Kind and Brave // Tales of the Traveling Queen Book 1

3) .Truth and Lies.

(Edited)

.Truth and Lies.

~Tuesday Prince~

I am shaken awake way too early in the morning. I groan and flip over, ignoring the shaking feeling and try to go back to sleep. Again, the feeling comes and my eyes pop open. A small light comes from a candle that is being held by Lucy standing next to my bed. I scrunch my face, trying to get used to the sudden light, and wonder why Lucy is standing at my bedside so early or late at night.

"Come on, Tuesday," she whispers. "You said the next time I wanted to go I should bring you. Now's your chance!" 

I moan and sit up. "It's night, Luce. Why not wait until morning?"

"Because I can't sleep!" she insists. 

I laugh slightly and swing my legs from my bed. She has a fair point. As a person who knows what it's like when I can't sleep, I feel her itching pain. I grab my boots from my closet and slip them on quietly, grabbing a candle of my own and lighting it from Lucy's. She leads me into the hall and down towards the spare room. Just as we enter, I hear the flushing of a toilet and glance back. Edmund comes out of the bathroom and looks at me. I quickly hide inside the room and just hope that he really didn't see me and only look at me. Lucy pops open the wardrobe door and crawls inside, careful not to light the coats on fire. When she doesn't come back, I excitedly follow her. Can this be it?

I reach out among the coats, searching for the back of the wardrobe, but there is none. Not this time. I continue on until my hand reaches something sharp and prickly. I pull my hand back, but press forward. I reach a light and that's when I stand. It's just like my dream, the woods all around, covered in snow, but this time, it doesn't melt. This time, it's eternal just as Aslan had told me.

"What do you think?" Lucy asks, startling me. 

I had almost forgotten she was there. Still, I smile. "It's just as I remembered it. Though I doubt the snow will grow on me." 

Lucy grins. "Mr. Tumnus said it has been winter for over a hundred years." 

I nod. "Yes, the white witch took over Narnia and as long as she is in power, that's the way it will be forever." 

Lucy's look darkens for a moment, but I wrap an arm around her shoulders, walking past the lamppost. 

"But enough about the darker part of things. What do you say we meet this Mr. Tumnus of yours?"

*~~~~~*~~~~~*

Lucy knocks on the small door in front of us. "Mr. Tumnus!" she calls. "Mr. Tumnus, I'm back!" The door quickly swings open, and a man sticks his head out, but not a man. A fawn. He is shorter, just a couple more inches taller than Lucy herself. He has two small horns popping out of his head and a nice fuzzy beard on his chin. He has no legs, but those of a goat, with hooves instead of feet. He looks between Lucy and I, worry in his eyes.

"I told you already," he says urgently, "the witch has spies everywhere. What are you doing here?" 

Instead of matching his worry, Lucy smiles wide. "I brought a friend, Mr. Tumnus. She said she's been to Narnia before." 

I shake my head with a small laugh. "I didn't say that I have been to Narnia, I said I was familiar with it, and I am, but I must tell you everything inside. If the trees hear, we may be in deep danger." 

Mr Tumnus lets us inside quickly and I tell Lucy everything. Everything from the beginning to the end. The only part I miss is my last dream. The last dream I ever had. The one with Aslan. That one Lucy didn't need to know about, but that's alright because she's fascinated as it is, loving my entire tale. Mr. Tumnus is the same way and I know that as he sends us on our way, making us promise to visit him again, he has a lot to think about. Lucy and I walk back to the lamppost, laughing and talking quietly among each other.