Author's note: Slight revision to previous chapter:

Bobby swung his glowing war club at the creature's shin, but it kicked him out of the way, then a third Rat-Bear appeared, grabbing him and me. Uni butted the Rat-Bear, bleating angrily, but the monster just gave the unicorn a scolding growl and she backed off.

Eric, being Eric, made a hasty retreat.

[0000]

The hiss of chain mail, a heavy thump, and complaining behind me indicated that Eric had also been caught. Although a chicken, it seemed he had made an attempt to rescue us. Note: He didn't have his shield.

The lion stood in a beautiful garden, full of ripened fruits and vegetables. A large fountain sparkled invitingly in the center, decorated with fish and mermaid sculptures. We gazed longingly at the clean water, once again reminded of our desperate thirst.

A towering wall, trees and thick thorny vines surrounded the garden on every side except the one guarded by the lion.

Diana rose trembling to her feet, preparing her javelin. "Hank's right. This lion doesn't seem very nice."

"I adhere to no one's standards but my own," the lion growled. "The one who spoke my name should understand this."

A shiver ran down my spine.

I think Eric should have stayed down and kept his trap shut, but he'd already gotten to a standing position and addressed the lion. "Really? What an amazing coincidence! Me too! Why, I never pay attention to what people say about me—"

"Kneel!" the lion snarled in a booming voice.

Eric dropped on all fours. "Y-yes, sir, Mister Lion sir!"

Everyone else dropped to their knees. Even the rats, bears and Uni obeyed the order.

Me, I'd been sitting on the ground, but after hearing that growl, I lost all desire to stand up.

"Presto," Diana hissed. "This lion is scaring me."

"It's like the books say," I whispered. "He's good as he is terrible."

Eric scoffed. "Run that by me again? How can you be good and terrible?"

"The author had an archaic writing style. It means scary, not bad."

The lion gave me a slight nod. "You may rise."

I no longer felt an unseen force pulling me down. The others got up. Well, except for our friend who had passed out from the heat.

The unicorn whimpered, nuzzling her cheek, but she didn't stir.

Uni bleated at the lion.

To my absolute shock, the lion made bleating sounds back to her...well, coming from his mouth they sounded like adult unicorn noises, but he knew the language.

To Hank, the lion said, "Sheila needs water. You may bring her some from my fountain."

Hank looked scared, but still nodded to the lion, grabbing one of my empty water bottles.

He hesitantly approached the lion, looked it in the eyes. "Wait, how did you know her name? Are you friends with Dungeon Master?"

"I have existed long before Dungeon Master, and the parents who gave him birth. Before even your grandparents were born, Hank the Ranger."

"Well, uh, thank you, Aslan." Hank rushed to the fountain, filling the bottle.

"This is nutso!" Eric muttered. "That thing is probably buddies with Vengir, and that's how he knows who we are. I'm going to sneak around the back and see if I can get to the water that way."

Bobby shot him an incredulous stare. "He's helping my sister, Eric. What makes you think he won't give us water too?"

"That's just for her. Special circumstances. If it's not poisoned, he'll probably make us go get our own water anyway. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him, and throwing him looks pretty well impossible. "

"There is only one way to the water," Aslan said.

"Yeah, I'm just supposed to believe that because you're enormous and have some kind of mind control power. Thank you very much, Mister Big Scary Lion, but I know enough about the water table and plumbing to know that you're wrong, and I'm going to prove it! Huh!" He stomped off down a nearby trail.

Without his shield.

I tensed up, expecting Aslan to jump on him and tear him to shreds, or roar and force him to come back, or send the Bear-Rats after him, but the lion just sighed and did a facepalm.

I frowned as Eric walked away, wondering if I should follow him and babysit. He always did stuff like this. We'd spend a good couple hours searching and find him in some kind of trouble.

But then again, presumably he'd stick to the area around the garden, right?

Meanwhile, I noticed that Hank had taken a quick gulp of the water himself before bringing the water to Sheila. Worried for him, I blurted, "Um, Aslan, is it okay if we also get a drink?" The thought occurred to me that I should have asked the question sooner, before Eric wandered off. Well, nothing I could do about it now.

"You may. It will sustain you for your journey." When I got up and approached him, he murmured, "The next time someone wrongs you, do not hold a grudge."

I furrowed my brow, wondering who would be doing such a thing, or if he himself intended to wrong me. I felt too nervous to ask.

Hank poured the bottle of water into Sheila's mouth. It did not poison her. In fact, her skin, which had taken on a vampire-like pallor, now regained its original healthy tone, her lips no longer dry and chapped, and she slowly regained consciousness.

Noting that it didn't harm Sheila, Diana took my canteen, knelt and refreshed herself. I joined her, scooping water with my hands until she passed me the canteen. Bobby drank out of his helmet, Uni lapping beside him.

Most refreshing water I'd ever had, and I've drank a lot of different types of magical water. I felt like I could hike all the way back the way I'd come without taking a further drink.

I think the water gave Diana some added boldness, for she approached the lion without trembling or anything. "Aslan, you said you know Dungeon Master. Maybe you could help us with something."

Hank helped Sheila to her feet. "We've been trying to get home for months. We've traveled everywhere in this crazy world, chased down all kinds of magical artifacts that we hoped would help, but we're still here."

I took off my cap, you know, to be super respectful. "In the stories about you, children could return to earth through wardrobes and paintings and stuff. Can you please show us something like that so we can go home? Please? We all have families that miss us."

"Your work in this world is not yet complete," the lion said. "But take the necklace from the statue in the center of the fountain. It will guide you in the way you should go."

A silver chain dangled from the neck of one of the mermaid statues. Hank examined its pendant. "It's a compass!" He slung it around his neck.

Diana frowned and put her hands on her hips. "Are you saying that if we follow this compass thing, we'll find the work we're supposed to do, and once we do it, we can all go home?"

"Yes." Aslan stretched out on the grass and took a nap.

Diana blew a raspberry.

"Unbelievable," Bobby complained.

I smirked. "Hey, look on the bright side. It's not at all confusing or cryptic like one of Dungeon Master's things. We just follow the compass, right?"

With his eyes closed, Aslan said, "Follow where the compass leads, and do not stray. The path at times will be difficult, but you suffer doubly going your own way."

"Now that sounds like Dungeon Master," Diana remarked.

"If I sound like others, it does not make my words any less true."

A second later, I heard Eric screaming.

"Help! Help!"

"What is it this time?" Diana groaned.

Aslan opened one eye, closed it again.

Hank looked around the garden. "Whatever it is, we're going to need our tools."

The lion rolled on his side, waving a paw at the Rat-Bears.

The giant creatures turned around, squeaked loudly, and an albino Rat-Bear came lumbering up the path with our lost possessions, including Eric's shield. It casually tossed them on the dirt behind me.

Hank picked up his magic weapon. "Let's go."

Aslan had spoken correctly. At the border of his garden, there stood the aforementioned wall, trees, and a densely tangled jungle of overgrown vines, brambles and towering plants. The plants grew so thick that you had to hike more than three miles just to get to the corner. Then, when you finally got there, and tried to cut around, the barrier took you on a diagonal up a steep hill an additional two to three miles out of your way, until you had lost track of where you were.

The further we moved forward, the denser the growth became, and the darker everything got. Gnarled ugly trees blotted out the sun.

We stood at the crest of a weed choked hill, gazing into a ravine, staring into the tangled growth, to where, we could only presume Aslan and his wall could be found. From our vantage point, we couldn't even tell the place ever existed.

Bobby crossed his arms. "Brilliant! No sign of a stream, or pipes!"

"Speaking of which..." I leaned over the hill. "No sign of Eric!"

Diana pulled apart a curtain of vines. "And yet we all heard him yelling! He has to be somewhere close!"

"Help!" the voice sounded faint now.

"There!" Bobby pointed to the sky.

That's when we saw it: A leathery gray creature, like a pterodactyl, manned by a shadowy horned figure.

And there, slumped over its saddle like an old carpet, we spotted a yellow object, a pair of chainmail clad legs dangling over the side.

"Eric!"