༄ 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑃𝐻𝑂𝐸𝑁𝐼𝑋 𝐴𝑅𝐶𝐻𝐸𝑅（𝐿𝑊𝑊）༄

Chapter 5- Mr. Tumnus is Captured

I quickly ran for the cabinet hiding the door, but I tripped over something and almost fell. I managed to catch myself on the arm of a chair and I looked to see what it was. Noticing that it was my cloak, I grabbed it to eliminated any trace of me and dashed to the cabinet. Mr. Tumnus had scrambled past me to remove it from blocking the door before turning to search the kitchen for something. I went inside, though hesitant to leave Tumnus to face her alone, and he urged me in by handing me a candle. A quiet whisper that he had forgotten before was the last I heard him say before the door was shut and the cabinet placed in front.

There was a shuffle as Mr. Tumnus dashed around his home for whatever reason. Then everything fell silent and I waited with baited breath. I jumped at the wolf howl and the loud thud that followed after, biting my lip to keep myself from crying out in fear. There was some yelling but all I could make out was "human" and "traitor". I heard something that sounded like dragging and sounds of a struggle as things fell over and broke. They were searching for something, or rather someone, and I heard Mr. Tumnus pleading, though I couldn't make out his words. Just the tone of his voice. Images from the past flooded my mind, and I shook my head to clear them. Those weren't real, simple figments of my imagination in times of fear. I needed to focus on what was happening now.

Someone came close to the cabinet and I tried to slow my breathing. I didn't realize how panicked I had been until that moment and I sighed in relief when they never moved it. Instead, they seemed to dump everything out of it before everything fell quiet again. I thought they were suspicious of my hiding place and tried to figure out what to do. But then I heard a whip crack and the sound of bells followed by the footsteps as whoever was in front of the cabinet took off running after the sleigh.

I was left alone, locked in a quiet tunnel. It was much too quiet for me. It was more of an eery quiet instead of a peaceful one anyways, leaving me on edge. It was there that I fully processed what had transpired, causing tears to well in my eyes. Mr. Tumnus had hidden me from the White Witch and saved Lucy's life. But now he was captured and I was trapped in a tunnel with no place to go.

Finally, I couldn't hold it back anymore and let the tears fall. My best friend—and the only Narnian who knew my secret—was gone. What was I going to do? How would I get out of the tunnel? What would happen to Tumnus? To me? I sat down on the floor of the tunnel and rested my head against the cave wall. For awhile, I just stayed like that slouched against a dirt wall, silently crying, too afraid to make any noise otherwise.

Eventually, I decided to find out where the tunnel led. So I picked the candle up, from where I placed it on the ground and stood up from my position. Luckily, Mr. Tumnus had his wits, and managed to calm his panic enough to provide me with a lit one. So didn't worry about lighting it as I headed towards the back. I had to be careful not to trip on tree roots that came protruding from the ground because I didn't need to fall and lose my only real source of light.

The tunnel just ended, never leading anywhere. Maybe it was incomplete or that was how it was supposed to be. I didn't know for sure and could only speculate. I sighed in disappointment and used the candle to investigate a small mound that I could make out in the dark. It was a pile of food and cans of what I assumed was water, carefully packaged and organized on the ground. Mr. Tumnus must've thought that I would be here a couple days, if not longer. I sincerely hoped it wouldn't be too long before help came because there was not enough for me to live on for more than a week. Logically, things didn't actually look to good and I shuddered to think of what would happen to me if I couldn't get out of the tunnel. I would have to ration everything and hope it would last as long as long as I needed it to.

I wasn't hungry now, but I needed to rest for the night as our plans for sleeping had been interrupted by the witch. The best thing I thought of would be if I went back up by the door. That way if anybody came while I was sleeping, I would hear it. There might be enough time for me to react and maybe get away before whoever opened it realized what was happening. Even if I had to become the phoenix, which I hadn't been in years, in order to get away.

So, I headed back to the door to put my plan into action. Traveling to the door was just as difficult as walking to the back. My eyes had managed to adjust somewhat but it was still difficult to see and I ended up walking hunched over to get a better few of the ground. I tripped over less roots than the first time around and decided that was an accomplishment.

Once I reached the door, I put on my discarded cloak and sat back down. I hesitated on what to do with the candle—blow it out or leave it—before blowing it out to conserve it. Settling down against the wall, I pulled the hood of my cloak over my head as it was the only thing for warmth I had. After staring up at the dark ceiling, my eyes grew heavy and I eventually fell asleep.

"Ana?! Ana?!" someone shouted, awakening me from my slumber.

I opened my eyes saw that everything hadn't been a dream; I was still in the tunnel and Tumnus was gone. Something was different from when I fell asleep, though. There was a voice, but much different than the ones who took Mr. Tumnus as they seemed worried.

"Ana?!" the voice said again, closer to the cabinet and this time I recognized it as Lucy's.
"Lucy!" I shouted in excitement as I stood up, knowing she could help get me out.

I heard her struggling to move the cabinet but it wasn't moving. Hoping to help, I pushed against the door, but knew it probably wouldn't do any good. It did indeed end uo being a futile effort and I wasn't surprised when Lucy huffed. I heard her take a few steps back, making curious as to what was happening on the other side. Knowing that normally people wouldn't be able to hear that, I didn't question her actions.

"Give me a minute! I'll get some help" she cried.
"Lucy! Wait-" I tried to stop her, not wanting her to run off into the woods. But it was too late as I heard her footsteps retreat before I could even finish my sentence.

She was actually pretty determined, I had to say. Whatever she needed, she always tried to get it and that worried me a little as it could get her into trouble. That being said, I knew that she wouldn't let me stay in here and though I didn't really want to, I would've preferred it to her running to look for help.

Not a minute after her footsteps left, when someone different returned and I heard the cabinet being moved out of the way. The person struggled with it more than Tumnus did, indicating she hadn't found some of bigger Narnian—though I doubt she would've in the first place. But they did manage to move it more than Lucy could. I bent down to retrieve the candle, a little confused as to how quickly help had returned. Not a moment later, the door was opened and once again I was met with the bright light. After blinking a few times, my eyes quickly adjusted and I could see Lucy who had tears in her eyes.

As soon as I exited the tunnel, she wrapped her arms around my waist to give me a hug. "I thought you were gone too," she said through her tears.
"Nah. You couldn't get rid of me that easily," I replied, trying to lighten the mood. I patted her on the back to comfort her.

The joke worked though, because she gave a light laugh before letting go and taking a step back. I immediately started to wipe the dirt off of me. It sure was dirty in there, but then again it was a a dirt tunnel and nothing short of what should be expected. I paused halfway through dusting myself off when I realized that Lucy and I weren't the only ones here. There were three other people—actual humans—present and each of them were all staring at me.