Part Two of

The Narnia Trilogy:

When Children Cry

My first fanfic, so be merciful, I beg of you!

SUMMARY:

Part One: Basically, Tumnus' story of his friendship with Lucy.

Part Two: Their friendship after Lucy becomes Queen Lucy the Valiant of Narnia.

Part Three: Lucy and Tumnus reunite many years later, and how their friendship progresses into love.

And then we'll have a little Epilogue.

Disclaimer: I do not own Lucy or Tumnus or Narnia. In Book Two, I do, however, own my own character (sort of) who is the Dryad Chrystmay (fashioned after a friend, IridescentEpiphany), and I'm even in control of my own plot-line!

Part Three begins now! In this chapter, we meet Lucy twelve years later.

Chapter Sixteen

A New Lucy

Lucy took just a half a moment to whip an arrow out of her quiver, take aim, and fire; the arrow-head pierced the straw target directly between its invisible eyes. It had taken her the entire twelve years she'd ruled at Cair Paravel for her to perfect that shot. Twelve long years, and in that time, Narnia had made her forget. She'd forgotten her life in England and London, forgotten the lamp-post and the professor and the wardrobe. She'd even forgotten her own name: Pevensie. She was Lucy now, Queen Lucy, and though all of her sibling had titles now, like Susan the Gentle and Edmund the Just and Peter the Magnificent, she was still only Lucy.

Yet her archery instructor, the centaur Glonthelyn, had many names for her: Lucy the Rogue. Lucy the Tomboy, Lucy the Resilient. And Glonthelyn's eye missed nothing, which is exactly why he trotted over to her, shaking his head.

'Lucy, no, don't shoot like that,' he moaned. His English had greatly improved in those twelve years, as well. No longer did he speak in harsh-sounding words, although they still did have a distinctly Irish accent to them.

'Like what?' she asked, readying another arrow. This one was soon wedged in the dummy's chest.

Glonthelyn sighed. 'You shoot... well, like a man. You're only taking a second's worth of aiming.'

A frown curved on Lucy's face. 'But that's how the warriors do it in battle!' she protested, impatiently flinging a dark lock of hair over her shoulder.

'But Lucy, that's just it, you're not in battle,' sighed the centaur. 'You're a queen, not a warrior, so I expect you to shoot like a lady, because you're never going to fight in wars. You were lucky those last two shots, but you need to take your time aiming. You can't depend on luck to make all your targets.'

It took all of the blink of an eye for the queen to string an arrow and send it sailing into the wooden board on the dummy that symbolised its groin. 'You call that luck?' she said slyly, indicating the arrow lodged firmly between the dummy's legs.

Glonthelyn smiled, though she suspected it was forced. 'That's enough archery for today,' he said, even though the lesson had barely started. 'Now, fencing.' He turned and walked to the practice ring.

Lucy followed him, taking hurried steps so as to keep up with the centaur's bulging legs. As she walked, she gradually shed her archery equipment. 'Master Glonthelyn, why is it that I can't go into battle? If men with less combat skill than I go to fight, why must I be held back?'

'Because you are a lady,' said Glonthelyn, stomping his hoofs. 'and a queen, no less! and you must therefore be protected. Narnia is not going to endanger their youngest ruler for her own desires!'

'I am not so young,' Lucy said, frowning.

'You're hardly an adult, though, at twenty.'

Lucy pulled a padded tunic on for her fencing instruction, and didn't add that she was nearly twenty-one. 'If I was a man,' she murmured, 'I'd already be an honoured soldier.'

'If you were a man,' said Glonthelyn, voice rising, 'you would not be so impertinent! We've given you specialised training in combat just because you've requested it –'

'If Pete and Edmund can have them, why not I?'

' –but asking to go into battle is preposterous! I won't endanger a member of the royal family!'

'I endanger myself, thanks very much, fully aware of the consequences!' Lucy shrieked. 'And Peter and Edmund have gone to war hundreds of times, yet they, too, are royal!'

Glonthelyn, about to answer, suddenly held his tongue, but Lucy could see his reply in his eyes, anyway. Her voice came softly, hurt:

'It's because you think women are weak.' Lucy came to the realisation in shock. 'You're not defending women, you're suppressing them. Suppressing me.'

'I wouldn't have to,' he sniffed proudly, 'if you weren't so hoyden.'

'Oh, is that how things go?' she whispered menacingly. With that, she turned into the practice ring and grabbed the wooden sword. 'Very well,' she said, now in a loud voice. 'If I win this match, you'll give me the right to fight in battle and my own sword. I'm sick of these wooden rubbish ones.'

Glonthelyn was silent, and Lucy smiled. She could see the clockwork in his mind. On one hand, women were not supposed to be so skilled in fighting. On the other hand, Lucy had beaten her opponents (mostly dwarfs) numerous times. Her opponent, another dwarf, was standing nonchalantly in the opposite corner of the ring. He was hardly a match for the Queen Lucy.

'Very well,' said Glonthelyn finally. 'I'll take your wager. But,' he said, stopping Lucy's grin midway. 'You are not to fight with this dwarf.' Lucy's face fell completely. 'Fight me.'

'You!' Lucy said incredulously. 'We'll be outmatched!'

'And every opponent you've fought so far has had a handicap. Mainly, it is that they're short. Sorry, Yuren,' he added to the dwarf. 'But things are not so simple in war. In war, you'll often have to fight two or three enemies at once, while defending another. So I think it's only fair that you fight me, in that it will be the closest thing to battle that you've ever known.'

Lucy curled her lip in detest, then smirked. 'But you've forgotten, Master Glonthelyn, I have an additional handicap to being so short and inexperienced to your superiority.'

'And what might that be?'

'I'm a woman.' And she charged at Glonthelyn, sword at the ready. He was not taken off guard, however, for he grabbed the wooden sword from the dwarf who was still in the ring. 'Get out,' the centaur hissed to him, and Yuren scurried out of the ring like there was hot metal in his shoes.

It was, truly, a fair fight. Lucy was far better skilled with the sword than Glonthelyn had thought, and indeed more skilled than the centaur himself. It was because of his great size that he was able to overpower and block each move she made. Glonthelyn was panting heavily at each attack and defence, sweating profusely. Yet Lucy remained strong, bringing on new footwork and strikes. The centaur realised, with a pang of defeat, that he was being beaten by a woman. The thought, unbearable, led him to inconspicuously place a hoof behind Lucy's feet, then he heaved a great thrust towards her, causing her to step back and thus trip on his hoof.

She lay on the ground, elbows propping her up from behind, and Glonthelyn held his wood sword to her throat. 'Yield, madam,' he said, devilish joy in his eyes.

'You cheated,' Lucy whispered.

'If you ever went into battle, you would learn that enemies do not always follow combat chivalry.' Glonthelyn threw the wooden stick behind him. 'I win.' And he trotted away, looking quite smug.

'It wasn't a fair fight!' she yelled after him.

'Fair it was, my lady,' he called over his shoulder. 'Though you'd do well to practice that footwork!' He galloped off, and Lucy felt sure she could hear him chuckling.

'Ooh,' she whispered to herself, grimacing. 'He is just... just nasty sometimes. But there's not much I can do now.'

'I'd say he's a trickster, that centaur,' said Yuren the dwarf, who'd seen the whole match.

'Trickster he is,' groaned Lucy, standing up. 'But I've had just enough of him. How is he supposed to teach me anything when all he does is criticise me for being a woman?'

'Don't complain, Highness,' Yuren said. 'You've still got the rest of your lessons to deal with.'

Lucy shook her head. 'That's it. I'm not going to deal with him anymore. Not today, at least.'

'What do you mean by that?' inquired the dwarf.

Lucy only smiled and lifted her skirts to run. 'I'm taking the day off.' With that, she raced into the forests. Yuren did nothing to stop her.