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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓

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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐙𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐒𝐋𝐘 as the group of five humans and beavers stared down at the great river. They stood at the edge of a steep precipice, the sun beaming down on their necks while the wind caused their thick fur coats to whirl around their legs. Though they had noticed the air becoming slightly warmer since their meeting with Father Christmas yesterday, they hadn't really understood his saying about the ice losing its grip on the world, not until now. Deep cracks ran along the frozen surface of the river and every once in a while, some massive plates of ice broke away from it; fiercely taken downstream with the turbulent dark green water that already streamed freely at their right. The frozen waterfall still loomed motionless at their left, but with the ever-rising temperature it probably wouldn't take long before the ice started to crack in there as well.

'What are we going to do?' Lucy asked, flinching as another loud crack rumbled through the air like distant thunder.

Peter's eyes flickered from shore to shore. 'We cross,' he said in determination.

'We'll never make it,' Susan said, but Peter took Lucy's hand and they carefully started to make their way down.

'Not if we keep talking about it,' he retorted, and though Susan let out a huff, she quickly followed her siblings as well. Alexander, Rosaleen and the beavers followed suit, but the climb down took longer than they had anticipated and by the time they set foot ashore, the frozen waterfall started to creak. Small chunks of ice broke loose and clattered like falling glass on the melting ice layer of the river which wasn't even broad enough anymore to allow more than three persons walking next to each other.

'We have to hurry,' Peter announced before stepping with one foot on the ice. The plate moved under his weight and with a fearful expression, he retreated his foot.

'I'll go first,' Mr Beaver volunteered. He stepped onto the ice and shuffled backwards over it, his flat tail patting on the frozen surface to test its strength. After it was sure it could hold the beaver, Peter and Lucy stepped onto the ice as well. Susan walked farther too but Alexander held back Rosaleen before she could move at all.

'Wait,' he said. 'It's not smart to go all at once, the ice won't hold that much weight.'

Rosaleen bit her lip, feeling more and more stressed as another piece of ice broke away at their right, but she still nodded in agreement. Her brother was right, if she joined the others on the same spot, they would surely sink right through it; the ice didn't look that strong anymore.

Alexander was about to shout to the Pevensies they should crawl over ice to divide their weight, but then all of their attention got drawn to the top of the waterfall when the howling of wolves added to the cracking sound of the ice. The canines ran light-footed over the frozen waterfall to catch the humans at the other shore.