Leaving their small entourage at the surface, the five kings and queens descended into the trench. The water was freezing, black, and lifeless for several minutes until, like a phantom appearing in the dark, their magical sight picked up the ancient ship’s shattered masts looming up around them. Sinking past the decayed decks to where the ship’s hull rested haphazardly on a rocky outcropping, they swam one loop around it together to get their bearings then split up to investigate.
“I wonder what it was called?” Lucy murmured to herself, floating over the forecastle before gaining access to the interior through a large hole. Entering a narrow passageway, she swam as if by habit towards a small door about halfway down.
The rotten wood easily gave way under a light push and she sucked in a sharp breath as a sudden image flashed into her mind’s eye.
“Why, it looks like—” she turned a full circle just inside the tiny room, giving it a quick once over, “But, no…it must be the size and shape of it that fools me.”
Swimming cautiously over the broken decayed bed frame, she gently pulled the closet door aside half expecting to see her beautiful gowns hanging neatly in a row and her eyes misted over to find it completely bare. She began to have the distinct feeling that something had been stolen from her.
Shaking herself as she turned away, she muttered something about being ridiculous as she floated across the room to a broken down old desk in the corner. It was just as dilapidated as everything else in the room and the younger Queen’s feeling of loss only magnified each time she managed to force open an empty drawer.
“Aslan…” she murmured, finally backing away, too staggered by memories to continue, “I knew this day would be difficult, but I didn’t imagine this…”
“It won’t do to linger here.” she continued, talking to herself, “Someone might have found those poor dear Beasts by now anyways and I have to be ready for that.”
But as she stroked towards the door, she suddenly noticed a tiny sparkle coming from a crack in the floorboards.
Instinctively, she dove to reach for it and her eyes widened with wonder.
-*-*-*-*-
Edmund crossed over the poop deck and entered the ship through a hole in the stren just above the rudder. Coming into the room where the rowers would have worked on a calm day, he remembered those hot windless days when he and Peter had taken up the work to hasten a voyage and encourage their crews.
“I suppose it looks the same on every ship,” he muttered grimly, swimming the length then heading topside through another hole in the rotted wood, “but it does bring it all back.” Swimming slowly through the passageway, a strange feeling made him pause outside a door near the end.
“Wow!” a boyish grin lit his somber features as the cloud of muck settled after he pushed the door in, “The library!” Swimming immediately to the highest shelf his eyebrows furrowed with disappointment to find the book’s covers darkened with algae and their pages mostly disintegrated.
“Bother!” he muttered, reaching for a thick binder and scrubbing at the encrusted muck, “Even magic eyes I can’t see through it.” Turning around, he descended to try rummaging through the desk
“Bother again!” he sighed, hefting off a large beam that had fallen on it to find the drawers hopelessly smashed shut, “How am I gonna find out what’s in there?” He felt his eyes mist with frustration.
“Aslan,” he bowed his head, remembering his old habit of prayer as he felt his frustration mounting., “I’m awfully grateful to be in Narnia again. Give, my brother and sisters and Caspian and I strength to do what you’ve set before us. I just want to know what happened here. Point me in the right direction…” Sighing again, he put his hand on the desk to push off and gripped a previously unnoticed object.
It was a small circular thing and as he picked it up a magical feeling raced up his spine. Scrubbing furiously at the encrusted scum, he squinted hard and saw the emblem.
-*-*-*-*-
Peter headed for the bridge, remembering with relish how he’d often taken the helm of his old flagship. His mind’s eye quickly filled with memories of his old crews as he kicked slowly above the room. Thoughts of their laughter, brawny barking orders, and sweat-soaked sunburned body odors made him grit his teeth to steel himself as he faced the silent nothingness of the present.
What was left of the rotten wood creaked as he gingerly put his weight where thick royal blue carpet had once padded his steps and a surge of joy filled his listless heart as he took the wheel again. Thinking all the way back to his very first voyage as High King, his mind’s eye saw the great nautical charts of the known world hanging all over the room and he heard the voices of the delightful Archen sailors who Lune had sent to tutor them again.
“Aslan,” he talked freely, “thank you again for giving us more time here. This is the hardest and best thing I’ve ever done in my life and I’m forever grateful that you’re here with us.”
Sighing, he pushed off, intending to circle the room from above one more time before moving on with his search. That’s when he saw it…something hanging on the wall that seemed familiar.
With a gentle tug, he dislodged the pentagonal object and scrubbed it with his palm to clear the scum. As his fingers ran across the bumps and ridges, something triggered in his mind.
-*-*-*-*-
The ease in which Susan found the mess hall reminded her that all northern ships in the Narnian World had the same basic structure. It was the Calormenes who’d always done things differently.
Entering the room that she had enjoyed the most when at sea, her mind went back to the days when she helped fix meals, hosted formal and informal parties, and played rowdy games with her siblings and the ship’s crews.
“What lovely times we had, Aslan,” she spoke softly, feeling a sudden surge of both longing and despair as she floated over the wreckage, “I’m glad for this extra time before I have to grow up.”
Swimming downward, she began going through the dilapidated cupboards and drawers, hoping to find some sign of civilization. But the kitchen was empty. The dining room was empty. The gaming area was empty. Everything had been destroyed by time and circumstance and her heart ached to see it.
“I shouldn’t be here.” she muttered, listlessly floated above with damp eyes, “Being at sea was so grand this morning, but now we have a job to do. I can’t be crying over everything that I can’t get back. It isn’t what Aslan wants. He said it’s time for me to grow up.”
She turned towards the door but stopped cold when a tiny sparkle emanating from a splinter in the chess table caught her eye. Immediately diving, she took it in hand and felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude well up in her heart as she kicked for the passageway.
It only took one look at each other’s faces for the tetrarchs to confirm what they all knew.
“So, this is Splendor Hyaline.” Peter’s voice was grave with a hint of darkness as they huddled together on the main deck, “They used our own ship to murder Narnians.”
“We can’t wonder about what might have been, Peter.” Lucy gripped his arm, reading his thoughts, “I know that’s not His point in bringing us back here.” She held out her hand, showing them the golden necklace with a ruby pendant in the shape of a Lion’s head, “I found this in my old cabin. Look.”
“Oh, that was your favorite one, wasn’t it?” Susan’s eyes lit up, “I remember you were wearing it on our last voyage, the week before we hunted the Stag.”
“Yes!” Lucy’s eyes lit up, “I must have left it onboard.” She shook her head, “Rather careless of me, but I’m glad I did now.”
I found this in the mess hall.” the older Queen opened her palm, tears springing in her eyes again.
“Oh, that the one Corin gave you on your last birthday—the last one here…?” Lucy gasped at the sight of the little pearl bracelet, “Oh, Susan, how wonderful that you have it again!”
“It is…” the older Queen couldn’t hold back a tiny sob, “Of all the things to find, this is what I would hope for.” She bit her lip hard, “Oh, that boy…”
“Look what I found.” Edmund eagerly got into the mood, holding up his old compass, “It was in the library. The books were all destroyed, of course, but my fingers recognized the Lion’s head engraving, even through all the muck.”
“That’s how I recognized this.” Peter brought out the old ship’s clock, “It was still hanging in the wheelhouse.”
“That’s the one the dwarfs craved for you, isn’t it?” Edmund’s eyes lit up, “Wow! I wonder if it still works?”
“I’ll try to wind it up!”
The High King’s eyes gleamed as the four crowded together in an interested huddle, almost chanting their encouragement as he cranked the old rusted levers. Somehow the weight of their responsibilities had lifted a little in light of their discoveries.
Then a sound at the door brought them back to the present.
“I-I don’t mean to interrupt,” Caspian looked pensive, “b-but I’ve found the bodies.”