Where am I?

This was my sole thought as I gazed at my surroundings, for I suddenly found myself in a forest. How had I gotten here? I had no memory of getting out of my chair. I had to be dreaming, but I never fell asleep while reading.

I settled into an all-to-familiar checklist. I'm in an unfamiliar place. Do I have my weapons? A press on my ring resulted in my shield, and squeezing my coin produced a sword. Okay, at least I have something, but when I tried to change my weapon's form, nothing happened. There's some kind of block on magic here, which is confirmed when I try to turn invisible or call up my bow and nothing happens.

Only slightly comforted—I much prefer the diversity of being able to change my weapon—I turned my focus to my surroundings.

I was in an open forest, mostly pine trees, but the few deciduous around are dark green. The trees said mid- to late-summer, but it should be early spring or late winter at high enough altitudes for a mostly boreal forest. The sun was low on the horizon and peeking through the trees surrounding me, but I won't know morning or evening for a few minutes more. I'm totally alone, though, and that's what worries me the most. I hope my brother and sister are alright.

I am here, and they are apparently not, however, so I pushed that out of my mind for the moment as I studied the sunlight. The sun seemed to be sinking, and knowing which way was west presented me with another choice: which direction to take. The area was mostly flat, meaning I couldn't take the easy path and go down. I decided to go north, because any high altitude, flat place I can think of near New Rome is south of a decent city, and I was still hoping I wasn't transported very far.

Keeping my footsteps light and the sun to my left, I pushed my way through the trees.

I only walked for a few minutes before I heard something. As I entered a small clearing, the bushes rustled off to my right, and I tensed. The rustle grew stronger, and I backed away, drawing my sword as I went. A minute later, I was both scared out of my mind and hoping I was near New Rome, because a werewolf emerged from the bushes and staggered towards me.

The wolf body, twisted to stand upright, lurched its way towards me, its head gibbering about "tasty Man-flesh," but all I could think of is that this was definitely not Lycaon. By this point, I was extremely confused, but I wasn't about to question the monster. I was much more concerned with surviving the encounter, especially considering I had yet to test the silver I had gotten Machaela to forge into the edge of my sword.

He—it—lunged, and I dodged out of the way while reflexively swiping with my sword. I breathed a sigh of relief when a deep gash appeared on the thing's leg, but my relief was short lived when it lunged again. I dove to the side, turning my fall into a roll so I ended up back on my feet behind the monster. Slicing my sword across its back, I danced away as it swiped again.

Without any sort of back-up, I stuck to a slash-and-dash fighting style. I knew I was slowly wearing the monster down, but I stayed relatively unscathed. I didn't want to find out if I could be injured in this dream. I fought like this for several minutes before I heard something large coming through the trees to my left. The wolf turned at the sound, leaving its side open, and I took advantage of its distraction. A moment later, the body slid off my sword to hit the ground.

I stared at the body uncomprehendingly, wondering why it didn't turn to dust. The crashing to my left got louder and closer, though, and I forced myself to face the new danger.

The new, very big danger, I corrected myself. I activated my shield and raised my sword higher at the Minotaur that crashed into the clearing.

Settling into a defensive stance, I waited for the monster to rush at me. Monsters always made the first move, and I expected this one to be no different.

Except it was. Upon entering the clearing, the Minotaur stopped. With a glance at the dead werewolf at my feet and the bloody sword in my hand, the Minotaur just stood there, watching me. Given a moment to actually look at it—him—I could see the double-sided ax on his back and…was that intelligence in his gaze? I knew I had to be losing it or dreaming, but I slowly lowered my sword when he didn't attack.

Seeing my sword slowly lowered, he finally moved, and I brought my sword back up.

He stopped and huffed. "I will not attack you."

My eyes widened, and I stared at him, openmouthed. I had to be dreaming. The Minotaur couldn't talk!

But I hadn't imagined it, for he spoke again as I stared at him. "Why do you look at me like that, filly?"

I stared at him another moment before deciding to answer. "Because the last time I met a Minotaur, it wasn't able to talk and it definitely wanted to kill me." I'm conversing with a Minotaur. Unless I woke up in my chair and this was all a dream, I decided I would enroll myself in therapy when I got back to New Rome, because I had to be hallucinating.

"I will not attack," he repeated. "I heard the battle and wanted to help, but you defeated the werewolf before I could get here."

I thought a moment. I decided to roll with this dream, hallucination, whatever, and I wanted to believe him, but, "Swear to it," I told him. "Swear by whatever holds you."

There was no hesitation. "I, Corbas, son of Corbin, swear by Aslan that I mean you no harm."

"Aslan?!" I immediately cleaned and deactivated my sword and shield, whose seeming disappearance confused the Minotaur, Corbas, but I was much more focused on the One he had sworn by. "I'm in Narnia?"

He nodded sharply. "Aye. We are just south of Dancing Lawn. Come. Her Majesty will want to meet thee."

I'm in Narnia. The revelation bounced around my head as I followed the quickly moving Corbas. Why am I here? How am I here? This makes a pretty sweet dream. Who is the current Queen?

I asked this last question aloud, and Corbas confused me more with the given answer. "Queens," he corrected. "We are in the fifth year of the reign of the Four. I am taking you to Queen Lucy."

I clamped my mouth shut to avoid blurting out my surprise. Queen Lucy, fifth year of the reign of the Four. I'd been hoping for years that Narnia was real, but never thought I would get to come, even in a very detailed dream. Then add that I came towards the beginning of the Four's reign; I didn't know what to think. In my world, the Four had been dead for decades, their stories lost but for what Lewis had published.

We came into a large clearing as I tried to organize my thoughts, and I stared around at the multitude of beings. Satyrs and Fauns were currently doing some kind of circular dance in the middle, with Dryads doing a counter-dance around the outside of the circle. Surrounding them, a host of other Animals—Bears, Cats great and small, Wolves, and other creatures I had no immediate name for—tapped out the beat or continued their own version of the dance. Never one for dancing, I couldn't make out the steps, much less hope to imitate it, but I quickly spotted a young girl dancing among the Dryads.

Thirteen-year-old Queen Lucy was everything Lewis had described. Full of life and energy, she danced with the Dryads counter-clockwise around the circle, tapping and spinning to a beat so fast and lively I found myself tapping one foot along.

Corbas caught a Centaur's attention, who called together some of the guards in the area. A sentence or two later, they broke away and headed back where Corbas and I had come from, probably to take care of the body and scout for more Fell. Corbas, however, waited for the current song to finish before he caught the Queen's attention. She bounced over with a grin, still dancing to the music though the musicians had stopped.

"Who's your friend, Corbas?"

Doing a rough curtsy—rather difficult in jeans—I answered for myself. "My name is Grace, Your Majesty."

She pulled a face at the title. "I'm not in court," she told me. "Please, call me Lucy. I don't believe I've seen you around here before."

"That would be because thirty minutes ago, I was at home reading a book." I glanced back at the dancers as I continued, "I've no idea how I got here." I didn't think my dream theory worth mentioning. Besides, announcing to a good dream that you know you're dreaming is a sure way to wake up, and I wanted to stay here a while.

"Then you will be needing a place to stay. Come with us!" She pulled me into a whirlwind of activity, chattering all the while.

The dancers seemed to be packing up, anyway, though what the reason for the dancing had been, I never did ask, so I joined the group as they turned northeast.

Lucy tried very hard to draw me into conversation, but I was too stunned at my surroundings. I was also trying very hard not to give away how much I knew about a land I had never set foot in. (I was not fangirling and trying to hide it. I was just…very excited to be here. Yeah, that was it.) When attempts to get a conversation going all but failed—I remained polite, but quiet—she stayed close by but started chattering with, or maybe at, I couldn't tell, one of the Dryads.

Watching Lucy bounce around, I grinned. Her infectious energy reminded me of a cousin I had long ago lost contact with. My cousin, constantly bouncing from one thing to the next, sometimes literally, had earned herself the nickname Rabbit, because she was a rabbit on a sugar high.

Opening my mind to one memory, however, let another squeeze through, and I tried to hide a wince. The memory of a practical joke I had played on Jeff bubbled up from the corner I had last shoved it, and I fought to push it back before a flashback took over. How I could still have those while dreaming, I didn't know, but if I ever met Morpheus, I would have some very choice words for him. It was bad enough those happened while I was awake.

The sound of my name brought me out of my internal battle, and I looked over to find Lucy, strangely still, staring at me with slight concern showing on her face.

"Are you alright?" she asked. I raised an eyebrow and opened my mouth to say "of course," but she moved closer, lowering her voice so that only I could hear her. "I suppose I should not pry. Peter has been trying to teach me that, but you seem so sad. Can I help?"

I stared at her a moment, trying to find my words and wrap my head around how much Lucy had matured since the events surrounding her coronation. I knew without a doubt she wouldn't have all but apologized for prying, much less have noticed my expression, when she had been eight. I found myself actually wanting to tell her what was on my mind, but I wouldn't, not all of it.

"Thank you," I finally answered, "but it's nothing you can help with. Only two could change it, and neither of them are here."

"Where are they?"

"One is in the other world, where I was before I found myself here, but he's a couple thousand miles from where I live. The only other is the One you call Aslan."

At the name of the Lion her face brightened considerably, and mine probably did too, if the lightness in my heart was anything to go by. I grasped at the lightness, trying to keep it, implant it in me so I could carry it always, but, like every other time, it slipped away, and I was left only slightly better than I had been.

I refocused on Lucy to find her deep in thought. Her face cleared a moment later, and she told me, "Well, then I guess we'll just have to take you to Aslan so He can fix it." I stared at her, wondering several things. Somehow, she picked up on my largest unasked question and answered it. "He's going to be at the Stone Table tomorrow," she giggled in excitement, drawing a smile out of me. "We'll take you to Him tomorrow, and—"

I never did find out what else she intended to say, for right then the rest of that crazy Werewolf's sparse pack found us, running ahead of the guard Corbas had sent out, and I found myself in the midst of the protective circle that formed around Lucy.

"Are you armed?" I asked Lucy, raising my voice a bit to be heard above the sounds of battle and disregarding for the moment that I should address her with more of the respect due her title. She showed me her dagger, which would do almost nothing against a Werewolf.

A glance around me showed the area dissolving into a melee, and I knew she needed something. The guards would do anything to stay near us, well, her, but there were just enough Werewolves around to make that difficult, and she needed some kind of protection should she get separated.

Making my decision, I slid my ring off my finger and grabbed her left hand. "I want this back after the battle, please." Before she could ask why I was giving her my ring, I pressed the center stone, activating the shield. It was a bit large for her frame, but I hadn't been much older than her when I first got it, so it would do. I stifled a chuckle at the utter confusion on her face—Narnia doesn't have many magical weapons—but she didn't question it for now.

"Back to back," I told her. "Dagger up. Circle slowly. I can handle a Werewolf, and I'll guard your back." Activating my sword, I wished yet again for my bow. For now, the others were keeping the monsters far enough away I would help best with a longer-range weapon, but wishing wouldn't help anything. I focused on my surroundings, half-hoping one would come near enough to take out.

There weren't many Werewolves to begin with, so the only reason the skirmish lasted as long as it did was their element of surprise. One by one, the attacking Werewolves fell to the Narnian blades, and soon the guard we were travelling with reformed around the two of us. When half the guard had returned, I relaxed my stance against Lucy's back and turned to face her.

She was examining my shield as I turned, and I smothered a smile. I didn't completely cover it, though, because she gave me a slight pout when she glanced up.

"It's stuck to my arm," she told me.

"Let me see." She held her arm out to me, and I looked in front of her hand. Sure enough, her fingers weren't quite long enough to bump the switch. I pressed the switch on the shield and a moment later my ring rested on her finger.

"How does it do that?" she asked, watching with amazement as my sword shrunk into a coin, which I then slipped in my pocket.

She handed me my ring as I answered. "Very skilled blacksmithing, and a little bit of magic." She looked about to ask me for details, but I shook my head. "It is something unique to my home, and I'm grateful it even works here. The magic element must be intertwined with the smithing element perfectly, and the magic here is not the same magic as what was used."

By the time I finished speaking, the few remaining skirmishes had ended, and I joined those helping the wounded. While not as good as Machaela, I knew enough to be of help.

Wary of another attack, however, the small party hurried to gather and treat the wounded and get to the castle; I ended up carrying a small Cat with a deep gash on one leg. The remaining walk to the Cair didn't take very long, for which I was thankful, and soon enough I handed the Cat, a talkative Tabby named Firestar, to one of the apprentice healers.

Without an injured Cat to worry about, I had no way to hide my awe of the castle. Even well past dark, Cair Paravel was clearly visible in the light of the full moon, and it was huge, easily bigger than all of New Rome. I knew I would end up exploring at least part of it as soon as I could…and hopefully not getting lost.

Lucy brought me out of my thoughts by dragging over her sister. At seventeen, Queen Susan was closer to my height, but her personality was definitely the calm to her sister's energy.

"You wish to see Aslan?" she confirmed after Lucy made her bubbly introductions. I nodded, knowing I could never make myself heard over the din of the others in the courtyard, and Queen Susan gave me a gentle smile. "Then come," she told me as she gestured to a nearby lady, a Cherry Dryad if her hair was any indication, "Dinah will guide you to your room so you can freshen up. I'll send a meal up to your room, and tomorrow you can accompany those of us going to the Stone Table."

I thanked her, and she moved off to see to someone else as I followed Dinah into the castle.

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