Mr Beaver looked mournfully into the eyes of his best friend, eyes that were frozen in fear, just like the rest of Badger's body. He ran his hand down his friend's face, trying not to believe that he was really gone. Oh he had hated the witch before, but now... now it was personal and his rage only fuelled his passion to destroy the White Witch and everything she stood for.
The Pevensies stood in a state of shock, staring at the mismatched jumble of stone animals in confusion. The mood was soon broken though and the Pevensies reeled back in horror as the barrel they had used to block the tunnel began to shake. This was it, the wolves were coming. Peter hurriedly pushed his sisters behind him in an attempt to protect them and they scrambled backwards quickly, trying to get as far away from the opening as possible. They stared fearfully at the barrel, which shook harder until it was finally pushed away in one fluid movement. The Pevensies and the Beavers seemed to simultaneously suck in a breath but what emerged from the hole was definitely not what they had expected...
"Still alive I see, Pevensies?" A very bedraggled looking guardian asked from the opening of the tunnel.
Peter let out a sigh of relief but he wasn't sure whether it was because it wasn't the wolves or if it was because Cassie was safe.
"Peter! Over here, I need you to help me get this barrel back into place!" Cassie called but Peter was still in awe of the stone animals that were littered around them.
Cassie noticed that the eldest Pevensie wasn't going to be helping her any time soon and she grumbled before awkwardly shifting the barrel with her foot as her right hand was clutched onto her still bleeding shoulder. She soon noticed the uncanny silence and turned around fearfully, only to be met with a terrible sight. Badger, her friend, almost like an uncle, was gone. She sucked in a sharp breath at the pain in her chest as she stumbled forwards, numb. How many more people would the White Witch take from her? She saw Mr Beaver also staring at Badger and she cleared her throat, attempting to get rid of the uncomfortable lump that had formed there.
"Beaver, I'm sorry."
Mr Beaver turned to her, his face full of emotion.
"Yeah, me too..."
Peter's voice soon broke the silence, "What happened here?"
"This is what becomes of those who cross the witch." Came a new voice and Cassie drew her sword, noticing the increasing black spots in her vision and the woozy feeling in her head.
Mr Beaver turned to the fox angrily, "You take one more step, traitor, and I'll chew you to splinters."
Suddenly, Cassie's breathing became a lot more difficult and as her adrenaline ran out, the consequences of her stupidity in the fight came back to her tenfold. She tried to concentrate on the intruder but she knew she couldn't it keep up for much longer.
The fox laughed, "Relax, I'm one of the good guys."
"Well you look an awful lot like one of the bad guys..." Mr Beaver replied venomously, but Cassie barely heard him as she fell to her knees.
Cassie felt the eyes of the fox on her as she fell and she heard Lucy's voice call out her name as the wounded guardian managed to shift herself so her back was resting on a rock. She felt a presence beside her and looked up to see the concerned eyes of Peter Pevensie.
"You're injured." He panicked.
"Oh really? I didn't notice." Cassie replied, but she groaned when Peter took her hand off of her wound for a better look.
He replaced it quickly, "You need to keep pressure on it."
"I know, Peter." She groaned and tried to get up, but Peter carefully pushed back down again.
"You're losing blood, you need to stay still." Peter said in his best 'big brother' voice.
"Peter, we don't have time, the wolves could be here any second, besides... it doesn't even hurt that much." Cassie said through gritted teeth.
Peter shot her a look that confirmed that he didn't believe her in the slightest but then his eyes softened and he spoke to her in an almost whisper, "It's ok to show weakness, you know."
Cassie laughed, "When I'm looking after you humans, there's no time for weakness."
She forced herself up, ignoring Peter's protests. She was well aware of their situation and her injury was going to get them killed if she wasn't careful.
Once she had stood up she turned to Peter, "I'm not one of your little sisters, so stop treating me like one. For your information, I am over nine times your age."
Cassie shot him a weak smile as he gaped at her and the fox shot her a look of what may have even been concern before he spoke again.
"We can argue breeding later, right now we've gotta move." He said forcefully.
Cassie couldn't agree more, especially as she heard the sound of the wolves coming closer. Peter approached her again and they awkwardly moved until Cassie's left arm was slung over his shoulder (at which she had to force down a gasp of pain) so she still had her right arm free to put pressure on her wound and Peter was able to help her walk.
He turned to the fox and spoke to him in a panicked voice (though he was still trying to sound brave), "What did you have in mind?"
