The Lion is an Angel

Chapter 2: This is Narnia

Henry POV

Rain.

Why oh why did it had to rain. I was so ecstatic to go outside and explore the country. Sadly the rain came making thing impossible. Now the mansion transformed into a dungeon. Lucy and I stared out the window watching the rain comes pouring down in the studies. Behind us, our siblings were trying to entertain themselves. Agnes was reading her book she brought about a fantasy world, something called The Hobbit. Peter, Susan, and Edmund were gathering around the table reading over a pretty boring book of a dictionary coming up with some ridicules game. The game of guessing the origin of the words.

"Gastrovascular," Susan pronounced, which Peter seemed not interested to solve. "Come on, Peter. Gastrovascular."

"Is it Latin?" Peter asked.

"Yes," Susan answered.

"Is it Latin for 'worst game ever invented'?" Edmund sarcastically asked.

"It is the function for the digestion and circulation," Agnes answered out of nowhere eyes focused on her book.

Susan slammed the book while everybody else chuckled to Edmund joke. I find Edmund interesting with his sarcastic humor that riles up his older siblings. Though I don't think he's very much interested in playing around silly games. Lucy got up and walked to her older brother.

"We can play hide and seek?" Lucy offered.

"But we're already having so much fun," Peter said.

"Come on, Peter, please." Lucy begged tugging on Peter sleeve giving a puppy dog look. "Pretty please?"

Peter sighed as he smiled at his sister beginning to count, "One, two, three, four…"

Lucy and I couldn't help but smile as we ran together trying to find a hiding spot. We became friends fast the past two days that we somewhat became inseparable. It was difficult to run with the braces that our siblings were getting ahead of us on finding good spaces. After going to the second floor there was a curtain large enough hide the both of us, except before we could pull the curtain Edmund shoved us aside.

"I was here first," he proclaimed.

Lucy gave an annoyed look before taking my hand so we could find another spot. Trying to find a spare room to hide but all the doors were either locked or jammed. Lucy manages to open a door to an empty back room of his large country home. The room was practically empty with nothing but one furniture covered in a sheet. Curiously Lucy went up to the tall object to remove the sheet which reviled a beautiful wardrobe. There were carvings on the panels that of a story.

"Come on, Henry." Lucy said.

Already Peter was in the seventies, so with a quick nod, we climbed into the wardrobe. However the scent of moth balls and fur coats seemed faint while a new fragrance tickled my nose. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it smelled like winter. Also how cold it is. Lucy gasped suddenly turning around to see tree branches in the wardrobe reaching around the fur coats. We looked behind us to discover there was no end to the wardrobe but a winter wonder land. There were snow, evergreen trees, and so much more that it had to be a dream.

"Let's see," I told Lucy walking further into the woods.

A lamppost stood in the middle of the forest and shone in the day. What a peculiar way to set a lamppost in the middle of nowhere. In fact there aren't any other nearby or other buildings. Suddenly there was a sound of rustling through the woods. Lucy huddle behind me as the possible creature came towards us. The sound of hooves approaching fastens and soon after that a very strange person stepped out from among the trees into the light of the Lamp-post. A man with an umbrella came out of nowhere. Lucy and I screamed hiding behind the lamppost. Although something seemed odd about this man, he wasn't wearing a shirt and his pants are quite furry. He hid behind a tree staring at us afraid. Lucy gain courage and began walking towards the stranger picking up the groceries he dropped.

"Why are you hiding from us?" Lucy asked the stranger.

"No," the man assureds stammering a bit, picking up is other packages, but he wasn't a man, no he had goat legs instead of human legs. "Uh, well…I just…I…No, No. I-I-I just…I was just, um…I didn't want to scare your two."

"If you don't mind me asking….what are you?" Lucy asked.

"Well, I'm a…" he sighed. "We'll, I'm a faun. And what about you? You must be some kind of beardless dwarf?"

"I'm not a dwarf!" Lucy exclaimed. "I'm a girl!"

"And I'm a boy!" I added.

The fauns eyes widen bewilder, "You mean to say that you are a Daughter of Eve?" he asked Lucy then looked at me, "And a Son of Adam?"

"Well, my mum's name is Helen." Lucy corrected.

"And my father name is Arthur." I added.

"Yes, but you two are in fact human." The faun inquired.

"Yes, of course." I answered confused.

"What are you doing in Narnia?" he asked.

"Well, we were hiding in the wardrobe in the spare room," Lucy explained.

The faun interrupted, "Spare Oom? Is that in Narnia?"

"Narnia?" Lucy and I asked in unison.

"Why dear children, you are in it." The faun chuckled. "Everything from the lamppost all the way to Castle Cair Paravel on the Eastern Ocean, every stick and stone you see, every icicle is Narnia."

"It's awfully beautiful." Lucy complimented as we looked over Narnia.

"Please allow me to introduce myself." The faun said. "My name is Tumnus."

"Please to meet you, Mr. Tumnus. I'm Lucy Pevensie." Lucy introduces herself.

"And I'm Henry Cleves," I said offering a hand. Mr. Tumnus stared at the gesture confused tilting his head. "You shake it."

"Why?" Mr. Tumnus asked.

"I don't know." Lucy answered. "People do it when the meet each other."

Mr. Tumnus laughed as he shook my hand quickly then shook Lucy hand. We all laughed in how silly we looked before looking up at the sky in seeing it was getting late.

"Lucy, we should probably get going," I said.

"Oh, pleasuring meeting you Mr. Tumnus." Lucy said goodbye as he began to leave our new friend.

However Mr. Tumnus stared at my legs seeing the braces. "What's wrong with your leg?"

"Um, nothing at all. My legs are just fine and dandy." I answered.

"Then why do you have that strange contraption on?" he asked again.

"Mum says my back is as crooked as a question mark. These shoes are going to make me as straight as an arrow. They're my magic shoes." I answered proudly.

Guess Mr. Tumnus and I are both strange indeed. Him having goat legs for being a faun while I have braces to help keep my back straight. Who would have suspected to see an actual mythical creature from mythology or one of Tolkien's stories? A magical world called Narnia inside the wardrobe in the spare room.

"Well, then, Lucy Pevensie and Henry Cleves from the shining city of War Drobe in the wondrous lands of Spare Oom, how would it be if you came and had tea with me?" Mr. Tumnus said plucking his umbrella in the air.

"Well, thank you very much, but we probably should be getting back." Lucy answered.

"It's only just around the corner." Mr. Tumnus said quickly. "And there'll be a glorious fire with toast and tea and cakes. And, perhaps, we'll even break into the sardines."

"I don't know," I said, having a bad feeling.

Mum always say never talk to stranger which we already broke. Now Mr. Tumnus asking us over for tea when we said we should be heading back the mansion. I don't want Agnes to get worry or panic from my absent. Also how will the older Pevensies react to Lucy being gone? Right now Peter would already found Edmund, Susan, and Agnes by now.

"Come on, please." Mr. Tumnus begged. "It's not every day that I get to make new friends."

"Well, I suppose we could come for a little while," Lucy suggested. "If you have sardines."

Mr. Tumnus smiled happily saying he had a bucket load of Sardines. With that said and done, we walked to his home. Though it's not what I expected to be. I thought he would live in a little cottage in the woods. Instead Mr. Tumnus the faun lived in large rock realizing he was leading us to the entrances of a cave. The entrance concealed by a large boulder. Once inside Mr. Tumnus seemed a nice place, little but dry, and clean. The cave wall carved out of reddish stone, with a carpet on the floor, a fireplace, three little chairs, a dresser, and a table. There was also a mantel of an older faun over the fire place as well. Somehow the cave reminded me of Agnes book where hobbits live in their Smials.

I set the packages on the table while Lucy went up to the mantel to stare at the portrait. Mr. Tumnus saw this saying, "Now, that…that is my father."

"He has a nice face." Lucy complimented. "He looks a lot like you."

"No. No, I'm not very much like him at all, actually." Mr. Tumnus said modestly, getting tea ready.

"Our fathers are fighting in the war." I mumbled.

"My father went away to war too," Mr. Tumnus said surprised how similar we all were. But then he shook his head putting the kettle over the stove. "But that was a long time ago. Before this dreadful winter."

"Winters are not all bad." Lucy disagreed. "There's ice skating and snowball fight. Oh, and Christmas!"

"Not here," Mr. Tumnus replied. He came out of the tiny kitchen with a tray full with tea. "No, we haven't had a Christmas in a hundred years."

"What?" Lucy said surprised as we sat down. "No presents for a hundred years?"

"Always winter, never Christmas." Mr. Tumnus confirmed. He served us tea with milk and sugar. "It's been a long winter. But you would have loved Narnia in summer. We fauns danced with the dryads all night, and, you know, we never got tired. And music. Oh, such music! Would…would you two like to hear some now?"

"Sure," I answered.

Mr. Tumnus smiled taking a box off the mantel to reveal a peculiar flute. "Now, are you familiarity any Narnian lullabies?" We shook our head no while still continue to drink the tea. "Well, that's good. Because this…probably won't sound like one."

The faun cleared his through before playing a strange dark melody. The lullaby so dark that it felt like it was putting me under a spell as my eyes became heavy. By the fire places, the flames magically made creatures come to life seeing fauns dancing, a centaur prancing around, and finally a stag. Before any of us know what is happening, Lucy and I fell asleep.

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I think the most difficult part of this story is trying to think like a nine year old. Anyway I hope you guys enjoy the story and leave a review. You might have notice a Forest Gump quote in the chapter as well. Couldn't help it!

Thanks for reading and please leave a review.