Hope➵ Peter Pevensie [1] *BEING REWRITTEN*

04| THE BEAVERS

Chapter Four

The Beavers

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ANNABELL

"PETER!" I screamed as I felt Peter grab my hand and drag me down the hill.

He, however, ignored my scream as he continued dragging me before tripping, taking me with him. Snow now covered our legs and I pushed his shoulder before standing up and dusting off the snow. "Great, now my legs are frozen," I scolded him but he just looked at me with a smile.

I rolled my eyes at him which made Lucy and Susan giggle at us before we continued walking to Mr Tumnus' house. "There's lots and lots of lovely food and lots of..." Lucy stopped explaining to us when we arrived at a place with the door kicked in.

"Lu?" Peter asked, concerned about Lucy's sudden silence.

She suddenly bolted to the door and I screamed; "Lucy!" before following after her.

Once we entered the house, what looked like a cozy house was destroyed. "Who would do something like this?" Lucy asked as she walked around the tossed house.

I heard a crunch from before me so I turned around to see Edmund had stepped on a broken picture. I continued to look around when I noticed a note pinned to a wall which I pulled off and began to read. "The faun Tumnus is hereby charged with high treason against her imperial majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia. For comforting her enemies and fraternizing with humans. Signed: Maugrim, Captain of the Secret Police. Long Live the Queen," I read, handing to note to Susan as Peter and Lucy stood by my side.

"Alright, now we should really go back," Susan said which caused Lucy to grow concerned for her faun friend.

"But what about Mr Tumnus?" Lucy asked her sister who explained; "If he was arrested just for being with a human, I don't think that there's much that we can do."

"You don't understand, do you? I'm the human! She must have found out he helped me," Lucy informed us and I noticed Edmund look away from us with maybe...guilt? He knew more about this than he was letting on.

"Maybe we could call the police," Peter suggested but then I informed him; "These are the police."

"Don't worry, Lu. We'll think of something," Peter told the younger girl before Edmund spoke up; "Why?"

We all turned to look at him which made him stammer; "I mean, he's a criminal."

Suddenly, we heard a 'psst' which made us all look outside but all we saw was a raven. "Did that bird just 'psst' at us?" Susan asked us and I shrugged before walking outside.

Peter placed himself in front of us as we began to rustle around us. I felt Susan grab my coat while Lucy and I grabbed onto Peter for a sense of protection. It turned out that the source of rustling was a...beaver. I released Peter when the beaver came into sight as I no longer felt frightened. "It's a beaver?" Lucy questioned, looking at it in confusion.

Peter began to approach with his hand out and he was also clicking his tongue. "Here boy...here boy," Peter said as he put his hand down near the beaver.

The beaver stared at it before doing something I wouldn't have expected; "Well, I ain't gonna smell if that's what you want."

Lucy started to giggle while the rest of us widened our eyes in surprise. "Sorry," Peter apologized, embarrassed as he walked back to us.

"Lucy Pevensie?" The beaver asked, making Lucy's face drop and grow quiet.

"Yes?" Lucy questioned as she walked toward the beaver.

The beaver held out a handkerchief that Lucy took from him. "This is the hankie I gave to Mr..." Lucy was interrupted by the beaver talking; "Tumnus. He got it to me just before they took him."

"Is he alright?" Lucy asked the beaver who looked around at the trees before saying; "Further in."

The beaver scurried off and Peter, Lucy and I went to follow him when I felt Susan grab me by the arm before asking; "What are you doing?"

"She's right. How do we know we can trust him?" Edmund asked; agreeing with Susan.

"He's a beaver. He shouldn't be saying anything," Susan remarked which made the beaver return; "Is everything alright?"

"Yes. We were just talking," Peter answered him which caused the beaver to look around again.

"Better left for safer corners," The beaver whispered which caused us to be confused.

"He means the trees," Lucy explained which made me start to feel uncomfortable.

"Well, that's totally not creepy about trees being able to watch you," I replied sarcastically before Lucy grabbed my hand and we followed the beaver.

"Come on. We don't wanna be caught out here after nightfall," The beaver whispered to us as he guided us through the cliffs under a bridge.

We reached the edge of the cliff to see a dam built over a frozen lake with smoke coming from the chimney. "Oh, blimey. Looks like the old girl has got the kettle on. Nice cup of o' rosy-lee!" The beaver exclaimed, looking at his home.

"It's lovely!" Lucy complimented but the beaver renounce what she had said; "Oh, it's merely a trifle, you know. Still got plenty of work to do. Ain't quite finished it yet. It'll look the business when it is done."

We walked down the cliff towards the beaver's home when we heard a female voice come from the home; "Beaver, is that you? I've been worried sick. If I find out you've been with Badger again...Oh."

The female voice belonged to another beaver who stopped talking when we walked into her line of sight. "Oh, those aren't Badgers. I never thought I would live to see this day!" The female beaver exclaimed before looking at her husband with annoyance; "Look at my fur. You couldn't give me ten minutes' warning?"

"I'd given you a week if I thought it would've helped," Mr Beaver (which we named them as it would be easier to identifier) joked making us laugh.

"Come inside and we'll see if we can't get you some food. And some civilised company," Mrs Beaver almost insulted Mr Beaver who laughed awkwardly.

Everyone followed Mrs Beaver inside as we sat around the small table. Peter, Susan, Lucy and I sat around the table while Edmund sat on the stair like a loner. 

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