Chapter six
I felt my heart pounding and hoped I wouldn’t pass out. Lord Fitch still searched for me? I pushed the terror down and got ahold of my facial expressions, but the fear was still there.
“What’s goin’ on?” Caspian repeated.
“He’s still looking?” I wanted to be sure.
“Yes, why does it matter?”
“Well--it doesn’t,” I stammered. “I just hadn’t heard about that in a while.”
“You’re a poor liar,” Caspian commented.
Despite the situation, I couldn’t hold back a smirk. Little did he know. At first I tried to think up a way to explain myself to him, and I was about to say that I knew Lord Fitch’s betrothed from my village, but then I realised that I did not owe him an answer. He had no reason to suspect me of anything, so why suggest that I had anything at all to do with the case?
“Yeah, it’s hard to be a liar when you’re telling the truth,” I shot back.
“Whatever you say,” he assented.
I left Caspian to go back to my spot in the sand, hoping I had not made things worse by my lies. Had I no way to escape Lord Fitch? I had thought I had found safety from Lord Fitch on the ship, but it turned out that my refuge was owned by Lord Fitch. He was the one forced all these people into service. I remembered his words when he read the play to me.
“The rich, those with the means, should find other ways in which to dispose of those whom they wish to kill. If the rich but spare them, the wrongdoers could prove useful to their cause.”
Lord Fitch disposed of those who owed him in this way. He put them to work on his ships, to search for his key to eternal life that they would never find.
He still searched for me. If he really had been married multiple times, what happened to his wives? What had he intended to do to me?
I did not get any sleep after my conversation with Caspian. In the morning after making several major mistakes cutting wood for the ship, my supervisor sent me to help with those injured from the shipwreck. I cut new bandages and did my best to redress the wounds that had been hastily covered. After being cursed by the wounded sailors more than I had ever wanted, I took refuge next to the old man, Tommy, who had been watching them. He was not injured, but the events of the last few days had done much to claim his health, so he had been placed in charge of the wounded. I was curious about the Fountain of Youth, and since he was very knowledgable on the tales of the seas, and I had done as much as I could for the petulant sailors, I decided to ask.
“Why do you wanna hear about that?” Tommy asked me upon hearing my question.
I shrugged. “That’s what we’re looking for. I thought it might be helpful to know a little about it.”
“Tell you what, lad. If you can sneak me some rum from Patrick over there, I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Patrick was one of the injured, and thankfully he was asleep, because if he was conscious there would be no way in hell I would have gotten that canteen from him. As it was, I got the bottle and watched nervously as Tommy took several gulp of the drink. I had hoped to return the bottle with an unnoticeable amount of liquid gone, but I should have known a sailor would not show restraint. Finally I took the canteen from him, placed the cap back on, and put it back with its owner.
“Now the story,” I urged.
He glared at me a moment for taking the drink, but began. “They say the Fountain of Youth was a gift from the river goddess to the people of the wood who found her favor. The people who drank the water found themselves young again, and the young became strong.
“After they found out about the immortality, they exploited the water by making mortals pay a large sum to drink it. Many of those that came to drink the water held evil in their hearts. The immortality they gained prolonged the misery they inflicted on others. The goddess saw this happenin’ and hid the fountain on an uncharted island where no man could find it.
“Since then people have searched in vain for this fountain, hopin’ for the key to their immortality. And because of the idea that it will be found again, here we stay, trapped on an uninhabited island until the ship gets repaired. And after that, we’re doomed to sail the seas until we find the fountain or fall off the edge of the earth in the pursuit.”
…
A few days later, I went diving for clams. I had taught myself how to swim in the little free time I had after the shipwreck. After my near death experience in the water, I did not want to be taken by surprise again. Though not a strong swimmer, I did my practicing by helping with food. The meat inside the clams tasted good, and as we were all pretty sick of the burnt food Cook had been making ever since the journey was begun, we welcomed the change.
I dove in, rooted around at the bottom of the inlet few clams, kicked off the bottom, and threw them into my pile. Looking up from my task, I saw three more men coming to help. I cursed under my breath and looked down at my chest. I had grown quite a bit in the last years, and I found myself having to tie the strip of cloth around my chest tighter and tighter. On board the ship, I depended on baggy shirts to hide whatever the cloth did not. Now my shirt was clinging to me, and when it was wet it was see-through. Would the men wonder why the cloth was there?
I avoided the men as we tended to our work, hoping to keep any question about me out of their heads, and also in case they to take off all their clothes. Despite living with them for six years, it was no less awkward for me to see them naked.
With my eyes open underwater, I noticed a cave, and light on the other side. Curious, I surfaced for air, and then plunged into the darkness. Once inside, I found that the cave stretched back a lot further than I realized, and it was too late by the time I realised that. My lungs burned as I came up on the other side, gasping as I made for the sandy bank. A crevice in the roof of the dome shaped room I found myself in illuminated the stone walls in a blue light. I pulled myself onto the sand, muscles aching. I pulled myself to my feet, and went to the opening in the wall from which sunlight came. I walked slowly through the arch into the open air. What I saw on the other side made my heart plummeted. I stood in a small glade tinted green from the sunlight filtering through the trees. In the middle of the clearing sat a stone basin. With dread in my stomach, I slowly approached it, feeling as though I treaded on sacred ground. Water filled the stone basin, bubbling up from below. I was unable to read the markings inscribed in the stone, but there was no doubt in my mind that I had just found the Fountain of Youth.
I backed up, not taking my eyes off of it. The Fountain of Youth was real. It was real. So now I had to make a decision. I could keep silent and tell no one, but that meant none of the sailors could return to their homes and families. The other option was to tell the captain, and we would return to Lord Fitch with the water that would grant him eternal life. I jumped, startled when I ran into one of my crewmates. The men who had been diving with me must have followed me to the cave, because they all stood behind me, eyes trained on the fountain.
“Is that what I think it is?” one asked.
“We’ve gotta tell Cap,” another managed.
After years of searching, the fountain finally sat directly in front of them, right within their reach. One of them, Tom, started toward the fountain.
“Wait! Don’t we need to tell the capt’n about this first?” the first said. “He won’t like us to drink the water without his permission.”
“Who cares? We have immortality in our grasp! Let’s take it!”
He started to reach for it.
“Wait!” I cried.
He stopped. “What?” he snapped.
“What happens when you get tired of living forever?” I said.
He scowled, but I pursued.
“Think about it—thousands and thousands of years and no escape. You think you get tired now? Think about a t
housand years from now.”
“Hold your tongue,” he snarled at me. “You forget your place.”
He dipped his cupped hands into the bubbling water, and brought them to his mouth as we watched in amazement and curiosity. Nothing happened. We held our breaths until one of the sailors timidly asked, “Do you feel anythin’?”
Tom turned around so that we could see his face, devoid of expression. His eyes glowed an eerie green.
“Tom?”
He blinked and the glow disappeared. “What’re you waitin’ for? Let’s go tell Capt’n.”
With that he returned to the door of the cave. We looked at each other, mystified, and then followed him. After passing through the underwater cave and getting out of the water on the other side, we did not bother even picking up our mollusks as we went to go find the captain. I walked behind the others, peeling my shirt away from my skin and crossing my arms over my chest. Hopefully that would be enough to hide my chest.
“Capt’n, we need to talk to you,” the sailors said when we found him.
Tom walked by us and went on, obviously not wanting to deliver our message with us.
“It can wait,” Captain snarled.
“Capt’n, we found it.”
“Found what?” he demanded.
“The fountain.”
His face paled. “Come over here,” he said, pulling us away from the main group. “You mean to tell me that you found the Fountain of Youth?”
They nodded enthusiastically.
“Where?”
“Down where we collect clams.”
“Okay. The ship is nearly ready, and soon we will leave. Do not tell any of the others or I will leave you on this island to live out the rest of your days.”
“Yes sir,” we said soberly.
“Pretty Boy, you take me to the fountain. The rest of you get back to work.”
They saluted, and I took the captain to our clam hunting grounds.
“What do you mean by bringing me here?” Captain demanded.
“There’s an underwater cave,” I explained. “You have to go through it to find the fountain.”
He frowned.
“Can you swim?” I asked.
“Yes,” he snapped.
I got the impression he was not pleased that I could. I had heard that captains did not like their crew to know to swim, because they might abandon ship in the event it began to sink as opposed to doing their best to save it.
I dove into the water and waited for him to follow. He took off his shoes, and then his coat and shirt. I forced myself to look away from the sun glistening on his chest. If he had been one of the men my father brought round as a suitor, I might not have fought him so much. Thankfully he soon jumped in and I was occupied with building up the strength to make it through the tunnel.
I took a gulp of air and led him through the tunnel and to the glade where we had found the fountain. He hesitantly approached it, uncapping a canteen. He paused and looked at the markings on the side of it.
“What does it say?” I asked, wishing I could read it for myself.
He did not answer at first, and then he spoke.
“There is not one person who lives without a vice,
So the one who drinks of my water must pay a price.
These words to you are my only advice:
Give up this quest while you may,
For it will not be long before your sins will make you pay.”