Chapter 4
Peter smiled as he saw Susan and Lucy trudging on ahead.
"Your sister is quite the leader, isn't she?" Mr. Tumnus remarked. Peter turned and looked at the fawn and smiled.
"Yes. I'm terribly sorry in advance if I keep on gaping at you, you see I thought fawns didn't exist!"
"Well I never thought that sons of Adam or daughters of Eve existed." he leaned conspiratorially towards Peter. "I thought Lucy was just a girl from Archenland having a joke on dear little Mr. Tumnus." and he and Peter laughed.
"What's the joke?" Lucy asked, without turning around.
"Nothing Luce. Hey, don't you think Mr. Tumnus should be showing us the way, since he is the one who knows how to get to..." he paused, "wherever we're going."
"No. Mr. Tumnus has already told me the directions, and if I go wrong he'll correct me, won't you Mr. Tumnus?" she said, turning around to smile at her friend. Then she frowned at her brother.
"And for the last time, we're going to Castor Dam. We're going to hear the wise owls tell one of the ancient stories." and she turned back to become a small and important figure against the stark white of the crispy snow.
"I hope he will tell of the golden age of Narnia, before the White Queen came and the prophecy was written." Mr. Tumnus said.
"Prophecy?" Peter asked, turning to look at his odd companion.
"You have not heard it?" the fawn looked shocked and puzzled, then understanding broke through and his eyes brightened.
"Of course! You come from Earth! It tells of how if two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve sit at Cair Paravel, then all evil will be broken."
"Cair Paravel?" Peter questioned, feeling stupid next to this wise fawn.
"Our castle. It has not been used the White Queen built Cair Lumi, her castle." and he turned and pointed towards two mountains. "Her castle is in between those." Peter nodded.
"Why do you call her 'The White Queen' and not 'The Queen'? He asked, trying to fill himself with as much information about Narnia as he could
"Because she has brought winter to this land. Eternal winter, never Summer or Spring or Autumn. Permanent winter."
"But winter can be fun! What about Christmas?" Peter asked. The fawn looked at Peter with sad eyes.
"The White Queen has forbidden Christmas. We get all of the bad effects of winter, but none of its good effects." Mr. Tumnus said sadly. "Many animals have starved, as there are no crops, and the wolves and foxes and bears have become more vicious as there is less prey. The cold affects everyone and many Narnians know that their young have little chance of survival." Peter shuddered, imagining animals dying, and the thought of knowing your child would probably not live to see the next year. He found he couldn't.
"But surely the White Queen must have some Spring, of she would not survive!" he said, easily slipping into the habit of calling the evil Queen the White Queen. The fawn shook his head, sadly.
"The White Queen keeps fields to herself, full of rich and ripe crops and berries. She never shares it with us Narnians." he said and Peter pictured acres and acres of ripe farmland.
"She is evil." he hissed. Suddenly a huge dam made from what appeared to be millions of twigs and tiny sticks appeared and Peter, Lucy and Susan all stopped and gasped in amazement.
"It's beautiful!" Susan breathed and Mr. Tumnus smiled at here.
"I'm glad you think so." he said, then gestured to the door.
"Come now," he said and Lucy scrambled down onto the soft, icy snow. Susan looked down apprehensively at the large mound and Peter sneaked up behind her and pushed her forward. Peter laughed as she screamed, then he screamed to as Susan grabbed Peter's ankle and pulled him down with her. Mr. Tumnus looked down at the laughing, screaming mass that were the Pevensies and shook his head fondly.
"There are stairs, Pevensies." he said, and pointed to little steps cut into the original hill that was now covered with snow.
"See Peter!" Susan said and she jabbed her brother in the stomach. Lucy smiled.
"But it wouldn't have been so entertaining to Mr. Tumnus!" Lucy protested, then she turned and faced the large dam. She smiled, stood up and then she walked inside.
"Lucy!" Susan hissed and she and Peter untangled themselves and cautiously made hteir way to the door. Inside Lucy, stumbled as the room was pitch black. She felt the thing she had tripped over shake itself.
"Oh I'm terribly sorry!" Lucy cried and the shaped huddled away from her.
"So you should be. It's terribly rude to not look where you're going." it complained.
"I'm so sorry, but I simply can't see where I am going. It's much too dark in here!" Lucy cried. She saw one large eye open up from the dark figure before her.
"Oh. I am terribly sorry. I thought you were one of the younger owls. Let me introduce myself. I am Fleetwing, elder owl."
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Well,helikesitheymikey wrote a review for this, and I like replying to people who review my fanfictions (do PM me if you've asked me a question in your review and I haven't answered after a week), but helikesitheymikey doesn't have PM, so I'm replying here:
helikesitheymikey: Well, I'm thinking of doing a P/S story soon, so keep on watching! And yes, Lucy has told Peter and Susan about Narnia, they just thought it was her "imaginary world". And I suppose Lucy just didn't notice the time difference. She probably kept running into her mother, who would scold her for disappearing, even for a small space of time, and Lucy would just think she had been gone for a long time. Keep on reading to find out if Edmund really is Jadis' child (I loved your use of the word "spawn" by the way!)