THE GRAY AREA

Chapter 1: Lucy's Vacation Interruption

During the fifteen-year reign of the four Kings and Queens, it was the first duty of the royal persons to see that the remainder of the White Witch's army was decimated. Whenever there was a rumor of a monster of any sort, the royalties and their fellow warriors rode forth from the castle on the hunt.

After a good while there were no more monster sightings, and Queen Lucy decided to go for a few days' journey into the Shuddering Woods by herself, in celebration of her second year as a Queen. Technically speaking she was only nine years old, but the magic of Narnia had transformed her comprehension and capability to that of a young woman. She was a very different Lucy than she would be in England.

Peter was reluctant to let Lucy go on her own; sometimes he had a tendency to think of her as the sweet little Lucy of bygone days. However, Peter was won over when he remembered how capable Lucy was of defending herself, and when he realized that Lucy would spend much of her "journey" being fawned over by the Narnian citizens. Taking her trusty dagger as a weapon, and her favorite mare as a steed, Lucy was off.

A few days of peaceful walking and camping under the stars was quickly followed up by visits from the Talking Animals and various other creatures. Lucy liked to talk to them, but she soon grew weary of entertaining so many people for so long. The point of this vacation was to escape court life for a few days. Lucy made her way west into the deeper, mysterious parts of the forest—perhaps a little too mysterious for a relaxing getaway.

Lucy made a little campsite in a dark stretch of woodland, and then ate a nice lunch which a pair of kind foxes had given her that morning. As she ate, she began to hear strange noises behind her. At first she thought it was a bird or a squirrel, but looking over her shoulder she could see neither. Once or twice she turned around completely, and then the noise stopped. As soon as she had sat in silence for a few minutes, however, there was the noise again. Something was moving, creeping through the bushes. When Lucy heard a faint sniff, sniff sound, she stood up and drew her dagger.

"Show yourself," she demanded. Her voice was weaker than she meant it to sound.

Almost before it sprang into the open, Lucy could see the creature's rather bushy gray tail and fierce yellow eyes. If she had had time to think about it, Lucy would have said that those eyes saw right through her.

But she did not have time.

The creature jumped out from the bushes, stood for a second with mouth curled up in a snarl, and then pounced directly at Lucy. It was a wolf—a Talking Wolf, which made it smaller than wolves in Earth's World, but still terribly fierce. The first thing Lucy thought of was the horrible memory of being chased by Maugrim, and Peter's fight with him later. The second thing she thought was, "Why am I still alive?"

The Wolf was hesitating, mouth open, teeth poised just a few inches from her throat. Lucy, who liked to think the best of everybody and everything, began to think that the Wolf had made a mistake and would apologize. If Susan were here, she would tell Lucy to be more cautious and realistic, and Edmund would probably say the same but a little more open-mindedly, and Peter would just rush right in and kill the wolf immediately. These warnings, along with the memory of Maugrim, convinced Lucy not to be taken in. She was ready to fight for her life. The odds were against her though; she was pinned down by the Wolf.

Suddenly the fierce monster made a noise like a laugh—an incredibly gruff laugh that sounded more like a growl than anything else. Lucy knew the laugh was sarcastic. "So you are a true Daughter of Eve," he sneered. His voice was deep and dark. "You had such an honest look in your eyes a moment ago that I wasn't sure."

"What do you know about honesty?" scoffed Lucy. The Wolf's hypocrisy was more maddening than his teeth were scary.

"Hm." Something like a smile crossed his lupine face. "You've got a point. I suppose what I'm doing now is not what you would call honest."

"There are other things to eat," ventured Lucy.

"You are vastly amusing," said the Wolf. "No no, my Queen—my style of hunting does not bother my conscience. I was referring to my motives for picking you out specifically. By the way, call me Dargrip; I was second in command under Muagrim, Captain of the Secret Police."

"I'm Lucy," said the young Queen, letting her guard down for a moment.

"It's always nice to get acquainted with my Dinner," Dargrip grinned.

Lucy had her guard back up. "I know all about your so-called motives," she said stiffly. "You're a bad Beast and a Traitor to the Crown of Narnia. As such I'm sure you are quite delighted indeed to catch the Queen herself!" As Lucy spoke she was looking at her dagger out of the corner o her eye. It had fallen somewhere to her right.

Could she reach it?

"Oh, I'm a bad Talking Beast, am I?" said the Wolf, pretending to be hurt. "What about Dwarves and Giants—they're Bad Creatures too." He was being sarcastic again.

"Well, it's different with them," said Lucy, only half-listening. (She was more focused on her knife.) "There are different sorts of Giants—you wouldn't understand."

Then the wolf brought his face down even closer to Lucy's and gave her such a meaningful look that she forgot about the dagger.

"Do you mean," she asked faintly, "that there are different sorts of Talking Wolves too? Are there good Wolves? I thought—"

Dargrip shook his head, looking almost sad. "That's the trouble with you Humans," he said. "You only see in black and white: good and bad. Some of us are a bit caught between; you know, the gray area."

Lucy didn't buy it. "If you're not with Aslan," she stated adamantly, "then you're against him. And that makes you bad."

"I seem to remember your own brother being against Aslan. Your sister was scared of him at first, and even the High King was reluctant to obey the Lion sometimes."

Lucy opened her mouth, but she could think of no smart answer. Dargirp had cornered her considering a very difficult question, and what's more, his take on the matter seemed almost correct!

"Even if you were an interesting Human," the Wolf said, baring his teeth again, "I'd have to put an end to you now. You see, I swore to avenge myself upon the Royal Family!"