Chapter 4: Into the Wardrobe
Lucy stumbled through the thick coats of fur, but it was completely dark. Until she finally felt a little prick on her hand. It felt like...a pine needle.
Lucy gasped in surprise and pulled her arm back quickly. "What the...?" She asked herself as she got a closer look, right in front of her appearing out of thin air, was what appeared to be a forest. And covering the wardrobe's floor was bright white snow.
The red haired girl's jaw slowly fell open as cold air began to surround her, making her bare shoulders and arms begin to freeze. To remedy this Lucy grabbed one of the fur coats that were hung up and slung it over her shoulders. Once she was all bundled up, Lucy steadied her breathing and stepped forward.
When she walked out...she was no longer in Traverse Town. She was in the middle of a snowy wood. The thing that stood out most to her, though, were the fact that there were lamp posts with a gently dancing candle light in its lantern...and roots at the base, like a tree.
Lucy's mouth slowly opened in awe, she giggled in delight as she looked up at the snowy wood. "Whoa... how did all this...?" She asked as snow gently fell from the sky and landed on her head and eyelashes.
She then heard something approaching, crunching through the snow, but seeming a bit...heavier than human feet.
"Is someone there?" Lucy called out, feeling weary about who just crossed her path.
She found nothing...until she turned around, finding a short man with horns, curly brown hair, a short beard, hairy goat's legs, wearing a red scarf and carrying an umbrella and an armful of parcels.
He screamed and bolted away, hiding behind a tree as his packages tumbled from his arms.
"Ahh!" Lucy shrieked as she comically hid behind the lamp post. After a few seconds, Lucy slowly looked into a nearby brush where the goat legged man disappeared into. She saw him hiding behind a tree, his upper body shaking in fright. "Huh?" Lucy asked as she stepped out from behind the post. "Hey, don't be scared! I'm harmless!" she called out to the stranger.
"I, uh...I..." the goat man stammered as he slowly stepped out. He began to sheepishly pick up his packages, "I'm sorry, it-it's just I didn't want to scare you."
"Oh no you're fine!" Lucy giggled. "Looks like I scared you instead." she said with a friendly smile.
"That's...rather true." The goat man said, shuffling his hooves in an embarrassed fashion as he gathered his presents again.
"Oh! Here." Lucy said as she knelt down and picked up one of the goat man's parcels. "You missed one." She said as she handed it back to him.
"Oh, I'm sorry." The goat man said, giving a short bow, "I, uh, happen to be a faun. My name is Tumnus."
"Hehe, nice to meet you Mr. Tumnus. My name's Lucy." The redhaired girl replied with a quick curtsey.
"So, what're you?" Tumnus asked, humorously, "Some sort of beardless dwarf?"
"Oh!" Lucy giggled and waved her hand a bit. "No silly, I've never had a beard. I'm a girl!" She said.
"Wait...a girl? Are you a Daughter of Eve?" Tumnus asked.
"Huh? I'm sorry Mr. Tumnus but I'm not sure what you mean. I have a cousin named Eve!" Lucy replied.
"I mean...you are, in fact? Human?" Tumnus asked.
"Well, yes I am! About as human as you can get, freckles and all!" Lucy said. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, nothing! Sorry, it's just...we don't get many humans here in Narnia." Tumnus said with a nervous laugh.
"Wait, go back a second." Lucy said quickly. "Narnia? But just a minute ago I was in Traverse Town... where's Narnia?" she asked.
"You're in it, right now." Tumnus said, almost amused, "Everything between here to the great castle of Cair Paravell on the eastern ocean. Every stick and stone you see, every icicle is..."
Snow danced around, forming a castle and a wide field. Super-imposed over that was a name in red, gold-outlined lettering. Narnia. It dissolved into a shower of golden sparkles.
Lucy gazed out at the massive winter wonderland that lied ahead of her, all around her was snow as far as the eye could see! "I guess big things really do come in small packages..." She said.
"Well, hardly seems to be the time or place, Miss Lucy, so..." Tumnus said, unfolding his umbrella, "How would you like to come and have tea with me? It's just around the corner, quite warm, and there'll be toast and tea and cakes and we could even break in the sardines!"
"I don't know..." Lucy said as she looked back at where she came from. "I met some folks back in Traverse Town, they're probably wondering where I am..." She said in a nervous voice. "I really don't want to worry them." she said.
"It's just around the corner and it's not every day I get to meet a new friend." Tumnus said.
Lucy looked back and saw the coats somewhere in the woods, near invisible to the rest. She had a way back, at least.
"Well when you put it like that... I guess killing a little time wouldn't hurt!" Lucy replied. "Shall we?" She asked.
"Of course!" Tumnus smiled.
He led her through the snowy woods, coming to a small, wooden door in a mountainside. He opened the door and ushered her in, hanging up his scarf, putting away his umbrella, and stomping his hooves to knock the snow off.
It was a small, cozy, two-room apartment with a small fire in the fireplace, a large bookshelf, and a small, circular table with two chairs.
"Whoa... nice place!" Lucy said as she removed her coat and hung it up. She walked over to Tumnus' bookshelf and read the spines of several of his books, which included titles such as "Is Man a Myth?" and "The life and letters of Silenus".
"I have to keep things nice, after all." Tumnus said, walking through and taking out a tray of snacks, "In this dreadful winter..."
"Dreadful?" Lucy asked as she took a seat. "What do you mean? I like the winter, it means Christmas is right around the corner! And plus when it's really cold out, it gives you an excuse to stay inside!"
"Not here, no." Tumnus said, "We haven't had a Christmas for a hundred years. Always winter, but never Christmas. But...it's nice to remember when it was warmer." Tumnus poured her a cup of nice, hot tea, "We fauns would dance with the dryads all night. And we never got tired. And the music, ah such music..." he looked away, wistfully, before asking, "Would you like to hear some?"
Lucy raised her cup of tea and daintily took a sip. "I'd like that!" She replied.
Tumnus took out a set of panpipes, "Now...are you familiar with Narnian lullabies?"
Lucy shook her head in response. "I can't say I am." She said as she leaned forward in her seat and rested her chin on her palms.
"That's good because this will probably not sound anything like one." Tumnus said.
He then began playing his panpipes. Lucy saw shapes in the fire, shapes of fauns, dryads, centaurs, a strange stag, animals, and stranger creatures dancing in the flames. But as the music kept playing, Lucy began to feel her eyes get heavy, and her mind began to drift.
She must have dozed off because things seemed to pass in a blur until she heard something that sounded like a lion's roar.
She found the fire and candles out and Tumnus on the floor, weeping to himself.
"Hmm...?" Lucy mumbled as she woke up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She looked around at the darkened room and saw the faun on the ground. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked as she got out of her seat and went over to Tumnus.
"Mr. Tumnus, what's the matter?" she asked, only to get no response as the tears kept falling. "Come on Mr. Tumnus, knock it off!" Lucy demanded.
"I-I'm sorry." Tumnus wept, "I'm such a terrible faun."
"Hey! Don't say that, I think you're a great faun!" Lucy replied as Tumnus kept weeping.
"Then I'm afraid you've had a poor sampling." The faun said.
"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked. "You haven't done anything wrong!"
"It's not something I've done, but what I'm doing." Tumnus said.
"Mr. Tumnus, just tell me what's bugging you! I won't be mad or upset, I promise!" Lucy said as she reached out and gently took the faun's hands into hers.
"I...I'm kidnapping you." Tumnus said. That made all heat flow out of Lucy at that point. Tumnus continued, shakily, "It was the White Witch. She's the one who made it always winter, always cold. Her black sorcery and the creatures of darkness. She gave orders that...if we saw any humans around the forest w-w-w-we were supposed to hand it over to her. If she finds out now, she'll have my beard plucked out and my horns sawed off and, if she's especially angry, she'll turn me into stone and I'll be a statue in her castle until the Two Keys seal the Keyhole and who knows if that will ever happen..."
"What...? Mr. Tumnus, I didn't mean to get you in trouble... really!" Lucy said.
"It's not you, it's me, Lucy. Look at me. Do I look like the kind of faun who finds an innocent girl in the woods, one that never did me any harm and lure it to my home, pretending to be its friend, and give it tea all to wait until it's asleep and then handing it over to her!" Tumnus babbled between sobs.
"Come on Mr. Tumnus, stop crying! There has to be a way to fix all this" Lucy said, doing everything she could to try to get the faun to calm down.
Tumnus looked at Lucy as his face suddenly hardened.
"Come on." He said, taking her hand, "She probably already knows you're here, so we need to go fast if you're to get away safely!"
"Whoa!" Lucy said as she and Tumnus bolted out the front door. The two made their way down the snow path that led to the house and finally they arrived at the lamp post.
"Do you think you can find your way home from here?" Tumnus asked.
"I-I think so!" Lucy said as her gaze darted around the area.
"Good..." Tumnus said, tears running down his face.
"Mr. Tumnus, no more crying..." Lucy gently said as she reached up and wiped some of his tears away with her thumb.
Tumnus sniffled and smiled, "No matter what happens, Lucy, I'm glad I met you. …Here."
He handed her a bangle that had a small set of panpipes on it.
"With this, your friends are never too far away…it's the least I can do."
"Thank you..." Lucy said as she clutched the bangle before slipping it on her wrist. "Perfect fit." She said.
Tumnus gave a shaky smile as he only said, "No matter what happens, Lucy, I'm glad to have met you. You've made me feel warmer than I have in years..." he then took a deep breath before saying, "Now go. GO!"
Lucy quickly nodded and darted away into the trees, pulling back the prickly branches as she made her way through. When suddenly, out of the blue...
Whoosh!
Lucy burst through the doors of the wardrobe and found herself back in Traverse Town!