Chapter 67- disobedience followed by trouble
Several more Narnian days pass and the Archenland-bound evacuees were still walking through the snowy terrain. It was proving to be an extremely exhausting and demanding journey as the creatures had to continue to pull their feet through the thick and deep snow as well as fight and dig through it for the snow sometimes rose in depth to an adult male Faun's waist. Even the larger and stronger walking creatures like the T-Rexes, Horses and Centaurs who carried those unable to walk far, such as pregnant mothers, were struggling to pull their feet through the deep white and freezing powder which sometimes clumped together like sand on a beach. Even if the crowd took rest stops such as to eat or spend the night in a safe place, exhaustion was beginning to become a more and more frequent problem, with the demand for rest stops becoming more and more common. Furthermore, the freezing temperature, blizzards and the snow were beginning to ignite disgruntlement and impatience in many of the creatures but their escorts still urged them on for they wanted to get to the Archenlander border as soon as they could. Aslan's Lion-faced fireball continued to hover ahead of the front of the crowd and continued to serve as a guiding beacon for the evacuees as they continued their journey, but doubt in Aslan and his guiding sign was beginning to take root within some of the creatures as well, including Dashiell and Amberpaw who absolutely loathed the journey due to the deep snow.
As the creatures continued to trudge, dig and struggle through the snow, a few of them began to stop frequently as the strain of the trek was beginning to get to them. Nyarth wearily trudged through the snow before stopping, slouching and put his paws on his knees.
"How much further have we got to walk?" groaned Kushanku's older brother, his face laced with the tiredness of the trip, "The Narnia-Archenland boundary surely can't be too far."
Kushanku then came by with Sandstorm, Akira and Satoshi, Kushanku giving one of the Penguin chicks a piggy back to help its parents take a break while Sandstorm carried a Rabbit kit (not one of Faline's kits). Around Kushanku and his siblings, groans and moans continued to emanate from the other creatures and Tesseract was complaining of the aching muscles in his legs. Around the complaining crowd, Cedrus and the other escorts continued to urge them on for the crowd was not in any vicinity of any safe spot for another break, and there could be Jadis's minions lurking in any possible corner in the surrounds, especially forests and thickets, and some of the trees could be indwelt by Dryads on the Witch's side as well, though the fire-utilising creatures such as the Phoenixes, Talking Dragons and some of the Kitsune such as Tuvok were always ready to burn such Dryads' trees to the ground to kill the Tree Sprites and protect the crowd. Kids were getting more and more impatient while some of the pregnant mothers and the disabled individuals were swapped between the Centaurs, T-Rexes, the Horses and the Horse-like creatures (such as Unicorns and Pegasi) when these individuals got tired. Around the trudging crowd, the lookouts continued to scour the environment for any trouble. Ptériga and her band of Sphinx lookouts were hovering above the front of the crowd, their Humanoids' eyes scouring the surrounding forests for any suspicious movement while on the ground, some of Cedrus's tribe members were checking the trees to ensure that there were no Dryads on the Witch's side spying on them. As mentioned before, there could be trees indwelt by Dryads on Jadis's side, and it was important that action was taken to protect the crowd. Thankfully, the crowd had a naturally skilled Dryad communicator on their side.
Curupira, especially the older ones, were excellent communicators with Dryads and knew whether they were on Aslan's side or the Witch's side based on their behaviour due to their natural connection to forests and their roles as guardians and protectors of trees and plants, and because the older members of Cedrus's tribe had the most experience in dealing with Dryads, they were chosen to be the Dryad watchers and checkers and as the crowd moved on, they would stop and knock on the trunk of every tree they came across. If they got no response, they knew that the tree did not belong to one of the Tree Spirits and moved on, but if they did get a response from the trees, the next step of action followed two separate paths: if the Dryad was genuinely on Aslan's side and against the Witch, that Dryad's tree was spared but if a Dryad was a spy for the Witch, that Dryad was put to death on the spot via the burning of their tree and subsequent cutting down to ensure that the Dryad was put to death. This second course of action had only been taken once when Deodara detected suspicious behaviour in one of the trees and had a Kitsune able to breathe fire to set it alight, while a Triceratops and an Elephant applied their strength in pushing over the tree to finish the job. Normally, it was unethical to chop down the trees indwelt by the Nature Spirits but because some of the Dryads had fallen for the Witch's side and thus were assigned the roles as stationary spies hiding in plain sight, permission had been granted in doing away with these Dryads for the safety of the evacuees.
"Come on, everyone," called Blaze as he hovered ahead with Cumulonimbus and Brina and some of the other Phoenixes, Thunderbirds and Rocs, "Keep going and keep your eyes on Aslan's Lion fireball sign."
The golden fireball shaped like a Lion's face burning with golden flames and radiating out like a Lion's mane continued to hover before the crowd, and the crowd continued to follow it but soon, the path came to a bifurcation in which the path forked into two. One branch, the right one, led into very thick mist, and the mist was so thick that hands and wings held out at their maximum length was barely visible from their observers' eyes. The other path branch, the left one, however, was as clear as day and was not smothered in mist, and the horizon was visible for it was downhill. As the crowd approached the bifurcation, some of them at the front shuddered at the thick mist enveloping the right branch of the path. Their eyes then turned to the left branch of the path, which they found more appealing to travel down, and they had hoped that Aslan's sign would hover over this path. Dashiell and Amberpaw gazed timidly at the foggy path.
"I do NOT wanna travel in THAT," murmured the adult Cheetah as he shuddered at the thick mist. Near Cedrus and his family, Troodon also gazed timidly at the super-thick mist and backed away but he had been gently ushered along by Tsuga. Then as soon as the crowd's front stopped at the bifurcation, glances were exchanged amongst them with many of them wanting to go down the clear path. Kushanku gazed at the foggy path with the Penguin chick on his back as Milky Way touched down beside him, having been helping the flying lookout teams examine the surroundings above the crowd for any signs of trouble.
"I can barely see ANYTHING in that mist," he said to the Pegasus, "I've NEVER seen fog as thick as THAT."
As he spoke, Milky Way gazed down the clear path as Cedrus walked up to the pair with a Centaur.
"Which path does Aslan want us to take, Cedrus?" asked Milky Way. Cedrus, his tribe leader's staff in his left hand like a shepherd's crook which he used as a skier's stick to help pull himself through the snow, then gazed from one path to the next, searching for Aslan's Lion fireball sign. Then within moments, the Lion fireball appeared but it did not appear down the clear path. It was glowing in the thick fog smothering the right branch of the path, the flames licking at the mist. Cedrus, when he spotted the Lion fireball, then formed a stern look on his face and turned to the crowd as more turned up.
"We're to go down that path," said the lead Curupira, a finger point to the thick misty path. At this, disbelief tore through many of the crowd members.
"WHAT!?" blurted out a Dog (not Molayne).
"You want US to travel down THAT thick mist!?" retorted a Cat (regular Cat).
"We could EASILY get lost in that mist," said a Camel with a pregnant Fox on his back, his gaze on the thick mist smothering the right branch of the fork. His calf, a son hid behind his legs and whimpered timidly. Cedrus's glare hardened.
"Well, since Aslan is indicating us to take that path, we should take it," he said, "Since the Lion of all Lions knows best, we should follow his direction. Now let's not have any arguments and walk down the misty path, but make sure that you ALL STAY TOGETHER and KEEP YOUR KIDS CLOSE TO YOU!"
Troodon, at this, huddled closer to Deodara's side as he gazed at the super-thick mist. He clearly did not like the sight of the mist one bit and was tempted to go down the clear path, much like the majority of the other creatures. Kushanku was also tempted to go against Aslan's guidance, especially as he stared into the thick mist which was so thick that he would not be able to see much of his forked tail. Cedrus began to try and assure the crowd when he saw doubt well within them.
"Look, all you need to do is trust in Aslan," shouted the Curupira tribe patriarch for everyone to hear, "and follow his Lion fireball sign. He will guide us through the thick fog."
"But we'd not be able to see what's in front of us!" protested someone in the crowd, a Hippogriff (not Cyril).
"What if we have to walk along a precipice in THAT!?" yelled another, a Dimetrodon.
"You've got to be kidding us!" said a Pterosaur. Then a protesting uproar erupted from many members of the crowd, many of them yelling of their desire to travel down the left path which was clear and fogless. Cedrus, at this, began to worry. It was clear that the crowd was not listening and many of them were insisting that they travel down the clear path. Then Obsidian came forward and gazed at Aslan's Lion fireball sign in the thick mist.
"It will be a difficult trek through that but we must go along with it," said the Wampus Cat, "especially since the Lion is indicating to us to travel down it."
"I agree," said Kushanku as Sandstorm, Satoshi, Akira and Nyarth turned up, "Aslan called me to evacuate Green Leaf Village to Mr Gandalf's base in a dream and we made the right decision…"
"Yes, especially since our former home and its neighbouring town had been ransacked and destroyed by the Witch and her cronies thanks to Soran," said Trotterhoof as memories of his return to the decimated Green Leaf Village and Purple Flower Town along with Alexandrite, Paddy, Link, Cyril, Desdemona, Molayne, Obsidian, Thundersparx and Milky Way, "and that you guys would have without a doubt died with every other villager who had stayed behind," the Pig's gaze turned to Kushanku and the others with him who used to live in Green Leaf Town. Trotterhoof then turned to Dashiell and Amberpaw who looked on with disgruntled, sour glares and continued, "But despite the decimation of everyone in Purple Flower Town, we had found only four survivors, which are you two along with Citron and Eureka the Otters…"
"We don't wanna talk about the devastation that Nekomata brought upon us, Pig, because of his some belief in some oversized Cat with a messy mane," snapped Dashiell bitterly, his acidic, resentful glare shot at Kushanku who flinched, before he returned it to Trotterhoof, "and since there's no such thing as a Lion that has created Narnia by caterwauling it into existence, we're gonna go down the clear path as it's much safer."
"WHAT!?" snapped Sandstorm incredulously.
"But we're to go down the misty path," protested Akira, "As Aslan is showing us over there."
"Yes, remember what Gandalf said about following Aslan's guidance," said Thundersparx sternly, "We're to follow Aslan's guidance…"
"I don't wanna hear what that nine-tailed Dog has said about following some unseen Lion's lead," snapped the Cheetah disrespectfully to the outrage and offense of Cedrus and the other helpers of Gandalf, especially his offspring such as Tuvok, "There's no way WE are gonna go down THAT dangerous and uninviting foggy path. We're gonna go down the clear path where it is safer."
Amberpaw came in and nodded in agreement. When this determination reached the ears of the listeners nearest to the two still-sour Cheetahs, those listeners exchanged glances and began to go along with Dashiell and Amberpaw's suggestion. At this, Kushanku rushed in and began to protest.
"Wait, everyone!" shouted the Nekomata and with that, he twisted his forked tail and launched into the air. Kushanku then flew over to the clear path and began to protest to the crowd.
"We should NOT be going down this path," he yelled, "If Aslan wants us to take the foggy path then we should take the foggy path. If we don't obey him then trouble will befall us. What if the Witch and her cronies catch us for instance?"
Cedrus smiled at the young Nekomata as he hovered before the crowd in his attempt to dissuade them from going down the clear path. Dahlia, Snowwing, Crystal and Guinan walked in. however, their gazes were filled with dismay as they examined the faces of many of the crowd, especially as they were considering going down the clear path. Then Dashiell stepped in.
"Everyone, don't listen to that Nekomata," shouted the Cheetah," he's just trying to endanger you all like he did to those of us who had lived in Green Leaf Village," he yelled. This caused more glances to be exchanged throughout the crowd. Then impatience boiled within Gandalf's helpers who had become escorts.
"Come on, everyone, let's get a move on!" shouted Blaze as he hovered with the other Phoenixes, Rocs and Thunderbirds above the foggy path, insisting the crowd follow that one. The crowd stood there, murmurs rolling through them. then a few of them stepped out of the crowd, amongst them Gandalf's helpers including Cedrus' own tribe and Troodon, and walked over to the foggy path as a practical signal that they wanted to go down the path in obedience to Aslan's command based on the Lion fireball hovering in the fog. Then a push-of-war started up between Kushanku and Dashiell as they began to try and usher the crowd one way or the other with Kushanku trying to usher the crowd into following the helpers and their group down the foggy path while Dashiell insisted on the crowd going down the clear path which appeared far safer than the foggy path. As the ball of persuasion continued to be passed from Kushanku to Dashiell and back like how a shuttlecock flew back and forth in our world's tennis sport, Deodara glared at Cedrus.
"This is going nowhere, dear," the Curupira tribe matriarch growled. Cedrus then called together the aerial lookouts such as Ptériga and began to discuss with them in gently forcing the crowed down the foggy path but before any of the helpers could disperse to apply the backup plan, the stream of various creatures had begun to make its way down the clear path, having finally fallen for Dashiell's persuasion and their own short-sighted judgement. At this, Cedrus exploded in panic.
"Hey, EVERYONE!" he yelled, "You're going the wrong way and against Aslan's guidance! Remember what Gandalf said about disobeying…"
The Curupira then began to run around and protest to the crowd with Ptériga and the others taking or rushing off to try and stop the crowd but it was no use. The crowd, or most of them, had already chosen to go down the clear path. Big mistake since it was NOT the path Aslan had ordered them to take. A few remaining members of the crowd, however, took the correct path and prepared to enter the mist, amongst them Trotterhoof. Blaze and Brina and a few of the helpers began to guide them but they stopped and worriedly gazed at Cedrus.
"You guys take that few into the mist, we'll deal with the rest of the crowd," said Cedrus and with that, he resumed trying to get the crowd to change their direction. Blaze and Brina exchanged worried gazes with their comrades and the crowd members who had chosen to go down the path, before disappearing into the fog.
Then within moments, the rest of the crowd began to pour like a viscous liquid down the clear path with the rest of the escorts led by Cedrus trying to dissuade them from going further down the path. Kushanku, Nyarth, Satoshi, Sandstorm and Akira, Crystal, Snowwing, Dahlia, Alexandrite, Paddy, Link, Cyril, Desdemona, Nanu and Molayne and a few others including Milky Way, Obsidian and Thundersparx and also the Pyros in their lamps also tried to help but to the protesters' dismay, many of the crowd members did not listen and continued down the path.
"You're DISOBEYING GANDALF'S COMMAND to follow ASLAN'S GUIDANCE!" yelled Cedrus at the deliberately deaf-eared crowd, "YOU'RE GONNA end up in a LOT of trouble if you CONTINUE DOWN THIS WRONG PATH!"
However, when the Curupira realised that his protests were falling on deaf ears, he eventually stopped to take a break as his voice went raw and hoarse from all the shouting, but he was furious and devastated that so many of the evacuees had chosen to disobey Gandalf's advice and also Aslan himself by deliberately taking the wrong path. It was clear that many of the crowd had a lack a faith in the Lion and were clouded by their short-sighted judgement as well as the exhaustion of the journey which had been going on over rugged and snowy terrain for days now.
Meanwhile
In a hidden cave somewhere else in Narnia and far from Gandalf's decimated base, Gandalf and his group had taken shelter. The last of Gandalf's helpers such as Perseus the Centaur; that is, those that had volunteered to go along with the male Kitsune and the father of the entire magical Fox species, were chatting with Kyukon (the mother of the Kitsune species since she was Gandalf's mate) and her group over the ellipsoidal communicator, the same one Jadis had magically hacked to taunt Gandalf before he and his group could leave their base. While they did that, Gandalf was examining the magic map of Narnia. The map was a scrollable 3D projection of the land similar to how certain devices of our world's digital technology would project 3D images of objects, and it allowed Gandalf to have an overall eye-in-the-sky look over the land, and he had been using the map to track the evacuees headed for Archenland over the past days, the crowd's tagged coats and tents showing up as red coloured dots on the map which merged together to form a mass, indicating the crowd's location. The magic map also showed the location of the Witch's cronies and the Witch herself, shown as black dots for the map also traced the signature of those creatures and so far, none of those black dots had strayed too near the crowd, much to Gandalf's relief. However, that relief was about to be shattered as the male nine-tailed Kitsune continued to watch the crowd continue their journey to the Narnia-Archenland border in the far south.
While Gandalf continued to watch the Archenland-bound evacuees, Perseus was talking with Kyukon who had retreated to an underground chamber somewhere in the north of the Narnian country for a rest before moving on.
"Have you been taunted by the White Witch as well, Kyukon?" asked Perseus, the female nine-tailed Fox and Gandalf's mate on the ellipse-shaped crystalline communicator screen with a few of her helpers, among them a Dwarf and a few Fairies, "Gandalf was impressively calm when dealing with that Devil Woman when she and her comrades taunted him and me."
"Oh, that Witch was a Devil Woman alright," said Kyukon with a distasteful scowl on her face on the screen, "But I did not enter into a conversation with her. I just cut off the communicator and ignored her attempts to contact me. I honestly did not want to get ONE SINGLE glimpse of that Snow Beast's overwhelming beauty and her hideous minions. Those Slender-Men honestly give me the chills and some of the more grotesque and frightening creatures like the Lizard-Men, Bonehead Crawlers, Xenojaws, Sluagh, Triffid-Mouths, Banshees and the other Horror species always make me nauseated. I cannot stand the sight of those diseased monsters and feral beasts."
Kyukon's face twisted slightly in disgust as she mentioned these, "They sometimes remind me of Krampus's hideous demonic toy minions. The Basilisks especially remind me of that giant Python-Jack-in-a-Box I have dubbed Python-Clown-in-a-Box because of its clown-like facial features and its massive Snake-like body, as well as its behaviour in that it has extendible jaws and that it swallows its victims whole and alive…" chills coursed down Kyukon's spine and made her nine tails shudder, "Anyway, enough of that foul bunch…"
Kyukon then went on to explain the wellbeing of her group.
"We're doing fine, Perseus," said the female Kitsune, "Our salvaged Narnian flora and fauna samples are in good shape as well. We hope to raise them as soon as we escape this Eternal Winter gripped land and release them back into the country once the Winter Revolution and the Dawn of Spring comes with Aslan's coming and the two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve's entry into Narnia through the wooden box portal according to the Golden Age Prophecy…"
"It's good to know that the salvaged flora and fauna of our country is being well looked after," said Perseus, "And you know something, Kyukon, all this snow, ice and freezing air has practically become the norm for us it has been around for so long…"
"Have a bit of patience and faith, Perseus," said Kyukon with a smile, "The Eternal Winter may be called the Eternal Winter but it will, ironically, not last for ever. Alternatively, I think this period should be called the Age of Winter instead…"
Perseus was about to reply when suddenly, a Kitsune shout erupted from behind him.
"Oh, NO!" cried Gandalf's voice. At this, Perseus's gaze snapped from the screen to behind him where Gandalf sat. Worry ignited within Kyukon.
"Perseus, is everything alright on your side?" asked the concerned Kitsune. However, Perseus did not hear Kyukon's question and yelled at Gandalf.
"Gandalf, what's going on?" called the Centaur. Gandalf, however, was already leaving the cave.
"No time to explain, Perseus," replied the Kitsune as he scurried out of the cave entrance, a few of the Phoenixes, Thunderbirds and Rocs in tow for he had called them to come with him, "Can you look after the other helpers and the equipment such as the magic Narnia map please? We've got something VERY important to do."
Then before Perseus and his group could ask any more questions, the ivory and metallic yellow Fox was gone, his nine tails disappearing after him, followed by the Elemental Birds. Kyukon continued to shout on the communicator screen.
"What's going on over there?" demanded the female Kitsune, "Has something happened?"
At this, a Roc who had remained behind went to talk to Kyukon to answer her question while Perseus and the other remaining helpers of Gandalf walked over to the magic Narnia map. When their eyes landed on the large cluster of red dots from the beacons on the crowd's coats and tents, alongside a cluster of black dots, indicating creatures Gandalf's helpers were all too familiar with, and how close they were coming together on the magical holographic map, horror and worry ignited within them.
Back with the Archenland-bound evacuees
The crowd continued down the clear path. As they continued to walk along, Cedrus and the other escorts and some of the other crowd members such as Thundersparx, Milky Way and Obsidian continued to protest for them to turn back and return to the bifurcation node so that they could go down the misty path but the only response they got was clogged ears for no-one stopped to listen. Some of the crowd members were beginning to regret the decision, remembering Gandalf's words to always stick to Aslan's guidance but the other crowd members urged them on and to forget what the Kitsune said, the impatience of getting to Archenland as soon a possible to escape the snowy terrain of Narnia and the Witch's tyranny having finally taken them over, as well as cloud their judgement, completely. Despite this, some of the Elemental Birds had managed to convince a few of the crowd members into turning back and returning to the bifurcation successfully but the rest continued to move on. Cedrus finally gave up protesting and shook his head in utter disappointment.
"We're seriously gonna regret this," said the lead Curupira with dread as Kushanku touched down near him, "We've turned against the guidance of the Most High in Narnia in exchange for our own judgement."
"Some of the crowd members at the back had turned back and are heading back the way they came to go down the misty path which is the correct one as indicated by Aslan, Mr Cedrus," said Kushanku.
"Well, that's good but we need to get EVERY member of the crowd back to the bifurcation and down the misty path," said Cedrus as he continued to gaze at the crowd as it continued walk down the clear path despite his comrades, including his tribe members' protests. Then Ahhuayo the Ahuizotl came in with Passiflora with a couple of other Cherubs. The latter three wore disgruntled and angry faces.
"Cedrus, we've tried EVERY method possible in getting the crowd to turn back with only a handful of successes," said Passiflora crossly, "but the others won't listen."
"They're insisting that this path is safer than the other path," said Ahhuayo. He then flashed worried glances in different directions at the surroundings, worried that trouble may erupt at any moment. As he did that, the aquatic spiny, hand-tailed Dog-like creature shuddered. Seeing you-know-who and company was the LAST thing the Ahuizotl needed, for himself and for everyone else. Kushanku also shuddered and began to shoot timid glances at the surroundings as well. However, the fears were about to become reality.
While Cedrus's group continued to discuss on what to do while Kushanku and Ahhuayo continued flashing timid glances around the group like timid deer sensing a hunter, the sounds of flapping feathered wings reached the group's ears, and those wing flaps were laced with terror. Cedrus, the trio of Cherubs, Kushanku and Ahhuayo looked up just in time to see Ptériga and a few of her Sphinx comrades fly in and crash-land onto the snow. The chimeric Magical Creatures' faces were laced with what Cedrus had feared most: terror.
"Cedrus, we MUST get the crowd to turn back RIGHT NOW!" shouted the lead Sphinx, "We've just been hovering high above the crowd and have seen…"
"Seen what, Ptériga?" demanded Cedrus. Ptériga was about to reply when suddenly, the conditions around the crowd abruptly changed. At first, the conditions had been pleasant, sunny and clear but within seconds, everything plunged into darkness as though an eclipse had suddenly appeared. The crowd all stopped dead and uttered confused and terrified whimpers. Kids huddled against their parents or carers' sides or in their arms or wings. Troodon hid behind Deodara and his adopted Curupira siblings and cousins as the reverse-footed Humanoids shot suspicious glances this way and that, their weapons poised to strike. Nyarth, Satoshi, Sandstorm, Akira, Crystal, Snowwing, Dahlia, Alexandrite, Paddy, Link, Cyril, Desdemona, Nanu and Molayne also huddled together while Thundersparx, Obsidian and Milky Way shuddered, especially Obsidian as the Wampus Cat began to panic. Then the next thing that happened, a massive blizzard was whipped up. The winds shot up and a MASSIVE flurry of snow began to swirl around the crowd wildly, much to their fright. Cedrus examined the sudden change in conditions when a Centaur came by. He was shivering at the sudden change in weather conditions and was backing away towards a wall of trees but as he did that, something horrifying happened.
As Cedrus deduced the cause of the sudden, dark blizzard and was about to yell at the crowd, the agonised screams of a Centaur erupted behind him, Passiflora and her two Cherub assistants, Ptériga and her Sphinx comrades, and Kushanku and Ahhuayo, snapping the lot's gazes in the Centaur's direction but the moment their eyes landed on the screaming Centaur, they saw that the Horse-Humanoid was under savage attack from a pair of Bear-like creatures with vicious fangs and claws, and those two Bears were applying their weaponry full force and gruesomely. When Passiflora looked closer as the two creatures then began to gruesomely kill the Centaur, recognition immediately took hold. Her husband had been attacked by such a creature before and had been killed while he was out searching for material for finishing the building of Gandalf's underground base just as Jadis was conquering Narnia with her army, and those creatures were infamous in clinging to the treetops, keeping a birds-eye view of the snowy country from that level. But the most distinctive trait of these creatures was the fact that they ambushed their victims that walked under their tree and gruesomely killed them. As these traits came together, Passiflora identified the creatures as they killed the Centaur despite the dark blizzard.
"DROP BEARS!" screamed the Winged Humanoid as her two Cherub assistants nearly fainted from the gory sight. Cedrus then turned to the trio, Ptériga and the other Sphinxes, his eyes saturated with pure terror as deduction of the darkness and blizzard came over him
"GEEEEET THE CROOOOWWWD TO TUUURRN ROOUUND AND RETUUURRN TO THE FOOORRRK, NOOOOOW!" yelled the Curupira tribe patriarch at the top of his lungs, a point to the direction opposite the crowd. Then without hesitation, Passiflora, Ptériga, their comrades and Kushanku lofted into flight while Cedrus and Ahhuayo sprinted back to the crowd as they began to scatter in their panic, but the flying creatures such as the Elemental Birds immediately sprang into action.
Behaving like flying shepherds, the flying creatures such as Passiflora, Ptériga and their Cherub and Sphinx comrades respectively, began to herd the crowd back the way they came while the grounded escorts like Cedrus and his tribe, worked on the ground, but due to the darkness, high winds and saturation of blizzard in the air, all sense of direction was lost. However, Bursyamo and his Basan underlings, together with Thundersparx and the other Raiju, sprang into action and began to apply their glowing feathers and fur as a guide to the crowd with the Phoenixes transforming into their flaming forms to brighten the beacon. But due to the thickness of the blizzard, their light was hard to see. Amongst the crowd, Kushanku yelled for Sandstorm, Satoshi, Akira and Nyarth.
"Akira, BROTHERS!" called the youngest son of the late Frosty and Ferntail, "AKIRA, SANDSTORM, NYARTH, SATOSHI!"
Somewhere in the crowd, Sandstorm, Satoshi, Akira and Nyarth, together with Crystal, Snowwing, Dahlia, Alexandrite, Paddy, Link, Cyril, Desdemona, Nanu and Molayne were huddled together, saturated with terror, trying to move with everyone else back in the direction in which they came but due to the darkness and the blizzard, it was difficult, and Bursyamo and company's makeshift beacon was proving very difficult to see.
"Kushanku," called Satoshi as he began to search for a certain Nekomata, "KUSHANKU!"
"SATOSHI, GUYS!" cried Kushanku as he struggled against the wind and the blizzard. Because of the high winds, he could not fly by spinning his forked tail but when he had found his siblings and friends, he was pulled into a hug by siblings.
"Oh, there you are," cried Satoshi as he hugged Kushanku. Then as soon as they had broken the hug, the group began to get a move on along with everyone else.
The rest of the crowd continued to struggle against the blizzard and the dark, with kids being clasped by their parents or carers or guided in the case of the four-footed Talking Beasts, while the escorts continued to help push them along. While this was going on, Cedrus began to angrily bellow, "This is WHY we should have listened to GANDALF'S COMMAND TO FOLLOW ASLAN'S GUIDANCE at ALL TIMES during this PERILOUS JOURNEY!"
None of the crowd members answered however for they were too saturated with panic by the darkness and the windy blizzard to listen. Desperately, they tried to make their way back to the fork in the path but it was a difficult struggle due to the high winds flooded with snow battering them. Some of them, such as Tesseract, were in hysterics and countless kids and babies were VERY frightened and were crying and wailing in their parents or carers' arms, baskets or wings or by their parents or carers' side in the case of the four-footed Animals as they were carried or tackled in the direction of the fork in the path. Then something else arrived in the darkness: a sound familiar to some of them who had been traumatised by the cause of the darkness and the blizzard, and that sound increased in loudness.
"What's that sound?" asked someone.
"Sounds like the pounding of feet and the sliding of blades against tithe snow," replied someone else. However, recognition had already taken hold within some of the crowd members, especially those who had encountered the causer of the dark blizzard, amongst them a certain six-legged Mountain Lioness who had lost her mother, father and brother to the creature when she was young. The moment recognition took hold, those crowd members began to panic all the more, and Cedrus had identified the causer of the blizzard. Violently alarmed, the Curupira patriarch barked orders at his assistants to help the crowd get back to the fork, especially the children.
Kushanku, along with Sandstorm, Satoshi, Akira and Nyarth, Crystal, Snowwing, Dahlia, Alexandrite, Paddy, Link, Cyril, Desdemona and Molayne had never encountered the creature before and had only ever been told about him by Dashiell and Obsidian, but Nanu had encountered the Snow Beast before when he was a younger Wolf pup, but his introduction to the Snow Beast had given the poor Wolf pup nightmares for days despite his parents and siblings' insistence that he get used to knowing the creature and his purpose as Jadis's assistant, spy and punisher. The demonic toy minions, especially the evil Cherub-like dolls, had how they dispatched their victims had rendered Nanu petrified of those toys and their master, and now he did not want to meet that creature and his minions again. Desperately, the Wolf pup began to help the others get their kids to safety, just as the stomping of feet and the slicing of metal blades on snow increased in loudness and abruptly stopped as the causer of the sounds finally arrived. At this, Ptériga and her Sphinx assistants and a couple of Centaurs snapped their gazes from the panic-stricken crowd to the new arrival but the moment their eyes landed on the silhouette of a sled, a pack of reindeer, and a giant, hunched bipedal being dressed in the robes of a familiar figure with giant Goat's horns rising and curling back from its head, horrified and alarmed gasps entered their mouths and the Sphinxes prepared for action, the eyes of some of them flashing aqua blue and projecting an aqua blue aura onto some of the fallen logs nearby as the Sphinxes telekinetically lifted them, into the air, ready to batter the creature and his minions to protect the crowd and stall them.
As the giant Goat-Demon rose in his seat and quickly climbed out of it, his glowing red eyes in his Father Christmas-like outfit's hood and the dark blizzard ruffling the fur of his suit glaring menacingly at the Sphinxes and the crowd in their desperation to escape, squeaky cackles laced with malice and bloodlust exploded from the cargo compartment of his sleigh, indicating the presence of his minions and their preparation for action. Then one of Ptériga's Sphinx assistants, a male, lurched forward (his hair blowing and wavering in the blizzardy wind) and flashed his eyes aqua blue, and projected an aqua blue aura of his telekinesis at the Goat-Demon figure who was Krampus. However, the aqua blue aura, though it surrounded Krampus, was immediately shattered as though Krampus had some sort of magical paste to prevent the mind-powered grasp from gripping him. The male Sphinx, surprise flashing within him, tried again but as before, his telekinetic grasp on the Snow Beast in the form of the blue aura appeared and then vanished in a split-second. He tried again a third time but the same thing happened before. Then Ptériga came in.
"It's no use, Simoom, Krampus is totally immune to the direct use of our telekinesis," said the lead female Sphinx and with that, she telekinetically seized a log, her eyes flashing blue in the dark and the aqua blue aura surrounding the hollow tube of wood, and lifted that tube into the air. Then with all her might, Ptériga telekinetically flung the log at Krampus, a number of the other Sphinxes also flinging four or five more logs telekinetically at the Snow Beast in the hope that the logs would knock the bipedal Father Christmas imposter off his feet. However, Krampus only lifted his arms and violently deflected the flying projectiles by smashing them with his powerful arms, before seizing the last two with his own telekinesis and flinging them back at the Sphinxes, a red aura surrounding them as the Goat Demon, his eyes also flashing red, locked them in his mental grasp. Ptériga, a sharp gasp entering her mouth, seized the two logs quickly with her telekinesis and flung them to one side.
"NO," shouted Simoom in horror and frustration, "That Goat Demon has his own telekinesis as well. We'd BETTER get the crowd OUTA HERE, NOW!"
With that, the male Sphinx spread his feathered wings and lofted into flight to help the crowd to escape Krampus while Ptériga and the other Sphinxes tried a stationary defensive tactic in spreading their feathered wings and baring their teeth threateningly at Krampus and his toy minions in the hopes of stalling him but to their dismay, the Goat Demon and his toy minions consisting of the false Cherub dolls, demonic gingerbread men armed with candy-based weapons such as candy canes with a sharpened tip on one end like a spear, demonic teddy bears and other typical toys, a giant python-like jack-in-the-box and his demonic Elf assistants (Father Christmas had Elf and Fairy assistants as well who helped him make and pack toys and other gifts for Christmas, but due to Jadis's winter curse, they, along with their master, had been kicked out of Narnia and will not return until the Dawn of Spring), were totally unfazed by the Sphinxes' defensive stance. Then Cedrus came in.
"It's no good, Ptériga, Sphinxes, Krampus is not afraid of you. Just come and help us get this crowd back to the fork. Also, get ready to deflect that pack of twisted fairy-tale Father Christmas counterfeits' attacks on them," the Curupira commanded. Without hesitation and with Krampus and his band of minions advancing towards the group, Ptériga and her comrades obeyed and lofted into flight. Then within moments the crowd got moving but with due difficulty due to the darkness and the windy blizzard summoned by Krampus smothering them. Then when Krampus and company lurched at the crowd only to be countered by some of the helpers as they sought to protect the crowd, a fight broke out.