The children and Beaver all scrambled into the dam. The wolves were already on their way.
"Hurry love, they're after us." Beaver frantically told his wife. She immediately stood up and started collecting food and other things into a basket.
"What is she doing?!" Aleisa asked Beaver, wondering how she could pack at a time like this. Beaver just looked up at her raising his hands and shaking his head in an 'who knows' manner.
"You'll be thanking me later. It's going to be a long journey and Beaver tends to be very cranky when he's hungry." She told them while balancing loaves of bread in her arms. Susan rushed into action and started to help her pack.
"I'm cranky now!" Beaver exclaimed. Why does she choose to do this now?
Outside of the dam, the wolf pack looked down at the house. Morgrim looked at them.
"Take them." He ordered in a gravelly voice. The wolves looked to each other and started down the hill to dig them out.
"Do you think we'll need jam?" Susan asked as she packed the supplies.
"Only if the queen serves toast." Peter retorted in a panicky voice. Had it not been in a life or death setting, Aleisa would have laughed at his comment. Susan gave him a 'you're not helping' look. The jumped as they heard the sounds of barking and growling right outside the house. The wolves were circling and starting to break the dam apart. They people inside let out panicked noises as they saw dust falling from the sticks being scratched at. Before long the wolves will be inside. After a few more moments the pack broke through and they all clambered inside. Looking around they saw that the dam was empty. One of them started pawing at a cabinet door and pried it open. They looked inside and saw a rope leading down to a tunnel underneath them.
The group was sprinting through the underground tunnel. The beavers were leading and Aleisa had taken Lucy's hand in the back.
"Badger and me dug this, comes out right near his place." Beaver told them. Peter was up at the front holding a torch so they could see in the dark tunnel.
"You told me it led to your mums!" Mrs. Beaver commented in surprise. Lucy tripped on a root and everyone turned to her. In the silence they heard the sound of howling and running paws nearby. They froze.
"They're in the tunnel." Lucy whispered with a terrified expression. Aleisa and Susan looked at each other before quickly picking her up on either side and sprinting to the end of the tunnel. Winding their way they continued following the beavers through all the different passageways. They came to a dead end.
"You should have brought a map!" Mrs. Beaver exclaimed. Beaver looked back at her.
"There wasn't room next to the jam." He told her before leaping up to the hole above them. Mrs. Beaver followed and so did Susan. Peter hung back to make sure everyone went up before him. Aleisa scrambled up first and reached down to help Lucy. Peter lifted his little sister up and she grabbed Aleisa's hand above. Once Lucy was safe Aleisa reached her hand down to Peter.
"Come on!" she urged. Peter grabbed her hand and scrambled up with her help. Once he was up he assisted Beaver in moving a large barrel on top of the hole. Lucy was walking backwards and tripped over a collection of statues. Once Peter was out he helped Beaver move a heavy barrel over the entrance of the tunnel. Beaver sighed in relief and turned around. His smiled dropped. Everyone turned toward where Lucy had fallen and stared at all the frozen animal statues. Beaver slowly walked over toward a large badger statue in sorrow. Mrs. Beaver put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry dear." She murmured. Aleisa and the Pevensies watched them with sad expressions.
"He was my best mate." Beaver whispered heartbrokenly. The children behind them looked around at all the animal statues in front of the houses in the small town they were in.
"What happened here?" Peter asked. Before Beaver answered, another voice piped up.
"This is what becomes of those who cross the Witch." A small red fox said from atop a roof. Beaver started growling and struggled to get to the fox, but his wife held him back.
"Take one step traitor and I'll chew you to splinters" Beaver threatened. The fox jumped down with a chuckle.
"Relax, I'm one of the good guys." The fox assured them.
"Yea? Well you look an awful lot like one of the bad ones." Beaver challenged. The fox sighed.
"An unfortunate family resemblance." He told them. Peter had nudged Susan and Lucy behind him, and held Aleisa tightly by the shoulder in a protective stance.
"We can argue breeding later. Right now we've got to move." The fox earnestly told them. They could now hear the wolves scratching and trying to dig around the barrel at the exit of the tunnel.
"What did you have in mind?" Peter asked the fox. At this point they had no choice but to trust him.