A young lady sat on a log, a fire cracked before her. She wore a dark green dress that came just below the knee with a leather vest , a dark brown cloak with a hood sat on her shoulders with the hood over her head. On her side sat a beautiful sword the hilt having a lion on it, On her back was a bow and quiver full of arrows. The arrows were red and blue. Sitting on the log beside her was a long and sturdy stick. You may not think much of a stick, but she knew how to use it well. This lady was a warrior. On her other side sat her companion. A mouse larger then most mice, with a bright red feather behind his ear and a sword by his side.

The mouse looked up at his companion, and seeing she was deep in thought spoke.

"My dear lady, what are you thinking about?"

"What? Oh, just the day long ago when Aslan spoke to me."

"I would love to hear about it again. Would you please tell me?"

"Oh, all right. The night was cold, and as I looked up I could see the moon. I chuckled to myself. I felt so brave, so, so smart. I had snuck out of the castle. Now this wasn't a big feet, but being nine, I sure felt like it was. My half brother Cor was always going on about all his battle training and I thought it was time I learn to. On my side I had my knife and making my way to the forest I pulled it out, found a good stout stick and started to carve. It was hard to carve at night even if the moon is near full, though it was not. I had been carving for maybe fifteen minutes when I heard a voice behind me and I spun around and dropped the knife. There he stood, Tall and Large , and Bright.

'W-Who's There?' I asked, my voice trembling inside.

'Myself.' Was the reply. That voice was big and strong, but still somehow soft.

'What d-do you want?'

'You.' said the voice, sending shivers down my back

'What are you?'

'A lion.'

'A lion, o-oh please don't eat me'

'I won't'

'You won't? Why?' Now I was feeling a bit better

'I don't eat people, or any talking beast.'

'Then why are you here?'

'To give you a message.'

'What message? And who are you?'

'I am Aslan and this is my message: You shall go to the desert between here and Tashbaan and when you see a little crack running down the middle, so small in fact that a horse can jump right over it, go to the very eastern part of it and you will see a staircase leading down it, go down to the bottom and follow the instructions that it tells you.'

'When shall I go Aslan?'

'Tomorrow, tell King Lune that you must go'

And then he left, just as he came, unseen, unheard. And I stood, in the cold of night. Looking around I spotted my knife, picked it up and left. Climbing up the wall I entered into my room and decided I should probably sleep, and went to bed."

"That was a great story Hoffnung" The mouse said cheerfully.

"Thank You Reep, but do call me just Hoff, please." Hoffnung pleaded

"Yes of course Hoff"

Off in the distance they heard a commotion.

"What do you suppose that is Hoff?"

"I don't know about you, but I don't care to find out. Come on, fire out." Hoff replied while stomping out the fire, grabbing her stick and swing up into a tree.

"Telmarines." whispered the mouse. And he was correct, for out in the water was a boat.

"Aye, and it looks like they have a Faun in tow."

"That won't end well."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

"What is your plan?"

"Kill or knock out or badly injure the men carrying the Faun."

"I ment other then that!"

"Make them fear the woods even more - that or the water. I'll swim up behind them and under the water, grab one and pull him under. You take care of the other."

And so saying, they sneaked to the water and entering it swam to the boat, grabbing the men and pulling them under beat them up a bit. Then coming back up they pulled the Faun onto land.

"Are you okay dear Faun." Questioned Hoff.

"Yes I am, and who are you two?" Answered the Faun.

"I am Reep" Replied the mouse

"And I am Hoff."

"Actually she is Hoffnung."

"Though I prefer Hoff." Snapped Hoff at the mouse

"And who are you good sir?" Spoke the mouse ignoring the statement.

" I am Chanson" replied the Faun.

"Come, you must be tired, we will bring you to our camp. I'm afraid our house is a little ways away, so our camp will have to do tonight."

"That will be okay, anything is better then there dungen."

"Oh, I can believe that, I once was in one." Reep spoke.

And so they tracked their way toward the camp they had come from. It didn't take long once there for a fire to be kindled for Hoff was skilled in many things including fire making.

"Is Cair Paraval real and is it on this Island?" asked Chanson.

"Yes it is. You see when the Telmarines attacked they got out of these woods as soon as possible. This used to be a Peninsula but a channel was dug making it a Island." Answered Reep.

"So, all the tales of the kings and queens of old is true?"

Reep looked quickly at his female companion before answering in a low voice "Yes it is, though I would advise you not to mention them around Hoff."

"Why not?"

"She is bitter toward them, though the High King the most."

"Why?"

"Unknown, I learned quickly not to mention it." Raising his voice he spoke to Hoff. "Please tell us a tale of when you were younger."

A small smile came across her face and she turned from the fire. "Okay, umm . . . Ahh. That is the story I will tell. After the night I was given a quest to go to the desert between Archenland and Tashbaan I went to the King of Archenland and told him of it, he replied with:

'Okay, but be safe and bring the knight James with you.'

I thinking this was great excepted this and the next day we were off. James wasn't to happy about this though he never complained. I knew he missed his wife. We traveled for awhile before making it to the edge of the desert. The hot glaring sun laughed down on us with malic. We filled our water bags with water from a hidden stream and went on, our faces melting with sweat, our legs aching and our chest complaining. But we walked on, feeling like we were not moving, the mountains behind us not getting any smaller, the end of the desert still unseen. Using a compass we had brought we went in the right direction. Conversation was no longer happening for our mouths were dry. We walk on. Finally we reached the crack in the middle of the desert, it wasn't that large. After that we headed east, due east following the crack. And when we came to the end of the crack we saw looking down was a large staircase. Both of us walked down, and seeing upon the wall it stated:

'Any who come here, let it be known, only one can own. bring hope to our home. Let Justice and Peace be at hand, so take it and go to your land. If with a friend , do not be torn apart. Water shall rise, you'll need each other. Stay faithful and true. Follow the path and be Right.'

'Why is the right emphasised?' I asked James.

'I don't know. You said that we need to follow the instructions, didn't you?'

'Yes.'

We looked around and saw that we were at a split, the one to our left was light for torches lined the wall, while the one to our right was dark.

'Maybe we are supposed to go to the right?' I proposed.

'But it is dark that way!'

'But I was told to do what it says! Come let us take a torch and go to our Right.' I emphasised

'Okay, okay, let's go.'

And so saying we started walking down the pathway. After walking some time we entered into a circular room a light shining from the center. On the walls was written:

'Any who come here, let it be known, only one can own. bring hope to our home. Let Justice and Peace be at hand, so take it and go to your land. If with a friend , do not be torn apart. Water shall rise, you'll need each other. Stay faithful and true. Follow the path and be Right.'"

"Why did you stop?" Said Reep

"Because it is time for Sleep dear Reep"

"Okay, Good Night." Said Chanson