The next thing she knew, Elaine was running through the snow after Edmund before he got himself hurt.

"Hurry!" Peter called to the others.

They finally all made it to a ridge where they could see a small figure approaching a huge ice castle.

"EDMUND!" Lucy screamed.

"Shh!" Mr. Beaver shushed. "They'll hear you!" Peter started after his brother, but Mr. Beaver grabbed his coat. "NO!"

"Get off me!" Peter yelled.

"You're playing into her hands!"

"We can't just let him go!" Susan yelled.

"He's our brother!" Lucy added.

"He's the bait!" Mr. Beaver said in loud whisper. "The Witch wants all four of you!"

"Why?" Peter demanded.

"To stop the prophecy from coming true! To kill you!"

Elaine's heart skipped a beat at those words. For goodness' sake, they were just innocent kids, and they already had someone who wanted them dead. Or the Pevensies anyway. But Elaine had a feeling that if this White Witch could get her hands on Elaine, she wouldn't hesitate in killing her as well, and that scared her. Even if she wasn't meant to be here, she still wasn't safe.

"This is all your fault!" Susan said accusingly to Peter.

"My fault?" Peter asked incredulously.

"None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me in the first place!"

"Oh, so you knew this would happen?"

"I didn't know what would happen. Which is why we should've left while we still could!"

"Stop it!" Lucy interjected. "This isn't going to help Edmund."

"She's right," Mr. Beaver sighed. "Only Aslan can help your brother now."

"Then take us to him," Peter said.

The four of them looked back at the castle, wondering what was going to happen to Edmund.

They all began the depressing journey back to the dam to tell Mrs. Beaver of what had happened.

"Peter," Elaine said. "I'm…I'm sorry about Edmund."

"I just don't understand," Peter sighed. "I mean I know that Edmund's been having a hard time with Dad away in the war and us having to leave our home, but I never imagined that he would go this far."

"Well…I've noticed that there's a lot of tension between Edmund and the rest of you. Perhaps this woman came into his life when he was most vulnerable and knew just what to say to get him to trust her."

"I suppose so. I just can't understand what would make him think that she's the good person in all of this."

Elaine was about to say something more, but the sound of a loud wolf's howl interrupted her. All of their heads whipped around at the sound which was gathering strength and seemed to be getting closer.

"Run!" Mr. Beaver cried.

None of them hesitated at his command any longer. If Mr. Beaver was telling them to run, they knew that they better run.

"What is it?" Elaine asked as they hurried along.

"The Secret Police is after you!"

"The Secret Police is made of wolves?"

They finally made it back to the dam and burst in.

"Hurry, Mother!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed. "They're after us!"

"Oh, right then!" Mrs. Beaver said. She immediately began running around the dam packing up things.

"What's she doing?" Peter asked frantically.

Mr. Beaver shook his head in frustration.

"Oh, you'll be thanking me later," Mrs. Beaver told them. "It's a long journey and Beaver gets pretty cranky when he's hungry."

"I'm cranky now!" Mr. Beaver yelled.

Susan began attempting to help Mrs. Beaver pack up everything. "Do you think we'll need jam?" she asked.

"Only if the Witch serves toast!" Peter told her.

Susan looked at him pointedly before their attention was drawn towards the outside. Loud growls and yelps sounded out and soon the wood that made up the dam began to break. The wolves were clawing their way in.

The Beavers quickly led the children down to a tunnel. It was uncomfortable to have to squat, but it was much better than the alternative.

"Badger and me dug this," Mr. Beaver told them as he led the way. "Comes out right near his place."

"You told me it lead to your mum's!" Mrs. Beaver admonished.

Suddenly, Lucy fell to the ground as she tripped on a weed. They all listened for a second and heard the howls and barks of the wolves that were much closer and clearer than they should've been.

"They're in the tunnel," Lucy whispered.

"Quick! This way!" Mr. Beaver urged.

"Hurry!" Mrs. Beaver added.

"Run!" Peter called to the girls.

They all kept running through the tunnels when to their horror, they came upon a dead end.

"You should have brought a map!" Mrs. Beaver scolded.

"There wasn't room next to the jam!"

The Beavers jumped up through a hole above them and helped the others out. Once Peter was out, he grabbed Elaine's hand and yanked her up into the snow. Then he and Mr. Beaver rolled a barrel in front of the hole to delay the wolves for however much time it got them.

Everyone looked at Lucy who had fallen on the ground and realized that she had tripped over some stone animals.

Mr. Beaver approached another stone animal held forever in a defensive pose with terror etched on his face.

"I'm so sorry, dear," Mrs. Beaver said tenderly.

"He was my best mate," Mr. Beaver lamented.

They all looked around to find several animals all turned to stone, stuck in different poses that all reflected how scared they were in their last moments.

"What happened here?" Peter asked.

"This is what becomes of those who cross the Witch," a voice stated. They looked up to find a fox looming over them.

"You take one more step, traitor, and I'll chew you to splinters!" Mr. Beaver growled.

"Relax," the fox laughed. "I'm one of the good guys."

"Yeah? Well, you look an awful lot like one of the bad ones."

"An unfortunate family resemblance. But we can argue breeding later. Right now we've got to move."

The sound of the wolves' howling and barking got louder and louder. Peter quickly turned back to the fox. "What did you have in mind?"

"Get out of sight. I'll get rid of them."

"Where?"

The fox motioned towards a tall tree, and they all quickly ran to it. The Beavers climbed up with ease, but it was a bit more difficult for the others. Elaine wasn't exactly the best tree-climber, but unfortunately, her life literally depended on it at the moment. Doing her best, Elaine forced herself to climb up one branch at a time until she was where the rest of the Pevensies were.

"Don't look down, don't look down," she muttered to herself.

Her mantra quickly became useless when she looked down anyway as the wolves burst out of the tunnel and surrounded the fox.

"Greetings, gents. Lost something, have we?"

"Don't patronize me!" one of the wolves growled. "I know where your allegiance lies. We're looking for some humans."

The fox laughed. "Humans? Here in Narnia? Well, that's a valuable bit of information, don't you think?"

One of the wolves lunged at the fox and sank his teeth into his torso. Lucy started to cry out, but Peter quickly covered her mouth before any sound could escape. Elaine firmly shut her eyes, unwilling to see anymore, especially not from the height she was at.

"Your reward is your life. It's not much. But still. Where are the fugitives?"

There was a lengthy pause, and Elaine worried that he was about to give them away until he mustered out, "North. They ran north."

"Smell them out!"

The wolf threw the fox back onto the ground where he lay motionless. Everyone quickly clambered down to help, but Elaine was petrified and couldn't find it in her to move.

"Elaine?" Peter said, realizing she wasn't following.

"I'm…I'm coming. Just…give me a second."

Peter climbed back up a little until he was close to where Elaine was. "It's not hard," he told her. "Just one foot in front of the other. I won't let you fall."

Elaine took one look down and felt as if she was 500 feet in the air. Leaning onto Peter's words for support, she swallowed thickly and slowly began to climb down the tree.

"Good," Peter said. "You're doing great."

Elaine's heart was hammering in her chest for multiple reasons. For her near brush with death, for being so high in a tree, and for the fact that Peter had to coach her out of said tree. It was humiliating!

Just as she made it to the last branch, her foot slipped and she let out a small scream as she fell. She expected to hit hard snow-covered ground…but instead, Peter caught her under her arms as her feet landed onto the ground in a quite ungraceful manner.

"Told you," he smirked.

Elaine blushed furiously, praying that it was too dark for him to notice. By this time, a campfire had been started and Mrs. Beaver was tending to the fox's wounds.

"They were helping Tumnus, and the Witch got here before I did," the fox explained as Peter and Elaine joined them. "Ow! Oh!"

"Are you alright?" Lucy asked.

"Well, I wish I could say their bark was worse than their bite. OW!"

"Stop squirming!" Mrs. Beaver scolded. "You're worse than Beaver on bath day."

"Worst day of the year," Mr. Beaver remarked.

"Thank you for your kindness," the fox said as he stood up. "But I'm afraid that's all the cure I have time for."

"You're leaving?" Lucy said.

"It has been a pleasure, my Queen, and an honor."

That's going to take some getting used to, Elaine thought. Her friends were actual royalty. They may be in denial about it, but if this prophecy was accurate, they were all going to be kings and queens by the time it was all said and done. So where did that leave her?

"But time is short and Aslan himself has asked me to gather more troops."

"You've seen Aslan?" Mr. Beaver gasped.

"What's he like?" Mrs. Beaver chimed in.

The fox smiled. "Like everything we've ever heard. You'll be glad to have him by your side in the battle against the Witch."

"But we're not planning on fighting any witch," Susan insisted.

"But, surely, King Peter, the prophecy!"

Mr. Beaver turned to him. "We can't go to war without you."

Peter looked at all of them in defeat. "We just want our brother back."

The fox left the group, and they all decided to retire inside Badger's house. It was sad and a bit uncomfortable to sleep there with the knowledge of what had taken place merely hours ago, but none of them were safe out in the open. Mr. Beaver insisted Badger would've wanted it this way.

"Elaine," Peter whispered. "Are you still awake?"

"Yes," she replied as she turned over to face him. "I can't stop thinking about everything that's happening."

"Same here. I was already under a lot of pressure trying to take care of everyone when we were ripped out of our homes. And now everyone is expecting me to lead them into battle, and there's a prophecy that I'm destined to be a King."

"Honestly, I think not being in the prophecy at all is worse."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Ever since Mr. and Mrs. Beaver mentioned this prophecy, I can't help but wonder why I'm even here if there isn't anything written out there about me. Was I not supposed to come? And what will happen now that I have? Have I unintentionally ruined things?"

"That can't be true," Peter insisted. "You must be here for some reason. At least you haven't had the pressures of the world pushed onto your shoulders."

"Peter, from what I've seen, you can handle anything that comes your way. I'm certain of it. Even being King in a magical land and leading those people into war. Is it a scary thought? Absolutely. But you have your siblings. And the Beavers. And you have me."

Peter looked at the girl across from him at her last statement.

"There may not be a prophecy written for me, but I promise you that I will be here to help you, no matter what."