Part Three of

Narnia: 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. I might have a Part Four, as a sort of aftermath of the war, but we'll see.

I ask you to review, but you don't have to. Warn me if it's too fluffy, but I promise some good LucyTumnus stuff in the next chapter, and the one after. Not necessarily fluff, but good stuff.

Disclaimer: I do not own Lucy or Tumnus or Narnia. I do own (sort of) Chrystmay the Dryad, who may or may not appear in Part Three.

Chapter Twenty-Two

And So It Begins

The High King Peter intently listened to his sister and the faun relive the tale, accompanied on either side of him by Kind Edmund and Queen Susan. A bit behind them was Prince Corin, who was sometimes listening, but often cast glances at Lucy.

After a while, Peter said, very slowly, 'It seems to me that... that this dwarf fellow... Well, Tumnus, he must've forged your so-called 'official' banishment papers, and Lucy, he's lied to all four royals of Narnia –'

'Bloody well did,' she muttered.

'– impersonated a royal guard of Narnia, sentenced an illegitimate banishment... Lu, this man's a criminal, whoever he is.'

'Of course he's a criminal,' she scowled. 'but what do you want to do about it?'

'To give him a jolly good flogging,' said Peter.

'Peter, you must do something!' cried Queen Susan.

'Hush, I know,' said Peter. 'But what? We don't know his intentions by all this nor his name or where to find him. My best suggestion would be to look at the records of who was on guard on that day. Does anyone remember when this all happened?' Edmund did, and told Peter the date. Peter relayed it a herald, who raced across the hall to the record-rooms.

'But Peter,' Edmund said timidly. 'if he did all those things, do you really think he'd have put his name down on a guard schedule?'

'Of course not,' said Peter. 'But to make things a little less suspicious, he might have placed a false name in the schedules. Or if not, we could at least locate the other guards on duty that day and question them.'

'King Peter,' said Corin from far off. 'Once we locate him, might I have permission to box him?'

'Permission denied,' Peter said flatly.

'Blast,' said Corin. 'Might I have permission to do it without your permission?'

'This isn't a game, Corin,' said Lucy quietly. 'Someone did something awful, and we don't know to what purpose or for what representation.' She turned to Peter. 'Don't you have any ideas what might be the source of it?'

'I do indeed, Lucy,' he said, and shuddered. 'but not many are probable, and each more disquieting than the next. At the least harm, someone must've been displeased with your friendship with Tumnus, Lucy.'

'At the most?' Tumnus asked, though he was very disquieted himself about the matter.

Peter had a nervous, frightened expression quiver over his face. 'I haven't gotten that far yet,' he said, 'but there's always something worse.'

At that moment, there was a great sound from outside the throne room. Tumnus frowned and poked his head out the door to see what it was.

A centaur had just thrown open both the entrance doors into Cair Paravel. He reared up on his hind legs and galloped with a deafening clopping sound on the stone floors. Tumnus' eyes widened as the centaur looked up the grand staircase before poising his horse's legs and clamoring up the marble steps. He was followed by a hoard of guards and heralds. One guard stood in the centaur's way with a spear pointing at him, but the centaur didn't so much as blink as he gave a vast leap and soared over the man. With a loud, echoing noise of hoofs on stone, he resumed his race.

The centaur galloped into the throne room and stood before his audience. 'Your Majesties,' he panted. 'I apologise for such an entrance, but I have vital information for you from the Western centaurs.'

'Ho, slow down, men,' Peter instructed the guards standing fiercely at the doors. 'Put up your weapons.' They did so. 'Sir, what news do you bring?'

'An army,' he panted, gasping for air. 'There is an army plotting attack against Narnia.'

Susan gasped and clutched Edmund's hand. 'How do you know this?' she breathed.

'I was out hunting in the Western Wood, accompanied by two friends of mine. One had noticed a fire in the distance and was in favour of looking in on it. We did, and discovered that the fire wasn't just that, but an encampment. There were hoards of creatures: dwarfs, minotaurs, and others with faces so horrible that I cannot explain, all making armour and weapons.

'We did our best to remain silent and hidden, and in that time, we could only hear of their purpose. I heard nothing of who was their leader, but only that they intend to rage war on Narnia.

'After tense moments, I heard a sound beside me. I looked to see in horror that one of my friends had been shot from behind. My other friend had noticed, too, and we both immediately turned to see who had cast the arrow. It was a Black dwarf, and he'd shot my other friend before either of us could blink. I was only a second away from my death before I took flight, dodged the arrow, and trampled the archer. From then on, I raced to warn Your Majesties of the danger. Here I stand.'

There was a moment of silence before Queen Susan the Gentle said, very softly, 'Peace, centaur. We mourn for your losses.'

'This isn't the time for condolences,' hissed the centaur. 'We must take action now. King Peter, what say you?'

Peter stood and paced over to the nearest window, looking out to the East. 'I think,' he said, after some time, 'that this anonymous dwarf must have been a part of this army.'

Lucy blinked tardily and looked down. 'But that doesn't make sense. It's been ten years since that event. Should it take a decade to assemble an army?'

Peter's head shot up and his gaze snapped to Lucy. 'If it should, imagine how big it would be.'

There was an ominous settling over the room.

'King Peter, what say you?' the centaur asked again, much louder.

'All is lost,' Peter whispered. 'Their numbers will be too tremendous for our own.'

Lucy stood with careful movements, slowly glided to King Peter and placed her delicate white hand on his shoulder. She whispered so softly that only the both of them could hear:

'Much may be lost,' she whispered. 'but we have hope, and that is something that cannot be taken by threats. When hope is gone, there is always faith. When that is gone, not much else can be done. But that will not happen.'

'Our hope has been taken,' Peter said shakily. 'And our faith is fading swiftly.'

'I do not believe that Aslan would see us defeated so.'

And it was the name, only His name, that returned hope to Peter. A golden dust swept over their hearts, each fleck whispering Aslan.

'He won't have lost hope for us,' said Lucy.

Peter stood, said loudly in a magnificent voice: 'Ready the armies.' There was a shining in his eye that could not be dulled.

Peter faced the centaur. 'What is your name, sir?'

'Ilrael, Your Majesty.'

'Ilrael, I thank you for your bravery and loyalty to Narnia, but you've travelled the length of the Western Wood and beyond. Go to the kitchens and have what it takes to regain your energy, then take residence in a guest room for your rest. You'll need it, if you're going to fight.'

'I will, sire.'

'Herald!' he called, and a herald stepped forward. 'Send word to all Narnia of this upcoming battle, ready our armies for those who would fight.'

Corin spoke, 'You Majesty, King Peter, I proffer my armies in Archenland for your service.'

'Call for aid the Lands of the North and Arhcenland,' said King Edmund loudly. 'And bring forth our generals.' He looked to Peter. 'We can't do this alone.'

'No,' said Peter, shaking his head. 'We cannot.'