TUMNUS: PART FIVE

A warm breath was flowing over him. It was better than the fire in his cave but when he tried to reach out to it he found that he could not move his arms. So he tried to walk to it but his legs were frozen, too. Then, as if he had stepped into a warm rain, the warmth spread from the top of his head down his torso to his fingertips and finally down to his legs and hooves. He stretched his fingers and found that he had regained mobility. But he was very stiff and almost immediately fell over but before he hit the ground he was caught by a pair of familiar arms. In fact, if he did not know any better he would have said that he had been hugged by those arms only a few days ago. Uncertainly he peered into the smiling face of Lucy Pevensie laughing with joy.

At first he was terrified that she had also been captured by the Witch but it felt very strange. It was warm, very warm, warmer than it had been for years and years almost before he could remember. And there was no snow on the ground but he could see the gray stone of the courtyard. Then Lucy turned to someone and Tumnus looked and saw another girl who was a few years older than Lucy. Another Daughter of Eve! They both hugged Tumnus joyfully.

Tumnus thought, "What about Edmund? Did he not succeed in betraying us all to the Witch?"

"That is his own story, not yours." It was that still Voice which he had heard down in the dungeon but it no longer sounded small. He looked up again and there, shining as the morning sun reflected off his golden fur, stood Alsan in the flesh. The hope of his father as he was dragged away to die in the Dungeon of Ice had finally come true after all these years. Tumnus' awe and joy at that moment were indescribable as Aslan continued to bring to life those who had been turned into stone by the Witch. When all had been revived, Aslan gave orders for Rumblebuffin the Giant to break open the gates of the courtyard so that they could all get out.

Tumnus' heart nearly burst with joy within him when he saw that the return of Aslan had also brought the return of Spring. In the distance green hill rose over the once more fertile valley of Narnia and the singing of birds such as had not been heard for a hundred years filled the air. He ran and leaped and danced with the rest of the crowd as he had done so often when he was younger. And the other Fauns and horses and other such hoofed animals pranced with him. People he had known who had disappeared long ago and were thought dead laughed with joy at finding him and he at finding them.

The time came when they reached the battlefield and he roared with the other former prisoners of the Witch as they joined the battle. Armed with nothing but his fists, Tumnus dealt a couple of blows to the enemy and just escaped a hard knock himself. The other better-armed soldiers finished off the rest of the rabble and finally Tumnus felt that he had truly live up to his father's legacy. After the battle, Lucy applied a special cordial to his face where Ginarrbrik the Dwarf had struck it in the Dungeon of Ice.

The next day was the final fulfillment of the prophecy and Tumnus watched proudly with the other Narnians as Lucy, Edmund (who had repented), the older girl (who turned out to be their older sister named Susan), and their eldest brother Peter took their thrones. In the celebration that followed afterward, Edmund, or King Edmund as he was now, slowly approached him. Tumnus bowed respectfully but it only made Edmund blush. "I – I am sorry about betraying you and landing you in that horrible place," he said.

"Don't worry," said Tumnus, "Aslan has forgiven you and so have I."

"So can we be friends?"

"It would be a pleasure."