𝐈𝐍 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐇
⸻ Cordelia Winterbourne's ordinary life with her mother was shattered by the onset of war, prompting Cordelia's mother to make a gut-wrenching decision by sending her daughter away for a while to keep her safe.
However, fate had a di...
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"Hurry!" Peter exclaimed, urgency lacing his words, eager to retrieve his brother as we tracked his footprints through the snow.
We abruptly stopped at the sight of an ice castle looming in the distance. From our vantage point, we glimpsed Ed entering the castle.
"Edmund!" Lucy cried out, calling for her brother, but the beaver hushed her. "They'll hear you!"
Peter, without hesitation, darted toward the castle, only to be halted by the beaver. "Get off me!"
"You're playing into her hands," the beaver cautioned. The Pevensies protested vehemently.
"We can't just let him go!"
"He's our brother!"
"He's the bait! The Witch desires all four of you! Especially her..." The beaver's sentence trailed off, gesturing subtly in my direction. However, this went unnoticed as Peter pressed the beaver for an explanation.
"To stop the prophecy from coming true. To kill you!" the beaver finally revealed, leaving us in stunned silence.
After a moment of silence, Susan spoke up. "This is all your fault," she accused, looking in Peter's direction.
"My fault?" Peter exclaimed, offended by his sister's accusation.
"None of this would have happened if you had listened to me in the first place!" she yelled.
As the two elder Pevensies engaged in an argument, I felt a stabbing sensation in my head. It began as a mild discomfort, gradually worsening. I knelt on the snow-covered ground, clutching at my head.
"Cora!" Lucy exclaimed, calling my name, causing the two to cease their argument and hasten to my side.
"Hey, are you all right?" Peter inquired.
"Does she appear all right to you, Pete?" Susan retorted sharply, fixing a glare on the blond boy.
"Enough!" the youngest Pevensie interjected, already exasperated with her elder siblings. "Cora isn't feeling well, and this isn't going to help Edmund."
"She's right," the beaver agreed. "Only Aslan can help your brother now."
"Then take us to him," urged the eldest Pevensie.
The beaver then approached me. "Dear, can you stand up?" he asked gently.
Releasing a heavy sigh, I nodded and began to rise with the assistance of the older Pevensies.
As we made our way back to the beaver's shelter, Peter offered his assistance, but I assured him I was feeling better. The strange sensation in my head gradually faded to normal once we walked away from the Witch's castle.
Suddenly, I came to a halt, hearing something in the distance.
"Guys..." I uttered, bringing them to a stop. We exchanged glances briefly, but as soon as we heard the wolves howls, our eyes widened in alarm, and we hastily rushed inside the small hut.
"Hurry, Mother! They're after us!" the beaver yelled, alarming the female beaver.
"Mother? I thought he was her wife?" I pondered aloud to Peter, who responded with a shrug, though his expression betrayed panic and uneasiness.
"Oh, right then," the female beaver said and started rummaging through the shelves.
"What's she doing?" Peter asked, panic evident in his voice.
"Oh, you'll thank me later," she replied, continuing to collect items into a bag. "It's a long journey, and Beaver gets rather cranky when he's hungry."
"I'm cranky now!" the beaver shouted. I hurried to the small window and glimpsed outside, spotting the wolves standing not too far from the hut.
"We need to leave immediately!" I exclaimed in a panicked tone.
"Do you think we'll need jam?" Susan asked as she assisted the female beaver.
"Only if the Witch serves toast," Peter replied, his voice wavering with panic.
"Just pack everything we need; we have no time," I urged hastily. On cue, the wolves howled and began tearing apart the makeshift hut.
"How will we get out of here?" I cried out. The beaver then opened a small door that led underground.
"Quickly!" he urged as we descended one by one.
Then, after successfully descending, we hastened our pace. "Badger and I dug this. Comes out right near his place," the beaver explained, leading us out of the underground passage.
Lucy stumbled, and Susan quickly helped her up, a moment of silence passed until the distant sound of the wolves reached us.
"Quick! This way," the beaver exclaimed, reigniting our panic.
"Hurry, quickly!" I urged, following closely. We ran with the beavers guiding us, but at each turn in the underground path, we encountered dead ends.
"You should have brought a map!" scolded the female beaver.
"There wasn't room next to the jam!" the beaver defended before beginning to climb up through a hole, wide enough for all of us to fit in.
Peter let us all go ahead before following behind. Finally emerging from the underground, we utilized a nearby barrel to block the entrance of the hole.
Lucy stumbled once again, causing us all to halt. Our panic shifted to sorrow as we saw the reason for Lucy's fall.
I looked around and saw so many animals that turned into a stone. Their eyes were lifeless.
"What happened here?" Peter asked gently, but instead of a familiar response, an unfamiliar voice replied.
"This is what becomes of those who cross the Witch."
"You take one more step, traitor, and I'll chew you to splinters!" the beaver threatened.
The fox chuckled before descending from its spot. "Relax. I'm one of the good guys."
However, his demeanor shifted upon seeing me.
"What's she doing here?" he growled, taking a menacing step toward me, but the beavers blocked his path. "Don't!"
"Why are you protecting her? Do you even know who she is?" the fox exclaimed.
"I do, but she's not like her mother!" the beaver defended, prompting us to exchange confused glances.
"Is that so?" the fox sneered. "And how can you be certain she's not following in her mother's footsteps?"
"Because that's not what the prophecy foretold!" the beaver insisted.
The fox sighed, shaking his head gently. "We can argue about this later, but for now, we've got to move."
"What did you have in mind?" Peter asked desperately.
