Chapter One
The bright pink sky grew brighter while the sun rose over the horizon and the creatures and beings of Narnia awoke to a brand new day. A month had passed since the war with Jadis the White Witch and spring had finally come. The sunlight dances on the glass while the mermaids dived in and out of the water and the waves crashed to the shore that surrounded Cair Paravel. The warm breeze blew the lace curtains inside the bedchamber as the last embers in the fireplace died down and shadows moved along the walls. At the back of the bedchamber was a four poster bed with light blue bedding and dried vines were entwined around the four posts. The bedding moved when two hooves clicked on the hard wood floor and headed toward the window. Breathing in the warm air, Tumnus sighed while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes then turned, looking around the room.
He never thought in his one hundred years that he would go from being a cowardly faun, who lived in a tiny cave in the mountains, to being a hero, let alone being made High Advisor to the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve and living in a great a place as Cair Paravel.
Walking to the bed, he lifted one of the dried up leaves as he blinked his eyes and frowned. Lucy had planted the vines which were to produce rainbow colored flowers, but they never did and the vines were dying.
Tumnus walked to the wooden stand near the windows when he looked at the dark green scarf with white lining and gold fringe and he smiled, stroking the soft velvet. Lucy had given him the scarf when the war ended and he wore the scarf proudly, never letting the scarf get dirty. Unlike the battered and torn red woolen scarf he wore when he met Lucy Pevensie and the battered and torn red woolen scarf was hanging over the back of the wooden chair near the fireplace. He never had the heart to get rid of the scarf and he walked to the wooden chair, picking up the scarf. He held the scarf to his chest when he sadly smiled and placed the scarf around his neck, tying the scarf into a knot. Smoothing his messy, brown hair, Tumnus headed for the door when he left the room and closed the door behind him.
The sound of hooves clicking on the tile flooring echoed down the hallway as Tumnus walked down the hallway and glanced at the painting on the walls. There were four portraits of Lucy and her sister, Susan, and her brothers, Peter and Edmund. The other paintings showed the last battle of the war and he stopped, looking at the empty frame. A portrait of Tumnus used to be in the frame, but the portrait had been slashed into pieces and he had told Lucy not to replace it. He knew that the faun guard has ruined his portrait due to their thinking that he was nothing more than a traitor and didn't deserve the accolades Lucy had given him. Sighing, he headed down the hallway when something flew by him then stopped, turned around and flew back to him.
"Tumnustumnustumnustumnus!" the high pitch voice said as the fairy flew around his head and he smiled, watching the fairy hovering in the air in front of him. The fairy's name was Tinkleberry and she had long white hair and ice blue eyes. She had a round face and a thin but muscular body and tiny gossamer wings flutter gently on her back. Tinkleberry had accompanied Lucy and Tumnus back to Cair Paravel after Lucy had visited her kingdom and had become Tumnus' assistant. He adored having her for an assistant, but she had the annoying habit of saying things four times and nestling in his hair.
"Good morning, Tinkleberry," he said and Tinkleberry giggled. Flying toward his head, she settled in between his horns and started picking at his hair. Sighing, he walked down the hallway when he came to the large wooden doors and two centaur guards stood on either side of the doors. He opened the large wooden doors when the horses blared in his ears and he jumped, placing his hands on his chest.
"Why do they do that?" he thought while his heart pounded in his chest and he sighed, rolling his eyes.
"High Advisor Tumnus!" the centaur announced then closed the large wooden doors as Tumnus walked to the large wooden table and Lucy, Susan, Peter and Edmund smiled at him.
"Good morning, Mister Tumnus," Peter said as Tumnus nodded and Lucy saw Tinkleberry sitting in Tumnus' hair. Tumnus stopped near her chair then placed his head down and Lucy carefully removed Tinkleberry from his hair.
"Nononono!" Tinkleberry said as Lucy placed her on the table and Susan looked at Tumnus.
"Please join us for breakfast," she said as Tumnus shook his head and smiled.
"No, that's alright," Tumnus said while walking to the small wooden table and small wooden stool and sat down. On the table was a wooden mug, a wooden bowl, a wooden spoon and a linen napkin and Tumnus sat down, placing the linen napkin on his lap. Steam rose from the wooden bowl as he looked at the porridge and some honey had been swirled on the top of the porridge. He mixed the porridge and honey together as he started eating and Lucy frowned, looking at him.
"Are you sure you don't want to sit here with us?" she asked.
"No, I'm fine right here," he said as Lucy nodded and Edmund looked at Peter.
"Have the griffons reported in yet?" Edmund asked.
"Yes, there is some sort of camp north of here," Peter said and Tumnus looked at him, placing the wooden spoon down.
"What sort of camp?" Tumnus asked.
"It's a prison camp."
"I thought we found all the prison camps," Susan said.
"This one was hidden by high trees. The only reason the griffons spotted the camp was due to one of the griffons being on the ground," Peter said.
"Do we know who the prisoners are?" Lucy asked.
"Um….," Edmund said while glancing over at Tumnus and Tumnus pouted, tilting his head to one side.
"The prisoners are fauns?" Lucy said with wide eyes.
"Yes."
"Are you sure?" Susan asked.
"One of the griffons found this," Peter said as he placed a piece of material on the table and Tumnus got off the wooden stool and walked to the table. They watched while Tumnus gently lifted the piece of material off the table and looked at the piece of material.
"It can't be," he thought when he sniffed the piece of material and the smell overwhelmed him. He staggered back a bit while holding the piece of material to his chest and tears appeared in his eyes. "It is! This is a piece of my father's scarf!"
"Are you alright?" Lucy asked as he sniffed then wiped his eyes and held the piece of material over his heart.
"This belongs to…It….This is a piece of my father's scarf. I recognize the scent," Tumnus said and they gave him a stunned look.
"It is?" Lucy asked and he nodded his head.
"The thing is I thought he died in the war."
"Oh, Peter, we have to go rescue him!" she said as she looked at Peter and Peter sighed, sitting back in the chair.
"Lucy, we don't even know if he's still alive. That was the only thing the griffons found. He might still be alive or…" Peter said as Tumnus sighed and walked back to the wooden table He sat down while they watched him then Lucy sighed, looking at Peter.
"I think we should send some troops to go check the camp. If there are survivors, we need to rescue them," Susan said.
"I agree," Edmund said.
"Fine, Edmund and I will take some troops and leave tonight," Peter said and Susan gave him a slightly stunned look.
"Why aren't we coming with you?" she asked.
"Because we don't know what we're dealing with. It's better if you two stay here," he said as they frowned and he looked over at Tumnus. "I expect you to keep an eye on the girls while we're gone."
"Of course," Tumnus said with a nod of his head and folded his fingers over the piece of material.
The stars twinkled like tiny jewels in the sky as the wagons and horses sat outside the palace gates and several fauns were keeping watch over them. They talked and laughed as the shadows moved along the ground and the fauns were drunk, staggering side to side. None of the fauns heard the soft sound of hooves as a shadowy figure half ran to the back of one of the wagons and lifted the latch. The wooden door opened the shadowy figure climbed into the back of the wagon and closed the wooden door. The latch clicked back into placed as the shadowy figure settled down in the straw and wrapped something tightly around it to keep out the chilly night air.
"Don't worry, Father, I'm coming," Tumnus thought as he closed his eyes and leaned against the side of the wagon.