Well I was going to go to bed after I wrote Chapter 11 but my Youtube converter is still converting and so I'm letting it finish and I have time on my hands. So here's a free chapter!

NATANI'S POV

I rode all night, sleeping in the saddle. My horse veered off course a bit during that time I was sleeping and when I woke up I had no idea where I was. I looked up at the sky to get an idea of which way was what from the sun and turned my horse toward the east.

When I decided I was on the right track again, I let my horse rest as I slept on the hard ground. I was so tired and my tailbone was sore from hours of riding. I deducted that I was finally at the edge of the Great Forest just south of Cair Paravel. I was glad that I was familiar with the layout of Narnia from years of education about the ways of our enemies.

I sighed at that thought. Enemies? What had they actually ever done to my people. My people were called The Moor Dwellers or, more commonly, the Moors. We were originally a nomadic type of people who didn't stay in one place long. But when the queen had come and shown my ancestors her powers of sorcery, they had pledged themselves to her. Now we were a mighty people who dwelled in the moorlands below Calormene, where no Narnian had ever set foot. So why, I now wondered, did we go to war with Narnia in the first place?

Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. I rolled onto my side to sleep.

The desert wind blew in my face and my eyes burned because of the brightness of the sun. I remember crossing this on the march to Narnia with my fellow Moor troops under the queen's orders. It had been just as miserable then.

I ducked my head down and pulled my cloak around my arms to keep the sand from scratching them up with its fierce blowing. I decided that pushing my horse through a sandstorm was a foolish thing to do so I dismounted and covered his head with a cloth I found in the saddlebag. Then I sat down in the sand next to him and huddled against the wind.

But suddenly, the wind stopped. No sand blew in my face as I lifted my hood to look at the desert's condition. I scanned the horizon and was horrified to see, approaching me slowly and without hesitation, a lion the size of a cow!

Its golden eyes stared right into my blue ones and I swear I saw intelligence in them. But I couldn't look for long because something about them was also terrible to behold. He walked right up to me and I was surprised the horse didn't try to run. But it simply stood there nickering and trying to shake the cloth off his head. The lion stopped right in front of me and did nothing.

After long moments of waiting for it to finally pounce on me or growl or roar and none of these things happened, I finally just let out with a scream of annoyance.

"Just EAT ME already!" I yelled at the beautifully terrible animal, "I won't even put up a fight!"

The lion made a rumbling noise and its head cocked slightly to the side. Then its great, terrible jaws opened and I squeezed my eyes shut in preparation for the bite to come. But it didn't bite me, it just laughed.

Wait…laughed? I opened my eyes again and the lion had laid down in front of me. Sure enough, its sides were shaking in laughter.

"Who are you?" I asked, suddenly remember what the horse, Philip, had told me about the animals being given the gift of speech.

"I am Myself," the Lion's voice filled the air around me, it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.

"I…I don't understand," I said, feeling rather sorry that I didn't.

The Lion's eyes suddenly got very sad.

"I know, little one," it said, its voice filled with seriousness, "But I know you. And I have been longing for you to come to me for so long. But your people don't know of me and your leader has managed to keep word of me from reaching you at all."

I was shocked. This Lion, whoever it was, was known to exist by my queen. He must be very important!

"Have you come to punish me for my treachery against the Narnians?" I asked, frightened to hear its answer.

"No, little one," the Lion said, shaking its mane, "I am seeking you for a different purpose. You must keep your eyes and ears open but your body hidden."

"I don't understand," I said sheepishly, "What do you want me to do."

"I have told you." The Lion said simply. "And now I will ask you, why did you leave Narnia?"

I stared hard at the Lion. How did he know so much about me? But for some reason I could not identify, I trusted the Lion.

"I made a terrible mistake," I admitted, my head bowing in shame, "I betrayed the people who showed me kindness and compassion. I very nearly carried out a plan to even end the life of the one who spared mine. I was deceptive and malevolent…but even so, I was given a chance to run and I took it."

The Lion seemed satisfied with my answer.

"You have admitted your wrongs. That is the first step in the healing of this mistake." it said, nodding solemnly.

"But I didn't want to leave," I continued, feeling like I wanted to tell this mysterious Lion everything, "I was beginning to like Narnia and its people. But I was torn between them and my duty to my own people! I feel that I have made the wrong choice but I am exiled and cannot return to Narnia, ever."

"Is that what you think?" the Lion asked.

"King Edmund will not again hesitate to take my life," I said sadly, "And I don't blame him."

"King Edmund is under me," the Lion said, a slight growling to his voice. "Little one, the time is coming for you to choose once more between your home and Narnia. What you choose is up to you."

The Lion stood up and turned its great back on me and began to walk away.

"Please!" I called out, unexplained panic in my chest, "I don't even know who you are!"

"But during your time in Narnia you saw me often," the Lion said, looking back, "I can be seen in many different forms there. And I am sure you have heard my name if you would only remember."

I suddenly remembered that, of course, there was a lion on almost everything in that castle! On shields, on tapestries, on plates, books, clothes, doors, and even on the hilt of the sword that King Edmund had nearly taken my life with. And even more, I remembered the name that that same king had used to persuade his brother to let me live.

"Aslan."

The Lion made a deep purring sound that came from deep within its self and his eyes brightened.

"Yes," he said calmly, "That is the name they call me in Narnia."

This name, when I spoke it, seemed to tingle as it slid off my tongue. I wanted to repeat it over and over again! It was beautiful and powerful and frightening at the same time and I found myself being drawn into a bow to this Lion by an invisible force. I guessed it was just the demanding majesty of its presence.

It turned back to me and lowered its face to mine to stared deeply into my eyes.

"Do you know who I am now, little one?" his voice rumbled.

And I did. All at once I felt as if I had known him forever. Something inside me was clawing to get out and it felt like my heart was trying to pump out of ribcage. I fell to my face and kissed the Aslan's paws.

"Yes, Aslan," I said finally, not rising.

"You accept that I am who I am?" Aslan asked again.

"Yes." I whispered.

"Then rise, daughter," his voice was filled with love and I looked into his eyes for the first time with the eyes of one who knows who he is and saw adoration beyond compare within them. "You have nothing to fear from this point on, for I shall be with you always."

Then he breathed a long breath over my face and my strength was increased to where I felt I could run across this desert and not be tired. Aslan chuckled and he dropped his great shoulders low and his tail flicked and I knew he was going to pounce. But I was not afraid, and I just giggled and jumped out of his way. He looked at me with bright, happy eyes and we romped around for some time before he wrapped me in between his two great paws and pulled me down next to him as we lay on the sand.

"Aslan," I asked, somehow not worn out from our frolic, "How long have you been waiting for me?"

"Since the beginning of time, child."

SCREECH!

My eyes shot open and I say up quick as a flash!

"Aslan?" I shouted, but I heard nothing but the sound of the wind in the trees. Trees? I scanned my surroundings and found I was back in the Great Forest…it had all been a dream. Or…had it? No, it hadn't, it couldn't have been. I could still smell the sweet scent of his breath and I could still feel his paws around me.

So there it is, just in time for my converter to finish! This chapter was extraordinarily fun to write! Natani, as you may have guessed, is fashioned after myself and this interaction with Aslan is how I would imagine God to be. Serious and dangerous, but loving and forgiving and ready to hold me in His arms.

If that offends any of you, I'm sorry. But I am not ashamed to say that I love my Saviour, Jesus Christ.