Narnia: When Children Cry

Part III

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Chapter Twenty-Four

On the Eve of Battle

Tumnus was glad that, when the wolves had ransacked his den, they hadn't found the secret cabinet. It was hidden, very cleverly indeed, into the wall, and he kept only one thing there. Of course, he'd transported it when he moved into his new den, and now kept it in a less hidden place.

He opened the drawer and pulled out the mail first, fingering the fine steel mesh before slipping it over his shoulders. Next came the shoulder piece and brassards, followed by cuisse and knee pieces, all smoothed over in red-painted metal. The helmet was last to go, with Tumnus tracing over the gold filigree and crimson pewter, then finally placing it cautiously over his head.

My father went away to war, too. Yes, and this was his armour. Tumnus had hoped that he'd never have to use it, but the time was now here.

As Tumnus lifted up the final piece, his breath caught in his chest. Here it was: Lavin. That was its name, Lavin: his father's sword. In a flash he whipped it out of its scabbard and held it right up before his face.

That was the true knight in Tumnus.

❦

'What!' Kind Edmund cried when he'd gone to the falconer.

'Sire, I can't begin to say how sorry I am! I should have been at my post but – they just weren't there!' The falconer was cringing into a corner.

Edmund sighed. 'I'm sorry, Guaden, I really am. This isn't your fault, but... But how could have all the birds just disappeared overnight?'

'That I don't know, Sire,' said Guaden, the falconer. 'But this isn't... just isn't natural! I don't think they would've all gone on their own.'

'What are you saying?' Edmund moaned, kneading his forehead in distress. 'That someone kidnapped our birds!'

'It's possible, Sire, though I don't know what purpose it would serve,' said the falconer.

'Edmund,' said Peter, who'd remained silent on the other side of the bird nursery. 'do you think the... the other side... could have taken them? Birds are the most reliable source for discovering the other team's defences, and perhaps they didn't want that as a disadvantage...'

'That's what I was thinking, brother mine,' Edmund sighed. 'This battle won't be won easily.'

Peter smiled grimly. 'Did you ever think it would be?'

❦

Lucy looked down at the armour in her hands, thinking it lucky that Peter had grown so much after their arrival at Cair Paravel. He was fitted for new, better armour that was more to his size, so she'd secretly kept his first set in her own chambers for years. Now the time had come for her to take up the armour and put it to use.

It was a relief that the helmet's visor was fully facial, thereby she wouldn't have to duck around before battle and try not to be noticed. If anyone found out that she – a woman, and queen, no less – was plotting to fight in battle, she'd be put under lock and key. As it was, she'd need to make herself as much of a man as possible to go by inconspicuously. She'd already bound her breasts flat, but there was one thing more she had to do...

Lucy gathered all of her thick lion's mane into a bundle, holding Father Christmas' dagger in one hand. She didn't want to, but it was a mark that must be made. It was not only that she needed to appear a man, but she needed to become the Lucy she'd been all along. Perhaps she'd feel differently after the deed was done. Lucy poised the dagger beside her hair, lifted it –

'Don't,' said a quiet voice by the door.

In shock, Lucy dropped the dagger and spun around on the spot to see who it was that made her fate continue undone.

'Tumnus,' she gasped, and backed into the wall. There he stood, coated in full armour. He looked so brave, so valiant... so scared.

'I know what you're doing,' he whispered, but Lucy could still hear him. 'And I know I can't stop you, however much I'd like.'

'Tumnus, this isn't... This really isn't what it seems...'

'Yes, it is,' Tumnus said, walking into the room. 'You're planning to go into battle as a man. I know I can't keep you from doing that. It's... it's...' Tumnus gulped. 'I've known you'd do it someday.'

'How?' whispered Lucy. 'How do you do it? You always know what I'm doing, always know my purpose for doing it. How?'

Lucy saw him smile, but it was the saddest thing she'd ever seen. She at once wanted to burst into tears.

'I've seen you like this. I'd always imagined you like it, but I never wanted to believe it would happen. Lucy, I can't change you. You're... you're a free spirit. You can't be harnessed, not by your brother, not by the laws, and certainly not –' Tumnus looked down. '– by me.'

Lucy took forward steps to him. 'Oh, Tumnus.'

You would've wept to see that look in his eyes. 'You must do what you see right, but please.' He looked Lucy straight in the eye. 'Don't cut your hair.'

'Tumnus, I –' began Lucy, and raced to him, but he silenced her with a look.

'I had this forged for you,' he said, and lifted a second sword off his belt. Lucy sharply took in a breath as she gazed on its fine scabbard. 'I thought it would be a Christmas gift, but... You'll be needing it sooner than I'd hoped.' Gently, he placed the sword in her hands and closed her fingers around it. 'Think of it as an early wedding present.' Lucy heaved a great sob and threw her arms around Tumnus, weeping into his shoulder.

Since she was only a child, that was the first time he'd seen her cry.

It was such a different cry, filled with so many different tears, that Tumnus knew something that he'd not been able to admit for ages. He put a hand to cup her chin, lifted her head up to meet his. 'Lucy,' he whispered, though he was saying more to himself than to her. 'You truly aren't a child anymore.'

Then they held each other like only good friends do, knowing that before the battle was over, they might not ever see one another again. It was too long before Tumnus reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded fabric square, small and white.

'Here,' he whispered, pressing it into her palm. 'You need it more than I do.' And though that was what he said, Lucy saw one tear glide down his cheek.