THE FOREST

Caspian walked through the forest of ferns when he stopped and turned, "I know you're there."

Behind him Richelle was just standing there as Nikabrik and Trufflehunter came out of hiding, "It's not like I was really trying to be stealthy."

"I just think we should wait for the kings and queens," Trufflehunter insisted. Caspian kept walking. Trufflehunter grumbled, "Fine, go then! See if the others will be as understanding."

Nikabrik suddenly grinned, "Or maybe I'll come with you. I want to see you explain things to the minotaurs."

"Minotaurs...?" Both Caspian and Richelle asked at the same time. But Caspian continued, "They're real?"

Richelle nodded, "They're real, alright. And with the White Witch! What are you thinking?"

Trufflehunter reassured her, "A lot has changed since your time, your majesty."

Caspian's brow furrowed as he looked at Richelle, "Your majesty?... Who are you?"

Richelle blushed, "I... am a long story. Not worth telling."

"What about Aslan? Is he real?" Caspian asked eagerly.

Nikabrik and Trufflehunter looked at each other. Nikabrik asked Caspian with suspicion, "How do you know so much about us?"

"Stories," Caspian answered shortly.

Richelle crossed her arms, "Your dad told you stories about Narnians?"

"No, my professor..." Caspian then straightened up and adopted a blank guarded expression, "Listen, I am sorry. These are not the kinds of questions you should be asking." He walked off. Richelle walked up beside him, "Look, we didn't mean to offend you."

Trufflehunter sniffed. Nikabrik looked at him, "What is it?"

"Human..."

"Them?" Nikabrik pointed to Caspian and Richelle.

"No... them!" They all looked over and saw Telmarine soldiers approaching on foot.

"Run!" Richelle yelled. Caspian grabbed her hand and ran with her as arrows flew past them. Trufflehunter got hit and fell. Caspian saw and ran back for him.

Trufflehunter held out the horn for him to take, "Take it, go! It's more important than I am!"

The soldiers stopped and took aim. Suddenly the ferns rustled and a soldier fell, crying out. Caspian looked confused before he picked up Trufflehunter and ran back, grabbing Richelle's hand again. Soldiers began falling left and right. Caspian reached Nikabrik and put the badger down, "Get him out of here!"

Caspian drew his sword, letting go of Richelle's hands, and started walking backwards. Another soldier fell. The last one threw down his crossbow, drew his sword, and started swinging wildly at the ferns around him. "Where are you!" The soldier fell down with a cry.

The rustle in the ferns started coming towards Caspian... then, something flipped out of the ferns and knocked Caspian down. A sword flew into the air and landed in the hands of... a mouse.

The mouse pointed the small blade at Caspian, standing on her chest, "Choose your last words carefully, Telmarine!"

Caspian stared, shocked and speechless, "You are a mouse."

The mouse sighed, "I was hoping for something a little more original. Come on, pick up your sword."

Caspian looked over at his sword, lying on the ground beside him. He looked back at the mouse, "Uh, no thanks."

"Pick it up!" The mouse demanded, "I will not fight an unarmed man."

"Which is why I will live longer if I choose not to cross blades with you, noble mouse," Caspian inflated.

The mouse 'glared', "I said I wouldn't fight you. I didn't say I'd let you live!" He pointed his blade closer to Caspian.

"Reepicheep!" Trufflehunter shouted, "Stay your blade!"

"Trufflehunter?" Reepicheep asked, "I trust you have a good reason for this untimely interruption!"

"He doesn't. Go ahead." Nikabrik said. Richelle thumped him in the back of his head and glared. She looked at the mouse, "He's the one that blew the horn and summoned me and my family!"

Reepicheep stared at Caspian, "What?"

"Then let him bring it forward," They all looked to see Glenstorm, a centaur. Four more came over the hill behind him. "This is the reason we have gathered."

BLACK WOODS

The Pevensies and Trumpkin walked through the forest. Susan mused aloud, "I don't remember this way at all."

"That's the problem with girls," Peter said, holding Jo's hand in his as he lead the way, "You can't carry a map in your heads." Jo mock-glared at him and he smirked at her.

"That's because our heads have something in them," they heard Lucy say. Jo laughed as Peter's smirk slipped off his face.

They heard Susan say, "I wish he'd just listen to the DLF in the first place."

"DLF?" Edmund asked.

"Dear Little Friend," Lucy grinned as she and Susan walked ahead of them.

Trumpkin stopped for a moment, "Oh, that's not at all patronizing, is it?"

Peter stepped into a rock passage, Jo just behind him, and stopped. He looked around, disheartened, "I'm not lost."

"No..." Trumpkin agreed sarcastically, "you're just going the wrong way."

"You said you last saw Caspian at the Shuddering Wood, and the quickest way there is to cross at the river rush," Peter insisted.

"But," Trumpkin cut in, "unless I'm mistaken, there's no crossing in these parts."

"That explains it then," Peter said with a stony expression, "You're mistaken."

They continued walking until they came to the gorge. They all gazed down at the rushing water below as Susan spoke, "Over hundreds of years, water eroded and the earth's soil..."

"Oh, shut up Susan," Jo snapped, "We don't need a science lesson." She turned to Peter and made him look at her, "We just need to realize that Narnia has changed in the last thirteen hundred years."

Peter adopted his regular stony expression before he turned abruptly to Trumpkin, "Is there a way down?"

"Yeah, falling," Trumpkin grumbled sarcastically, "Come. There's a ford at Beruna. Any of you mind swimming?"

"Anything's better than walking," Susan grumbled.

They started to walk away until Lucy yelled, "Aslan?... It's Aslan! It's Aslan over there! Well can't you see? He's right..." She turned back and saw nothing. Her smile faded into a sad line, "...there."

"Do you see him now?" Trumpkin asked sarcastically.

"I'm not crazy. He was there," she turned to her siblings, "He wanted us to follow him."

"I'm sure there are any number of lions in this wood. Just like that bear." Peter dismissed.

"I think I know Aslan when I see him," Lucy insisted, wounded.

"Look, I'm not about too jump off a cliff after someone who doesn't exist!" Trumpkin growled.

"The last time I didn't believe Lucy," Edmund said with a small smirk, "I ended up looking pretty stupid."

"Back when you all didn't believe Lucy when she first told you about Narnia, you all felt like crap and looked stupid," Jo agreed.

Susan huffed, "It seemed impossible."

Jo lifted her hands up in the air and gestured wildly around her, "Well does this look impossible to you? Lucy knew this was real and if she says she saw Aslan, she saw Aslan."

Susan put her hands on her hips, "She didn't see Aslan!"

"Why don't you ever believe me!" Lucy shouted, near tears, "Jo believed Richelle immediately but you never believe me!"

It was quiet for a moment. Before Peter frowned, "I'm sorry, Lu." They began to walk away as Lu looked back sadly.

Jo ran to her and wrapped her arms around her, "Oh, Lucy. It's okay. It'll be alright, I swear. We found our way last time and we'll find our way now."

"They're lost, Jo," Lucy whispered.

"Then we'll help them find their way too," Jo said determined.

So I just finished this story and want to start the Dawn Treader but I can't find the screenplay and that is what I used to help me write these stories. So I don't know how long it'll be until that is up after this story is completed.

Anyway REVIEW!

RegalGirl94