sam was gone. Just like Caine, only in a different way. Sam was still alive. Caine…well, he wasn’t sure if he was or not. For the longest time, he had been lying on an invisible floor, wreathed by a thin layer of water, and everything had been numb, cold, and lifeless, including Caine. He had just laid there, not sure if his eyes were opened or closed, or if his heart was beating or not…
So why wasn’t he dead?
He had felt warmth after an eternity of lying on that invisible floor, warmth that had started out slow and then had spread like a wildfire, burning away the water that surrounded him and burning life into him like an eternal flame that could not be quenched.
And then he had started to cough. Deep, hacking coughs. Clearing out the last pools of water that lay around him and letting the fire burn brighter. It felt so good, too, letting the flames grow bigger and bigger, filling him up and getting rid of the cold, numbing water. So good….
Exhausted, Caine fell back against the invisible floor, letting the fire do its work. It could work without his help; he needed to rest now. He was so tired…
So…tired…
“I don’t believe it,” Caspian said again, looking in wonder down at the dark-haired boy, who had coughed for several minutes before slumping back against the warm deck, his chest now visibly moving up and down as he breathed. Lucy looked as if she was so happy, she might cry. “I don’t either!” she laughed breathlessly. “I knew the cordial could heal grievous injuries, but I’ve never seen it do anything like this!”
“Lucy, when I went to get the water, I saw some hammocks down below deck,” he said then. “They’re going to need a lot of rest before they’re anywhere near ready to get up. Why don’t we take them down there?”
She nodded. “You’ll have to carry them, though; I’m not strong enough.”
Caspian leaned down and scooped up the dark-haired boy, carrying him easily across deck and down to the forecastle, where fourteen hammocks were strung and ready for use. Lucy accompanied him, bringing the empty cup with her to refill. While she was doing that, Caspian put the boy in a hammock and then went back to get Sam, who by now had opened his eyes once or twice, but was still too groggy and dizzy to keep them open for very long. Caspian laid him next to the other boy and waited for Lucy to get back.
Lucy came back presently and, lifting the dark-haired boy’s head, poured a few drops of water into his mouth. He gave a small, desperate gasp, it seemed, but did not respond otherwise. Lucy smiled tenderly down at him, once more reminding Caspian of a mother tending her sick children.
Sam stirred and murmured something in the hammock next to the dark-haired boy’s, and Lucy moved over to him, stroking his hair comfortingly and offering him a drink. Sam opened his eyes, but they were bleary and unfocused; Caspian could tell he wasn’t quite aware of anything around him yet. “Sam?” Lucy asked soothingly. “Do you want some water?” Sam closed his eyes and repeated vaguely, “Water…?” Lucy took that as a yes, and she gave him a small drink. At that, Sam’s eyes opened again and this time they were more focused. “Water,” he rasped again, and this time it wasn’t a question. Lucy smiled, encouraged.
After Sam had taken a few more sips, she gave some more to the other boy, and then sat down beside Caspian, a content expression on her face. That bothered Caspian, however, for there was still the fact that they didn’t know where they were, or even if they were in Narnia. “Where do you think we are, Lucy?” he asked softly, his worried returning.
Lucy looked thoughtful. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Not in Narnia, I don’t suppose, and I don’t think we’re back in my world…I’m afraid I have no idea, Caspian.”
“I was afraid of that,” he said grimly. “How are we going to get back to Narnia when we don’t even know where we are? We could be in some entirely different world that neither of us have ever been to before, but right now, we have no way of knowing…Maybe Sam knows. You can ask him when he’s well, can’t you?”
She brightened. “You’re right! I bet he would know. They’re probably from this place, wherever it is, though I must say, their clothes are a little strange. The ship looks like the Dawn Treader, so I guess I expected them to be like us…I don’t know.” Lucy shrugged and then suddenly looked miserable. “Poor Drinian and Edmund!” she said sadly. “They’re probably worried sick, wondering what’s happened to us! And Peter and Susan too. Oh, dear…”
Caspian laughed bitterly. “Well, she may be worried about you, but I know Susan won’t be worried about me.”
Lucy looked up at him kindly. “Oh, Caspian. I’m sure she doesn’t hate you, like I know you think she does. How could she? You’re so kind and such a good king. Maybe she just gets nervous around you. It’s been a while since she’s seen you, after all, and your last time together was when she…” Lucy trailed off into embarrassed silence, obviously not sure whether or not to bring up the kiss. After the Pevensies had helped rid Narnia of Caspian’s usurping uncle Miraz, Aslan had sent them home via a large tree in the middle of the square near the castle. Before she left, however, Susan had kissed Caspian in front of the entire town and her siblings, causing quite a stir amongst the villagers. After all, he’d only been nineteen at the time. Now every time he saw her, Caspian remembered that too-short kiss and longed to kiss her again, but considering her current behaviour towards him, that would not be wise.
He sighed at the memory and Lucy apologised, “I’m sorry. I was just trying to be optimistic.”
“I know, Lucy. It’s all right,” Caspian said, but he could tell she knew he didn’t mean it. And he didn’t. He couldn’t be all right after being reminded of something like that, of Susan, beautiful, fearless, kind Susan…Would he ever find another like her? Was there anyone else like her? Not in Caspian’s experience. He had hoped, back before she kissed him, that she could somehow feel the same way about him that he did her, and the kiss had confirmed it. Or so he had thought. Now he was not sure. Perhaps it hadn’t really meant anything to her. He ached to know. But now, he was…wherever he was, and she was back in Narnia. They were worlds apart, literally.
Seeing his torment, Lucy put a reassuring hand on his arm, but Caspian was not reassured. The only one that could reassure him about this situation would be Susan herself, and he did not even know how to get back to her. Not that she would be missing him, but…he could hope, couldn’t he?
“I wonder,” Lucy said presently, “Why we’re here. It was all very sudden, like magic, but I didn’t feel any magic, like I usually do when we’re pulled somewhere. I don’t suppose that we’ve been called here; there’s no one here except Sam and the other boy so far, and no land, either, and even if there was, we don’t know where it is. Oh, I wish Peter, Susan, and Edmund were here! They’d know what to do.”
Peter would certainly act like he did, whether he really did or not, Caspian thought grimly, glad that the eldest Pevensie had not been transported to…here along with him and Lucy. He would have been greatly relieved if Edmund was with them, though, as well as Susan. But as far as Peter was concerned, Caspian was glad to be away from him.
“And how are we going to sail?” Lucy wondered aloud. “There’s only four of us, and until the boys get better, it’ll be just you and me trying to…Oh, goodness, what a mess this is!” she exclaimed sadly.
Caspian agreed silently, wishing they were back in Narnia. Things were always so much simpler there.
The dark-haired boy began coughing loudly again, sounding hoarse and weak but desperate. Lucy got up to give him and Sam some more water, and Caspian watched dully, wondering why they were here and how on earth they could get back.
Caspian sighed once more. He really missed Susan.
Her fingers trailed over the various books on her shelf as she wondered what to read next. The Alice in Wonderland series? No, she’d read those too recently. Thirteen Reasons Why? No, she wasn’t in the mood for that one. Sapphique? No. The Chronicles of Narnia?
“Hmm.” Vanessa paused and then snatched The Voyage of the Dawn Treader from the shelf and thumbed through it. She hadn’t read the Narnia books in ages. Vanessa actually liked the movies a lot better, but hey, you can’t read movies, and she didn’t really want to go out of her room just yet, so she settled on her bed with the book and made her wish.
Vanessa snapped again.
And…nothing happened. Again.
Groaning, Vanessa dropped her head down in defeat. What good was a teleporting power - even if it was the result of a brain injury - if one couldn’t teleport into to other worlds? “Really?” she demanded, looking at the cuts on her hands.
She was really beginning to despise that shiny purple rock.
Caspian the Tenth, twenty-one years old, king of Narnia, Archenland, and the Lone Islands, was having a rough day.
First, the general of the Narnian army and his soldiers had come back from a long campaign in Archenland and alerted Caspian to the fact that the Archenlanders were angry with the way he was handling things and had declared war on Narnia. Their armies were marching towards Cair Paravel at this very minute, and Caspian was very worried that they wouldn’t be ready when the Archenlanders got there.
Second, Peter kept giving him that smug ‘I told you so’ look every time he saw Caspian and it was driving Caspian insane. Peter already thought he was a better king than Caspian and this seemed to only confirm it, to Caspian’s dismay. So he had grudgingly offered Peter control of the army and full authority to try and fix this problem anyway we could - it wasn’t like Caspian had anything to lose, anyway - but Peter had declined, adding salt to the wound by telling Caspian - in an obviously sarcastic way - that he believed Caspian could handle this mess perfectly well without any help from him. Caspian had never felt so humiliated in his life.
And third - Susan. Caspian sighed heavily just thinking about her. Since the four Pevensies had come back, three years after their first encounter when they had helped rid Narnia of his uncle Miraz, Susan had acted like he didn’t exist, and if she did speak to him, she acted cool and indifferent, like she was speaking to her inferior and not her friend. Lucy had told him it’d only been one year back in their world since they had been in Narnia, which made it even more puzzling - had she really dismissed him and his affections for her that quickly? Or was there something else behind her strange actions? Caspian had asked Lucy about it once or twice, but she hadn’t any more idea about her sister’s indifference than he had - apparently Susan hadn’t told Lucy anything either.
“Caspian,” he heard Edmund say. He turned and saw Peter’s younger brother - and his good friend - standing at the door.
“Yes?”
“Drinian” - Caspian’s ship captain - “want to see you,” Edmund said. “About the Dawn Treader.”
Puzzled, Caspian asked, “What about it?” The Dawn Treader was Narnia’s finest and most beautiful ship, built by Drinian and his skilled crew only a year ago. It was in that ship that Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace had sailed to the end of the world - Aslan’s country - and said farewell to Reepicheep, the talking mouse that had helped them fight against Miraz those three years ago. They had also had many other strange adventures along the way, and had grown closer as friends and as a family. Caspian only wished Susan and Peter could have been there as well.
Edmund shrugged, looking equally bemused. ‘He didn’t say anything other than ‘it’s urgent’. I don’t know. He looked pretty upset…”
Alarm raced through Caspian at that. What if something had happened to the Dawn Treader? He couldn’t bear the thought of something terrible befalling that beautiful ship that so many people had worked so hard to build. The Dawn Treader was the pride of Narnia; Caspian didn’t know what would happen if the great ship was damaged or ruined.
He stood quickly and followed Ed out of the room, anxious to hear what his captain had to say.
Lucy met them along the way and greeted the boys with a smile. Caspian smiled back, glad to see her. Behind Susan, Lucy was probably his favourite Pevensie - though Edmund came in a very close third - because she was always cheerful, kind, and willing to help no matter what. She was never short-tempered with him - like the other three were - and always encouraged Caspian to keep trying, no matter how badly he failed. Of course, she was like that around everyone, but it meant a lot of Caspian that ‘everyone’ always included him, too.
“Where are you two off to?” she asked cheerfully as she fell in step beside her brother.
“Drinian asked to see me; something about the Dawn Treader,” Caspian explained, his previous worries about the ship returning.
Lucy seemed to sense that there was something ominous about Drinian’s message, for a frown crossed her face and she asked, “Has something happened, Caspian? Is something wrong?”
“We don’t know,” Edmund replied. “Drinian didn’t say.” But he sounded worried as well, which was not very comforting to Caspian. Edmund was usually very nonchalant and not worried about anything, especially since he had been king of Narnia for nearly sixteen years and Caspian had only been king for three and Ed had had much more experience with the difficult things and situations that Caspian now faced. So to hear Edmund sounding worried now…it only made Caspian more anxious.
“Well,” Lucy said. “I bet it’s nothing that bad. Maybe he just wants to ask you if he can sail to the Lone Islands again.” Drinian was from the Lone Islands, which were several hundred miles away from Narnia, and his family still lived there. He had used the Dawn Treader once or twice before to sail there, but for some reason, Caspian didn’t think that was what this message was about.
Edmund echoed his thoughts by saying, “I don’t think so, Lu. I think he would have just told Caspian if that’s what he’d wanted. This sounded too…urgent to be something like that.”
Lucy still looked unsure.
Caspian forced a smile and said, “Maybe you’re right, Lucy. Maybe we are overreacting.”
It turns out they weren’t.
Drinian was waiting at the dock for them, looking grim. The Dawn Treader was nowhere to be seen, Caspian realised with a sick feeling. The waters where the grand ship usually sat were empty, though all of the other navy ships were still there. The Dawn Treader should have been there, where it always was when docked, but it wasn’t. It was just….gone.
“What…?” Edmund said beside Caspian. “Where is it? Where’d it go?”
“No explanation, no warning,” Drinian said gloomily. “It just….disappeared-”
“Disappeared?” Lucy asked in disbelief. “How could a ship like that disappear?”
Drinian shrugged. “That’s what I’d like to know, too, Your Highness. One minute it was here and the next it wasn’t. I don’t see how it could’ve been stolen. Luckily, there was no one on board.”
Edmund, who had walked down the dock to the edge and now stood staring at the empty spot where the Dawn Treader ought to have been, turned and called back, “Could it have been magic?”
“It’d have to have been a very powerful magic to make a ship disappear,” Caspian said, doubts and speculations filling his mind. Drinian was right; it couldn’t have been stolen. And while Edmund’s theory went along with how the Pevensies usually got to Narnia, Caspian very much doubted that the Dawn Treader would have been transported elsewhere by magic or by any other means. To what point and purpose, too?
“It’s so strange,” Lucy said softly, gazing out at the gently lapping waves, her blue eyes searching for some sign of the majestic Narnian ship.
By now, a crowd of people and ship-hands had gathered at the dock, all murmuring amongst themselves and shouting questions out to Caspian, Lucy, and Drinian. Edmund stayed where he was at the edge of the dock.
“My King, what happened to the ship?” Caspian heard once voice call.
“Where’d it go?” another said.
“I saw what happened! It was there and then it wasn’t!” yet another cried. “It was like magic! If you blinked, you would’ve missed it.”
That only caused the volume of voices and questions to increase, to Caspian’s dismay. What was he to do now? How was he supposed to find a ship that had just disappeared with explanation? He glanced down at Lucy and saw that she was still looking out at the waves, a frown on her face. “What do you think, Lucy?” he asked her.
She didn’t reply for a moment, but when she did, she looked up at him and said helplessly, “I don’t know, Caspian. I’ve never seen anything like this before. If it was magic, I don’t know why….”
“What do you want to do, Your Majesty?” Drinian asked, still looking grim. Caspian could understand why - Drinian had had a large part in building the Dawn Treader, and it was his pride and joy. To know that it had vanished in such a strange and unexplainable way must be hard on him, as well as frustrating. Caspian put a reassuring hand on his captain’s shoulder. “I don’t know yet, Drinian, but we’ll find it. I promise. There must be some way to get it ba-”
Caspian never got to finish his sentence, for one moment he was on the Narnian dock with Drinian, Lucy, and Edmund, and the next, he was standing alone on the deck of a ship, looking out at the clear, blue ocean. Caspian staggered back a few steps, taken by surprise. The ship was identical in every way to the Dawn Treader, except that it was black instead of being so brightly coloured, full of greens, golds, and blues. The only thing that was the same was the bright purple, square sail.
But where was he?
Caspian wondered if he had somehow been transported into the world of the Pevensies, like they were transported into his. As magic was common in Narnia - at least, it was when one spent any amount of time around the Pevensies - Caspian was not completely shocked by this strange turn of events, like someone who had never been around magic would be.
But was there any way to get back to Narnia…? Caspian did not want to be away too long from his kingdom, especially if it would be turned over to Peter - as he knew it would be - in his absence. The very thought made Caspian shiver with frustration.
Then he heard a low gasp from behind him. Caspian turned quickly to see Lucy, her eyes wide, standing a few feet behind him. He was relieved that someone else was here in this strange place, but puzzled as well. Lucy obviously didn’t recognise this location…so were they in her world? Or were they in some other world? Caspian frowned. How many worlds are there? he wondered.
“Lucy, do you know where we are?” he asked, hoping she would. If not…that would be very bad indeed.
Lucy walked slowly to the railing of the ship. Caspian followed. She put her hands on the wood and gazed out at the wide open ocean before them, blue eyes narrowed in concentration, as if she were trying hard to remember if she had been here before. Then she happened to look down.
Lucy gasped, startling Caspian. “What?” he asked. “What is it?”
She pointed, finger trembling.
Caspian looked down and saw two boys in the water. Both looked unconscious and while one was face up, the other was face down, making Caspian doubt very much that he was still alive. Who knew how long they had been there?
Then he realised that Lucy had climbed over the railing and was now descending on the ladder, down towards the boys in the water. “Lucy!” he said. “What are you doing?” He began to follow her, alarmed and afraid she would fall.
“They might still be alive!” she explained.
“I don’t think-”
“They might be!” Lucy replied irritably. She reached the end of the ladder and lowered herself into the water, reaching out and pulling the closest boy, the one that was face up, to her. Caspian paused, waiting to hear her verdict. Lucy put her hand on his bare chest and waited for a moment, concentrating hard. Then she beamed up at Caspian, eyes sparkling. “He’s alive!” she exulted happily.
Surprised, Caspian was silent. He wondered how long the boys had been in the water, if they were still alive. Surely not very long. “Caspian! Can you lift him up on deck?” Lucy asked, looking like she was having a hard time holding the boy out of the water; he was muscular, and Lucy was very small - no doubt she was not strong enough to hold him up for much longer.
Caspian looked about for a rope he could lower down to her and, seeing one, he took it and used its pulley to let down the rough rope to her. “Lucy, tie the rope around him and I’ll pull him up,” Caspian instructed.
She reached out and caught the rope. Lucy struggled to tie the rope around the boy, as it required both hands and she therefore could not hold onto the ship, but she eventually got him secured and called, “All right!” up to Caspian.
He began pulling and Lucy guided the limp boy until he was out of her reach. When the boy came close enough, Caspian, one hand still on the rope, reached out and pulled him over the railing. He lowered him gently to the deck and untied the rope from his waist. The boy made no movement, making Caspian doubt again that he was alive, but when he put his hand to the boy’s heart as Lucy had, he did indeed feel a heartbeat. He wasn’t dead yet, at any rate.
Caspian left the boy and went back to the railing. Lucy was swimming strongly out to the other boy, who had begun to drift away from the ship. The first thing she did when she got to him was turn him over, as he had been floating face down in the blue waters. Caspian was dead certain he was no longer alive; how could he be? Lucy brushed the boy’s shaggy black hair away from his face and then she listened for a heartbeat. Caspian saw her frown. She listened again, but once more, he saw no hopeful spark in her eyes.
Lucy sighed heavily and then began hauling the boy back towards the ship anyway. Caspian wondered what she intended to do with him since he was dead, but he also did not want to leave the boy for the fish.
She grabbed the rope and tied it around the other boy’s waist, and Caspian dutifully him towed him up to the deck. He set the dead boy down beside the other, but just to make sure, he put his fingers to the dark-haired boy’s throat. Caspian thought he felt a flicker, but when he didn’t feel another, he confirmed mentally that the boy was dead. When he checked the other boy, he found that he was still alive.
Lucy came climbing up the ladder and swung her legs over the side, looking grave. She came to stand beside Caspian and looked down at the two boys for a moment before saying softly, “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
Lucy knelt down by the dead boy and put her hand on his chest, to check one more time for a heartbeat. Caspian knew she wouldn’t find one. She drew her hand away a moment later, looking defeated.
“Lucy,” Caspian said softly. “Do you have your healing cordial? This other boy looks like he could use a dose of it.” He gestured to the blonde boy.
Lucy glanced at her waist, saw the diamond bottle strapped to her belt, and brightened. She took it out and unscrewed the cap, setting it down beside her. Then she reached out, lifted the blonde boy’s head, and let a drop of the cordial fall into his mouth. It was several breathless minutes before he reacted. At first, Caspian wasn’t sure he was going to, but finally, the boy began to cough weakly and then harder. They were deep, hacking, painful sounding coughs, and Caspian guessed he had some water still in his lungs.
The boy sat up slowly, looking like every movement pained him greatly and coughed hard for several minutes, his hand pressed to his mouth. Lucy watched anxiously, like a mother guarding her sick child.
Caspian stood and said to Lucy, “I’ll get him some water.”
“Thank you, Caspian,” she said, smiling at him, and then she focused on the boy again, worry crossing her face.
When the blonde boy finally stopped coughing, he slumped back against the sun-warmed deck, eyes closed and breathing shallow. Lucy pressed her lips together into a firm line, hoping he would be okay. At least he was alive, though, unlike the unfortunate other boy. Lucy felt like she had failed him, though she knew there was nothing else she could do. Except…She could give him a drop of the cordial, just in case, but since neither she nor Caspian had felt a pulse, it would just be wasting the precious fireflower juice. Still…
Not optimistic, Lucy put her hand on the back of the dead boy’s neck and lifted his head up gently, resting it on her lap. She carefully let a single, ruby-red drop of the fireflower juice fall into his mouth, but even after five minutes, nothing happened, as she had expected. Sighing, Lucy stroked his hair back from his face, wishing there was something more she could have done to save him. He looked young, perhaps her age or a little older. Either way, far too young to die. Lucy struggled not to cry; she had seen death so many times over her fifteen-year reign as queen and in all of the numerous battles she’d fought over the years, but it always broke her heart even more to see people her own age dying and dead. They still had so much life to live! It wasn’t fair, but Lucy knew it was the way life worked.
Caspian came back and knelt beside her. “You tried to cordial?” he asked, noting the bottle in her hand.
She nodded sadly.
“And…?”
“Nothing,” she confirmed. “He’s gone for sure.”
“I’m sorry, Lucy,” Caspian said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder as he saw how grieved she looked. She was such a gentle, caring soul; to have someone die so recently and so nearby…it had to be hard on her.
She smiled gratefully at him and then took the cup from his hand, glancing at the blonde boy a few feet away. “Well,” she said, “This one’s still alive, and no doubt thirsty.” She scooted over to the other boy, and, lifting him gently, put the cup to his lips and let a little of the liquid flow into his mouth. The boy jerked a little as if surprised and though he did not open his eyes, he weakly lifted his hand as if to take the cup himself, but Lucy took his hand, assuring him gently, “It’s all right, I’ve got it. You just rest now.”
And he relaxed, letting her continue to give him water. When the cup was empty, the boy’s head sagged against her shoulder and Caspian could tell his energy had been spent completely by the simple act of drinking. Lucy said something to him softly and reassuringly, but it was too low for Caspian to understand her words.
The boy moved his lips like he was trying to answer, but no sound came out, and after a moment, he stopped trying and just laid there, obviously still too exhausted to do anything else.
Lucy looked up at Caspian. “I wonder what his name is,” she mused aloud, her gaze flickering first over the blonde boy and then over the dead boy beside her. Caspian wasn’t sure what they were going to do with him; he really didn’t want to leave the poor boy for the fish, but he didn’t see what else they could do with him.
The boy started to speak again, but the words just wouldn’t come out. Lucy listened dutifully, however, encouraging him to keep trying. “What’s your name?” she asked gently. “Can you tell me?”
He tried once or twice more, and then finally, a hoarse, cracked whisper rasped from his lips, but it was so faint, Caspian couldn’t tell what he said. Lucy could, however, for she looked back and exulted, “Did you hear that?”
“No.”
“Sam,” Lucy told him. “His name’s Sam.” She grinned and then told Sam something softly.
Suddenly there was a violent fit of coughing from behind Caspian, and, stunned, he whirled around to see the dead boy - the boy they had thought was dead - coughing hard, some pale colour starting to come back into his cheeks. Caspian and Lucy stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, too shocked to do or say anything. The dark-haired boy had been dead - of that, Caspian was sure. Both he and Lucy had checked for a pulse numerous times! How could he be alive now? The cordial was a wondrous healer, but even it could not bring people back to life. Perhaps the boy had just been so close to death that his pulse had been unregisterable by external searchers, and the cordial had been administered just in time. That, or Aslan wasn’t ready for the boy to die just yet.
Sam stirred and shifted restlessly at the sound of the other boy’s frenzied coughing, but did nothing else; he was probably still too weak and exhausted. Lucy laid Sam’s head down gently on the deck and then she hurried over to the dark-haired boy, kneeling next to him with an expression of pure wonder. Caspian watched carefully, amazed himself.
Caine knew he should be dead. He felt dead. He had gotten enough water in his lungs to be dead. He knew he hadn’t reached the surface in time. Those last minutes were still a blur - he had seen lights flickering behind his eyes before they closed, and then darkness. He remembered nothing after that, but he fancied that he had heard Sam’s voice calling to him from somewhere deep and far away, but he knew that had just been his imagination. Sam was gone. Just like Caine, only in a different way. Sam was still alive. Caine…well, he wasn’t sure if he was or not. For the longest time, he had been lying on an invisible floor, wreathed by a thin layer of water, and everything had been numb, cold, and lifeless, including Caine. He had just laid there, not sure if his eyes were opened or closed, or if his heart was beating or not…
So why wasn’t he dead?
He had felt warmth after an eternity of lying on that invisible floor, warmth that had started out slow and then had spread like a wildfire, burning away the water that surrounded him and burning life into him like an eternal flame that could not be quenched.
And then he had started to cough. Deep, hacking coughs. Clearing out the last pools of water that lay around him and letting the fire burn brighter. It felt so good, too, letting the flames grow bigger and bigger, filling him up and getting rid of the cold, numbing water. So good….
Exhausted, Caine fell back against the invisible floor, letting the fire do its work. It could work without his help; he needed to rest now. He was so tired…
So…tired…
“I don’t believe it,” Caspian said again, looking in wonder down at the dark-haired boy, who had coughed for several minutes before slumping back against the warm deck, his chest now visibly moving up and down as he breathed. Lucy looked as if she was so happy, she might cry. “I don’t either!” she laughed breathlessly. “I knew the cordial could heal grievous injuries, but I’ve never seen it do anything like this!”
“Lucy, when I went to get the water, I saw some hammocks down below deck,” he said then. “They’re going to need a lot of rest before they’re anywhere near ready to get up. Why don’t we take them down there?”
She nodded. “You’ll have to carry them, though; I’m not strong enough.”
Caspian leaned down and scooped up the dark-haired boy, carrying him easily across deck and down to the forecastle, where fourteen hammocks were strung and ready for use. Lucy accompanied him, bringing the empty cup with her to refill. While she was doing that, Caspian put the boy in a hammock and then went back to get Sam, who by now had opened his eyes once or twice, but was still too groggy and dizzy to keep them open for very long. Caspian laid him next to the other boy and waited for Lucy to get back.
Lucy came back presently and, lifting the dark-haired boy’s head, poured a few drops of water into his mouth. He gave a small, desperate gasp, it seemed, but did not respond otherwise. Lucy smiled tenderly down at him, once more reminding Caspian of a mother tending her sick children.
Sam stirred and murmured something in the hammock next to the dark-haired boy’s, and Lucy moved over to him, stroking his hair comfortingly and offering him a drink. Sam opened his eyes, but they were bleary and unfocused; Caspian could tell he wasn’t quite aware of anything around him yet. “Sam?” Lucy asked soothingly. “Do you want some water?” Sam closed his eyes and repeated vaguely, “Water…?” Lucy took that as a yes, and she gave him a small drink. At that, Sam’s eyes opened again and this time they were more focused. “Water,” he rasped again, and this time it wasn’t a question. Lucy smiled, encouraged.
After Sam had taken a few more sips, she gave some more to the other boy, and then sat down beside Caspian, a content expression on her face. That bothered Caspian, however, for there was still the fact that they didn’t know where they were, or even if they were in Narnia. “Where do you think we are, Lucy?” he asked softly, his worried returning.
Lucy looked thoughtful. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Not in Narnia, I don’t suppose, and I don’t think we’re back in my world…I’m afraid I have no idea, Caspian.”
“I was afraid of that,” he said grimly. “How are we going to get back to Narnia when we don’t even know where we are? We could be in some entirely different world that neither of us have ever been to before, but right now, we have no way of knowing…Maybe Sam knows. You can ask him when he’s well, can’t you?”
She brightened. “You’re right! I bet he would know. They’re probably from this place, wherever it is, though I must say, their clothes are a little strange. The ship looks like the Dawn Treader, so I guess I expected them to be like us…I don’t know.” Lucy shrugged and then suddenly looked miserable. “Poor Drinian and Edmund!” she said sadly. “They’re probably worried sick, wondering what’s happened to us! And Peter and Susan too. Oh, dear…”
Caspian laughed bitterly. “Well, she may be worried about you, but I know Susan won’t be worried about me.”
Lucy looked up at him kindly. “Oh, Caspian. I’m sure she doesn’t hate you, like I know you think she does. How could she? You’re so kind and such a good king. Maybe she just gets nervous around you. It’s been a while since she’s seen you, after all, and your last time together was when she…” Lucy trailed off into embarrassed silence, obviously not sure whether or not to bring up the kiss. After the Pevensies had helped rid Narnia of Caspian’s usurping uncle Miraz, Aslan had sent them home via a large tree in the middle of the square near the castle. Before she left, however, Susan had kissed Caspian in front of the entire town and her siblings, causing quite a stir amongst the villagers. After all, he’d only been nineteen at the time. Now every time he saw her, Caspian remembered that too-short kiss and longed to kiss her again, but considering her current behaviour towards him, that would not be wise.
He sighed at the memory and Lucy apologised, “I’m sorry. I was just trying to be optimistic.”
“I know, Lucy. It’s all right,” Caspian said, but he could tell she knew he didn’t mean it. And he didn’t. He couldn’t be all right after being reminded of something like that, of Susan, beautiful, fearless, kind Susan…Would he ever find another like her? Was there anyone else like her? Not in Caspian’s experience. He had hoped, back before she kissed him, that she could somehow feel the same way about him that he did her, and the kiss had confirmed it. Or so he had thought. Now he was not sure. Perhaps it hadn’t really meant anything to her. He ached to know. But now, he was…wherever he was, and she was back in Narnia. They were worlds apart, literally.
Seeing his torment, Lucy put a reassuring hand on his arm, but Caspian was not reassured. The only one that could reassure him about this situation would be Susan herself, and he did not even know how to get back to her. Not that she would be missing him, but…he could hope, couldn’t he?
“I wonder,” Lucy said presently, “Why we’re here. It was all very sudden, like magic, but I didn’t feel any magic, like I usually do when we’re pulled somewhere. I don’t suppose that we’ve been called here; there’s no one here except Sam and the other boy so far, and no land, either, and even if there was, we don’t know where it is. Oh, I wish Peter, Susan, and Edmund were here! They’d know what to do.”
Peter would certainly act like he did, whether he really did or not, Caspian thought grimly, glad that the eldest Pevensie had not been transported to…here along with him and Lucy. He would have been greatly relieved if Edmund was with them, though, as well as Susan. But as far as Peter was concerned, Caspian was glad to be away from him.
“And how are we going to sail?” Lucy wondered aloud. “There’s only four of us, and until the boys get better, it’ll be just you and me trying to…Oh, goodness, what a mess this is!” she exclaimed sadly.
Caspian agreed silently, wishing they were back in Narnia. Things were always so much simpler there.
The dark-haired boy began coughing loudly again, sounding hoarse and weak but desperate. Lucy got up to give him and Sam some more water, and Caspian watched dully, wondering why they were here and how on earth they could get back.
Caspian sighed once more. He really missed Susan.
The Sea Dodecagon of Love - Episode Three (Sam's Version)
EPISODE THREE:
KINGS AND QUEENS
"Um, are you ok?" Lucy softly touched the boy's shoulder
"I think I'm gonna be sick", he replied, and the quickly gripped his mouth. Lucy took two steps back.
"Never been on a ship?" she ventured again after he had collected himself.
"Is it that obvious?"
"A little", she smiled. "Here, drink this", Lucy opened her cordial and handed it to him,"It'll help." He raised the bottle to his mouth and drank.
"Thanks."
A sudden movement in the water caught Caspian's eye, "Um, is that a guy in the water?"
"Yeah"
"Aren't you going to help him?"
"Nope. He got himself there, he can get himself out", the boy said with indifference. Lucy stared at him, and Caspian jumped in the water. "What kind of a person are you?" she asked accusingly.
"Haven't quite figured that out yet. Working on it though.", he propped himself up against the railing.
"Lucy." Caspian called from the water.
"So what's your name?"
"Sam. Sam Temple." Sam turned to face her, "And I'm guessing you're Lucy?"
"What?"
"Your name is Lucy, right?" Sam asked again.
"Oh! Yes, it is"
"LUCY!", Caspian called again
"I think you're boyfriend's calling you", Sam pointed.
"He's not my boyfriend"
"LUCY!"
"Brother?"
"No"
"LUCY!!"
"What is he then?"
"Just a friend"
"LUCY!!!"
"WHAT!?" Lucy, now extremely annoyed, looked overboard to face Caspian, "What is so important Caspian!?"
"I'm saving someone, that's what", Caspian replied. "Now is there a rope or something up there? He's heavy"
Lucy found a rope and threw it to him. "Here, let me help you up", she called. Caspian and Lucy hoisted themselves and a very unconscious boy back on board. Caspian looked at Sam. "Do you know him?"
"Yeah. He's my brother."
"Your bro--", Caspian stopped himself. "So why didn't you pull him out?"
"Long story"
"Well, what's his name?"
"Caine"
Caspian turned back to Caine, "Caine, can you hear me?" He put his ear to Caine's blazer. "He's still alive", he said after hearing a faint heartbeat.
"Oh goody"
Caspian got up. "Look--", he looked at Lucy.
"Sam. His name is Sam"
He turned back, "Look Sam, I don't know where you're from, but where I'm from, we respect and protect our families. Not leave them in the middle of the sea"
Sam's shrug was soaking with apathy, "Don't know where you're from, but for my situation, when your brother and his goons try to kill you, it's every man for himself"
Lucy was sitting at Caine's side. Maybe...would it work? It worked for Sam, didn't it? She pulled out her cordial, and dropped a little bit into Caine's mouth.
"What type of goons could he possibly have? The local bully?", Caspian rolled his eyes. "You guys are just kids. You need to resolve this friction"
"Hey!" Sam retorted, "Don't go all Dr. Phil on me! I wouldn't have pulled him out. Ever."
"I don't know who this Dr. Phil is, but I'm taking that as an insult", Caspian hurled back.
Was that a blink? It looked like a blink. Lucy thought she saw him blink. She moved in front of his face to get a better look. There it is again!...maybe.
"Good, because it was. Oh, and we're almost 16", Sam said. "You're friend here looks younger than me"
"She's short for her age", Caspian replied,"but still, 16-year-olds trying to kill each other is a bit much, don't you think?"
"We're the oldest back home"
"What happened to the adults?" Caspian couldn't help it; his interest was peaked.
"Long story"
"You seem to have a lot of those"
Where am I? What happened? Caine's brain was mix of...water, and falling, and...his name? Someone was calling his name. He knew he should probably open his eyes. But...he couldn't. It was physically impossible. He tried, though.
I think he blinked again. A very small blink though. Maybe I should give him a little bit more. Lucy opened her cordial for the third time and dropped more into Caine's mouth.
Caine felt a surge of energy. Maybe I can open my eyes now.
Maybe he will be able to blink now.
Caine hesitantly opened his eyes and saw a teenage girl staring into his eyes. Concern was written all over her face. "Are you alright?" she asked him. He blinked a couple times, "What happened?"
"I don't know. We just...arrived and you were in the water." She turned away, "Hey guys! He's awake!"
Caine studied her face intently. She was really quite beautiful. Her hair was just the right color to match her complexion. Her eyes were a pleasing mix of hazel and green. What was he doing? He had a girl, Diana. All he had to do was the get back. But this girl was so...simple. So nice. Looking around, he saw that he was back on the stupid ship. But now there was another guy here. Woah, who brought the weirdo beardo? he thought. "What's your name?" he asked the girl.
"Lucy" she replied absentmindedly.
Lucy. What a pretty name
"Guys! Get over here!", Lucy called again.
Caspian and Sam's banter was interrupted with the call that Caine was indeed alive, and awake. They looked at each other for a millisecond, Caspian with expectation, Sam with a look of...fear? Yes, it was fear. Sam was afraid of what Caine might do to them all.They quickly rushed over to see him, interrupting Caine and Lucy's conversation. Caine's eyes met with his. Sam looked straight back, "How are you feeling, brother?"
The Sea Dodecagon of Love - Episode Two (Sam's Version)
EPISODE TWO:
TWO BROTHERS AND A SHIP
I have a brother. A snot-nosed, incapable of anything, brother. So obviously, we argue. A lot. On a daily basis, actually. You see, ever since we got trapped in this...dome, (Sam calls it the "FAYZ", but that's just...stupid) we've been forced to actually speak, to each other. Now, I never knew I had a brother. But to find out that I do, and that he's my TWIN, and that he's, well, HIM, is just...awful. Just plain awful. Last week we argued about my relationship with Diana. Yesterday we argued about the water supply. Today we argued about "joining forces". Yeah, Sammyboy is trying to make peace with me. HA! Not gonna happen. Ever. Especially not after this, which I'm sure is his fault, somehow. Because how can it be my fault? All I did was turn my back on Sam so I wouldn't have to actually act like I'm listening, and then boom. I'm staring into a hull of a ship. A SHIP. IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Awesome.
Sam and Caine just stared at each other, wondering where the heck they are, and whose fault this is, and, more prominently, which vital organ they were going to go for first. Caine was going to aim for the lungs, Sam, the gall bladder (he remembered something in school that said something important about a gall bladder injury)."Take me back!" Caine broke the silence with 3 simple words.
"What?"
"Take me back, Sam" Once again, Caine brought out his acusitory tone, and Sam quickly took to his defense.
"You seriously think I did this?"
"How else would we be on this ship?"
"How do I know YOU didn't do this?"
"Because I just asked you to take me back. If I did this, I would be able to bring myself back, WHICH I CAN'T SO TAKE ME BACK!!"
"Wait, you want to go back to the FAYZ?"
Caine said nothing.
"The FAYZ is horrible, even you admitted it. Why would you want to go back?"
"Well, I don't want to stay here. Wherever here is" came Caine's sarcastic, yet true remark.
"At least we've got water. Fresh air. You want to go back?"
"Don't you?" Caine snapped.
Sam thought for a moment. "Not really."
"Why not?"
"People are dying, Caine, and I can't help them. Do you honestly think I want to watch that? Do you want to watch people die? To look at you with one last glimmer of hope, and then sheer terror as they realize that you, the one who is supossed to have it all under control, can't help them?" Sam had been talking more to himself than to Caine, but then came back. "Are you that heartless?"
"No, I just...I-I, I want" Caine, stammering for his thoughts, stopped, and ended with a final order. "Just take me home."
"I can't."
"I said, take. Me. HOME", Caine growled, summoning his power, "NOW!" He aimed his force at Sam, hoping to push him overboard, but instead thrusting himself backwards, through the railing. Caine found himself dangling precariously over the water, with the feeling that and invisible hand was surrounding his torso.
Sam looked up, and saw his brother dangling over the water, looking like a fish on a hook, and couldn't help but laugh. It was hilarious. It was obvious to him what had happened. Caine, what with all of his "Take me home" business, had misdirected his power. Instead of pushing Sam to his rather untimely death, Caine had propelled himself, backwards.
Attempting to stifle his laughter, Sam tried to communicate coherently "Eh heh, ah hah, ha, hey Caine. What's mmph, what's hanging? Ha!" Mission, unsucessful.
"Oh, shut up, you idiot. Just shoot one of your little happy Sammy light thingys over the water so I can see if I can just drop myself and swim back."
"They're called Sammy Suns, and why should I?"
"Because if you don't, when I get back there, WHICH I WILL, I will be very careful not to misdirect this time."
Sam sighed. Not just any sigh, but the sigh that meant "I really don't want to but I will anyway because I'm the only one with a conscience here" Yeah, that sigh. He brought up his hands, aimed, and fired. He missed the water. But he didn't miss Caine.
Caine suddenly felt the invisible hand squeeze tighter, but with less effort on his part. The shock of his increase in power made Caine yelp, which was followed by the plop of one very spoiled boy falling into the water below. Someone stopped paying attention to his grip, hmm?
The Sea Dodecagon of Love - Episode Two
EPISODE TWO:
TWO BROTHERS AND A SHIP
Sam felt the heat in his hands. It was like a warm, pulsing heartbeat, always there, always reliable. It had saved his life many times, especially in the past few months. Caine had attacked the power plant twice in the past week, but he and the others had managed to fend his twin brother off both times, albeit barely. It had been mostly thanks to Edilio, his soldiers, Dekka, and Brianna that they had been able to defeat Caine. Sam had done nothing but manage to graze Diana, Caine’s on/off girlfriend, with one of his lasers, rendering her incapable of fighting anymore.
But now, as he waited in the cool shadows of the power plant, listening for any signs of his brother, Sam was all alone, with only his powers to help him if Caine happened to find him. He was not afraid, even though he knew Caine would probably kill him; Sam knew it had to happen eventually.
One day - maybe today - they would face each other and fight until one of them either died or surrendered. Sam had no intention of surrendering to his sadistic, sick-minded brother, and he knew Caine felt likewise. It would be a fight to the death.
Sam paused as he heard the faint brush of feet against the linoleum floor not far away and knew that Caine had found him. His heart skipped a beat in anxiety for the fight he knew was coming. It couldn’t be much longer now. He tensed his shoulder, ready to whirl at the slightest hint of an attack.
“Where are all your friends, brother?” he heard Caine say, and, turning, he saw his dark-haired brother standing casually, hands in pockets, a few feet away, looking cool and collected.
Sam eyed him for a moment and then answered, “This is between you and me, Caine; they have no part in this.”
Caine gave an amused smirk. “Then why are they always the ones that stop me, not you? Every time I’ve tried to take over this plant, Dekka, Brianna, Orc, or Edilio and his soldiers have stopped me…not you, Sam Temple.” He pointed at Sam, a feral grin playing about his lips.
Sam knew his brother was trying to get him riled up, so he forced himself to stay calm and not play into Caine’s game. He would fight his brother on his terms, not Caine’s. “How’s Diana, by the way?” he asked casually.
Caine’s face darkened and Sam knew he had struck a sensitive chord. “Fine, no thanks to you,” Caine snapped. “Your laser barely touched her, anyway; she’d have to be very weak to be too grievously injured by that wound, and Diana’s not weak.” But even so, Caine’s voice was shaky, betraying that everything was not fine, as he claimed. Sam wondered how badly hurt Diana actually was. Either way, he had turned Caine’s game back on himself and gotten his brother riled, while Sam was still feeling calm.
Without warning, Caine lifted his hands and Sam felt himself being lifted high into the air. A giddy sense of weightlessness seized him and he was briefly terrified of falling; in his disorientation, he forgot that he could still have shot at Caine from the air. His brother lifted him higher and higher until Sam was several hundred feet above the floor of the power plant. Sam held his breath, knowing that Caine would probably let him drop in a moment. He knew such a fall could very easily kill him.
Jerking to realisation, Sam aimed quickly at Caine and fired the green light from his hand, wanting to kill his brother so that if Caine dropped him, they would both die instead of just Sam. At least then, with Caine out of the way, Edilio, Astrid, and the rest of the townies would have more of a chance in the on-going war against the Coates Academy kids.
Caine dove out of the way of Sam’s laser and Sam expected to start dropping at any moment, but to his surprise, Caine kept his grip on Sam and he stayed suspended four hundred feet above the ground, heart pounding wildly with adrenaline. He fired blindly at his brother again and he heard a loud curse from Caine as he tripped and stumbled to the ground whilst trying to avoid Sam’s laser.
Still, Sam stayed where he was.
But then, suddenly, he was flying through the air towards the nearest wall. Arms flailing as Sam tried to stop himself but then realising it was useless, he closed his eyes tight, waiting for the impact. It came half a second later.
The air whooshed from Sam’s lungs as he slammed into the wall. There was a second of numbness, and then Sam’s body exploded with pain, causing him to cry out in agony. He started to fall backwards, free of Caine’s grip, but then Caine caught him again before he fell five feet. Sam felt limp and dizzy, the blood roaring in his ears and black dots swimming over his vision; he had no strength to try and hold his head up after the painful impact with the wall.
Caine lowered Sam swiftly so that that he was at eye-level with his brother, and Caine sneered gleefully. “You were really stupid not to bring your freaks, brother,” he said, pushing Sam’s shoulder, which caused Sam to lurch backwards in the air dizzily. He groaned as his head continued to swim, and Caine laughed. “You might have had a chance if they were here,” Caine continued, “But as it looks, I guess you won’t be the one walking out of here alive, now, will you? I hate to kill you, Sam - I won’t have much competition once you’re gone.” Caine sighed in mock despair. “But I think I’ll find a way to muddle through, somehow.”
Sam lifted his hand and fired his light at Caine weakly, but his brother flung him sharply to the side as he did so, causing him to miss by a wide margin. “Oh, Sam!” Caine laughed. “You’re going to have to do much, much better than that, brother!”
And Caine slammed him into another wall, making Sam black out for a moment as his body shrieked with terrible pain. He let loose a yell of agony, not caring what Caine thought of him.
Caine just laughed again, obviously enjoying himself.
Sam tried to fire at his brother, but Caine kept shifting him in the air, never giving him an opportunity to aim properly.
Caine lowered him down again and asked devilishly, “So what did you tell Astrid, Sammy? Did you tell her where you were going? or did you lie? Again.”
Glaring with all the strength he could muster at his twin, Sam snapped weakly, “I didn’t lie to her! I…I said…that I was going for a walk.” The memory shamed him and it angered him that Caine had brought it up, but he hadn’t truly lied to Astrid…had he? He had only wanted to protect her. And she would have tried to stop him if he had told her he was going to fight with Caine! Sam needed to do this! It had to be settled, once and for all.
“Well, that’s not exactly a lie, now, is it?” Caine said, echoing Sam’s thoughts and grinning like a shark. Sam flushed red, humiliated. “At least I tell Diana the truth,” Caine went on, winking at Sam. “She was very supportive, too, unlike your precious Astrid. What a pity, hmm? I can already imagine what she’ll do when I drag your body into the town square…Cry? Try to hurt me? Ha! That’ll be fun to see!”
Rage blossomed within Sam and he fired laser after laser at Caine, who merely flung him out of the way, continuing to laugh like a maniac. “Caine!” Sam roared, desperate to kill his sadistic brother but unable to do so much as free himself from Caine’s telepathic grip.
“Yes?” Caine asked sweetly.
And he dropped Sam.
Sam barely registered that he was falling. His mind seemed to stutter, as if it couldn’t process what was happening, and, battered as he was by his previous poundings, Sam had no strength to even try to stop himself from falling.
When he hit the ground, it was as if every bone in his body had shattered on impact. Sam fell unconscious almost immediately, unaware of Caine walking up and kneeling down before him, his dark eyes running carefully over Sam’s face. A dark stream of blood flowed from Sam’s mouth, coursing down his chin and neck before dripping a drop at a time to the dusty floor, pooling underneath Sam.
A smile tugged at Caine’s mouth as he examined his twin.
After a moment, he stood and rolled Sam over, his brother’s head lolling against the ground on a broken neck. His arms fell against his body haphazardly, advertising the broken bones within. His legs were equally useless.
But when Caine put his ear to his brother’s chest, he still heard the slow, thin lub-dub of Sam’s heart, and he hissed in displeasure - Sam wasn’t dead yet. Honestly, what did it take to kill him? Caine wondered. He didn’t want to end Sam’s life with the knife that was in his pocket - he had committed enough murder in the past few weeks - but seeing his brother’s body so broken and useless sorely tempted Caine to end Sam’s misery.
Caine was surprised at the flicker of humanity that had stirred within him, but Sam was his twin brother, after all, whether Caine liked it or not. And he didn’t. Caine looked down at Sam and saw the resemblance in his brother’s face to his own, for even though they were fraternal twins, they still looked quite a lot like each other. Could Caine really kill his own twin brother?
Hesitant, Caine reached into his pocket and fingered his knife, sliding it open and running his finger lightly along the edge of the blade. He pulled it out, heart hammering in his chest and his fingers shaking as he clenched the knife tightly, looking down at Sam.
Caine knelt slowly, putting the point of the blade against Sam’s heart. He was trembling so hard he could barely keep his grip on the knife, and after a few moments, Caine realised he couldn’t do this. He couldn’t kill anyone, even his greatest enemy, in cold blood. He was too weak. Feeling queasy, Caine sat back, running his fingers through his hair in agitation. Why couldn’t he kill Sam? Why was it so hard? He wanted to kill his brother!
….Didn’t he?
Caine didn’t even know anymore. He closed his eyes, struggling to control his laboured breathing. He could hear Sam’s breathing too, only his was shallow and barely audible; Sam’s body must be working very hard to keep circulating the blood through the badly broken bones and damaged organs…the damage that Caine had caused. He bit his lower lip, wishing that none of this had ever happened. He wished he had never met Sam and that the FAYZ would just go away. Caine wished as hard as he could, over and over, hoping for some miracle when he opened his eyes.
He stiffened in surprise when he felt a warm, heavy breeze blow through his hair. Caine then froze, wondering if Penny, the mutant with the power to create illusions, was somewhere in the room. And if so, what game was she playing at? If not…
Caine slowly opened his eyes. Smooth, well-worn slats of brown wood met his eyes instead of the dusty, greyish linoleum floor of the power plant. Caine jerked back, his hands slapping against the wood as he did so. They were warm to the touch, like they had been out in the sun for a long time.
The sun. It was shining directly overhead.
Dazed, Caine gazed up at it for a split second before the light began to hurt his eyes, and he dropped his gaze, heart pounding.
“What the…?” he heard a voice say. Sam’s voice.
Shocked that his brother had woken up, Caine looked at Sam, only to be shocked all over again, a tingle running down his spine. Sam was sitting a few feet away from him, perfectly and one-hundred percent okay, like their fight had never even happened. He had no broken bones, no bruises, no nothing. In fact, Caine realised as he continued to gawk at Sam, it was as if the FAYZ itself had never happened! Sam wasn’t gaunt and unhealthily skinny anymore, and he no longer had the pallor and wild look of a starving person. Actually, Sam looked…healthy. Normal. Like a surfer from California.
I’m hallucinating. Penny’s doing this, Caine thought wildly, convinced that the little Asian mutant was toying with his mind, for whatever reason. What else could it be? He raked his hands through his hair again, the blood roaring in his ears. But when Caine brought his hands back down, he started in surprise. His hands looked…normal. They weren’t covered in the red, lacy rash anymore and they definitely weren’t as bony as they had become over the past few months. They felt stronger, he realised, as he curled his hands into fists. Like he had never been starving at all.
Like the FAYZ had never happened.
“Where are we?” he vaguely heard himself ask. If this was a hallucination or a dream, Caine never wanted to leave.
Sam stood up, looking with an awed expression out at something behind Caine. He watched his rejuvenated brother carefully, knowing he had to be dreaming; Sam should be dying from the wounds Caine’s powers had given him, not looking like he had before the FAYZ had ruined their lives. It was bizarre, to say the least.
He waited breathlessly for Sam to reply.
Sam blinked a few times, and then he looked at Caine. Sam seemed to be surprised by what he saw, for he said, “Caine, you’re…you look…normal!”
“So do you,” Caine shot back, dazed. “You’re supposed to be practically dead! What…Sam, what happened?”
Sam looked down at his hands and jerked in surprise. Then he put his hands to his abdomen and then his arms, looking shocked. “I’m not…” His voice grew sharp, accusing. “Caine, is Penny here?”
Caine stood up, surprised at how easily he was able to do so. He’s forgotten what it was like to move so quickly and to feel so strong. Excited, he bounced on his feet a few times, loving the feel of the strength in his body; he hadn’t felt this good since before the FAYZ started! He laughed in delight, exhilarated. If this was a dream, it was the best he had ever had.
“Caine!” Sam snapped.
Caine looked up at his brother and started to reply, but his answer died in his mouth as he saw their surroundings for the first time. He and Sam were surrounded by water. On all sides. And the wood beneath them? The deck of a ship. A fairly small ship, or so it looked to Caine, but like one made in the 1700s, like the ones he had seen in his American History textbook back in school. But this one was black and…strange - the front of the ship (Caine forgot what it was called) curved upwards and formed the graceful head and neck of a black dragon, and the dragon’s wings curved alongside the sides of the ship. A large, square, purple sail waved above them, snapping in the salty breeze.
“Uh….” was all Caine could come up with.
“You got that right,” Sam said grimly, striding over to the side of the ship. He put his hands on the railing and peered out at the wide, empty waters around them, acting as though he was looking for something. Caine knew what - land. But everywhere he looked, his gaze only met water; there was no land anywhere in sight. Caine was stuck out in the middle of the ocean with his twin brother, his greatest enemy, with no land anywhere around and probably not much food either. Caine’s shoulders sagged. Maybe this wouldn’t be such a great dream after all… But at least Caine hadn’t come into this place starving; that was one good thing about this hallucination.
Sam suddenly whirled around, looking angry. “Tell Penny to knock it off, Caine! This isn’t funny anymore!”
“I don’t even know if Penny’s here!” Caine snapped back. “I haven’t seen her in almost two weeks; not since she ran off with Computer Jack. And even if she was here, what point would there be in doing this to us?”
“I don’t know,” Sam said angrily. “But then, I don’t see the point in half the things you and your stupid Coates clique do. Tell Penny to quit it and let me die already!”
Caine’s eyebrows shot up. “You want to die?” he asked in shrill disbelief.
“As long as I can take you with me,” Sam said murderously, glaring at him.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Caine retorted contemptuously, crossing his arms over his chest. “We had a fair fight and I won it. Winner takes all - that was our deal.”
“Fair?” Sam snorted. “It’s hardly fair when I can’t even aim at you because you’re flinging me through the air and slamming me into walls! I-”
“You had your chance, Sam!” Caine shouted, getting angry. “You could have killed me back in our first fight, but you let me live. If there’s anyone to blame, it’s yourself! You could have gotten rid of me long ago, but you chose not to!”
“You’re my twin brother! I didn’t want to kill you!”
“You think that matters to me?” Caine hoped Sam wouldn’t hear the hesitation in his voice, and to his relief, it seemed that Sam didn’t, for a brief spasm of hurt crossed his brother’s face, which surprised him. Had Sam really hoped that Caine would actually care about him? Feeling uncomfortable, Caine tried to stuff his emotions farther down, but wasn’t completely successful.
“It should,” Sam said, eyeing Caine flatly. Caine suddenly realised that Sam now looked deflated, as if his last hope had just been stolen away.
Caine bit his lip, unsure.
Suddenly he saw a flash of green light from Sam’s hands and he ducked instinctively, heart pounding in his chest so hard he was afraid it would burst out. “Hey!” Caine barked angrily, landing hard on his side. Sam’s laser burned a quarter-sized hole through the ship’s railing and continued on until it hit the water and fizzled out of existence.
Caine scrambled to his feet, furious. “What was that for?” he shouted. As if he didn’t already know.
“Payback for the power plant!” Sam replied, raising his hands to fire again. Caine decided not to let him have the chance. Even faster, he raised his own hands and unleashed his telepathic power, aiming right at Sam, intending to throw him far out into the ocean and maybe if he was lucky, Sam would drown.
Sam’s eyes widened briefly in alarm as Caine grinned devilishly.
Something invisible and rock-solid slammed into Caine’s chest, vaulting him off his feet and flinging him hundreds of yards out over the ocean. Terrified and stunned, Caine released his powers, forgetting all about Sam in his panic. As he quit using his powers, he began to plummet towards the waiting blue ocean. A hoarse cry tore from his lips just before Caine smashed into the water, hitting his back hard on the waves. Underwater, his body arched with pain as an internal fire spread throughout his back and on through his entire body, rendering him totally and completely helpless for a few moments.
Then the shock of the cold water finally brought him out of his stupor and he realised that he was sinking fast. Frantic, Caine began to swim upwards, but he couldn’t go very fast; he felt really heavy and he didn’t know why. The blood roaring in his ears and his lungs screaming for air, Caine fought hard to get to the surface. It was still so far away!
Caine began to hyperventilate. He couldn’t tell which way was up and which was down, and the more he struggled, the faster he sank, but he had no control over what he was doing anymore; it felt like someone else was commanding his body, not him. But one thing he knew that he, Caine Soren, was definitely doing - he was screaming Sam! Sam! Help me! in his mind, over and over and over again…
Sam could barely make out where Caine landed. It was just a faint white smudge, the foam of the ocean where he hit, far out on the horizon. Momentarily stunned by what had just happened, as well as confused - had Caine meant to use his powers on himself? - Sam just stared out at the waters for a moment, head cocked to the side.
He came forward to stand at the railing, squinting out to see where Caine had landed. It was difficult to tell now. What on earth had his brother been trying to do?
Sam suddenly cried out and doubled over in pain as his mind exploded with the words Sam! Help me! He clutched his head, groaning with the force of the telepathic message. Caine didn’t know how strong he was! “Oh, God…” Sam said hoarsely as the message continued to pound into his brain and hammer in his head, making his blood roar loudly and his heart beat faster. The pain drove him to action.
He quickly stripped off his shirt and shoes, knowing they would only weigh him down, and Sam jumped into the water, the coldness of it making him yell. Then he started to swim, thinking, I can’t believe I’m doing this…What am I thinking?!
He was going to save Caine Soren, his greatest enemy and pain, from drowning.
Caine’s eyelids flickered several times. He finally stopped thrashing and became limp, his heavy clothes dragging him further down. Sam….he thought weakly. But he knew his brother wouldn’t come. Sam was probably throwing a party back on the ship, glad that Caine had, essentially, killed himself and that he no longer had to worry about his brother. And after all, why would Sam come to his aid, after all Caine had done? It made perfect sense for his twin to just stay on the ship and celebrate his victory.
It wasn’t that Caine didn’t know how to swim. It was that he was completely and absolutely terrified of water. He could swim - he had forced himself to learn back when he was younger - but the shock of his powers rebounding on him, the pain of hitting the water from such a height, and the heaviness of his clothes that made it harder to swim, when all combined together, made Caine wholly incapable of surviving this on his own.
Caine looked up towards the surface - or, the direction he thought the surface was - once more before his eyes closed and rolled up in his head.
Sam got to the spot where he thought Caine had landed, but the mental messages had long since weakened and ceased, and there was no sign of his brother anywhere. Frowning, Sam searched around, but saw nothing to hint where Caine might be. He hoped Caine wasn’t already dead; the thought made him shudder. Yes, Caine was his greatest enemy and had caused no end of trouble and pain for him during the days of the FAYZ, but now that Sam was faced with the possible death of his twin brother…it definitely made him think.
He held his breath and dove down under the water, kicking strongly. Sam lit a Sammy Sun in his hands and used to it look around for his brother. Once more, he saw nothing.
He swam back to the surface to get air, and then tried again. Sam at least wanted to find Caine’s body, if nothing else. But would he be able to?
The light of Sam’s Sun hit something and he immediately snapped his gaze to it. At first, he couldn’t tell what it was, but then he realised that it was his brother, limp and face-down.
Caine!
Sam dove, kicking as hard and fast as he could. He had to get to Caine in time, he had to! He didn’t know what he’d do if he got to Caine and found him already dead. The thought gave him strength.
Sam reached out and grabbed his brother. Caine’s head lolled limply to the side, his eyelids closed, completely unresponsive. Panicking, Sam stripped Caine of his heavy coat, shoes, and shirt, letting them drift away, and then began kicking upwards, going as fast as he possibly could.
He broke the surface a moment later with a huge gasp, drawing the salty air in to his lungs raggedly and panting with the effort of hauling Caine all the way up. Caine slumped lifelessly against Sam’s chest, showing no signs of still living. Sam shouted a curse out, kicking in angry and scared anxiety. The ship was so far away, and Caine was already so heavy in his arms…Could Sam make it all that way? He knew he had to.
But Caine…was he already dead? Sam hit Caine’s face a few times, not hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough to wake him up, to see if he could get any response, but Caine gave none. Sam cursed again.
“Caine!” he yelled hoarsely, shaking his brother. Again, there was no reaction whatsoever. Sam shouted to the sky in pure agony.
He flipped his brother onto his back and began swimming, slowly but surely, towards the ship.
Sam was trembling violently by the time he reached the ship almost two hours later. He couldn’t think straight, couldn’t make himself talk. He could barely breathe. His grip on the ladder on the side of the vessel was weak, and he lost his hold twice before he could manage to keep holding on. Caine, motionless and lifeless as a corpse, was still on his back.
Sam tried to pull himself and his brother up, but the moment he did, his body gave a powerful shudder and he slipped down into the water, unconscious.
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