The Youngest Pevensie

Chapter 6: Fox

       Halfway back to the Beaver's dam, we heard howling. "The Witch's police. Hurry!" Mr. Beaver yelled at us, and we all took off running back. Soon, we got to the dam and Mr. Beaver burst through the door. "Hurry, Mother! They're after us!" He told Mrs. Beaver. "Oh, right then." Mrs. Beaver said and started gathering stuff. "What's she doing?" Peter asked, his voice urgent. "Oh, you'll be thanking me later. It's a long journey and Beaver gets pretty cranky when he's hungry." Mrs. Beaver told us. "I'm cranky now!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed as Susan started helping Mrs. Beaver pack, so that they would finish sooner. "Do you think we'll need jam?" Susan asked. "Only if the Witch serves toast." Peter answered, and we heard snarling. The wolves surrounded the dam and started digging at the wood, breaking in. I gasped, scared. "Hurry, down here!" Mr. Beaver said and opened up a door that led to a tunnel underground. Mr. Beaver went in first, with Peter behind him, Mrs. Beaver next, and then Lucy and me, with Susan taking the rear. "Badger and me dug this. Comes out right near his place." Mr. Beaver told us. "You told me it led to your mom's!" Mrs. Beaver said. Then I tripped, falling into Lucy, making us both fall down. "Lucy, Kat." Susan said, as Mrs. Beaver passed Peter. Everyone stopped walking as we heard howling. "They're inside the tunnel." Lucy whispered. "Quick! This way." Mr. Beaver told us, and Lucy and I quickly got up, and we all started running. "Hurry!" Mrs. Beaver exclaimed. We came to a dead end. "You should have brought a map!" Mrs. Beaver told her husband. "There wasn't room next to the jam!" Mr. Beaver replied and we turned back and ran a couple of yards and turned a different way. In just a few seconds, we came to a hole that led above ground. Mr. Beaver climbed up it first, Mrs. Beaver right on his tail. Then Susan went up, so she could help Lucy and I. Lucy went up first, and Susan grabbed her hand to help her up, and then Peter picked me up, and helped me up the hole, Susan taking my hand once we could reach each other. And lastly, Peter came up. As soon as he was up, he helped Mr. Beaver move a barrel in front of the hole, so it would be harder for the wolves to come up. I back up, to make sure I wouldn't be in their way, and ended up tripped over something. "Ugh!" I grunted as I hit the ground, the impact surprising me. I looked at what I tripped on, and my mood immediately saddened. Mr. Beaver finished putting the barrel in front of the hole, and he turned around, his face expressing his sadness. I had tripped on animals that had been turned to stone. Peter held out his hand, and I used it to help me up, as Mr. Beaver walked over to a statue of a badger, Mrs. Beaver right beside him. "I'm so sorry, dear." Mrs. Beaver put her hands on his arms to try and comfort him. "He was my best mate." Mr. Beaver said, and I hung my head. How much sadness had I gone through, in the last 48 hours? It felt like a whole lifetime's worth. I held Peter's hand as we walked up to the area that Mr. and Mrs. Beaver were in. There was a statue of a bull dog, and a squirrel, and many more. What an awful way to die. "What happened here?" Peter asked. "This is what becomes of those to cross the Witch." All six of us turned around to face the voice. There was a fox on top of a rock, he was the one who spoke. "You take one more step, traitor, and I'll chew you to splinters!" Mr. Beaver threatened, and Mrs. Beaver held him back. "Relax," Fox chuckled lightly. "I'm one of the good guys." "Yeah? Well, you look an awful lot like one of the bad ones." Mr. Beaver said, and Mrs. Beaver continued holding him back. "An unfortunate family resemblance," Fox said and started walking closer. Peter put one of his arms around my shoulders, and put his other arm in front of Lucy and Susan, protectively. "But we can argue breeding later." Fox continued and we started to hear barking and howling come from the tunnels, meaning the wolves were close. "Right now we've got to move." Peter glanced back at the hole, and then looked back at Fox. "What did you have in mind?" Fox motioned towards a tree, and I immediately understood. I ran over to the tree, my siblings and the beavers behind me, and I started climbing. I used to climb trees in Finchley before we were sent away, and I climbed one of Professor Kirke's trees just the day before, so I was a pretty good climber. I climbed to the highest branch I could and made room so the rest of them  could sit as well. Lucy was the farthest from the trunk, Peter sat next to her, I sat in between him and Susan, who was the closest to the trunk. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver sat on a branch right across from ours. Just a few seconds later, the wolves burst out from the hole, moving the barrel, and started circling Fox, who had his tail down in surrender. "Greetings, gents. Lost something, have we?" Fox asked and kept his eyes on one wolf, who must've been the leader. "Don't patronize me! I know where your allegiance lies. We're looking for some humans." The lead wolf told him. Fox chuckled. "Humans? Here in Narnia? That's a valuable bit of information, don't you think?" A wolf rushed forward and bit Fox, holding him in his mouth. Mr. Beaver, Lucy, and I all gasped. Peter quickly put his hand over Lucy's mouth, Susan did the same to me, and Mrs. Beaver did the same to her husband. "You're reward is your life. It's not much, but still." The lead wolf said. I looked at Peter, worried. "Where are the fugitives?" The lead wolf asked. Fox looked around, helplessly, before he hung his head in shame. Is he going to betray us? "North," Fox lied. "They ran North." "Smell them out." The lead wolf ordered. The wolf that was holding Fox in its mouth, threw Fox to the ground, and Fox yelped as all the wolves ran away.

       The fire blazed as Fox talked. "They were helping Tumnus. The Witch got here before I did." Fox groaned. "Ow! Oh!" "Are you all right?" Lucy asked Fox. "Well, I wish I could say their bark was worse than their bite. Ow!" Fox exclaimed. "Oh, stop squirming! You're worse than Beaver on bath day." Mrs. Beaver told him. "Worst day of the year." Mr. Beaver said, and I usually would have laughed at that, but all I could manage was a smile. Fox got up as he said. "Thank you for your kindness, but I'm afraid that's all the cure I have time for." "You're leaving?" I asked, confused. "It has been a pleasure, My Queen, and an honour," Fox bowed his head at me. "But time is short and Aslan himself has asked me to gather more troops." "You've seen Aslan?" Mr. Beaver asked. Mrs. Beaver gasped. "What's he like?" Fox chuckled. "Like everything we've ever heard. You'll be glad to have him by your side in the battle against the Witch." Fox told me and my three siblings. "But we're not planning on fighting any witch." Susan told him. "But surely, King Peter, the prophecy!" Fox addressed Peter. "We can't go to war without you." Mr. Beaver told him. We have to stay and help. We have to. Peter and Susan glanced at each other. "We just want our brother back." Peter said, after a few seconds, and I sighed. I do want our brother back, I really do, but what about all the Narnians who are going to die because we don't stay to help?