˗ˏˋCHAPTER FIFTEENˊˎ-

***

WREN HAD BEEN sorting through a box on the lower deck before her head snapped up at the sound of (very poorly) tiptoeing steps coming from the entrance. She instantly straightened up and quietly dropped the item in her hands, easing her way around one of the crates to see who was snooping around. At first she thought it had been Caspian trying to catch her alone again—he'd been awfully touchy since their conversation that happened nearly four days ago, not that she minded.

Her guard was lowered immediately once she saw who it really was, and she smugly crossed her arms, smirking as she watched Eustace smuggle an orange into his shirt.

"Hope you don't plan on stealing one of our longboats to try and sneak away," she mused, and the blonde boy jumped, whirling around. "You won't find your way back to England like that, you know. Through the sea."

"I-I," he stammered, clearly expecting something else, but she just raised an eyebrow. "I was hungry."

"You could've just asked," she shrugged, finding herself smiling. Maybe this kid wasn't so bad—maybe he was just scared and didn't know how to channel that emotion into anything other than lashing out. She was once like him, she realized."You're not a prisoner. It's not like we wouldn't have fed you."

"I..."

"But don't eat that," Wren ordered. "This is our stored food. None of its been washed."

A small patter came from overhead, and Wren glanced up to see Reepicheep climbing up onto one of the crates. "You're not going to tell him that stewing rations is a capital offense at sea?"

Eustace jumped again, this time knocking over a bunch of pots and pans that clanged loudly onto the floor. "Oh, relax, Reep. The boy's just hungry."

"Men have been keelhauled for less!"

Wren rolled her eyes at his dramatics as Eustace blinked. "For what?"

"For treason...and sneakiness, and general nuisancery. Look, just hand over the orange and we'll let the matter pass."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Eustace said, though the round shape of the fruit was noticeable through the material of his shirt. Wren sighed, watching as how Reep pulled out his blade, and shook her head in disbelief as she turned to leave.

Eustace and Reep dueled on the main deck, a series of shouts and yells going through the crew as each member began to bet against the younger boy. Wren leaned against the wall from next to the stairwell, listening in as some of them murmured insults about Eustace's lack of ability to hold a sword.

She scoffed. "Men."

The fight had ended when Reep pretended to fall overboard, temporarily distracting Eustace as he worriedly looked over the boat, only for the mouse to kick him in the back so hard that he tumbled to the ground, knocking over a woven basket, a loud shriek emitting from it.

"Did that basket just...scream?"

The crew all shared very confused looks, and Wren inched next to Lucy curiously. A small girl in a pink dress crawled out of it, and Wren vaguely recognized her.

"Gael?" Wren glanced over to the newest member of the ship, and felt guilt flood through her when she was unable to remember his name. "What are you doing here?"

Drinian, who had caught the orange that Reepicheep threw at him not five minutes ago, pushed through the crowd, and crouched down to offer the little girl the item. "Looks like we have an extra crew member."

Lucy grinned. "Welcome aboard."

"Your Majesty," Gael bowed her head.

"Call me Lucy. Come on, I think it's time you got a tour of this place."

Wren shared a smile with the youngest Pevensie sibling, and absentmindedly twirled a dagger between her fingers.

"Come on, look lively," Drinian demanded from the top deck. "Back to work."

***

As the day grew older, and the sun settled on the east, a growing image of land could be seen getting bigger and bigger in the distance. The sky was a purple and orange mixture by the time the Dawn Treader reached the island.

They anchored the ship, and took out longboats, rowing them to shore. Drinian barked out orders and the crew men quickly obliged, and not long after there was a fire burning in front of them.

Nightfall came quick, and before she knew it, Wren had fallen asleep on the sand with her back pressed up against Caspian, who had thrown a protective arm around her waist as the two of them laid there. The last thing she could remember was him pressing a kiss to the nape of her neck before she fell into a deep slumber.

Sunlight threatened to peak through her eyelids hours later, and she attempted to squint her eyes shut even more just to obtain at least another ten minutes of sleep. She was facing the opposite direction now, she didn't even have to be awake to tell that her face was buried in her fiancé's chest, and that he was waking up. The tenseness of his body told her that.

His arms withdrew from around her, and her sides felt cold without them there. Wren suppressed a shiver—it was quite cold on the beach that early in the morning. She let out a grunt of annoyance as he sat up, making her cheek slide onto the sand. "What the hell-"

"Wake up," he said, sounding frantic. She glared at him for disrupting how comfortable she was as he quickly leaped over her legs, and she could just barely manage to catch him from the corner of her vision shaking Edmund awake, too.

Wren pushed herself into a sitting position, stretching out her arms, before stopping mid-yawn when her gaze got caught on large footprints trailing away into the woods—and the empty cot where Lucy had been the night before. The fogginess slipped from her brain immediately, and Wren got to her feet at once, grains of sand falling off her clothing.

The crew sprang into action, and Wren just barely had time to grab her sword before they all took off running in the direction of the footprints.

They stormed into an area with lots of green bushes—it looked like a maintained front lawn, and Wren furrowed her brows with her drawn weapon. There was nothing there, and they all shared confused looks. Edmund had found Lucy's dagger, and leaned down to pick it up, just before a bunch of spears literally appeared from nowhere, like an invisible force had just thrown them.

"Stop right there or perish!" A raspy voice commanded.

Wren didn't even know what happened next. Something slapped her in the face, and shoved her to the ground. She had no idea how to even fight against something that was invisible. Caspian got knocked to the ground next to her, and opted to grabbing her hand quickly, pulling her towards him as they struggled to figure out what to do.

"What sort of creatures are you?" He asked, hopelessly.

"Big ones." The voice answered. "With the head of a tiger and a body of a..."

"Different tiger!" Another voice offered.

"Yeah," the first voice agreed, and Wren caught a glimmer of a clear shape in the direction of the sound. "You don't want to mess with us."

"Or what?" Edmund sassed.

"Or we'll claw you to death!" The second voice threatened, but Wren cocked a brow, staring at the one-footed creature that was being held up by another one of its kind. They both had hair that stuck out in all directions, and couldn't be over three foot at most. They were hardly terrifying.

"I'll ram my tusks right through you," another voice said from behind, and Wren turned her head to see another pair of the same creatures.

"And I'll gnash you with my teeth!"

"And I'll bite you with my fangs!" An unrealistic growl came from the first man. Wren snickered. "Think it's funny, do you? I'll show you, I will!"

"You mean you'll squash us with your fat bellies?" Caspian asked, amused.

"Yes!" One went to say, before glancing down. "Fat bellies? Huh?"

"Tickle us with your toes?" Caspian continued.

"Step on us with your gloriously long legs?" Wren added, grinning now.

They tumbled to the ground just as Edmund drew his sword. "What have you done with my sister you little pipsqueak?"

"Now...calm down..."

"Where is she?"

"In the mansion."

"What mansion?" Edmund demanded, but the one-footed creature's gaze flicked to the left, and right before their eyes, a large house with long windows and vines overgrowing on the front appeared. "Oh...That mansion."

Wren pulled a face of shock. "Lovely."

authors note

lovely😁

i'm planning on finishing this fic by the end of this week (?) i have so many other fics out and a bunch that i'm planning and i just want to get this one done soooo updates should be pretty frequent if i dont lose motivation again