Chapter Text
“Lu, we’ll be back in a week at the latest,” Peter promised. On the field of Cair Paravel, the entire army was arrayed--centaurs, satyrs, fauns, Talking Beasts, red dwarves, and even a few reformed black dwarves and minotaurs, shining and resplendent in their armor.
“Probably less,” Edmund piped up. “All of the rumors say that the last of the Witch’s supporters are in the woods near Beruna. It’s just a matter of finding them.”
“And Susan will be back from Archenland tomorrow or the next day,” Peter added.
“If Queen Susan will be back so soon, why not wait for her return to go out and hunt the Witch’s followers?” Mr. Tumnus asked.
“We need to move before they have a chance to,” Peter said. “It’s already been over two days since they were seen at Beruna. They could be gone by now already, but if so, we should still be able to catch their trail.”
Lucy nodded firmly. She was afraid that if she spoke, her voice would betray how nervous she was at the idea of being left alone. Of course, she wouldn’t be truly alone--Mr. Tumnus, and the Beavers, and Snix, and a small group of guards would be with her, but she had never been left without at least one of her siblings since they came to Narnia.
Peter walked away, talking with Snix and Oreius, and Mr. Tumnus trotted off, leaving Edmund and Lucy alone on the steps of the castle. Edmund took a step forward and wrapped his arms around his sister in a tight hug. Lucy flung her arms around his waist and squeezed tight.
“Do you really have to go?” she asked tearfully.
“Peter wants to split the army into three groups to surround the Witch’s people,” Edmund explained. “He wants me and Oreius to each lead one of the wings, and he’ll lead the rest of the army. It’s a good plan.” He pulled away from Lucy, set his hands on her shoulders, and leaned down to look her in the eyes. “Lucy, if anything happens, just run. Just get out of the castle--don’t worry about anything or anyone else. Run. If you have to, run all the way to Beruna.”
Lucy nodded mutely, her eyes already threatening to overflow now.
“But nothing’s going to happen!” Edmund said cheerfully, straightening up and resting a hand on the hilt of his sword. “So there’s no need to worry about any of that. Susan will be back in a day or two, and Peter and I will be back soon after.”
Lucy forced a smile, but knew that it almost definitely was unconvincing. Edmund gave her another tight hug.
“Ed, let’s go!” Peter called, already astride his horse.
“Bye, Lu,” Edmund gave her a final squeeze, then darted down the steps to where Phillip, his horse, stood beside Peter and his mount. In moments, Edmund had mounted the horse, Peter had rallied the army, and they were off, leaving Lucy and Tumnus standing on the steps of Cair Paravel.
.*.*.*.*.*.
That night, Mrs. Beaver shooed the cooks out of the kitchen and made all of Lucy’s favorite foods, but the little queen could hardly bring herself to eat them.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Beaver,” Lucy sniffled pitifully. “It’s all very tasty, I promise, but I’m afraid I’m just not hungry right now.”
“Of course not, dear,” Mrs. Beaver said soothingly, patting Lucy’s arm.
Lucy smiled sadly and stood up. “I think I’m just going to go to bed,” she said.
“Of course, dear,” Mrs. Beaver nodded. “Get some rest, and I’m sure you’ll be feeling right as rain in the morning.”
Lucy smiled again and headed for her bedroom, shuffling her feet along the stone floor of the corridor. Cair Paravel seemed so much quieter and sadder than usual, with most of its occupants--not just her brothers and sister--absent. Lucy’s echoed off of the walls, and she wasn’t quite sure if it was her imagination, a new occurrence, or that she just had never noticed the sound before.
When Lucy reached the door of her room, she opened it and froze in shock. Her window was open, and a chill wind was whipping at the curtains--but that wasn’t what scared her. What truly frightened Lucy was the werewolf climbing through the window itself, which also froze when it saw the queen.
For a long minute, the two stared at one another, both unmoving and unblinking, until the werewolf bared its teeth and growled.
Lucy screamed.
She screamed as loud as she possibly could, the sound echoing down the stone hallways. With all her strength, she slammed the door shut, the resulting bang echoing along after her scream, and then she turned and ran full tilt, back towards the dining room. She was dimly aware of the door opening behind her, and of the rabid growling of the werewolf as it chased her through the halls.
“Mr. Tumnus!” Lucy screamed. “Snix! Someone, help!”
She was rewarded seconds later by the clattering of hooves as Mr. Tumnus, Snix, and two other castle guards--a centaur and a faun--careened around the corner in front of her.
“Lucy!” Mr. Tumnus grabbed hold of her arms as the guards raced on past them. “What’s wrong?”
“A werewolf!” she sobbed. “It came in through my window!”
A howl echoed through the corridor behind them, punctuated by a whimper, and soon Snix and the guards were returning. “Take the queen,” Snix said to Tumnus. “There are sure to be others. Get her to safety.”
Tumnus grabbed Lucy’s hand, and they were off, racing down the stone hallways. Sounds of battle soon reached them--Snix was right, the werewolf hadn’t been alone.
“The Beavers!” Lucy cried, stopping in her tracks. “We have to find them!”
Tumnus didn’t even try to argue. “The kitchens,” he pointed down a side hall, and Lucy dragged him down it.
It wasn’t far to the kitchens, but Lucy and Tumnus burst into them gasping for breath from their sprint. Unfortunately, they weren’t the first to arrive. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver had been backed into a corner by a leering ogre and cackling hag.
“Leave them alone!” Lucy screamed, and the attackers whirled around.
The hag’s cackle grew louder and more wild. The ogre grinned more widely.
“Little queen,” the hag squealed. “You should be more worried about yourself.”
Tumnus put himself in front of Lucy. “You’ll have to go through me first!”
“No!” Lucy tried to push past the faun.
“Hush now, my queen,” Tumnus said softly.
Lucy stood, trembling, and watched as the hag and ogre began to creep across the kitchen, wary of some sort of trap. The girl wished desperately that she had been able to grab her dagger from her room, but it had been far too close to the werewolf for comfort. Instead, she began surveying the kitchen for something to use as a weapon. After all , she thought, there are usually all sorts of knives around a kitchen . Finally, she caught sight of a blade glinting in the light of the cook-fire. The point of the knife was stuck in a block of cheese. It was even smaller than her dagger, and wedge-shaped, but Lucy knew that cheese knives were often very sharp, so she began to edge her way toward it, keeping one hand on the one Mr. Tumnus held behind his back to comfort her.
“What do you want?” Mr. Tumnus was speaking to the hag now.
“The blood of Eve’s daughter,” the creature grinned (although the expression was more of a grimace on her twisted face). “She will die tonight--and so will you, faun!”
Several things then happened at once. The hag and ogre both leapt forward at Tumnus. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver leapt onto the backs of the hag and ogre. Mr. Tumnus ducked down and flung himself forward, ramming his shoulders into the stomachs of his adversaries. And Lucy went for the cheese-knife. She just managed to grab it and tuck it up into her sleeve before the hag, having dodged Tumnus’s charge, tackled her. Lucy screamed and fell to the floor, managing to twist around to land on her back and get her hands up under the hag.
There was a brief struggle between the two Beavers, Mr. Tumnus, and the ogre, which resulted in the ogre lying on the floor, teeth marks and hoof prints decorating his lifeless body. All three raced over to the hag and Lucy, expecting the worst…
But when they rolled the hag over, they saw the cheese knife sticking out of her chest, right where her heart was, her eyes wide and lifeless and her blood spattered all over Lucy’s face, chest, and arms.
“Queen Lucy!” Mrs. Beaver leapt forward and helped the girl up into a sitting position.
“Are you alright?” Mr. Tumnus demanded, checking Lucy’s arms for wounds.
“Yes, I think so,” she nodded numbly.
“What happened?” asked Mr. Beaver, shoving the body of the hag away.
“I think that I stabbed her,” Lucy said. “Although, I’m really not entirely sure.”
.*.*.*.*.*.
The next morning, Lucy sent a messenger after Peter and Edmund, and they came back to Cair Paravel at full speed, arriving just after nightfall.
“Lucy!” Peter was off his horse and running towards her before it even came to a full stop. Edmund had the sense to wait until Phillip halted before dismounting, but he was still right on Peter’s heels. The two boys wrapped their little sister in a tight embrace, Peter flinging an arm around Edmund as well.
“Are you okay?” Edmund asked before they had even separated.
“Yes, I’m alright,” Lucy smiled bravely. “Just a bit bruised. I fell.”
“The little Queen was very brave,” Mr. Tumnus piped up. He came forward to join them, limping slightly on a twisted ankle. “She killed a hag with a cheese knife!”
Edmund and Peter laughed. “I’d really like to know exactly how that came to happen,” Peter wrapped an arm around Lucy’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze.
“I’ll tell you all about it,” Lucy promised, beaming.
“Anyways, it looks like you’ve done our job for us,” Edmund laughed. “We went out to hunt out the Witch’s followers, and you and Snix’s guards took care of them all here.”
“They must have spread the rumors that they were at Beruna on purpose,” said Peter, “then waited for us to ride out before attacking the castle.”
“That seems likely,” Snix said, standing just behind Tumnus.
“We should never have left,” Peter said, shaking his head.
“You had no way to know what would happen,” Lucy pointed out. “And if you hadn’t gone, they probably would have gone back into hiding, and it could’ve taken even longer to flush them out.”
“But, Lucy,” Peter protested. “You could have gotten hurt!”
“But I didn’t!” Lucy said. “And that’s all that matters.”
“Still,” said Peter with a sigh, “I think you’re right about one thing--and I think you have been for quite a while.”
“What’s that?” asked Lucy.
“I think that it is high time you begin learning how to fight,” Peter smiled. “At the very least, you do need to know how to defend yourself. It’s only practical. It was silly of me to think that I could keep you safe forever; I see that now. Starting tomorrow, you’ll begin training with Snix.”
“Oh, Peter!” Lucy gasped. “Do you mean it?”
“I do,” he smiled. “No more defending yourself with a cheese knife. Before long, you’ll be able to use a real blade.”