𝙸𝚁𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙰𝙱𝙻𝙴. ➪ 𝙴. 𝙿𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚎

𝚏𝚒𝚟𝚎

Phillis sat by a tree, Lucy's head resting on her lap. The older girl read out the book she was reading, whilst the younger listened as she began to pick blades of grass out of the soil. The four eldest of the children were playing cricket. Peter was bowling. "Peter winds up, poised to take yet another wicket!" Peter commentated.
As Peter threw the ball, Edmund appeared to be somewhere else completely. That was until the cricket ball hit him in the leg, to which he let out a wail and a typical grumble. "Whoops," Peter laughed, "wake up, Dolly Daydream."
"Why can't we play hide and seek again?" Edmund asked.
"I thought you said it was a kids' game," Elmer said, shrugging slightly at Edmund.
"Besides, we could all use the fresh air," Susan added.
"It's not like there isn't air inside," he grumbled.
Phillis paused to roll her eyes before continuing to read, causing Lucy to giggle.
"Are you ready?" Peter smirked.
"Are you?" Edmund snapped before taking position.
Phillis' head snapped towards the sound of glass smashing. Lucy only smirked as Edmund let out a sharp gasp. The two girls quickly got to their feet. On further inspection, they discovered that not only had they smashed a window, but also destroyed one of Mrs. Macready's sacred historical artefacts. "Well done, Ed," Peter groaned.
"You bowled it!" Edmund defended himself.
"You hit it," Phillis said as he glared at her.
And then suddenly, the frightening voice of Mrs. Macready echoed down the halls. "The Macready!" Susan exclaimed as the six shared a panicked look.
"Come on!" Elmer said as the group dashed through the hallways. Everything seemed to be locked and her footsteps seemed to be coming from everywhere. Until, eventually, Edmund lead them into the room which held the infamous wardrobe. "Come on!" Edmund exclaimed, opening the wardrobe door.
"You've got to be joking," Susan muttered.
As the footsteps pounded nearer, they had no choice but to stick it out in the wardrobe. It was cramped and very cold. "My toe!" Phillis exclaimed as someone harshly stamped on her toe. The children complained to each other as everyone seemed to be hurting someone. "I'm not on your toe!" Edmund snapped.
"Move back! Will you stop shoving?" Peter yelled.
Funny, the wardrobe didn't seem this big before. Then, Phillis tripped - she was sure Edmund had tripped her over - and she fell into snow. Snow? She slowly looked up to see a snowy forest stretching as far as the eye could see. "Impossible," Susan whispered.
"Don't worry, I'm sure it's just your imagination," Lucy smirked.
"I don't suppose saying we're sorry would quite cover it?" Elmer asked, looking down at the smiling girl.
"No. It wouldn't," she said, before throwing a snowball straight into Elmer's face. "But this might!"
And then it turned into a war. Susan and Phillis giggled as they threw snow at each other. When Susan threw one at Edmund, he spun around a cold glare sat firmly upon his face. "Ow. Stop it!" Edmund yelled.
"You little liar!" Peter said.
"You didn't believe her either!" Edmund snapped.
"Apologise to Lucy," Peter ordered. "Say you're sorry!"
"Alright! I'm sorry," Edmund said in a tone you make when you've been forced to apologise for something you didn't do.
"That's all right. Some little children just don't know when to stop pretending," Lucy said, to which Phillis let out a quiet chuckle.
"Oh, very funny," he muttered.
"Maybe we should go back?" Elmer suggested, glancing back at the wardrobe.
"I agree," Susan nodded.
"Shouldn't we at least take a look around?" Edmund asked, gesturing to the beautiful snowy landscape.
"I think Lucy should decide," Phillis said, before turning to the youngest of the six.
"I'd like you all to meet Mr. Tumnus," she grinned.
"Well, then Mr. Tumnus it is," Peter nodded.
"But we can't go hiking in the snow, dressed like this," Susan said, trying to reason with the others.
"No," Peter began, reemerging from the wardrobe, "but I'm sure the professor wouldn't mind us using these."
Peter handed out thick fur coats to everyone. They were particularly soft and very warm. "Anyway, if you think about it logically, we're not even taking them out of the wardrobe," Peter added.
"But that's a girl's coat," Edmund said, shoving the item of clothing Peter handed to him away.
"I know," Peter shrugged.
As they ventured through the lovely forest, Lucy explained how lovely Mr. Tumnus was and how many sardines the children would be able to eat. However, she suddenly cut herself off, causing Phillis' gaze to return to her. "Lu?" Elmer spoke up.
Then, Lucy ran towards the rocks, which Phillis then noticed had a door in them, which had been kicked in. "Lucy!" Peter yelled as they ran after her.
They walked through the threshold to see what would've been a lovely home, wrecked and untidy. Furniture had been turned over and books had been thrown across the room. "Who would do something like this?" Lucy asked no one in particular.
Elmer ripped a notice off of the wall and began to read aloud, "The Faun Tumnus is hereby charged with High Treason against Her Imperial Majesty, Jadis, Queen of Narnia, for comforting her enemies and fraternising with humans. Signed Maugrim, Captain of the Secret Police. Long live the Queen."
He handed it to Susan for her to skim over herself.
"Alright, now we really should go back," Susan said, and Phillis agreed with her. This wasn't the cheerfulness she'd expected to come with Narnia, but it was in fact scary and Phillis would rather not get involved.
"But what about Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy asked.
"If he was arrested just for being with a human, I don't think there's much we can do," Elmer explained.
"You don't understand, do you? I'm the human. She must've found out he helped me," Lucy muttered.
"Maybe we could call the police?" Peter suggested.
"These are the police," Phillis replied, gesturing to the notice in Susan's hands.
"Don't worry, Lu, we'll think of something," Elmer said, crouching down to give the girl a hug.
"Why? I mean, he's a criminal," Edmund finally spoke up.
Phillis scoffed, "It's not like he's murdered someone."
A bird twittered outside and Phillis realised it was the only animal she'd seen since arriving in Narnia. "Did that bird just psst us?" Susan asked, glancing at Peter and Elmer.