Day Five

“First, as soon as Eustace sets foot in Narnia he will meet an old and dear friend. He must greet that friend at once. If he does, you will both have good help.”

Eustace Scrubb listened as Jill Pole repeated the signs Aslan had given her.

We muddled that one up. He still could not believe that Caspian was an old man, and he and Pole were on a quest to try to find his lost son.

“Second, you must journey out of Narnia to the north till you come to the ruined city of the ancient giants.”

He tried not to shudder, remembering the group of giants they had seen a few days ago. And the game they played with the rocks. They had bawled like babies. It was a miracle they had gotten out of there alive!

“If we don’t get killed by giants first, I shouldn’t wonder.” Puddleglum said.

Eustace really shuddered this time, but he decided it was the wind, it was getting colder the farther north they traveled. It had been quite warm and breezy that morning, but now, at the day’s end, the temperature was falling. Would it be colder than last night? He was pretty sure it would be.

Pole only ignored the Marsh-wiggle. “Third, you will know the lost prince by this; - no, that isn’t right!” Pole’s breath came out in a vapor and she frowned, trying to remembering the sign.

“Isn’t it something about writing in a ruined city?” Eustace asked her.

“Oh! Third, you will find writing on a stone in that ruined city, and you must do what the writing tells you.”

“How are we going to know which writing to follow? There could be thousands of stones with writing on them there.” Eustace wondered aloud. “Were giants always stupid? I mean if they had cities and could write…”

Pole gave him a dirty look. What had he done? Oh, sure, Puddleglum could say giants could murder them, but he couldn’t talk?

“Fourth, you will know the lost prince by this: he will be the first person you have met in your travels who will ask you to do something in the name of Aslan.”

Eustace looked around him. They had been walking all day and the moor seemed to stretch for miles and miles.

They walked on for a few more miles. The sun was beginning to set when Puddleglum called a halt.

“We’ll stop here for the night. I’m going to see if I can get us some dinner. Don’t be surprised if I come back empty-handed.”

Puddleglum went off to try to get their dinner. Eustace wished he could go too, though he knew how to use a bow, he didn’t use it well. He had tried to get lunch, but missed. He was going have to work on that, and sword fighting. After all, he did break Caspian’s second best sword the last time he was here. But what were the chances he would be fighting any sea serpents again?

It was a quiet affair as he and Pole gathered wood, and other leaves to start a fire.

Puddleglum did come back with dinner. More moor-fowl. Eustace was starting to get sick of the stuff. He almost wished for his parents’ vegetarian diet, almost.

He was too tired and hungry at this point to care. He helped Puddleglum clean the fowls in a nearby stream. It was a messy job, and his hands, which were already cold, felt even colder after plucking and cleaning the fowl.

An hour and half later after he was full and at least a bit warmer, Eustace had to say it was worth it to eat. He was feeling a little sleepy, but he didn’t want to go to bed yet.

He put his hands in his pockets, but felt the small notebook he had there. Why he still carried it around, he did not know. He never used it anymore.

Moving closer to the fire, Eustace opened it up to see what he had inside. The first few pages had his marks in it. He always boasted about that before, he had last term anyway. He still wanted to do well at his school, but he didn’t need to brag about it, he suppose.

Eustace flipped through to the pages, his mind going back to the Dawn Treader as he wrote in this diary, and how bad he thought had things been.

“What are you looking through, Scrubb?” Puggleglum asked.

“An old diary.”

He found one of the last entries he had written, one that had been at home in Cambridge.

August 22

Edmund and Lucy left to go back home today. They said they will tell Peter and Susan that I went to Narnia, but will they believe them? I was so beastly to them before.

They promised they would write to me at school, which would be good. Would anyone notice that I’ve changed at the Experiment House? Will They notice? I had always wanted to be part of Their group, but now…

Al-Mum, that’s still weird to write and say, but my cousins do have a point. I should honor my parents. But Mum still says I’m very common now, and that the Pevensies have bewitched me. I think she hopes now they are gone I will go back to my old self. As Caspian would say, “By the Lion, I hope that won’t happen!”

But most of all I want to go back to Narnia again.

Eustace looked up from his reading. Pole had been gazing at the fire as well, giving him some space. Puggleglum lit his pipe.

Well, some of my answers from that day have been answered now. He hadn’t heard from any of his cousins yet, but hopefully he would soon. And of course everyone at the Experiment House had noticed he had changed.

“Scrubb, you where here before, what did you hear of the giants?” Pole asked, interrupting his thoughts.

He moved away from the fire, which took him a second to get thoughts in order. “Um. Like I said, I wasn’t in Narnia last time. Caspian said the giants had to pay him tribute.”

“And what was it like at sea?”

He had been real ass during the first part of the voyage. Not until he had been turned into a dragon had he really changed. But then he had seen Aslan who changed him back to a boy…

“I came along with my cousins like I had said, they met Caspian before. The Pevensies - their names are Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. I was-”

“You’re kin of the Kings and Queens of old?” Puddleglum interrupted him and sat up. He had been quietly smoking his pipe until that point.

Eustace felt a blush burn his cheeks, and was glad it was too dark for the others to see. “Y-yes.”

“How is that?”

Letting out a breath, Eustace knew he had to explain. “Remember how I said time here runs differently?”

“Yes.”

“The Pevensies were here-”

Puggleglum cleared his throat loudly. “The Kings and Queens.”

Eustace continued, “The Kings and Queens, though they’re my cousins, from what Edmund and Lucy told me, they were here over 1300 of your years ago, but it was really only three of our years ago when they went to Narnia the first time. Ed told me that Lucy was the first to come here, and it was in the middle of winter, a long one, and a witch was ruling the land. The others-”

“The White Witch.”

Eustace scowled at him. “The others, Peter, Susan, and Edmund came after her-”

“First, it’s High King Peter, and Queen Susan. King Edmund came next after Queen Lucy. He befriended the White Witch. Did he not tell you that part of the story?”

”Do you want to tell the story?” Eustace did not try to bother to answer Puddleglum’s question. He was really starting to lose his temper with the Marsh-wiggle.

“Very well,” he said calmly as he continued to smoke his pipe.

It wasn’t that Edmund hadn’t told him about his betrayal of his siblings and Narnia, Eustace hadn’t really wanted to hear it. Although, Eustace did know a bit of the Edmund’s betrayal, it seemed whether he wanted to know about the deception or not, he was going to know now.

Puddleglum started the tale of how Queen Lucy met a Faun named Tummus. (Eustace did remember about a chap that Lucy had talked about named Mr. Tummus.) Narnia had been in the reign of the White Witch for a hundred years. Something he still didn’t understand, logically the weather couldn’t always stay the same all the time - the seasons came and went. But trying to explain that to Puddleglum, Eustace was sure he would get no better results then he had when he tried reasoning with Caspian and Reepicheep on the Dawn Treader.

He must have fallen asleep during the tale; the Marsh-wiggle did have a monotonous voice. But what was worse was his snoring!

“At least Caspian and Ed didn’t snore,” Eustace said to himself. He was remembering his Dawn Treader days. “And I had a bunk to sleep in, not the hard and lumpy ground.”

“Scrubb?” came a quiet voice.

“Pole? Did I awake you?” Eustace kept his voice low as he sat up stiffly. It had gotten colder too.

“No, I couldn’t sleep,” she said as she tried to get the dying fire going again.

“Did you get to hear all of the story? I fell asleep,” he admitted sheepishly.

“I did too. But I have to wonder, if Edmund sided with the Witch, how did he end up being a king with his brother and his sisters?”

“We’ll have to hear the rest from Puggleglum. But I think we should get the real story from my cousins. I will have to introduce you to them one day.”

“You think we’ll find the lost prince?” Pole wrapped her blanket tighter around herself.

A snore broke through the air.

“The reason we can’t sleep.”

“I keep dreaming about road drills or waterfalls because of it.”

“Or trains.”

Pole nodded. “I dreamt that too. In tunnels, no less.”

He smiled at that, as he stared at the fire.

Eustace pulled out his notebook. He didn’t need it. And they didn’t have any more wood to add. It would keep the fire going for a little longer. He put it in and watched as the flames curled the cover and the pages.

The two friends were quiet for a time. Eustace didn’t know about Pole but he was becoming more awake, not more sleepy.

“You still haven’t answered my question, you know.”

Eustace didn’t remember what she was talking about. “What question?”

“Do you think we’ll find Prince Rilian?”

Yes was right on the tip of his tongue, but Eustace stopped before saying so. How did he really know if they would find the lost prince?

“I don’t know, Pole. We have the signs Aslan gave us. And I would think Rilian would look a bit like Caspian did, with dark hair. Or maybe golden haired like his mother.”

“That does and doesn’t help, Scrubb.” Pole sighed. “But I think we should get some sleep or Puddleglum will wonder why we’re lagging behind tomorrow.”

Eustace was still not sleepy as he settled back down with his blanket.

“First, as soon as Eustace sets-”

Eustace thought Pole was talking to him for a minute there, but he realized that Pole was reminding herself of the signs.

”-he will meet an old and dear friend. He must greet that friend at once, if he does, you will both have good help.”

That had him sighing. Caspian had been so young and full of life. His hair had once been dark brown, and Caspian had only been a few years older. Eustace could still remember the day Caspian gave him his second-best sword. 

“Second, you must journey out of Narnia to the north till you come to come to the ruined city of the ancient giants.”

We’re heading in that direction. We are, aren’t we?

“Third, you will find writing on a stone in that ruined city, and you must do what the writing tells you.”

You got the sign right that time, Pole. What will the writing tell us to do? And will we know if we’ve gotten the right stone?

“Fourth, you will know the lost prince by this, he will be the first person you have met in your travels who will ask you to do something in the name of Aslan.”

He wished Edmund and Lucy was here with him and Pole to help find the lost prince. They would know these lands, he was sure.

But they aren’t here. It’s just you and Pole-

Another snore broke the air.

And Puddleglum who is a wet blanket.

Eustace looked at the stars. He had met one once near the World’s End. Rilian’s grandfather, the retired star, Ramandu.

He could hear Pole’s breathing even out. She was asleep. He needed to get to sleep himself.

Shutting his eyes, Eustace thought, or maybe prayed - Aslan, please let us find Caspian’s son.

The End