Chapter 5
The six made their way outside, Peter in front. They suddenly heard a rustling and all of their heads snapped towards it. Peter tried to keep the others back. Even though they knew what it was, Caleb and Casey were still a little freaked out. But they all felt silly when what appeared was a beaver.
"It...it's a beaver," Lucy stated.
Peter slowly started towards it. Susan tried to grab him back, but Casey assured her it was alright.
"Here boy," Peter spoke to it, holding out his hand. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Here boy."
"Well I ain't gonna smell it, if that's what you want," the beaver said.
Peter froze and Susan and Edmund looked in shock. Lucy and Caleb just laughed. Casey saw Peter was still frozen in his spot, so she took his shoulders and pulled him back.
"Oh, um, thanks," he said to her, a little embarrassed. She nodded.
"Lucy Pevensie?" the beaver spoke again.
Lucy's grin dropped into a much more serious face. "Yes?" He reached out and handed her a handkerchief. "That's the hanky I gave to Mr-"
"Tumnus," the beaver finished for her. "He got it to me right before they took him."
"Is he alright?"
"Further in," he whispered and scurried away.
Peter, Lucy, Casey and Caleb all started to follow, but Susan stopped them. "What re you doing?"
"She's right. How do you know we can trust him?" Edmund inquired.
"He said he knows the faun," Peter answered simply.
"he's a beaver. He shouldn't be saying anything!" Susan argued.
"And there also shouldn't be a forest inside a wardrobe," Casey replied.
"Everything alright?" the beaver popped up.
"Yes. We were just talking," Peter explained.
"That's better left for safer quarters."
"He means the trees," Lucy clarified.
Confused, the other Pevensies and the Americans followed through the forest.
As they were walking, Caleb noticed Peter was lagging behind. Being the best friend that he was, he nudged Casey, subtely gesturing for her to go talk to him.
"Please don't make me," she whispered.
"You talk to him alone all the time. Now go!" he also whispered.
"Yeah, but we don't have deep, meaningful talks like how I feel this would be. And he always comes to me."
Caleb thought for a moment, and then came up with, what he thought was, a brilliant decision to trip her and run away.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed as she fell face first in the snow. "Caleb!" But he was already with the others. She then felt hands lifting her up.
"Are you alright?" It was Peter.
Blushing furiously and not looking him in the eye, she answered, "I-I'm fine. Just clumsy." They continued walking and she noticed he was oddly quiet. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah. I just...I just have a bad feeling about all this." Her stomach lurched. She wished she could warn him about all that was going to happen, but she knew it all had to be played out.
So all she could say was, "We're all going to be fine."
"And it's my job to protect all of you, to make sure that happens."
"It's not your job to protect me Peter. I can take care of myself."
"I didn't mean to say you couldn't. But we don't know what to expect here."
"Well, we'll find out soon."
The two didn't realize how far behind the others they were until they heard Mr. Beaver call out, "Come on. We don't wanna get caught out here after nightfall." They hurried to catch up. Soon, they were all standing on a hill overlooking a dam which was Mr. Beaver's home. "Oh blimey! Old girl's got the kettle on. Nice cup of rosy lee."
"It's lovely," Lucy commented.
"it's merely a trifle. Still plenty to do. Not quite finished yet. It'll look the business when it is though."
As they were walking down the hill, Casey caught up to Caleb and elbowed him in the side. "Real nice way of getting Peter to come to me," she whispered.
"Well it worked."
"But now he thinks I'm a clutz."
"Oh please. He's way too into you to think of anything bad of you." She rolled her eyes. "Don't you roll your eyes at me young lady. He likes you, and you know it."
"He's Peter Pevensie, soon to be High King of Narnia. He's gonna be flocked by girls all more worthy of him than me."
Caleb opened his mouth to respond, but got caught off by what they assumed to be Mr. Beaver's wife, "Beaver? Is that you? I've been worried sick! If I find you've been out with Badger again, I'll-" Then she saw who Mr. Beaver was with. "Oh. Well those aren't badgers. Oh I never thought I'd live to see this day!" She turned to her husband. "Look at my fur. You couldn't give me ten minutes warning?"
"I would've given you a week if I thought it would've helped," he joked. Everyone but Edmund laughed, and they all walked in.
Once inside, the beavers sat the kids around the table, while Edmund chose to sit on the stairs away from everyone. There weren't enough chairs for everyone, so Casey and Caleb decided to share a chair. But that was disasterous.
"Caleb, I'm falling off!" Casey told him.
"Well, what am I supposed to do?" he questioned.
"You're bigger than me! Move over!" She tried to push him over.
"You're smaller than me, so you need less room!" He pushed her back, a little too hard so that, by accident, she fell off the chair.
"Oof!" Caleb and the Pevensies, even Edmund, stifled laughter. Casey just glared at Caleb. "You know what? I'm good down here. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, please, tell us what you need to tell us."
Mr. Beaver was about to start talking when Lucy interrupted him with the question she'd been dying to ask, "Isn't there anything we can do to help Tumnus?"
"They'll have taken him to the Witch's," Mr. beaver explained. "And you know what they say. There's few that go through them gates, that come out again."
"Fish and chips!" Mrs. Beaver announced, bringing food over to the table. Seeing Lucy was so sad, she tried to cheer her up, "But there is hope dear. Lots of hope."
"Oh yeah! There's a right bit more than hope. Aslan is on the move."
When he said "Aslan," the room went silent, and a lovely, happy air filled. Edmund broke it when he asked, "Who's Aslan?"
Mr. Beaver broke out laughing. "Who's Aslan? You cheeky little blighter!" Mrs. Beaver noticed the confused looks on their faces and elbowed Mr. Beaver, who then noticed it too and stopped laughing. "You don't know, do you?"
"Well we haven't exactly been here very long," Peter responded.
"Well he's only the king of the whole wood. The top geezer. The real king of Narnia!"
"He's been away a long while," Mrs. Beaver piped in.
"But he's just got back. And he's waiting for you at the Stone Table."
"He's waiting for us?" Susan questioned.
"You're blooming joking!" He turned to Mrs. Beaver. "They don't even know about the prophesy!"
"Well, then..." Mrs. Beaver gestured for him to go on.
He sighed and continued. "Aslan's return, Tumnus's arrest, the secret police, it's all happening because of you!"
Susan spoke up at that. "You're blaming us?"
"No, no. Not blaming. Thanking you," Mrs. Beaver clarified.
"Bit of an odd way of putting it," Caleb mentioned.
"They're thanking them, not us," Casey mouthed to him. No one noticed, so Mr. Beaver went on.
"There's a prophesy. When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone sits at Cair Paravel in throne, the evil time will be over and done."
"You know, that doesn't really rhyme," Susan commented.
"Yeah, I know it doesn't. But you're kinda missing the point!"
Mrs. Beaver took over. "It has long been fortold that two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve will defeat the White Witch and restore peace to Narnia." All the humans looked at each other, and then Peter turned back to the beavers.
"And you think we're the ones?"
"Well you better be cause Aslan's already fitted out your army," Mr. Beaver informed them.
"Our army?" Lucy repeated.
"Mum sent us away so we wouldn't get caught up in a war. And I don't think Casey and Caleb were sent to the country for a holiday," Susan reminded Peter.
"I think you've made a mistake," Peter told the beavers. "We're not heros."
"We're from Finchley!"
"And we're performers, not soldiers," Caleb added.
Susan stood up. "Thank you for your hospitality. But we really have to go." Peter stood up as well.
"You can't just leave!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed.
"He's right," Lucy agreed. "What about Mr. Tumnus?"
"It's out of our hands," Peter told her.
"Peter, I know you want to take care of your siblings, but what about the people of Narnia? They're counting on us," Casey brought up.
"My family is more important than a country of people I don't know. I have to keep my eye on all of them at all times."
Casey glanced behind him and said., "And how's that going for you?"
"What?" She pointed to where Edmund had been. He and Susan turned and saw their brother was no longer there. "I'm gonna kill him."
"You may not have to," Mr. Beaver said. "Has Edmund ever been to Narnia before?" They were all silent.
"Once," Lucy spoke quietly. "And he looked awful when I found him."
"This can only mean one thing. He's with her."
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