Fearless • P. Pevensie

Servitude

"Hurry, Mother! They're after us!" Beaver tears into the hut, calling for his wife as the four of us spill inside as well.

"Oh, right then!" Mrs. Beaver hobbled over and begins fiddling with things as I close and lock the door behind us. What good it's going to do, I'm not sure. But it makes me feel better!

"What's she doing?" Peter asks, looking at the Beavers in confusion.

"Oh, you'll be thanking me later. It's a long journey and Beaver gets pretty cranky when he's hungry."

"I'm cranky now!" He calls to his wife, as I can't help but to feel like they're already right on top of us. Surely they couldn't be on our trail that fast, could they?

Suddenly, the snarls of what sounds to me like wolves is heard outside. My eyes widen as I look up at Peter for any sort of guidance, maybe just a bit of comfort.

"We'll be alright." He assures me, quietly, as the house descends into chaos of everyone running around to take things on our trip. His hand finds the small of my back, bringing me into an oddly comforting hug, despite the circumstances. "We'll be alright." He assures me again, before pulling away to contribute to the chaos.

My hands find a traveling bag. I've got nothing much to put in it, so my hands grasp around the one thing I can think of.

The copy of The First Kingdom of Narnia slides right into the bag as I sling it over my shoulder.

"Do you think we'll need jam?" Susan asks, helping Mrs. Beaver pack a few food goods.

"Only if the Witch serves toast!" Peter answers sarcastically, looking over at his sister. She looks up, glaring at him, but she doesn't have time to answer as wolves are heard just above us.

Barking comes from all sides of the dam, causing me to whip around wildly. The roof begins to chip away. Small fragments of dried mud and pebbles fall down, due to the wolves' incessant digging to dry and get into the dam.

How are we ever meant to get out of here?!

I'm suddenly taken around the waist, a hand falling over my mouth as I'm dragged backwards. I come to realize it's Peter, only once he's dragged me into the tunnel underground.

He places a finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet as he silently releases his hold on me. He runs down the corridor ahead of me as I follow in his path.

Wolves have incredible hearing. At least, back home they do. We've got to assume these ones are much the same. It was smart, not telling me to come down here and simply grabbing me instead. It scared the daylights out of me, but it might just have been worth it.

I can hear the wolves spill out into the dam above us.

"Badger and me dug this. Comes out right near his place." Mr. Beaver tells us, once we're a good enough distance away for it to be safe.

"You told me it led to your mum's!" Mrs. Beaver protests, though we all keep moving forward as the torchlight is the only thing allowing any of us to see.

Lucy trips, causing the tunnel to go still for a minute as we stop running. At least, it should have. But the sound of footsteps still approach.

"They're in the tunnel." Lucy realizes.

"Hurry!" Mr. Beaver calls, the four of us scrambling to follow after the Beavers. I let Lucy and Susan ahead of me, in case the girl trips again. Peter leads the way with the torch as we navigate through the tunnel.

"Run!" Peter calls back to us.

"Quick! Quick, quick!"

We stop, a solid wall ahead of us. I nearly run into Susan. I just barely manage to stop myself before I would have scratched right into her.