Chapter Four
The children left the cricket equipment on the lawn, ran inside the house and up the stairs to the top floor. After a brief search, Edmund found the ball in one of the libraries, where suits of armor stood in a line beneath the colourful windows and several bookshelves stood facing them on the opposite wall. One of the suits was lying in pieces on the floor, with colourful shards of glass scattered around it, and the cricket ball sat beside it. Rebecca caught up to Peter and Edmund as they looked at the damage. Lucy and Joy were the last ones to enter, and they all stared at the hole in the glass. Then, Peter turned on Edmund. "Well done Ed."
"You bowled it!" countered Edmund.
"What on earth is going on up there?" It was Mrs. Macready downstairs.
"The Macready!" panicked Susan.
"Come on!" Peter led the group out of the room and down the hall. Cutting through a back room, they came out in another hallway and then they heard footsteps coming down the hallway towards them.
"Back! Back! Back!" Edmund pushed them back into the room. The children cut through another room and ran down the hall. Up some stairs to the hall by their rooms, Susan had her hand on the doorknob when they heard the approaching footsteps. Turning around, they ran down another flight of stairs and up some more, yet the footsteps were always coming up either behind them or in front of them and getting closer all the time. Rebecca then took the lead and the children followed her through a room with green wallpaper and only a harp sitting in a corner, before coming out into a vaguely familiar hallway. Going up five steps, they tried the first door in sight. Locked.
Edmund ran to the next knob, turned it, and the children rushed into the wardrobe room. Not bothering to stop, Edmund ran forward and opened the wardrobe door. "Come on!" he told the others.
"You've got to be joking," said Susan quietly.
"Would you rather face the Macready?" asked Rebecca. Then they all heard footsteps in the hallway outside. The children rushed to the wardrobe. Edmund and Rebecca climbed in first, followed by Lucy, Joy, Susan and lastly Peter. Peter held the door open a crack, watching for the Macready, as someone beside Rebecca breathed heavily in her ear, but with her back against the wardrobe wall she couldn't move away from them.
"Get back," whispered Peter urgently. The wardrobe leaped to life with trampling feet and shoving hands. Everyone was grumbling and shouting and moving slowly towards the back of the wardrobe. Someone stepped on Rebecca's foot and she cried out in pain while walking backward amongst the coats. She ran into someone who said, "Would you stop shoving!"
"Ow!" cried Edmund. Rebecca spotted a soft white glow between the coats and bodies and pushed toward it. The wooden floorboards quickly disappeared underneath a thick layer of snow, and a chill hung in the air. Her hands went to push aside the last fur coats, only to push aside two large pine branches, heavy with snow, and she stepped out into Narnia.
"Narnia," she gasped, looking around in awe. A snow-covered forest stood before her, even more beautiful than the wood from her dream. A wave of feelings swept over her and Rebecca fell instantly in love with the beautiful forest. Pale winter sunshine shone down on her as she stepped away from the wardrobe, and Rebecca couldn't stop staring at the snowy surroundings. She instinctively looked down to find the spinning arrow from her dream and saw nothing but snow. The other appeared beside her, looking around in amazement.
"Impossible," said Susan.
"Don't worry," everyone looked at Lucy. "I'm sure it's just your imagination." Joy stood beside Lucy and looked smugly at Rebecca, who ignored it and looked around at the trees again.
"I don't suppose saying we're sorry would quite cover it," said Peter. Rebecca nodded, she should have believed Joy from the start, and looked at Joy, feeling slightly guilty about last night.
"No," Lucy clasped her hands behind her back "it wouldn't." She suddenly threw a snowball at him, hitting Peter directly in the face! Joy tossed one at Rebecca, who successfully dodged. "But that might!" exclaimed Lucy. All the children scrambled for snowballs. Peter threw one and hit Lucy right on the forehead. Rebecca got Joy in the shoulder, who got even with a blow to her chest. The snow soaked through her blouse to her skin and Rebecca started shivering, giving up the game. All the while, Joy and Susan threw snowballs at Edmund, who was staring at two mountains in the distance.
"Ow!" he said, grabbing his shoulder. Peter tossed some snow at Susan and then the fun came to a halt. "Stop it!" Edmund scowled at Susan and Joy. Peter glared at him.
"You little liar!"
"You didn't believe her either!" Peter looked back at Lucy.
"Apologize to Lucy." Lucy and Joy looked at Edmund. Peter walked closer to Edmund. "Say you're sorry!"
"Alright! I'm sorry," said Edmund, scowling at Peter.
"That's alright," said Lucy flippantly "some little children just don't know when to stop pretending." Joy grinned at her friend.
"Very funny," said Edmund quietly, glaring at the two girls.
"Maybe we should go back," said Susan. Peter looked at her with annoyance.
"Susan, we can't go back," protested Rebecca. "We may not get the chance to come here again, especially if the wardrobe is controlled by magic." Joy smiled at Rebecca, eyebrows raised with surprise.
"Shouldn't we at least take a look around?" asked Edmund.
"I think Lucy should decide," said Peter. Lucy's face lit up with excitement.
"I'd like you all to meet Mr. Tumnus!"
"Well then Mr. Tumnus it is." Peter nodded and then headed back to the wardrobe. Susan rubbed her arms, the chill slowly creeping up on everybody.
"Well we can't go hiking in the snow, dressed like this?" Rebecca looked down at her snow-covered shoes and wiggled her cold toes inside, silently agreeing with Susan.
"Well, no," Peter emerged from the wardrobe with an armload of coats "but I'm sure the Professor wouldn't mind us using these." He handed the first one to Lucy, who gasped when her fingers brushed the soft fur. "And anyway, when you think about it, logically," he handed the next one to Susan, who glared at him as she took it "we won't even be taking them out of the wardrobe." He shoved a fluffy grey coat at Edmund, who stepped away looking repulsed.
"But that's a girl's coat," he protested. Peter nodded.
"I know," and he forced Edmund to take the coat. Edmund scowled at Peter's back as he put the coat on. Peter handed a brown/black coat to Joy and the last one, light brown with a touch of gold, to Rebecca.
With the thick fur coat on, Rebecca felt a great deal warmer, and then Lucy led the group towards the lamppost. Once she saw the lamppost, it reminded Rebecca of the lampposts in London, and she couldn't figure out how a lamppost stood in the middle of a forest. What brought it here? Why? She then remembered her conversation with Professor Kirke, and wondered if he knew about the lamppost, or could have possibly brought it here.
"This is where I met the fox," said Joy, walking up beside her. Rebecca tore her eyes away from the lamppost's yellow flame, and her thoughts about Narnia's history, and nodded. "You were really telling me the truth this morning?" asked Joy, and Rebecca nodded.
"Yes, you were right last night about my wanting to believe the story," said Rebecca. "Last night, after you went with Lucy to get some hot chocolate, we talked with the Professor and he believed you and Lucy. I figured if he can believe you, I can too." Joy smiled up at her. "And, I am sorry for not saying so sooner."
"I'm sorry for not accepting your apology earlier," said Joy, and Rebecca felt like everything was back to normal. Well, as normal as it could be while walking through a magical world. Joy ran ahead to walk with Lucy and Rebecca ended up walking between Peter and Susan.
"Did you think it was real?" Peter asked her.
"Yes, I did," said Rebecca, suddenly feeling brave "I wasn't sure at first, but last night after talking with the Professor, I truly did believe Lucy's story." Susan looked very concerned, and Rebecca imagined the word "logically" was probably going through her mind. "What about you two?" she asked them. Susan silently shrugged and walked forward while staring at the woods, leaving Peter to answer the question, who took his time answering.
"I don't know," he said finally, "but I fully believe it now. I think the Professor's belief confused me."
"Honestly, he helped me make up my mind about Narnia," said Rebecca. "And I'm awfully glad to be here now."
The group crested a snowy hill and looked down at a long, rocky valley, and a wind blew some light snow in their faces. Grinning, Peter ran forward, past Rebecca, Susan and Lucy and wiped out flat on his back in the snow. All the girls laughed at him while Edmund sullenly watched. That was when Joy tripped and fell too, and she squealed at the cold snow touching her legs, and Rebecca couldn't stop laughing as she helped her up.
When they came out of the valley and turned to the right, Lucy started describing to the group what Mr. Tumnus was like. Rebecca was half listening, too excited about meet the faun and wondering what to say, when Peter said "Lu?" and Rebecca snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the others.
Ahead of her, the children had stopped walking and Rebecca would have run into Susan if she hadn't stopped in time. She looked past Joy's head and saw a door in the rock ahead of them. At least it used to be a door, now it was broken into bits and half-hanging off the hinges. Lucy gasped and ran forward. "Lucy!" shouted Peter. They all ran after her, into the cave, and Rebecca gasped with shock, and, to her surprise, anger.
Joy quickly entered the dark cave. Snow blown in from the open door and ashes from the fireplace covered the floor and entrance way. Broken dishes and bits of food lay scattered all over the floor as well, and Joy tried to avoid stepping on the fragments. "Who would do something like this?" asked Lucy sadly.
"The Witch," said Joy with a sour tone. She spotted something on the floor by Edmund's foot and walked over to pick it up. It was a framed portrait of a faun, it must have been Mr. Tumnus' father, with slashes across it from either a knife or claws. Looking up, she saw Rebecca looking around the cave with horror, and she looked somewhat angry.
"How can the Witch get away with this?" asked Rebecca, and she kicked some snow out of the doorway. Peter pulled a piece of parchment down from where it had been nailed to the wall and started reading.
"'The faun Tumnus is hereby charged with high treason'," Peter looked at Susan warily "'against her Imperial Majesty, Jadis, Queen of Narnia, for comforting her enemies and fraternizing with humans. Signed Maugrim, Captain of the Secret Police.'" Peter looked up from the parchment. "'Long Live the Queen.'" Susan grabbed the parchment from him and glanced it over.
"Alright, now we really should go back," said Susan to Peter.
"No," insisted Rebecca, and Joy was surprised at the conviction in her voice.
"What about Mr. Tumnus?" asked Lucy.
"If he was arrested just for being with a human," said Susan, trying to be gentle and logical "I don't think there's much we can do." Joy frowned.
"You don't understand, do you?" Everyone looked at Lucy. "I'm the human." A confused look came over her face. "She must have found out he helped me." To her left, Edmund suddenly dropped his head, staring at the floor, and Joy got a funny feeling in her stomach.
"Maybe we should call the police," said Peter.
"These are the police, said Susan holding out the parchment. Peter bent down to Lucy's level.
"Don't worry Lu, we'll think of something."
"Of course, we will," said Rebecca, coming up on the other side of Susan.
"Why?" Edmund got the attention of the others. The funny feeling in Joy's stomach wouldn't go away, and she continued to stare at him with suspicion. "I mean, he's a criminal."
"A criminal according to the Witch, but not to us," Joy pointed out and Edmund glared at her. Outside a bird was singing its song, and then a psst came from beyond the door. All the children froze and turned their heads towards the sound.
"Did that bird just psst us?" Peter moved past Susan and towards the door, the others quickly followed him. Once outside, the bird flew away, but the noise continued. A rustling sound moved from snow bank to snow bank in front of them, and it made everyone nervous. Joy grabbed hold of Rebecca's sleeve who was holding onto Peter's. On his other side, Susan grabbed his shoulder and Lucy was holding onto Susan's sleeve. The noise came closer, and closer, and then a beaver appeared from behind one of the snowbanks. Everyone relaxed the grip on each other, what harm could a beaver cause to six children?
"It's a beaver," said Lucy. Joy moved around Rebecca's shoulder and hoped it was a Talking Beaver.
"Hello," she said, but the beaver made no answer, looking up at the Pevensies and sniffing the air. Peter held out his hand and walked slowly towards it.
"Here boy, tsk, tsk, tsk, here boy!" He grew closer to the beaver, when the beaver suddenly said, "I ain't gonna smell it if that's what you want." Lucy and Joy broke out in giggles, Susan stared wide-eyed and Rebecca watched the beaver with curiosity. Edmund was just plain shocked. Peter sheepishly withdrew his hand.
"Oh, sorry," he said. The beaver turned his attention to Lucy.
"Lucy Pevensie." Lucy stopped laughing and came forward.
"Yes?" The beaver held out a piece of cloth, which he handed to Lucy. "Hey that's the hanky I gave to Mr."
"Tumnus." The beaver interrupted her. "He got it to me just before they took him."
"Is he alright?" asked Lucy. The beaver waddled backward on his hind legs.
"Further in," he said softly, then turned and ran up and over a snow bank. Peter, Lucy, Rebecca and Joy instantly followed, but Susan grabbed Peter's arm and held him back.
"What are you doing?!" she asked.
"She's right," said Edmund "how do we know we can trust him?" Peter shrugged.
"He said he knows the faun." Susan looked at Peter like he was stupid.
"He's a beaver, he shouldn't be saying anything!"
"They have talking animals here in Narnia," explained Joy "I met three of them when I was last here." Edmund mouthed her words, making fun of her, and Joy made a face back at him.
"Everything alright?" The beaver's head popped up over the snowbank.
"Yes," said Peter "we were just talking." The beaver glanced around quickly.
"That's better left for safe quarters," he whispered, then dove behind the snowbank. Lucy looked around.
"He means the trees," said Lucy, and Joy nodded, remembering what Mr. Fox told her. Peter looked at the others, sighed with frustration and followed the beaver. Lucy and Peter followed directly behind him, Joy and Rebecca in the middle and Susan and Edmund brought up the rear.
Mr. Beaver led them through the woods at a rather quick pace, like he was trying not to be seen, and the children struggled to keep him in sight. Despite being such a small animal, he could run very fast, and he looked back every so often to make sure the children were still behind him. Eventually, they came out of the thick wood and approached a number of rocks that looked more like short pointy mountains which towered over the children's heads.
"Come on," said Mr. Beaver "we don't want to be caught out here after nightfall." They walked through a narrow pass between the rocks, and a long while later, came out at the top of a valley, and found they were looking down on a beaver's dam. There was a little raised area in the middle of the dam, like a beehive, where you could see two lighted windows and a ribbon of smoke coming from the chimney. "Oh blimey! Looks like the old girl' has got the kettle on, nice cup o' Rosy Lee?"
"It's lovely," said Lucy. The other nodded in agreement.
"Oh, it's merely a trifle," said Mr. Beaver, but you could tell he was proud of it "still plenty to do. I ain't quite finished it yet." He led them down the slope to the dam and through the trees. As they approached the dam, a loud voice came from the front door.
"Beaver? Is that you? I've been worried sick!" Another beaver came into view as they rounded the corner. "If I find you've been out with Badger again, oh!" She immediately stopped her scolding and clasped her paws together with excitement as she took in the group of children.
"Oh, well those aren't badgers. I never thought I'd live to see this day!" She waddled forward and the children smiled at her. Joy said, "Pleasure to meet you," which made Mr. Beaver laugh. Mrs. Beaver then looked down, fluffed her fur and then looked at Mr. Beaver. "You forgot my fur, you couldn't give me ten minutes warning." Mr. Beaver shrugged.
"I'd have given you a week if I thought it would've helped." The children laughed at Mr. Beaver, and Mrs. Beaver waved her paws to get them to stop laughing.
"Well, come inside and see if we can't get you some food, and some civilized," she looked at Mr. Beaver "company." She waddled off to the front door and all the girls ran in after her. Mrs. Beaver led them through a tunnel, showed them wear to hang up their coats and then they went into the main room.
In Joy's opinion it reminded her of the Badger's home, only these walls were made of branches and logs twisted together. Also, the Beavers had an upstairs loft and there was a door which seemed to lead to no where off to the side of the kitchen area, unless the Beavers had a cellar. There were lanterns placed around the room, a candle chandelier hanging over the table and a roaring fire on the hearth, which made the whole place feel warm and cozy.
The Beavers pulled up all the little stools and chairs they could find and tried to fit them all around the table. Still, Edmund decided to sit on the stairs while Joy sat by the fire to warm her cold legs and feet. The others all wanted tea, and Lucy mentioned she was hungry, so Mrs. Beaver got busy in the kitchen. Rebecca and Susan helped her, and Susan was just bringing the tea pot over to the table when Peter asked the important question.
"Isn't there anything we can do to help Tumnus?" Rebecca brought a plate of toast in one hand and jam and honey jars in the other, which she placed on the table and then sat down between Peter and Lucy.
"They'll take him to the Witch's house," said Mr. Beaver, waving his mug while he talked "and you know what they say, there's few who go in those gates that come out again. Most are turned into stone statues by the Witch's wand." Joy again remembered what Mr. Fox said, and felt a slight chill settle over her shoulders.
"Fish and chips!" Mrs. Beaver chuckled nervously as she set a plate down in front of Lucy. From what Joy had seen while Mrs. Beaver was cooking, it did not look appetizing. "But there's hope dear," Mrs. Beaver touched Lucy's shoulder then looked back at Mr. Beaver "lots of hope." Mr. Beaver spit a mouthful of tea back into his mug.
"Oh yeah, there's a right bit more than hope!" He leaned forward. "Aslan is on the move." That same feeling of excitement and adventure swept over Joy and she stood up so she could hear more of the conversation. Edmund came forward too, only his expression was one of horror.
"Who's Aslan?" he asked. Mr. Beaver burst out laughing, and all the children stared at him.
"Who's Aslan! You cheeky little blighter." Mrs. Beaver nudged him in the shoulder, and he stopped laughing. "What?" he asked, and she gestured to the children. After looking at their faces he said, "You don't know, do you?"
"Well, we haven't exactly been here very long," said Peter. Joy opened her mouth to speak but Mr. Beaver beat her to it.
"He's only the King of the whole wood. The top geezer?" Joy nodded, but the beaver looked at the Pevensie's faces, hoping for any sign of recognition. "The real King of Narnia," he prompted. Rebecca looked at Joy standing behind her and nodded, and Joy was happy Rebecca remembered what she said last night. Edmund shook his head and walked back to the stairs.
"He's been away for a long while," said Mrs. Beaver.
"And he just got back!" said Mr. Beaver excitedly. "And he's waiting for you at the Stone Table!" At that moment, Joy noticed the door on the tunnel which led to the outside was open, and Edmund was no where in sight. The others were so wrapped up in what Mr. Beaver was saying about Aslan that they hadn't noticed he was missing. So, she rushed across the room and softly closed the door behind her, eager to get him in trouble. She walked through the tunnel and pushed the second door open.
Night was falling and Joy found it hard to see with the clouds covering the moon. After looking around at all the shadows, she finally spotted Edmund, climbing the slope just at the edge of the trees. "Edmund?" She stepped out of the door. He turned around sharply, looking slightly guilty, and jogged down the hill towards her.
"What are you doing out here?" he asked, quickly pulling the door closed.
"What are you doing out here Edmund?" She crossed her arms to appear suspicious, but in reality, she was cold.
"I," he looked at the door again nervously "I'm going to visit the Queen of Narnia."
"Edmund!" He shushed her and told her to keep quiet. "Don't you know that she's a Witch, and not a Queen?" she whispered, and placed her hand on the doorknob. "I'm going to tell Peter."
"No!" he stopped her. "Come with me and I'll show you that she's good. All that bad stuff you've heard about her is made up!" Joy didn't believe him.
"How do you know that Edmund?" she asked.
"I met her in the woods yesterday," he said, "and she was very nice to me." He stood a little taller. "She wants to make me a Prince of Narnia, and later on, the King." He grinned smugly, but Joy didn't like the look on his face, and that strange feeling from earlier returned to her stomach.
"Why would she do that?" asked Joy.
"Because she's a nice person," he crossed his arms "and you can't always believe what talking animals say."
"You're wrong," said Joy defensively. "I believe them."
"But they're wrong!" shouted Edmund, while trying to keep his voice down at the same time.
"But she's evil!" said Joy.
"No, she's not, she was kind to me," he paused "and she has the best Turkish Delight you've ever tasted," said Edmund, and Joy's sweet tooth instantly perked up, causing the odd feeling in her stomach to disappear.
"Turkish Delight?" she asked. Turkish Delight sure sounded good right now. "It was really good?" she asked, feeling slightly curious.
"Even better than the stuff they sell at Christmas," said Edmund, and Joy's stomach grumbled. He started walking away from the door and Joy followed him, suddenly hungry for Turkish Delight. "Come on, let's go before the others hear about it."
"But, are you sure?" asked Joy. Meeting the Witch, or Queen, face to face and asking her for the delicious sweet made Joy feel a little nervous.
"What? Are you scared?" asked Edmund, stopping at the foot of the slope, challenging her with a look. Joy grit her teeth and said "No," glaring at him. He started walking up the hill and Joy, after a brief glance back at the Beaver's door, decided to give in.
"I am not scared of the White Witch," said Joy, marching after him. The two headed further away from the dam and into the trees. He pointed up at two mountains in the distance, beyond the second wooded slope in front of them.
"Her house is between those two hills," he said.
"Mountains, Edmund" corrected Joy.
"She called them hills," retorted Edmund, and Joy rolled her eyes. They slogged up the second hill through the snow, which was growing deeper the higher up they went, and Joy's feet were starting to freeze inside her shoes. The Beaver's dam quickly disappeared among the trees behind them, and an icy wind blew off the mountains in front of them. "I wish I hadn't left my coat behind," she grumbled through her chattering teeth, watching the icy fumes rise in front of her face.
"It isn't that far Joy, hurry up," said Edmund, and the two headed further up and into the mountains.