Wunderkind ❄ A Chronicles of Narnia Tale {Wattys 2018}

A Traitor in Their Midst

  Suddenly, Lucy cried, "Oh!" and the group stopped walking.

"The robin! He's flown away!" Lucy said in dismay.

"Oh, bother. What are we going to do –" Peter said, but he was interrupted by Ruth.

"Shh! There's something over there, in the trees." She pointed just as a small, dark shape scuffled along the ground, trying to hide behind bushes and trees.

Lucy pressed herself against Peter, who immediately wrapped a protective arm around her. He stepped in front of the others, as though trying to protect them from whatever lurked in the woods. The rustling continued, and Ruth clutched at her coat to stop herself from trembling.

"We really should go home," said Susan, then, "Oh, oh! There it is again!"

Presently, a small, whiskered face peered out from behind a tree. The animal stepped out a little further, looking curiously at them, and they all relaxed.

"It's a beaver!" said Lucy.

Peter too took a step forward, holding out his hand to coax the Beaver into coming closer. "Here, boy," he said, clicking his tongue the way you do with a pet. He looked vaguely frightened, as if the beaver might bite him.

The Beaver stood up on his hind legs. "I'm not going to sniff it, you know," he said reproachfully.

Peter straightened, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "Sorry."

"Are you the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve?" the Beaver asked, looking around as if the trees were listening.

Ruth exchanged a look with Edmund. "Pardon me... sir..." (her eyebrows knitted involuntarily) "...but what do you mean by that?"

"Mr Tumnus said the same thing to me," said Lucy, "and he means to ask if we're human. And, well, we are."

"Mr Tumnus... further in. Come on, and please try and be quiet. We're not safe out here," the Beaver said, and beckoned with his tiny paw for them to follow.

"He means the trees," said Lucy, shivering. "Mr Tumnus said some of them are on the White Witch's side."

She hurried after the Beaver, ignoring Edmund's mutterings of "How do we know he isn't, too?"
Ruth hung back, falling into step with Edmund. "I don't really feel comfortable about this, either. You've been here before; do you know how many creatures are on the side of this White Witch?" she asked.

Edmund shook his head quickly. "How should I know? I wasn't here for very long, really only a few minutes. I hardly got a look around before Lucy found me."

"Hmm," said Ruth, looking very hard at the snow settling on her shoes. "I don't like how we're blindly following this Beaver. I don't suppose you could talk to Peter and ask about heading back, could you?"

"What good would that do? He never listens to a word I say. I told him it was a jolly awful idea following that Robin, and now we're lost," said Edmund, and neither said a word more.

Soon they came to a dark place. It was much colder here, and the wind whistled through the trees so that an uneasy chill fell over the children. The Beaver turned to Lucy and said, "Lucy Pevensie? I believe this belongs to you." He held out a small cloth square.

"Oh! That's my handkerchief! I gave it to Mr Tumnus when he rescued me," gasped Lucy, taking the handkerchief.

"Indeed. Poor fellow heard about the arrest and passed this on to me before it happened. Now come along, we mustn't stand about. We don't want to be caught out here after dark. I'll take you where we can speak properly, and perhaps have some dinner." The Beaver beckoned again, this time hopping along in front at quite a pace.