A NEW GENERATION
Presenting chapter 6. This is where I originally intended to reveal exactly what has happened to Puck, but I decided to save that for the next chapter—just to keep you guys in suspense! (Hee, hee.)
Chapter 6
"Oh, no!" Tumnus groaned, clapping a hand to his forehead in dismay. "Oh, no! I don't believe it!" Just when he'd thought this day couldn't get any worse, it had just gotten worse.
First, an ugly dispute with Terence, his best mate in the world—and now this!
"I'm scared, Tumnus!" Tears were now starting to glisten in Lucy's eyes. She began to shake.
The sight of her, and the sound of her voice, made Tumnus's heart melt. He immediately reached out for his wife and drew her very gently into his sturdy arms, holding her against his shoulder and resting his cheek atop her head, running his fingers delicately through her hair.
"Don't worry, my dearest," he whispered into her ear, in his best endeavor to sound soothing. "Our son must be around here somewhere."
With her face nestled against her husband's royal emerald scarf, Lucy moaned, "Puck is just a baby, Tumnus. He's so small, and helpless. What if something terrible has happened to him? Oh, if any harm has come to our poor child, I'll never forgive myself!"
"Don't worry," Tumnus repeated again, as he continued to caress her, "I'm sure he's all right. Perhaps he is simply playing hide-and-seek. You know how much Puck loves that game. And this castle is so big, and so wide; he could be anywhere. Just calm down, Lucy, calm down. It will be all right, dear heart. It's going to be all right…"
He held Lucy in his arms for a minute, and when Lucy managed to get some hold of herself, he eased his grip on her and said, "Let's separate, and look for him. He could not have gone far."
A single tear rolled down Lucy's cheek, which Tumnus obligingly wiped away with his thumb.
"Shhh," he whispered gently, "don't cry, dear Lucy. I promise you, we'll find him."
Had it not been for Puck, Tumnus would have told his wife then what had occurred between him and Terence, and he would have sought the young white-haired man out and asked for his forgiveness. The faun vowed to himself on the spot that the very moment his son was found, the very moment he knew Puck was safe and well, he would then try to find his friend and plead with Terence to forgive him for what he had done to him so unfairly, and unjustly.
When word got out that Puck had gone missing, nearly everyone in the castle, especially Lucy's siblings, became frantic with worry. King Peter thereby ordered for a massive search party to be established on the spot, and he commanded that the whole castle be searched from top to bottom. Not one room was to be overlooked, not one nook or cranny left uninvestigated. Queen Susan and King Edmund both opted to participate in the search for their nephew themselves. General Oreius and a small handful of Narnian soldiers were sent out to see if Puck could be anywhere in the land outside the castle, while several griffins and other winged creatures were sent out on a flight to try to track Puck down from overhead.
Everyone searched as best they could, both inside and outside the castle, both from the ground and above the ground—yet Puck was nowhere to be found.
The air rang with everyone's anxious calls, but there was no merry little bleat in response.
Lucy grew steadily more upset the longer they searched for her son without success, and soon even Tumnus was fearful for Puck's safety.
Where could the lad have possibly gone?
What if he was hurt? What if Puck had fallen, and hit his head? What if he had accidentally tumbled into some hole or pit in the ground outside, and couldn't get out again—or, what if he had tried to go swimming in the ocean and gotten himself swept out on the tide? That last prospect seemed unlikely, since Puck was afraid of water, especially big water. But, what if he lay on the ground somewhere, unmoving and…Tumnus shut his eyes and shook his head frantically to try to rid himself of such awful thoughts.
Puck had to be all right. He simply had to be. Neither Tumnus nor Lucy could afford to think otherwise.
They just had to find him—and soon.
Terence and Puck © unicorn-skydancer08
Tumnus and Lucy and Others © C.S. Lewis and Disney/Walden Media
Story © unicorn-skydancer08
