Our Angel - E. Pevensie [1]

7 - One Comes and One Goes

The Pevensies and I walked silently behind the beavers, quickly making our way back to the dam. Once we had entered the pace quickened even more. I heard howls in the distance, coming from where we had just returned from.

"Hurry, Mama! They're after us!" Mr. Beaver called to his wife. She scurried around, throwing things like bread and crackers into a picnic blanket. Peter looked at me with an 'are you kidding me?' look before turning back to Susan, who had started to help the female beaver pack the bag.

"Do you think we'll need jam?" She asked, looking at her siblings.

"Only if the Witch serves toast, Susan. Come on!" I shouted to her. Scratches could be heard above us and dusted rained down from the ceiling.

"Hurry!" Beaver ushered us all down a secret tunnel below the house, and we took haste in following him. "Badger and me dug this. Comes out right near his place." He called behind him as we all ran.

"You told me it led to your mum's!" Mrs. Beaver gasped. I shared a quick amused glance with Susan. Lucy tripped on a root and the tunnel went silent as we started to help her up. Howls echoed all around us.

"They're in the tunnel." Lucy whispered. I tug her along again, running behind Susan and the beavers. We reached a dead end.

"Didn't you bring a map?" I whispered-yelled to the beavers.

"There wasn't room next to the jam!" Mr. Beaver grunted as he jumped up and dug his way out. I helped Susan pull Lucy out and then herself before me by cupping my hands. Before I could turn back to Peter I felt his hands on my waist, hoisting me out. As soon as my feet touched the snow I turned and pulled him out with Susan's help.

He and Mr. Beaver pushed a barrel over the hole while I gawked at our surroundings. Lucy had fallen, again, but this time on what seemed to be a dozen statues. There were squirrels, a dog, a pig, a fawn, a fox, and a badger. They all looked terrified, frozen in time. I helped Lucy up and turned to Beaver, who sorrowfully held the badger's frozen paw.

"He was my best mate." He spoke softly.

"What happened here?" Susan whispered. An unexpected voice to my left made me jump.

"This is what becomes of those who cross the Witch." A fox jumped down from a ledge right in front of me. Peter quickly stood in front of Susan and Lucy, reaching his arm out to grab mine.

"You take one more step, traitor, and I'll chew you to splinters!" Mrs. Beaver held back her husband as he bit at the air. The fox only chuckled.

"Relax. I'm one of the good guys." He purred.

"Yeah? Well, you look an awful lot like one of the bad ones."

"An unfortunate family resemblance. But we can argue breeding later. Right now we've got to move." The fox glanced down at the barrel, which now shook with the heavy footsteps of the wolves under it.

"What do you have in mind?" Peter almost begged the fox.

He nodded towards the tree, and I quickly understood. I ran over to it and scaled it gracefully, careful to avoid ice. I pulled Susan and Lucy up beside me as Peter and the Beavers joined us soon after. Just as the fox finished covering our tracks with his tail, the barrel flew from the hole and eight mangy wolves emerged from it.

The fox kept a cool face. "Greetings, gents. Lost something, have we?" He smiled lightly. The wolves circled him.

"Don't patronize me!" One of the wolves growled. "I know where your allegiance lies. We're looking for some humans." The fox only laughed.