A/N: Thanks to everyone for reviewing, and as always, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
NarnianWarrior: I'm glad you liked the story! Yes, you are right, I have watched the movie, and I was purposely basing a lot of the lines off of it. Yeah, I know... *looks sheepish* Not very creative, but I didn't want to veer off course from the movie too much.
Anyway, despite the reused lines, I hope you still like this chapter! ;)
Queen Su: Yeah, I thought that since in the book it told how they felt when they heard his name, that I should do that too... Anyway, I hope you find this chapter as good as the last!
trichwin: It's nice to hear that you are still enjoying it!
justplaincrazy: Yes, he does doesn't he? I wish he had more parts in the movie... :( ... :D
amber'eyed'countess: I'm glad you still like it! I have tried to keep it from getting too crazy. ;)
Queen Lani Kaulitz the Hyper: Thanks! Yeah, I didn't want Eden to have a big prophecy and overshadow the Pevensies . I just want her to be sort of an average person thrown into Narnia when she least expects it. :D Plus, I probably couldn't come up with a good 'prophecy' for her even if I tried! XD
Peter nodded as he realized, "Yes. Edmund has been here once before."
He looked down at Lucy. "But he was with Lucy when he came. Right, Lu?"
Lucy gazed up at him, her eyes betraying the fear within her. "Not at first, no." She shook her head worriedly. "We were only together after I came back from Mr. Tumnus' house. I found him standing a little ways away from the lamppost, but when I went over to him, he looked... Almost as if he was going to be sick."
Mr. Beaver shot into action as soon as Lucy finished talking."I knew it! Come on, we don't got no time to lose. Grab your coats and follow me." He said, walking out the door.
I grabbed my coat frantically and in my haste, nearly dropped it into the fire! That would have been disastrous. Slipping it on, I ran out the door after Mr. Beaver.
Peter, Susan, Lucy, and Mrs. Beaver quickly followed and we started walking rapidly towards the woods southeast of the beaver's dam.
"What are we doing?" Susan asked, definitely afraid now. Well, I didn't blame her. I was afraid, and my whole family was safe and sound at home!
Home... That word sounded so wonderful right now.
"Your brother has met the White Witch, and she's fed him 'er poison! He's under her spell! Now he's left to go to her castle and tell 'er all about our plans to meet Aslan at the Stone Table! There's no way to stop 'em now; we're leavin' for Aslan's camp." Mr. Beaver shouted from his place at the head of the group.
Horror flashed across Peter, Susan, and Lucy's faces as they saw the truth and immediately stopped, everyone else stopping with them. I paled but tried to remain calm. 'Tried' being the key word.
Peter walked up to Mr. Beaver. "NO! We have to stop him! We have to find him before he gets there!"
Mr. Beaver yelled, "It's too late already! You can't go after him!"
"I HAVE TO!" Peter yelled back, and I saw the emotions warring in his eyes, his facial muscles twitching as he tried hard to control his expression. Suddenly, silence abounded. "Where is the Witch's castle?" Peter asked Mr. Beaver calmly (well, semi-calmly).
The beaver stayed silent, obviously thinking he was doing the right thing. How could you choose between one brother, or your other siblings safety?
"WHERE IS IT?" Peter shouted, sounding almost crazy in his desperation. Mr. Beaver was still silent as he looked over at the two mountains Edmund had been staring at. All at once I had the strangest feeling that those two mountains were more important than I thought.
Wait, I wonder if... Maybe the Witch's castle is near them! I wasn't sure if I was right, but I might as well tell them anyway. It might be the only clue we had!
"Th-the hills." I stuttered. Mr. Beaver's eyes shot up to glare at me and immediately I knew I was right. "Edmund was staring at those hills earlier today. I think the Witch's castle is somewhere by them."
Peter's eyes glistened with a small spark of hope as he glanced between me and the beaver. "Are you sure?" He asked shortly.
I nodded, looking down at Mr. Beaver and hoping I hadn't made him angry with me. Peter ran off towards the mountains. "Come on!" He ordered the rest of us.
Everyone ran after him, even Mr. Beaver, though he did so reluctantly. Mrs. Beaver wasn't so cold-hearted and followed more quickly (no offense to Mr. Beaver).
I ran behind everyone, not wanting to be the first to see the Witch's castle. I couldn't imagine what Peter and Susan were feeling like right now, not to mention poor Lucy!
If my brother was under a spell by an evil Witch and was going to her to give her information about our whereabouts for a reason that was most likely horrible and scary... I shuddered. I couldn't think about it – I just couldn't.
We ran, no one talking, and no one getting tired (...except for me. Why did I have to be in such bad shape at a time like this?).
At length, we saw a tall, shimmering tower rising up in the not-so-far-off distance. We only had one big hill between us and the castle.
We hiked up it as fast as we could.
"Hurry!" Peter yelled back at us. We finally rounded the top, and there nestled right in between the mountains was a giant castle that looked like it was made of ice. I looked down at the castle gates and saw a small figure walking through and disappearing into the dark opening. The gates closed behind him.
I shivered as an unwanted thought entered my mind. What if that had been me?
"Edmund!" Lucy screamed, starting to run after him, and Peter following her. Mr. Beaver grabbed the sleeves of their coats, pulling them back.
"Shh! They'll hear ya!" He whispered harshly. Peter broke out of his grip, and was about to run after Edmund, but I ran forward and grabbed his arm.
"No!" I quietly ordered, hoping that he would listen to me.
"Get off me!" He tried to shake me off, but luckily I had a strong grip.
"What do you think you're going to do? March in there and drag him all the way back the England? Do you really think the White Witch is going to let you have him back just because you asked nicely?" I asked him, trying to get him to see that running down there was NOT a good idea.
"I can't just let him go!" Peter told me, his eyes pleading with me to understand. "He's my brother."
"He's right!" Susan cried, "There must be something we can do!"
"Please!" Lucy pleaded, a tear sliding down her cheek. I felt sick. How could Edmund run off and do this to them?
Mr. Beaver put his paw on his forehead, looking as if he was trying to figure out how to say something.
"Don't you see?" He asked them, "He's the bait! The Witch wants all four of ya, and if you go down there after 'em you'll be givin' 'er the victory as surely as if we surrendered right now."
Peter obviously didn't understand. "Why does she want us?" He asked in agitation.
"To stop the prophecy from coming true! To kill ya!" Mr. Beaver yelled, looking as if he felt bad for having to tell them that, but at the same time feeling relieved that he had finally made them understand.
I, however, felt even sicker than before. Did Edmund know what she wanted to do to them? He couldn't have... Could he?
The three remaining Pevensies looked completely horrified. Lucy had tears streaking down her face, Peter's mouth hung open in silent shock, and Susan looked half-crazy and ready to blow up at someone. Which unfortunately, she did.
"This is all your fault!" She shouted at Peter. Peter looked at her, his face a mask of astonishment.
"My fault?" He asked her, looking like someone had punched him in the stomach, a momentary flash of guilt and pain moving across his face.
What on earth is she doing? This isn't going to help anyone!
"None of this would've happened if you had just listened to me in the first place!" Susan yelled as an answer to his question.
He was getting angry now. "Oh, so you knew this would happen?"
She looked deflated for a moment, but it didn't last for long. "I didn't know what would happen." She said, "Which is why we should of left when we still could!"
"STOP IT!" Lucy yelled, and I was immensely happy that someone had interrupted the horrible argument. She walked closer to Peter and Susan.
"This isn't going to help Edmund." She reminded her siblings, and I couldn't agree more.
"She's right." Mr. Beaver walked up to them, Mrs. Beaver walking with him. "Only Aslan can save your brother now."
"Then take us to him." Peter asked, sounding quite defeated, yet determined to get his brother back.
Mr. Beaver gestured towards the path we had used to get here, and we all followed him back to the beaver's dam, no one talking and no doubt everyone thinking depressing thoughts.
We were about five minutes away from the lodge when I heard an odd sound coming from behind us.
"Did you hear that?" I asked Mrs. Beaver, who was walking beside me. She shook her head, confused.
"What did you hear?" She asked me. I shrugged, not quite sure what to tell her.
Suddenly, I heard it again, and it was all too clear what it was. "Wolves!" I said loudly, imagining the worst.
Mr. Beaver glanced behind us looking very alarmed. The howling grew louder and louder and Mr. Beaver's eyes grew wide.
"Hurry! They're after us!" He yelled, taking off at top speed. I tried as hard as I could to keep up with him as we ran to the beavers' dam.
Soon it came into sight, and we rushed to the door. I dared not look back as Mr. Beaver barred the door and Mrs. Beaver wrecked the cupboards taking various things out and throwing them into a small bag.
"What's she doing?" Peter asked, in a tone of voice that suggested she was crazy.
Mr. Beaver shrugged and looked at her impatiently. Mrs. Beaver quickly glanced back at us, then hurried to get more assorted foodstuffs out of the cupboards.
"Oh, you'll be thanking me later. It's a long journey and Beaver gets pretty cranky when he's hungry!" She said, in a sure but slightly stressed voice.
"I'm cranky now!" Mr. Beaver yelled. Hmm... he must be hungry.
"Do you think we'll need jam?" Susan asked, obviously trying to help, but sounding ridiculous.
"Only if the Witch serves toast!" Peter summed up exactly what I was thinking.
All at once, bits and pieces of the wood ceiling started to cave in, and the howling sounded like it was right on top of us.
Lucy screamed and held her hands over her head, shielding herself from the debris falling into the lodge.
"They're here!" I shouted, freaked out of my wits and wanting very badly to get out of the small room.
"Alright," Mrs. Beaver quickly announced that she was done, picking up her bag, "Let's go! Hurry!"
Mr. Beaver ran over to the corner of the room, and opened a small door in the floor. I can't believe didn't notice that here earlier!
He jumped down into it yelling back up, "Come on!" I dropped down and found myself in a long winding tunnel. Mr. Beaver was waiting for us with a lit lantern in his hand. When he saw that we were all there, he pulled shut the tunnel door and started running deeper into the passage. I followed close behind, not looking back and praying that the wolves wouldn't catch up with us.
"Badger and me dug this tunnel; it comes out right near his place." Mr. Beaver explained to us, slowing down a little when the sound of the wolves howls started to fade.
"You told me it led to your mum's!" Mrs. Beaver said indignantly. Mr. Beaver shrugged as an answer.
The howling suddenly grew louder and louder; the wolves were in the tunnel!
"Quick! They're in the tunnel!" Someone yelled. I didn't notice who, I was too busy trying to run.
I ran as fast as I could, following closely behind Lucy and Susan. Without warning, Lucy tripped and fell to the ground, and I tripped over her, falling flat on my face, a sharp pain stabbing through my leg. I'm going to die! I'm going to die!
"Lucy!" Susan cried, grabbing her and pulling her to her feet, and running off again... without me.
I scrambled to my feet as fast as I could, and started to run again – only to have my ankle burn with pain. I hobbled along slowly, trying to catch up with the others.
Suddenly, someone grabbed my arm and lifted me up, pulling me into a run. I put my arm around their shoulder, trying to keep from placing my weight on my injured ankle. I looked over and saw that it was Peter who had come back to help me.
"Is this some sort of three legged race?" I yelled to him, jokingly. He smiled a bit, but didn't answer.
"Hurry, this way!" Mr. Beaver shouted back at us, running forward. And straight into a dead end.
No, no, no! Please, God! Please don't let them catch up with us! I prayed.
'You should've brought a map!" Mrs. Beaver shouted at Mr. Beaver, her eyes filled with worry.
"There wasn't room next to the jam!" He yelled back, and if it had been a different situation I would have laughed. As it was, all I managed was a strangled snort, which really only made me feel worse.
He jumped up into a hole in the roof of the passage and everyone followed him as fast as humanly (and beaverly) possible.
As soon as everyone was out, Mr. Beaver and Peter rolled a large barrel over the opening.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief for the umpteenth time that day, and looked over to see if the others were okay.
Lucy was lying on her back on the ground, looking in dismayed wonder at a group of stone statues standing in the middle of the clearing.
Mr. Beaver noticed and his relieved smile faded into a look of shock, his eyes filling with sadness.
He went over to one of the statues and touched it gently. Mrs. Beaver came over to him and softly laid her paw on his arm.
"I'm so sorry, dear." She said quietly. Mr. Beaver turned to her and she pulled him into a hug.
"He was my best mate." He whispered. Peter looked at the statues grimly.
"What happened here?" He asked Mr. Beaver. The beaver was about to answer, but was unexpectedly interrupted.
"This is what becomes of those who cross the Witch."
Unfortunately, I think this might be my least favorite chapter so far. I hope you think better of it then I do!
And I am sorry if I made Mr. Beaver seem a little heartless towards Edmund... In my opinion he was just trying to keep the kids safe, and he honestly thought that they couldn't get to Edmund in time (And he was right!).
Anyway, R and R and you'll get another chapter! :D