THE SHATTERED HORN
Finally got chapter 3 figured out. There is still a fair amount of gore contained in this one, but I'll try to not nauseate you readers too much. Truth is, I can hardly stand bloody scenes myself. I can't even stomach the sight of blood. Sure, I can bear the sight of a little bit, but a whole lot of blood at once makes me woozy.
Terence © unicorn-skydancer08
Other Characters (and Narnia) © C.S. Lewis and Disney/Walden Media
All rights reserved.
Chapter 3
"Sire? Sire, are you all right? Can you hear me? Speak to me, my King…" Something was gently slapping Peter's face.
Peter moaned and struggled to make his way through the layers of unconsciousness that enfolded him, like an underwater swimmer struggling to the surface. His eyes slowly fluttered open to discover Oreius's anxious brown face watching him. The centaur looked to be considerably battered—he had a particularly nasty-looking black bruise below his left eye, and a noticeable trickle of blood leaked from a cut on his right cheek. He was on his knees, and Peter found himself on his back on the cool ground, directly in front of the centaur; one of Oreius's strong, vambraced arms upheld his head and neck, and his free hand was what touched Peter's face and attempted to rouse him.
It took Peter a minute to remember exactly where he was, and what had just happened.
He was in the middle of a vast field, where many others—giants included—either lay dead or wounded, or merely overcome with exhaustion.
Thankfully, it was the enemy that had suffered the most casualties. The Narnians had won. Just the pure knowledge of that was enough to make Peter almost pass out again.
"Sire?" said Oreius solicitously, when Peter would not say anything. "Sire, it's me."
"Oreius." Peter's tongue felt thick and heavy in his mouth, and his voice sounded weak and pathetic to his own ears.
"Yes, my lord, I am here," Oreius answered tenderly, his cinnamon-brown eyes emanating a special warmth. It was as if he were addressing his own child, rather than his king. The centaur's hand brushed ever so lightly over Peter's brow, clearing his tangled blonde locks from his eyes. Peter found this gesture strangely comforting.
"Have you the strength to stand, my King?"
"I believe so," said Peter softly, "though I may need some assistance in getting to my feet."
So, Oreius lifted the teenage monarch up with him as he ascended to his hooves, and he set Peter back down very carefully on his feet. Peter wobbled a bit once Oreius released his hold on him (yet remaining close enough to catch the young Son of Adam if he fell), but he kept his balance. Though he had gotten himself considerably banged up in the battle, Peter was just glad that all of his most important parts still moved and functioned properly. Were it not for his special armor, he would have undoubtedly been in a much more grave condition.
When Oreius was sure that Peter was reasonably all right, and could make it on his own, the two wandered about the battlefield together for a time, observing the aftermath of the battle. It was terrible, but not as terrible as they might have feared. Some in their army were wounded more severely than others. Peter knew his sister Lucy was going to have a field day, with her special fireflower juice that was capable of curing just about any physical injury. He also hoped that Terence, being a unicorn with the natural ability to heal, would be able to help them out.
Where was Terence, anyway? The last time Peter had seen the unicorn, he had gone after Tumnus when Tumnus recklessly pursued the one big giant that was their most grievous encumbrance. Peter and Oreius, though neither of them spoke of it aloud, hoped and prayed earnestly in their hearts that, somehow, both the faun and the unicorn were all right.
Presently, they stumbled across a mammoth carcass spread out in a shallow valley, and the sight gave Peter such a start that he leaped back and inadvertently slammed against Oreius. Fortunately, Oreius braced himself in time, and therefore was able to save them both from falling over. They recognized the body as that of the barbaric giant with the solitary eye; and even though the brute was dead, the sight, not to mention the smell, of his ugly corpse made Peter's knees melt, and he almost collapsed to the ground—but Oreius caught him and steadied him.
Judging by the cracks and rifts that scarred the earth, and the uneven protrusions of rock that surrounded the body, the giant appeared to have fallen with incredible force. And from the flow of blood that emanated from its heel and saturated the ground, it didn't take Oreius or Peter long to figure out the cause of death.
Then, looking to the side, an even more terrible sight greeted their eyes.
In the not so far distance, Terence himself was spread-eagled on the ground on his side, with Tumnus lying on the unicorn's neck. Neither one of them was moving.
Peter gasped when he saw them, and Oreius never hesitated to rush to them, his hooves thudding loudly against the ground. Tumnus and Terence remained perfectly still as Oreius drew up to them, and when Peter reached them himself, the young king couldn't help looking away for just a moment, hiding his eyes in his hand.
Terence was practically covered from head to hoof in his own blood, and a black substance that resembled tar. Oreius knew it instinctively to be giant's blood, and no doubt it had come from that dead giant back there. And the unicorn's horn, his fine, beautiful horn, was gone.
"Oh, dear Aslan," Oreius whispered faintly, all of the color draining from his face. "Oh, Terence…"
The shock and dismay in the centaur's face and tone of voice somehow frightened Peter even more than this; for the centaur was generally accustomed to seeing awful sights, being a soldier of war and all that.
Looking at Tumnus, Peter saw that the faun didn't appear to be nearly as badly wounded as Terence was…but his helmet was badly scratched and scuffed, with a dreadful dent on one side. Peter couldn't see Tumnus's face at the moment, as it was buried in Terence's tangled mane. Both the faun's vambraced arms clung steadfastly to the stallion's neck. Peter would have taken the two for dead, had it not been for the occasional rise and fall of Tumnus's shoulders, and the soft rasp of breath that sounded from Terence.
Oreius quickly but carefully lowered himself to the ground again, tucking his legs beneath his body, and Peter knelt down as well. Oreius reached out for Tumnus first, turning the faun gently over so that they could see his face, cradling his head in the crook of his elbow. Tumnus's eyes were closed, and his face was ghostly white despite a mild sunburn, and the dirt and grime that streaked his nose and cheeks and forehead. A yellowish-purple bruise swelled under the faun's right eye, a long but superficial cut marked his brow, and lines of salt that came from the shedding of tears streaked all sides of his face.
"Tumnus!" Oreius called softly yet urgently to him. "Tumnus—speak to me!"
As Peter had done, Tumnus groaned in response, and he very slowly opened his eyes, which turned out to be quite red.
Blinking distractedly, the faun peered up at Oreius as one in a stupor, and said in a hoarse voice, "Oreius? Is it…you?"
"Yes, Tumnus," Oreius answered kindly, offering a smile. "It is I." He touched the faun's face gently with his free hand. "Are you all right?"
"I think so," said Tumnus weakly, though he wasn't sure exactly what Oreius meant by "all right".
Peter, meanwhile, was trying to rouse Terence. "Terence?" he said, hoping the unicorn could hear him, and would answer.
He put a tentative hand on the soft white curve of the creature's neck. And, whether in response to the boy's voice or touch, or both, Terence gave a slight quiver, and a quiet whinny escaped his lips. His dim blue eyes fluttered open once more, this time to find Peter leaning over him.
"P-Peter?" the unicorn rasped, managing to raise his head to some extent.
"Terence," was all Peter could bring himself to say, his heart wrenching unbearably to see the poor beast in this state.
Terence said nothing more, but only closed his eyes again, and his head began to drop like a stone. But Peter hastily caught it in midair, and laid it down very gently on the grass. Terence kept his eyes closed as he lay there, but Peter saw him grit his teeth, and the unicorn's handsome face contorted in a spasm of pain as he let out a pitiful squeak.
Tears spilled freely down Peter's cheeks as he regarded the bloody remnant of Terence's horn, and all he could do was embrace the unicorn.
"It's all my fault," said Tumnus in a cracked voice, seeing this. The faun's eyes welled up afresh as he continued inconsolably, "If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened. I should never have gone after that giant…and Terence wouldn't have had to come after me. And now…now look at what's become of him. It's my fault. It's all my fault." Tumnus turned away and hid his anguished face in Oreius's chest, his tears sliding down the cool, smooth metal of Oreius's armor. "Forgive me, Oreius," he begged. "I have deliberately disobeyed you, and my rebellion has cost the safety and the well-being of another. Please…please, forgive me."
"It's all right, Tumnus," said Oreius, as he held him close and soothed him as best he could. "You and Terence have both acted with outstanding courage today. You have done all you could within your power to help us triumph in this war…and we did. Victory is ours, because of you."
If he had thought these words would cheer Tumnus up, or at least bring him comfort, the centaur was sorely mistaken.
Tumnus only continued to huddle against Oreius, and he burst into outright sobs that made his whole body tremble, bringing both hands up to cover his dirty face as he wept.
Presently, Lucy's young voice sounded in the distance: "Peter! Oreius! Terence! Mr. Tumnus!"
Susan, Peter's other sister, was also calling out frantically for them.
Terence didn't move from his spot, and Tumnus kept his head down and his hands over his face, but Peter and Oreius simultaneously turned their heads to see the two girls hurtling toward them, with Lucy in the lead. Susan's quiver of arrows was still slung over her shoulder, and Lucy was clutching her cordial of fireflower juice in one hand. Both girls were white with anxiety and fear. As they approached the group, Lucy stopped abruptly, very nearly causing Susan to crash into her from behind. "Terence!" Lucy gasped, when she saw the unicorn. "No!"
As if launched from a catapult, she dashed forward again. Susan could hardly keep up.
Lucy thought she would never get over there quick enough, and she plunged to her knees at Terence's side the moment she reached him, tears flooding unrestrainedly down her face.
"No!" she cried again, her voice breaking. "Oh, please, no!"
When Susan finally caught up with the rest of them, and had dropped to the ground herself, she felt her heart falter upon sight of Terence and the bad shape he was in, and her stomach clench. "No," she gasped herself. "No…Terence…it can't be…it just can't be…"
In their eyes, the sight of Terence's broken, blood-spattered body was horrible enough, but the absence of the stallion's divine horn was far worse—a hundred times worse.
"Terence!" Lucy wailed, on the brink of hysteria. "Terence!"
"He'll be all right, Lucy," Peter said gently, trying to calm her. Yet even as he gave voice to those words, he didn't see how such a thing could be even possible.
Tumnus never looked up the whole time, nor did the faun trust himself to speak.
Oreius just kept shaking his head as he sorrowfully regarded Terence.
Without his horn, Terence looked incredibly gaunt and small. The sight was enough to shatter even the hardest of hearts to pieces.
"Lucy." Terence appeared to have become aware of Lucy's presence at last, and Lucy's heart fluttered wildly within her, like a bird trapped in a cage.
"Oh, Terence!" she sobbed, when his weary gaze met with hers. "Oh, my dear, dear Terence!"
Unable to help herself, she threw her whole body across Terence's neck, positively howling with despair. Terence's only reaction was a slight grunt as he felt the unexpected weight drop on him.
"Terence," said Susan, still unable to get over what she was seeing, "what's happened to you? How did you—?" She couldn't bring herself to say it.
The unicorn's response emerged in broken, dazed words. "The giant…its heel…my horn…still there…" His voice faltered and wavered into nothingness, but the rest of them understood him perfectly.
Without a word, Oreius stood, leaving a grief-stricken Tumnus still on the ground, and headed swiftly for the body lying in the valley. Up close, the centaur could just barely make out the end of Terence's horn, buried in the giant's heel. Oreius took a deep breath and held it, fighting to keep his stomach from turning, as he braced one hoof against the corpse and used both his hands to extract the bloody horn from the gray heel. The horn came out quite easily, though it dripped profusely as Oreius pulled it free, the black ooze making it look as if it had been dipped into a giant pot of ink. Oreius grimaced at the sight and the smell, and wiped the horn as best he could on a clean patch of grass before returning to the others.
Peter took the broken horn within his own hands as Oreius brought it over, and he asked Terence, "What do we do with this, Terence? Isn't there any way to fix your horn?"
"Well, obviously…you can't just glue it back on," Terence answered, and they detected the subtlest hint of sarcasm in his husky voice. "The process…is much more complex…only a very special…and rare magic…can restore me…" Once again he trailed off, and once again the stallion closed his eyes and passed out.
Lucy just continued to cling to him and sob her heart out over him, while Susan stroked the unicorn's soft muzzle with her tender fingers, tears streaming down her own face as she did so.
"We must get him back to Cair Paravel," Oreius said to everyone. "We can care for him as best we can there, and later figure out what we ought to do next."
Tumnus still hadn't spoken all that time.
But inside his heart, the faun vowed, I swear to you, Terence, no matter what it takes, no matter what the price, I will save you. You have saved me…and now, I must repay the debt, and do the same for you. I could never be counted worthy as your friend otherwise. I will save you, mate, even if it means that I must die in your place.
