Part III

Narnia:

When Children Cry

DISCLAIMER: Wow. I'm getting pretty tired of saying 'I don't own this'. This is 27 chapter's worth of that one quote... plus all the other fanfics out there that had to say the same thing... wow.

Be prepared. Happy endings are NOT my thing. Muahahaha... leave a review and I will LOVE YOU FOREVER!

Chapter Twenty-Eight

A Choice is Made

The first thing he became aware of was the throbbing pain in his head. Tumnus moaned and lifted his hand to it. He winced, and brought his hand down. It was covered in something red and sticky. In his daze, Tumnus wondered who threw paint over his head. The he realized what it really was.

Tumnus gasped and tried to get up, but felt a heavy mass lying on him. With every ounce of strength he had left, Tumnus grunted and hoisted the thing off him. In horror, his eyes fell on the corpse in realisation that it was, in fact, a dead minotaur. Tumnus shuddered, wondering how long he'd lay beneath the cadaver.

He rose slowly, moaning in pain and nausea. The blood was thick on his head, oozing down into his eyes. With shaking, weak hands he cleared his vision. The sight awaiting him brought the nausea to erupt from him.

Wiping his mouth of the foul taste, Tumnus sprinted forward, shouting, 'No!'

The sight was this: the strange armoured lady, standing before a bank of the Great River, holding a sword to Lucy's throat. Both their helmets were lying useless on the crimson battleground, the Lady's with a monolithic dent across the visor.

The Lady looked up and sneered at the mere faun. 'No?' she murmured slyly. That voice, it was familiar.

'Don't you dare hurt her,' said Tumnus in steely tones.

'And why not? She is my enemy, and impersonating a man, no less. Is that not a deed worth punishment?'

Lucy, meanwhile, said nothing in fear of what would happen of the act. She wanted to cry out Tumnus' name and run to him, pour bucketfuls of her cordial over the wound sprawling across his temple. But the cordial wasn't with her. She'd lost it a while back, and now it was laying at Tumnus' feet. With her large, fearful eyes, she indicated him to pick it up. Slowly, he did.

'Lay a finger on her,' hissed Tumnus, 'and I will kill you.'

The Lady lifted her head and laughed derisively; such a laugh that Tumnus wanted to shout out and shield his ears from the sound. 'You?' laughed she. 'You cannot kill me. I, the Winged Empress will never be defeated!'

'Touch her and you will be.'

She laughed again, cruelly. 'Very well. Have it your way.' She seized Lucy and jerked her up from the ground, her sword's blade crossing the girl's throat. 'Give me that cordial, Tumnus, or I will kill her.'

Tumnus raced forth to give the Winged Empress the glass bottle, but Lucy shook her head violently, and he stopped in his tracks.

'I'm waiting, Tumnus,' she hissed. Tumnus' eyes widened. How did she know my name? There was something about her eyes that wasn't quite normal...

'You're killing her, Tumnus,' the Empress chanted, digging the blade into her throat the smallest bit. Lucy cried out in pain as a drop of blood stained her skin: deepest red on purest white.

'Remove your sword, and you'll have the cordial,' said Tumnus, sounding far braver than he felt.

She laughed again, queerly and utterly horrific. 'No,' she whispered.

Silently, Lucy sent out a plead to Tumnus. Don't do it. My life isn't worth this.

Tumnus received the plea, but paid no attention to it. Trembling, he strode forth and placed the bottle in her bony, outstretched hand. She clutched it with a blissful expression of sheer satisfaction painted over her closed eyes, then released Lucy, letting her tumble to the ground.

Tumnus knelt. 'Lucy?' he whispered. 'Lucy, are you all right?'

'You never should have given it to her,' she hissed, eyes wild with fear, but he ignored it. He'd taken Lucy in his arms and was grasping her tightly, tears leaving clean trails on his dirty face.

The Winged Empress paid no attention to the two, instead holding the bottle and taking deep breaths filled with anticipation. If a drop may cure any injury, imagine what the entire bottle could do.

She ripped the lid from the brim, holding it to her lips,

and drank.