A/N: My chapter production rate is falling off here. Oh well, Quality over quantity:-) Thanks again to all my readers, reviewers, and that really scary person on the other side of the pond who thinks enough like me to ask just the right questions... Thanks Straitjackit! -hmm

Dogs, Dryads, and Dragons (oh my)

1

On the third day after the Queen disappeared, Orieus caught up with the searchers and the hounds. He arrived to find the search had dissolved into pandemonium. At the edge of a thicket of wiry underbrush, Mudnose's trackers were milling about randomly. Orieus' own forces weren't that much more organized, being spread out over an extensive area of the surrounding forest. Whatever had disrupted the trail had also disrupted the discipline of the searchers.

"Silence!" the centaur General bellowed into the mayhem.

Into the intervening quiet he snapped out orders. "Form Ranks! Unit leaders, make camp and prepare your reports."

Mudnose bounded up to him. "Heneral, 'he paff ends here. We can smell i' con'inues, buh we cann' go any fur'her. We 'ry an find ourselves pushed aside."

"You've done well so far Mudnose. Get your trackers fed and watered. Once camp is established, I will want them to help define the perimeter of this disturbance."

Orieus walked in the direction of where he had seen the trackers milling about. The woods around him appeared to thicken. As he walked, he felt pressure building in front of him, each step became harder to make. The further he advanced, the thicker the trees ahead appeared. As he went to try and force another step, he felt a rush of wind, and found himself standing thirty feet from where he'd started.

"Strong magic indeed," he muttered.

He quickly scribbled out a message on a piece of parchment. Turning, he called to a young centaur. "Take this message to Cair Paravel. If one of the Kings, or Queen Lucy is there, give it to them, otherwise give it to Counsellor Tumnus. On my order, have the garrison commander mobilize the militia and lead them back here."

The young centaur nodded, placed the message in his carry-sack and galloped off in the direction of Cair Paravel.

2

Hot fury coursed through Susan's veins.

"That self-centered, pompous, inconsiderate, splinters for brains... Ooooo!" Susan ran out of invectives for the old Oak who'd just refused to allow any contact with her friends outside the barrier.

"I HOPE YOU GET TERMITES!" she yelled at the retreating Dryad's back.

"Well, I'd say his personality is so acidic that if he does, the woodpeckers won't even help him out!" Fiz answered before collapsing in a heap of laughter. "Termites!"

"This isn't a laughing matter. Those barks belonged to Mudnose and his trackers." She turned and planted her fists on her hips, looking down at Fiz. "They're searching for me. I have to at least let them know I'm okay!" She shot another furious look over her shoulder toward the Oak tree.

"The only way we're going to manage that is for you to become a full Dryad."

He looked up at her. "Go ahead and vent it out of your system. The anger will just make it harder to accomplish your next goal."

Susan reached up to the limb over her head, closed her eyes and screamed in frustration. When she opened her eyes, her gown had gone from green to scarlet and the edges were flickering through orange and yellow. For a moment, she thought she'd caught fire. No sooner did the thought cross her mind, than the dress returned to its original shade. She let go of the limb.

"I didn't know I could do that."

Fiz stood up. "I have to admit, it was a different look for you. Do you feel better?"

"A little."

"You know, you do dress a bit frumpy."

"Frumpy? I'll have you know that this..." She reached up and grabbed the limb again. This time the dress changed into a beautiful, formal gown in emerald velvet. "...is the height of fashion in Cair Paravel this year!"

She let go of the tree and pirouetted before him. "What do you think I should be wearing?"

Fiz blushed a bit. "Are you sure you want to be discussing this now?"

Susan stopped spinning. "Why not now? It's not like you haven't seen everything already!" She blushed, realizing what she'd just said.

"I...i...i...if y-you're sure," Fiz stammered. The gold in his cheeks grew brighter as he began. "M-most of the dryads, men and women, wear very light c-clothing. To more easily move among the limbs and branches without getting caught."

He stepped between her and the tree. Reaching out one hand, he asked. "M-may I show you?"

Finding his nervousness somehow both comforting and exciting, Susan nodded yes.

Fiz grabbed her hand in his then placed his other against her tree. "Here, more like this."

The flowing emerald gown that clung to her bodice and floated gracefully out from her waist began to alter. First it faded to a soft, pastel green. The cloth changed from the luxurious velvet to a soft translucent linen. Then it began to shrink. The sleeves retreated up her arms. She felt a pop and realized that the back of the gown had disappeared entirely, and then the hem began to rise.

At Fiz's request, the Naiad in the brook raised a vertical wall of water. Susan could see her shimmering reflection, the way the color of the dress complimented her skin. She looked closer at the dress. It started behind her neck and draped over her shoulders, below her chest, the two ends crossed, swinging around her waist, crossing in the back and connecting in the front to form a skirt. She spun before the mirror and noticed how the very very short skirt tried to lift. Her human side thought the whole thing quite naughty.

She looked at Fiz, raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. Reaching up, she grabbed a branch of the tree, with a subtle smile, she lengthened the dress to below her knees, filled in the top a little, and made it opaque.

Fiz grinned, sensing her playfulness. He cocked his head to one side, squinted, and the dress regained it's translucence. A second layer made it more modest than before, but he had restored the original length of the skirt.

Susan closed her eyes and the skirt dropped back to just above knee length.

Fiz shook his head and the skirt crept back up to mid thigh.

Susan looked at her reflection and released the branch. Laughing, she punched Fiz's arm and scampered away before he could grab her again.

The mirror collapsed with a splash, Susan glanced over as the Naiad rolled her eyes at their antics. Susan quickly spun out of Fiz's grasp. Fiz overextended and fell in a heap. The Naiad winced, then sank back below the surface of the stream.

Like a pair of squirrels, the two ran circles around her tree for a while, before collapsing by the brook.

"Are you sure you want me to teach you to walk further in the wood?" Fiz asked.

"Of course!" She rolled on her side and looked at him. "Why?"

Fiz sighed. "You're much easier to catch when you can't leave the vicinity of your tree."

They both laughed.

Fiz reached over to tickle her side.

Susan jumped, started to roll away, then changed her mind and tried to tickle him back. She noted the relieved look on Fiz's face before his huge grin returned. As they tickled back and forth, rolling on the grass. She realized that Fiz was guiding them in a specific direction.

Finally, he grabbed her hands. With their faces only inches apart, he whispered, "Keep watch, and don't stop giggling."

Susan glanced over his shoulder toward the old Oak. Her eyes shot back to his as he tickled her side, "Giggle."

As she giggled, Fiz tilted his head slightly toward the brook.

"Arisumae."

The water bubbled and the Naiad's face appeared just under the surface.

"Find the hound called Mudnose and tell him Queen Susan is safe here with us. We will try to convince the other Dryads to let the searchers in, but it may take time."

The Naiad nodded and disappeared.

Susan threw her arms around Fiz, rolled on top, pinned him to the ground, and hugged him hard.

When she released him, Susan was looking down into his eyes from only an inch away.

3

At mid-morning on the third day of the voyage, the Transcendent Herald drew within sight of land. Over the next several hours, Terebinthia's great central peak grew taller and taller.

Shortly after lunch, the lookout atop the mainmast cried a warning. Looking out over the starboard bow, Lucy could see a black dot, high in the sky.

"What is it, an eagle?" She asked the captain.

He placed his spyglass to his eye and his complexion blanched. Handing the telescope to Lucy, he immediately turned and began shouting orders. The crew scrambled to adjust the sails and trim the boat for the maximum possible speed. The helmsman let the bow fall off from their course to get more wind into the sails. The extra sails, that had taken down in preparation for arrival, were hastily re-hoisted. The Herald leaned over to her port side and white foam began surging along the lee rail.

Lucy stood transfixed by the rail as the object grew larger. She'd taken one glimpse of it through the glass and wished to be no closer. Soon it flew near enough to recognize with the bare eye; sunlight glinted off the coppery scales of an immense dragon, easily the length of the ship.

Lucy watched it turn, gather itself into a stoop and, trailing a thin stream of smoke, begin a dive against the ship. The crew was in a mad scramble to get below decks. Lucy took a look at the mayhem by the hatchway, with a choice between hiding below deck or facing her demise with her eyes open, she chose not to move from the rail. With the dragon now but a few lengths away, the breeze freshened. The Transcendent Herald's bow came up and the ship surged ahead. The great Narnian Banner, flying above the crow's nest, snapped taught with a great roar.

The sun glaring off the Golden Lion on the flag and the roaring noise gave the dragon pause. It altered its descent to pass aft of the ship, swooped back to altitude and flew away in the direction of the peak. The crew returned to the deck to continue their preparations for arriving in Terebinthia, but every one of them kept an eye on the mountain top so long as it remained in sight during the voyage.