THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE BBC
PART 11
THE PURSUE
PREVIOUSLY: After Edmund left his family to the beavers' place, the children and the beavers have quickly prepared to leave the dam and head down to the south and the Stone Table where Aslan is waiting for them, hopefully before the Witch catches them, but are delayed by Mrs. Beaver's time-taking last preparations and further delays when she considers of taking a lots of unnecessary stuff with them. Meanwhile, Edmund is left disappointed when he is not given any Turkish Delights by the Witch but is instead treated with the cold shoulder, indifference and kept in the house like the prison. There, Edmund meets Mr. Tumnus who has been locked in the dungeon and end up into the conversation over Mr. Tumnus' arrest, the charges held against him and his so called trial-turned-torture and interrogation, which helps Edmund identify him as the Faun Lucy had met. However, the Witch shows up and cruelly reveals to Mr. Tumnus that it was Edmund who turned him in and intended to finish what he had failed to do: bringing his siblings, Lucy included, to her in exchange for Turkish Delight, much to Mr. Tumnus horror and disgust. After doing something horrible to the Faun, the Witch takes Edmund with her on the sledge to hunt down his family.
In the valley, in the middle of the river, the beavers' house on top of the dam stood alone in the total darkness of the night. The windows of the house were pitch black and not a single sound could be heard from inside. It was completely and rather eerily quiet, so that the dam and the beaver house looked completely deserted both up close and from a distance.
But at the moment it was being watched from the other side of the river.
Snowstorm, Maugrim and his pack had finally arrived to the beaver dam, standing at the edge of the forest, concealed by the darkness and the snow!
The snowy owl had already transformed into his anthropomorphic form and stared at the beaver dam and the house with his golden eyes, suspicious of its apparent deserted look and suspecting the children, beavers and robin to be merely hiding there with the lights out and keeping absolutely quiet.
Another possibility is that they may have already left before they had even arrived, but they had to be sure.
Snowstorm them turned towards Maugrim in his regular wolf's form.
"Hoo hoo! Take them, captain. Hoo hoo!" he ordered with the nod.
The wolf growled in response, before he led his pack down the hill towards the river and the dam, steadily as they went, while Snowstorm remained behind to observe.
The wolves reached the dam quickly, and while walking from the river bank to the boardwalk on top of the dam, each wolf, starting from Maugrim, transformed one by one into their anthropomorphic forms and approached the dam and the beavers' house, creeping silently.
And once the whole pack was standing right in front of the house's door, Maugrim craned his neck up and let out the blood-curdling roar to both let the occupants of the house to know that they had arrived and as a way to indimitate them before slaughtering all of them inside.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"
After that, Maugrim went to the door and first tried the door handle, but the door was locked. Apparently as the occupants desperate and vain attempt to delay the inevitable.
Growling angrily, Maugrim began to bang the door heavily with his claws.
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!
"OPEN UP!" the wolf growled and kept banging. "OPEN UP! THIS IS THE SECRET POLICE! OPEN UP IN THE NAME OF THE QUEEN OF NARNIA! BEAVERS! WE KNOW YOU'RE HARBOURING THE DANGEROUS ENEMIES OF THE QUEEN! HEREBY THEY MUST DIE, AND YOU HAVE BEEN CONDEMNED TO DEATH AS TRAITORS!"
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!
Growling savagely, Maugrim banged against the door even harder and harder, wrenched the door handle nearly off its place and clawed the door with his claws, cleaving the wood boards and leaving there a severe claw-marks.
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG! BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG! BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG! CRASH!
Finally, the door could no longer withstand such abuse and Maugrim busted his way inside, breaking the door partially into pieces in the process.
There, Maugrim noticed that the house was all empty... or looked like empty.
Growling, Maugrim began walking around the house while looking for children, the beavers and robin from everywhere: Maugrim first looked in and the bunk beds before tearing the blankets and mattresses into shreds and throwing them on the floor. Maugrim then searched from the pantry, finding it half-empty and no one hiding in there, before he frustratedly threw everything left behind out of there to the floor. Then the looked under the table, finding no one hiding there either, before he furiously grabbed to Mrs. Beaver's potted plant and threw it to the floor, smashing it into pieces. Angry and frustrated, Maugrim began to tear the whole place to pieces: he tore down everything hanging on the ceiling of the house. He flung over the table violently, breaking it. He threw Beavers' chairs and three-legged stools around and even through the windows, smashing them. He broke Mrs. Beaver's sewing machine by slamming it onto the floor and smashed open the barrel of Mr. Beaver's beer, spreading the beer all over the floor. And the stove was former by the time he was done.
Snowstorm, meanwhile, had flew to the Beavers' house - likely out of the impatience due to the apparent lack of progress here - and stood just outside of the door along with the rest of the wolves, waiting for Maugrim to come out.
Maugrim then eventually came out of the house after destroying whatever was left of the property of the beavers, and turned to Snowstorm.
"They've gone!" Maugrim reported to the snowy owl. "Recently. They might still be around here somewhere. But there is no tracks, and their scent is cold."
Snowstorm's snow-white feathers shook from his seething fury, before he turned to the pack.
"Hoo hoo! Divide into groups and spread out! Search the woods! Find them before the snow covers their remaining tracks! Hoo hoo! I'll go with Captain Maugrim! Hoo hoo!" Snowstorm ordered.
"You four! You search the eastern parts of the woods! You four from the western parts! And the rest of you, you come with me and Snowstorm! We'll search the southern parts! We'll find them!" Maugrim instructed.
Four of the wolves then transformed into their regular forms and went to the west to search the fugitives, while the other four went to the east after transforming, and both Snowstorm and Maugrim led the remaining three wolves to the south, leaving beaver's house wrecked behind.
###
Not too far to the south from the beavers' dam, the children, led by the beavers, walked at a fast pace through the snowy forest, carrying their loads on their backs while trying to put as much distance between them and the river as their head start would allow them before the Secret Police either smelled their trail, unless this heavy snow had already covered their tracks, or else they would just figure out which way they had gone.
Meanwhile, Chirp was flying their overhead alternatingly back and forth so stealthily that they almost didn't see or hear him. The robin was tasked - whether by Mr. Beaver or he himself - to scout ahead to make sure that the coast was clear and safe to walk, and to check behind them in case of the sight of their pursuers.
On their way, the beavers strictly avoided the open places in the forest where the White Witch could easily follow them on her sledge.
"Best stay along here as much as possible. She can't come this way." Mr. Beaver explained.
"Quite right, Mr. Beaver. Quite right. She'll have to keep to the road, for you couldn't bring a sledge down here." Mrs. Beaver added.
The beavers then urged the children to move as faster as they could.
And so the children and the beavers continued their journey, keeping in the shadows of the snow-covered trees and out of the sight. They also chose the short cuts through there where it was as hilly as possible and where the trees grew densely, which could prevent the Witch from possibly following them and to buy them more time to reach the river.
###
In the meantime, the Witch's sledge was driving south along the snowy road across the dark forest.
The Witch had told Ginarrbrik to reduce the whipping of the horses so that they wouldn't pull the sledge too fast.
The reason for that was not so much sympathy for the animals, but rather a guess that the children and animals were obviously trying to avoid roads and places open enough for her sledge to pass, and so she kept a close eye on the dark forest along the road... and she had sternly ordered Edmund to keep an eye on the other side of the road for them and warned him if he saw them and told her nothing.
And so, Edmund reluctantly - but fearful to disobey - looked into the dark woods to see if there was any sign of his siblings, beavers and Chirp.
The journey was terrible for Edmund as he was cold. Even wrapping his coat around of him didn't keep it all away from him. And after driving for a quarter of an hour, Edmund was again covered in falling snow, but he did not even bother to shake it off because, as quickly as he did that, a new lot gathered, and he was already so tired.
Edmund even quickly glanced up at the Witch, but the Witch just ignored him. She just kept her head up proudly and her eyes either ahead or on the other side of the road.
"Well? Do you still believe she's going to make you the king?" the voice in Edmund's head, which he knew was his conscience, told him in "I-told-you-so" manner. "All the things you said about her sound a pretty silly now, don't they?"
Edmund sighed sadly. He knew that everything his conscience was telling him was the sad truth.
He no longer felt as confident as he had been in asserting proudly and rather stubbornly that all that Mr. Tumnus, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Chirp, Lucy, and all the others had said about Witch were nothing but made-up mean things - all the while telling himself that the Witch was jolly nice and wouldn't do any terrible things as they had said - and that their side, even Aslan's side, had been the wrong side while the Witch's side was the right one.
Feeling his own words coming back to bite him like this, it made him to feel very stupid of himself.
"Admit it." his conscience's voice continued. "You'd give anything to be with the others now... even Peter!"
And Edmund did so.
He tried to comfort himself by trying to believe that this whole thing was a bad dream and that he might wake up at any moment and be with the others again.
Edmund also quietly told himself that if - that is, if - he'd meet his siblings again, then he wouldn't care anymore even if he had to admit to them that he had been terribly wrong about everything (what he previously didn't like to do), or if Peter would yell in his face, reprimand him harshly and even threaten him with horsewhipping again.
In fact, their obvious not-so-warm reception would be to him just as welcomed gesture as the warm one, though, and a small price for him to just be with them again.
Until then, he'll remain here, trapped in this harsh reality about the Witch, and as her prisoner, as the sledge kept driving into the darkness.
###
On the other side of the woods, Snowstorm flew through the snow to perch from one tree branch to another, while looking down at the wolf-pack bellow impatiently and desperate for some progress in their hunt for the fugitives.
Down below, Maugrim and his three wolves, in their anthropomorphic forms, had spread out to cover the large area of the woods while sniffing the air and the snow intently, trying to catch any source of the scent that hadn't yet been burried under the snow.
They found nothing after leaving the beavers' dam a quarter of an hour ago, as if the weather itself - even if it was the wintery weather conjured by their Queen herself - wanted to try to prevent them from finding their prey.
But suddenly...
"OOOOWWWWWWWW-WOOOOWWWWWWWW!"
The calling howl from one of the wolves that had gone to scout ahead snapped both Maugrim, Snowstorm and the two other wolfs out of their thoughts, before they rushed forward and found the wolf, Maugrim's second-in-command, standing in between of the snow-covered fir trees.
the wolf-pack immediately gathered around that wolf, with Snowstorm landing next to them before transforming.
"What is it?" Maugrim questioned. "Report!"
"I found the trail, captain! The scent is faint but it's still there. They have passed this way through the trees." the wolf reported, pointing to the direction the trail was leading.
"They must be close. Hoo hoo! Run them down!" Snowstorm ordered, then transformed back and then took to flight.
"After them!" Maugrim growled as he and his wolves transformed as well and galloped after the children.
###
A little further away from the impending danger that was following them, the children and beavers were still making their way towards the south, walking pass the frozen river with the small waterfall of ice and a countless number of trees, boulders and small hills covered with the white masses of snow.
On their way, they even passed the couple of brown reindeer, who stared up at them curiously from a little further away from them. It wasn't certain if these were the regular reindeer or Narnian talking reindeer in their regular animal forms. But they never seemed to take their eyes off the children and the beavers... who paid them not much of the mind either as the kept walking.
And they kept walking, walking, walking and again walking, until trudging in the thick snow began to strain the children's legs little by little and the sacks they were carrying began to feel heavier and addition, the falling snow kept piling up on them all of them, even after they had shaken it off, making their for coats wet and thus adding to them more weight to carry.
The beavers appeared not to mind about walking in the thick snow, as their flat legs, working as the snow shoes, kept them perfectly from sinking into the thick snow. And from time to time when the snow began to pile on them too, all they had to do was just to swiftly shake their fur to shake the fur off without any delay.
Finally Lucy stopped, making the rest of the group to stop behind her, as she was walking behind Mr. Beaver who was leading the way.
"Oh, this snow." Lucy complained, feeling so tired already that she was almost asleep, and wearily wondering how far they still had to go tonight. "Why does it just have to go on?"
Mr. Beaver turned around to Lucy. "Yes, yes. I know, I know this is heavy and the snowfall is tiring, but we must be glad of it. Like anyone following us wouldn't find our tracks as the snow covers them. Hmm?"
though exhausted, and wondering how far they still had to go on tonight, Lucy still managed to nod with the tired smile.
"There." Mr. Beaver said with the smile, before he turned around and continued to lead them forward.
However, after walking a little way further, the group was halted in the spot when they heard the echo of the chills giving and blood-curdling howling in the distance behind them.
"OOOOWWWWWWWW-WOOOOWWWWWWWW!"
The children and the beavers gasped, shocked and frightened, and turned to look behind them.
At that moment Chirp returned from his flight and landed next to Mr. Beaver, transforming into his anthropomorphic form.
"CHIRP, CHIRP! THE SECRET POLICE AND SNOWSTORM! CHIRP, CHIRP! THEY'RE COMING! NOT FAR FROM US! THEY'RE RIGHT ON OUR TRAIL! CHIRP, CHIRP!"
Lucy came fully awake upon hearing this and began to whimper in horror, resulting Susan, equally terrified, to drop her sack and wrap her arms around her little sister to try in cain to comfort her. Mrs. Beaver then walked up to the girls and wrapped her own clawed hands around of them to keep them safe, even if even she was terrified as well.
"Don't panic! Don't panic!" Mr. Beaver urged them. "There's nothing to worry about!"
"Nothing to worry about?!" a frantic Peter said, perplexed. "Mr. Beaver! The Witch's police will be soon upon us, and we cannot outrun them in the thick snow. How are you expect us not to panic here?!"
"Because we have come where we were meant to come at first!" Mr. Beaver said, before he turned to his mate and Chirp. "Mrs. Beaver and Chirp! Get the girls under those behind those bushes! quickly!" he ordered, pointing his clawed finger to the right and at the very thickest snow-covered bushes in steep uphill, before he turned to Peter. "Son of Adam! Get yourself a fir tree branch and let us help the snow to cover our tracks!"
Since there was no time for questioning, the children and animals immediately set to work following Mr. Beaver's instructions. Peter and Mr. Beaver gave their sacks to Chirp and Mrs. Beaver as they hurriedly began to guide Susan and Lucy towards the thick bushes and crawl under them one by one, while Peter and Mr. Beaver remained outside where together they took two fir tree branches and began to sweep the snow with them first from the direction they had come and then around the bushes, covering their tracks and at the same time making sure that the sweeping tracks did not lead to the bushes. The howling and barking of the wolves began to sound closer, and Peter and Mr. Beaver wiped away their own tracks as they retreated to the bushes before crawling under them for cover, leaving the thick snowfall to do the rest of the job.
Peter scrambled, puffed and panted as he crawled forward under the bushes before Mr. Beaver, until found there a small hole - sizable enough for anthropomorphic beaver to fit in - dug into the ground and hidden behind and under the bushes. The hole led to a spacious yet still small underground cave where Mrs. Beaver, Chirp and her sister were huddled next to the broad tree stump, which apparently served as the table.
"Wherever is this?" Peter said, sounding tired and pale in the darkness.
"It's an old hiding-place for beavers in bad times." Mr. Beaver explained as he crawled into the cave after Peter. "And a great secret. I know it's not much, but we should be safe in here until the Secret Police passes us."
"Will they surely pass us?" Lucy asked, still a bit afraid.
"Of course, they will, my dear. Mr. Beaver dug this place himself and hasn't told about it to anyone else except Chirp." Mrs. Beaver said. "Nobody has ever found this place in our time."
"But the wolves still has a very keen sense of smell and hearing." Susan pointed out as she held her arms around Lucy (who huddled tightly against her sister) in the back of the cave. "If they don't find anymore tracks or even a single source of scent out there, they will most certainly come to search again from here."
"You're right, Susan." Mr Beaver said, his voice grave. "So far, no one has ever managed to find this place, but now, because of you, the risk of being discovered is greater and the consequences even more dreader. That's why we must prepare for the worst."
Mr. Beaver then went to a corner of the cave and took out a pair of long sticks wich ends looked like they were carved into the spear-heads. Then he walked to the hole and handed to Peter one of the sticks.
"If things go badly like your sister said, use this to poke anything that comes to the mouth of the cave without hesitation." Mr. Beaver instructed.
Peter's heart skipped the beat when he looked down at the spear and realized what Mr. Beaver meant.
"You mean... I'm supposed to... to kill them if they dare to enter?" he questioned with the dread that twisted his stomach.
"Yes." Mr. Beaver confirmed gravely.
"But I'm only a boy! I can't kill anyone!" Peter protested, distraught.
"If you don't, the wolves will come and tear us all, including your sisters, to pieces without hesitation. Is that what you want?" Mr. Beaver asked.
Even with the potential risk of his sisters being torn apart by those savage wolves should they find them from here, Peter still felt very hesitant and even disgusted at the thought of him having to take the life, even if it was to protect his family.
However, the barkings of the wolves just outside of the bushes that hid the cave left no time for him to think it over, before she hurriedly rushed to Mr. Beaver's side, and they both held the spears pointed at the mouth of the cave in case the wolves would try and look behind the bushes to find them hiding from here.
Outside, Maugrim and his wolves had indeed arrived and were all standing right in front of their hiding place, looking around and sniffing the air. Because of Peter and Mr. Beaver having swept their tracks and the snow covered all that was left, the wolves had lost their trail and were trying to find other sources of their scent to figure out where their prey had gone.
Snowstorm, meanwhile, had perched on the snow-covered branch above the place, observing the wolves.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Maugrim roared at the loss of the trail, before turning to his wolves. "Search the area! Find their scent!"
The Wolves then spread out to cover the area for any tracks or scent marks the children and beavers could've left behind, while Maugrim remained standing right in front of the bushes and the cave behind them.
Maugrim, looking around, then noticed the pair of discharged and half-burried fir tree branches lying in the snow and took a sniff of both of them.
The wolf then took a evil toothy grin when he managed to catch a cold but still somewhat a fresh scent of Son of Adam and one of the beavers, before he began to intently search the hillside for more, sniffing the nearby tree trunks and the snow around the bushes.
Inside the cave, hearing the wolf's growling breath and seeing him standing just next to the bushes and the cave's mouth, Peter and Mr. Beaver prepared themselves should the monster catch the thought that they're hiding right next to him in the bushes.
In the back of the cave, Chirp and Mrs. Beaver both stood around of Susan and Lucy, shielding them with themselves, as the girls held tightly from each other, holding their breaths in fear.
Nervous Peter felt his stomach getting tied up in the knot from the growing anxiety, and his hands clutching from the spear were shaking and his breathing rapid.
"Steady, son." Mr. Beaver told him in whisper to calm down the boy's nerves, though never taking his eyes away from the mouth of the cave.
Outside of the bushes, Maugrim growled impatiently when he couldn't find any other trails of scents from nearby.
However, just like the children and Mr. Beaver had feared, Maugrim them turned his gaze to the snow-covered bushes next to him and eyes them carefully and with deep thought for a long time.
Maugrim knew that the reason for the disappearance of the tracks must of course be this heavy snowfall, but since he had smelled their scent from those two fir branches, and seen the snow surface a little uneven in a large area around the bush, he began to think that maybe they had tried to wipe their tracks to shake them off their heels. But the snow from this point forward was not as turbulent and did not show the deep depressions left by steps, and this snowfall, as heavy as it was, could not have filled them in an instant. This made Maugrim to deduce that they were trying to outsmart them by hiding somewhere nearby after wiping out their tracks to wait for them to pass them, which sometimes sounded more of desperate act rather than smart one.
Armed with this thought, Maugrim walked slowly and stealthily towards the bushes, growling lowly and sniffing the air for the human or beaver scent to confirm his thoughts. He also watched the bush carefully for any possible movements within it that would cause the bush's snow-covered branches to vibrate.
However, Maugrim didn't catch any movement within them, probably because the bushes were covered with such a thick and heavy layer of snow and that their branches were probably frozen solid that they wouldn't move even a little if someone accidentally nudged them.
And probably because of the new snow, he couldn't catch any scent.
The thought of just ripping the bushes with their roots off the ground to look behind and under them in the compulsive need to confirm his thoughts almost visited in Maugrim's mind - which in return made Peter and Mr. Beaver to brace themselves to defend this cave and everyone else in it from the likely raid - until he was all of the sudden distracted by the voice behind him.
"Good evening, wolf brethren."
Maugrim and his wolves turned around, with Maugrim growling in irritation at this interruption caused by this new voice.
Even Peter and Mr. Beaver glanced at each other, surprised by this sudden turn of events and the unexpected appearance of this new voice.
As Maugrim turned away from the bush, both Peter and Mr. Beaver dared to venture out of the cave and carefully and silently crawl under the bushes to see wat was the commotion out there.
There, they saw that the wolves were staring at an old red fox - in his anthropomorphic form - standing under a fir tree, looking at the savagely growling wolves casually.
"Have you gentlemen lost something, if may I ask?" Mr. Fox asked rather calmly and politely, despite the wolfves baring their teeth at him.
"Where are they?!" Maugrim growled, impatient with this fox' courtesy already.
"Who is "they" you're talking about, Mr. Maugrim, sir?" Mr. Fox asked, ignorant or at least appeared to be so. "I'm afraid I can't help you gentlemen if I don't know who you're talking about."
"Seize him!" Maugrim ordered.
Two wolves immediately sprung forward and seized the elder fox by his arms, sinking their claws into the poor animal's flesh and making him yelp in pain, as the larger canines forcibly and rather roughly pushed him down to his knees and held him still.
Their rather rough manhandling of this poor fox made Peter flinche from shock, not liking their treatment on this elder fox at all, but Mr. Beaver remained stoic towards it.
Having seen this above, Snowstorm flew down from the tree branch and landed next to Maugrim in front of Mr. Fox and transformed into his anthropomorphic form. The elder fox gasped lightly at the sight of the snowy owl that is always seen along with the White Witch.
"Oh... good evening, Mr. Snowstorm." Mr. Fox said with the meek voice while meeting the snowy owl's piercing and cold gaze. "How's the Queen been of late? Is she well? Nothing awful hasn't befallen on her?"
"SPARE ME FROM YOU COURTESY, FOX!" Snowstorm ordered harshly. "Hoo hoo! You think patronizing will help you while we and our Queen knows where your allegiance lies? Hoo hoo!" Snowstorm them went straight to business. "Hoo hoo! We're looking for the fugitive beavers and Chirp the robin, including some humans. Hoo hoo!"
Mr. Fox looked up at the owl with supposedly surprised look on his face. "Humans? There are humans? Here? In Narnia?" he asked in wonderment before it dawned on him. "The prophecy?"
"That's not important! Hoo hoo!" Snowstorm cut him short irritably and impatiently. "Yes. There are humans running on the loose in Her Majesty's woods. They possibly came down this way. Have you seen them?"
"I don't know." Mr. Fox continued, before adding his next words in sly manner. "Unless there might be at least a nominal reward for something so valuable piece of information like that."
Both Peter and Mr. Beaver gritted their teeth at the thought that this fox might have seen them hiding under these bushes and threatened to reveal it to the wolves for some "nominal" reward. Mr. Beaver hissed and spat muffled curses at this traitorous fox for apparently seelling them out to the enemy.
However, Snowstorm turned his head to Maugrim and nodded to him, as if giving him the permission to do something awful.
Maugrim in return nodded to his wolves, and one of them whacked the old fox hard in the stomach, forcing the air out of him, before they roughly tossed him into the snow. With the old fox down, the wolves lunged down at him and began to beat him up with their clawed paws. The old fox yelped and whined in pain as the wolves' claws mauled his back, leaving it like in the afterwath of lashing with the whip.
Without Peter's and Mr. Beaver's notice, Susan, Lucy, Mrs. Beaver and Chirp had crawled beside them to see what was going on (the former two against the latter two's whishes and orders to stay in the cave). Seeing the fox getting attacked and mauled, Lucy gasped in shock and horror before putting her hands over her mouth as she kept watching.
Even Susan and Peter watched this cruelty in wide-eyed horror.
Peter, almost forgetting that they were on the run from these wolves, was about to rush out of their hideout to put an end to this, until Mr. Beaver put his paw in Peter's shoulder and made him to stay still.
"Leave it! You're worth nothing to Narnia if you're dead!" Mr. Beaver said strictly, leaving Peter no other choice but just to watch.
Snowstorm then lifted his wing up to signal the wolves to stop beating the fox.
The wolves then roughly lifted Mr. Fox up from the snow and back to his knees. the poor old animal whined quietly in pain in his mauled back, while remorseless Snowstorm and Maugrim standing stood right in front of him.
"Hoo hoo! Your only nominal reward is your life. Hoo hoo!" Snowstorm stated, before hooting in the manner of the cruel laughter. "Hoo hoo, hoo hoo, hoo, hoo! It's not much!"
Mr. Fox said nothing, but merely frowned at the snowly owl and the wolf.
"Hoo hoo! But still..." Snowstorm added quietly before repeating himself. "Now, where are the humans and the fugitives!"
First, Mr. Fox was about to say that he didn't know where the humans and other fugitives were, even if it would lead him to die in their claws. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of group of witnesses lying under the snow-covered bushes behind their backs, and saw there two beavers, robin, and three very human-like faces watching them, making Mr. Fox to realize that they must be the ones the Secret Police and Snowstorm were looking for. However, Mr. Fox quickly averted his gaze from them so that the wolves and the owl would not catch where he looked and thus find them.
"They... they are..." Mr. Fox said with trembled voice.
"Hoo hoo! Yes?" Snowstorm urged.
Under the bush, the children, beavers and crickets held their breath, unaware of the fox's intentions but fearing that he intended to expose them to the enemy in order to save his own skin.
After all, Snowstorm himself had stated that the only reward for the service and cooperation to the Witch or her agents was being left alive, which Lucy knew very well after having heard it from Mr. Tumnus.
Mr. Beaver, however, kept hissing and spitting angrily, still thinking that the fox would without hesitation to betray them to the police to save his own life, and thus dooming Narnia under the Witch's rule forever.
The beaver quickly grabbed to his spear and squeezed it tightly, ready to defend them if it comes to that and swearing that even if he'll die here tonight, he will take as much of them with him, including that fox!
"South!" Mr. Fox finally said. "They ran south... to the river."
The children, Mrs. Beaver and Chirp gasped quietly, surprised and somewhat relieved that the fox didn't reveal them their hideout and was actually leading them away from them.
Snowstorm didn't show whether the fox's answer was convincing or not, but he shook his feathers furiously, as if angry that the children, the robin and beavers had already gone far away while they were wasting their time on this old animal!
The snowy owl then turned to Maugrim. "Hoo hoo! Call the rest of your wolves and tell them to head south and to the river before the humans! Cover all crossing points. Hoo hoo!" Snowstorm instructed. "Hoo hoo! And if you don't see them, Captain, head for the Stone Table, but don't leave the river unguarded. Hoo hoo! I'll keep an eye on the woods from the sky. Hoo hoo!"
"And the fox?" Maugrim's second-in-command questioned, gesturing his paw towards Mr. Fox.
Snowstorm paid a quick and rather indifferent look at Mr. Fox, who was hanging his head down after giving his answers.
"Hoo hoo! Leave him. He's wasted enough of our time. Hoo hoo!" was Snowstorm's only answer, before he transformed back into the regular form and took off.
Maugrim followed Snowstorm's going for a moment before turning to his wolves. "To the river! Quickly! OOOOWWWWWWWW-WOOOOWWWWWWWW!"
The wolves then threw Mr. Fox roughly to the snowy ground, making him let out a pained yelp, before they along with their captain transformed into their regular forms and left the scene for the south. Soon their barks faded into distance and it was silent again.
As the wolves and Snowstorm were gone and far away, Mr. Fox stood up from the snow with the great effort due ot his injuries, which caused him to whine quietly.
Then Mr. Fox made his way slowly towards the bushes under which he had seen the faces of the beavers, the robin and the children.
"Hello in there?" Mr. Fox called as he stood in front of the bushes. "I know you're hiding in there. I saw you."
Mr. Fox was about to peer under the bushes until Mr. Beaver suddenly sprung out and, growling and hissing aggressively, held his spear pointed straight at the fox's chest, making a slightly surprised fox to immediately step back for a few steps. Mr. Beaver even forced Mr. Fox to back away from the bushes.
"Take one more step, you traitor, or I will run you through!" Mr. Beaver threatened.
"Calm down, dear beaver." Mr. Fox said, holding his paws up in surrender. "We are on the same side."
Peter soon came out from under the bush - followed by Susan, Lucy, Mrs. Beaver and Chirp - and came to Mr. Beaver's side, but instead of joining him in threatening Mr. Fox with the spear which he had thrown away once the danger had passed, he turned to Mr. Beaver and attempted to talk him out of this.
"Mr. Beaver! Don't!" he pleaded. "He is hurt, can't you see? Besides, he led those wolves and that owl away from us."
"Yes, he did. So that he can have the Witch's favor by handing us over to her himself." Mr. Beaver scoffed, distrustful of Mr. Fox's intensions enough to not take his narrowed eyes away from him. "He even looks an awful lot like one of those bad ones."
Mr. Fox sighed annoyed at this remark. "An unfortunate family resemblance, but we can argue about that later." Mr. Fox said before clutching his left side and baring his teeth in pain as the snow falling into the wounds these wolves inflicted started to sting rather unpleasantly in his back.
Mr. Fox then looked over Mr. Beaver and Peter's shoulders, and past of the rest of their group and at the bushes momentarily in his thoughts, before he turned back to Mr. Beaver and Peter with hopeful look on his face. "You think you have enough room there for me and a few others?"
Peter raised his brow at this, confused as he was seeing no one else here beside them and this fox, while still distrustful Mr. Brow narrowed his eyes again and held his spear directly over Mr. Fox's heart.
"Who are these "others"?" he demanded to know.
Mr. Fox looked at Mr. Beaver silently in the eyes for a moment, before he nodded his head at him and turned around to look towards some trees behind him, including the one under of which he had first appeared.
"You can come out, my friends!" Mr. Fox called to someone hiding behins of those trees. "They are all friendlies here!"
Before Mr. Beaver could've rebuff Mr. Fox's claim by curtly stating that they weren't either his or his friends' friends, from behind the trees appeared slowly and cautiously a small band of some figures who cut Mr. Beaver short and surprised the children, Mrs. Beaver and Chirp.
The group consisted of two young red squirrels and a large mama bear who had two bear cubs with her. They were all in their anthropomorphic forms just like Beavers, Herra the Fox and Chirp. There were also two red-bearded Dwarfs, one with a red cap and the other with a green cap, as well as one Satyr. When Lucy compared him to Mr. Tumnus, this Satyr had a darker skin, longer curved horns and whose goat legs, curly hair and beard were dark brown, and he was wearing a coat covered in winter-faded leaves.
The squirrels, bears, Dwarfs, and Satyr looked starved and cold, as if they had been out here in the cold for a few days without anything to eat, and they also looked quite scared - especially the squirrels and the bear cubs - as they cautiously looked around... no doubt due to the recent presence of Maugrim, Snowstorm, and the Secret Police.
Mr. Fox then turned to Mr. Beaver. "You see them, dear Beaver? You're not the only one who's got people to protect."
Mr. Beaver said nothing, but he didn't lower his spear either... the importance of the children and the safety of his mate and robin friend kept him from lowering down his guard, even if Mr. Fox had a hungry, scared and cold people behind him to back up his claim of them to be on the same side.
The children, Mrs. Beaver and even Chirp behind him, however, felt sympathy for these poor creatures, before nearly each one of them turned to Mr. Beaver to vouch for them.
"Mr. Beaver, please!" Lucy pleaded. "I believe him."
"I think we all believe him." Susan said affirmingly.
"Honey? You can lower your spear" Mrs. Beaver called. "Besides, don't you see that he's still hurt?"
"Mr. Beaver? He took a beating for us and saved us from being discovered by those wolves with the risk of his own life. I think we owe him that." Peter reminded.
Taking all of this in, Mr. Beaver turned back to look at Mr. Fox whom he was still holding at spear point, pondering what he should do.
###
Later on, after some more convincing from the others, Mr. Beaver had finally given in and allowed Mr. Fox and his company to enter into their hideout.
When everyone was huddled inside the cave - which was originally dug to primarly house either three or five people at the same time, but now that they've got more people, there was quite a bit of room left around the table: All three children had huddled to the other side of the table, with Mrs. Beaver and Chirp - with the latter keeping watch at the entrance - on Susan and Lucy's right side and Mr. Beaver on Peter's left side. Mr. Fox was sitting down next to Mrs. Beaver and Chirp. Satyr and two Dwarfs were sitting next to Mr. Beaver, and then the bears and then squirrels next to Mr. Fox - Mr. Beaver dared to lit the lamp to get some light into the cave while Mrs. Beaver put the apron on the table before taking out from the sack the bread, butter and jam and began to make several jam sandwiches for everyone to eat.
When everyone had their own sandwiches, Mrs. Beaver set to treat Mr. Fox's wounds in his back. First she began to clean the claw marks with the cloth and snow melted in the flame of the lamp, making the old fox groan or yelp in pain occasionally.
"Ow!" "Aah!", "Ugh!", "Agh!", "Ohh!", "Ahh!" Mr. Fox groaned.
"Are you all right, sir?" Lucy, who was in half-way with her own sandwich, asked worriedly.
Mr. Fox, while touched by Lucy's kind words of concern, merely chuckled lightly. "Well, I wish I could say their bark was worse than their bite. Ow!"
The fox yelped as another wave of pain surged through him, making him squirm a bit.
"Stop squirming, Fox." Mrs. Beaver chided lightly. "You're worse than Beaver on bath day."
Mr. Beaver grimaced with disdain at his mate's mention of the day she referred as the 'bath day'.
"Worst time of the year." he told to the children as if it was someone's the worst nightmare ever.
This comment earned the light chuckles of amusements from Peter, Susan, Lucy, as well as from Chirp and the squirrels and bear cubs.
"So, what were you and your friends doing in the woods, Mr. Fox?" Lucy asked, as her curiosity over that matter proved to be too great for her.
Peter and Susan turned to Mr. Fox to hear their new friends' story.
Mr. Fox turned his eyes back on Lucy, which looked quite sad after her question, before he opened his muzzle began to speak. "We live in a small and happy village a little far from here. Or we used to live in there, at least, until we were driven away from our homes."
"What do you mean? By who?" Susan asked.
However, the thought of one certain reason why these animals had been driven from their home according to Mr. Fox's words crossed Peter's mind.
"The Witch?" Peter replied.
Mr. Fox and the animals with him grimaced with the mix of utter fear and downright hate for her upon Peter's mention of the said woman's name, thus confirming Peter's suspicions.
"Yes. The Witch, boy." one of the Dwarfs, the one with the red cap, confirmed with spite clear in his voice.
"A several days ago, the White Witch paid an unexpected visit in our village, along with her Secret Police." Mr. Fox continued with heavy voice. "They raided every house and rounded up every villager before her."
"She visited your village?" Lucy gasped, alarmed.
Mr. Fox nodded gravely. "Yes. And she proceeded to turn everyone into stone without mercy and leaving no one alive."
The animals with Mr. Fox became incredibly upset and grief-struck when Mr. Fox mentioned that part of what had happened in their village during of the White Witch's raid.
"She turned our father and mother into stone." one of the young squirrels, a female one with the high voice, sniffed miserably.
"Right before our eyes!" another young squirrel, a male one, sobbed, his little paws over his teary eyes.
"She also turned my mate into stone when he told me to get our cubs and run away into the woods while he stayed behind with the few others to try and fight back." the mama bear growled sorrowly, clutching to her two bear cubs, whose faces were wrapped in grief.
"That vile woman turned my beloved wife into stone before I could've escape with her! She had never done anything bad to anyone and yet that hag did this to her!" one of the Dwarfs, the one with the green cap, hissed angrily while shaking his fist in the air.
"My brother..." the Satyr said sadly in a low voice while looking down in sorrow, but couldn't continue, implying that his brother had suffered the same terrible fate as others.
"We were forced to watch as our families, friends and neighbors became a solid stone statues all over us, as the cruel demonstration of what becomes to those who cross with the Witch." Mr. Fox continued.
Peter, Susan and Lucy were left horrified upon hearing of what had become to these poor animals' village, their families, their friends and their neighbors during of the Witch's raid, which had left poor mama bear and green-caped Dwarf as widows and the young squirrels as orphans... and the very thought of it tied their stomachs in a knot from anxiousness, because such a fate was awaiting them too, as well as the beavers and Chirp, if the White Witch manages to catch them. Simultaneously, they felt a great deal of sympathy towards them for their losses because of their own partial loss of their brother to that dreadful woman.
"Oh, you poor animals." Susan gasped, expressing her feeling of sorry for them.
"What was her reason to it?" Peter asked firmly, wanting to know what had driven the Witch into doing something so horrible upon these creatures, and at the same time thinking that it was not a very fair sentence if these creatures hadn't done anything wrong.
Mr. Fox then turned to look at Lucy again.
"Mr. Tumnus."
Lucy's eyes went wide from surprise upon hearing Mr. Fox saying the poor Faun's name, giving the children an idea that Mr. Tumnus and his arrest are somehow linked to these poor creatures' village's fate.
"Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy gasped.
"Aye. He grew so worried about your safety after getting a wind of his arrest that he secretly started spreading the word that he met you in the woods the other day. He asked anyone to keep an eye on his cave for the Daughter of Eve called Lucy Pevensie, to find you and to keep you safe if anything happened to him." Mr. Fox explained. "But I see he entrusted this task to the beavers more than anyone else."
"Sure he did!" Mr. Beaver stated rather proudly. "He did trust me with Lucy Pevensie's handkerchief as a token of friendship."
"Beaver!" Mrs. Beaver chided.
Mr. Fox didn't mind of Mr. Beaver's rather boisterous statement but continued.
"Soon after this, the Witch began questioning everyone who lived near Mr. Tumnus's cave, including our village, about whether they knew about you or Mr. Tumnus's 'treason', fearing that if the word of humans in Narnia spreads behind her back, it might start a revolution, and she needed to suppress it. Some said they knew nothing, while others refused to answer. But whether they answered or not, only a very few managed to evade of being turned to stone. We're the few ones who managed to escape that alive. And after that, we've been hiding in the woods for days, avoiding daylight and open spots in fear that one of the trees on her side would report us to her and that she'll hunt us down."
"Then where are you going now?" Lucy asked.
"Before we ran into you, honey, we were earlier today approached by a messenger from across the river, who asked us to come to the Stone Table." Mama Bear answered.
"And not for just any reason." Mr. Fox said, sounding now excited. "The messenger told us that Aslan himself is there."
Once again, the mention of Aslan's name brought everybody's attentions to Mr. Fox, and it banished the aura of sadness, fear, gloominess and hopelessness (and in Mr. Beaver's case, distrust) from the cave's occupants' hearts and filled them with renewed joy, courage, elation and hope. Satyr and the Dwarfs laughed and the young orphaned squirrels and bear cubs giggled merrilly, and Mama bear was looked happy to see her youngsters being happy for days.
"You've heard the rumors too?" Mr. Beaver asked, his distrust towards Mr. Fox was replaced with surprise.
"Yes." Mr. Fox confirmed. "They say that Aslan is on the move. And we are going to meet him at the Table."
Peter, Susan and Lucy were smiling broadly at this, no matter how many times they have already heard those same words in the same day.
"See, Mr. Beaver? Was this enough to prove to you that you and I are on the same side... or are you still thinking me being no better that those wolves?" Mr. Fox said teasingly as he turned to Mr. Beaver.
Mr. Beaver hummed loudly at this, apparently a little too proud to admit that he was wrong about his initial suspicions and outright distrust of this old fox, although trust was too much to ask these days due to the common fear of the Witch and the efforts of surviving her wrath.
However, the effect of hearing Aslan's name when it came from Mr. Fox's mouth in positive manner, helped to take down his walls of suspicions and distrust, at least enough for him to show some humility.
"Fine, fine, fine." Mr. Beaver finally said. "Let's just say... that you're okay in my books, Mr. Fox."
Mr. Fox nodded, accepting Mr. Beaver's indirect apology for suspecting and distrusting him.
"We are going to see Aslan too at the Stone Table." Lucy said, thinking it be safe to reveal their own purpose of going south now that they were among friends.
"We actually are in need of his help." Susan clarified.
"The Witch has captured our brother, Edmund." Peter revealed, earning from Mr. Fox and the others a surprised looks and dreaded gasps.
Peter, however, dared not to reveal to them the circumentances of how this came to be, out of fear of their expected reactions of betrayal and anger, and instead continued to explain to them why they needed Aslan's help in saving Edmund.
"And we cannot help him without Aslan." he finished.
"Or poor Mr. Tumnus." Lucy reminded.
"And Mr. Tumnus, too." Peter added.
"Then worry not, honey, because you won't get better help from anyone in Narnia than Aslan to free your brother and that poor Faun." Mama bear assured.
"Indeed." Mr. Fox agreed. "And mark my words, children, you'll be glad to have him by your side when the time of the battle comes."
The children were quickly taken aback by the word of "battle" once it came out, especially Susan.
"Wait! What battle?" Susan asked, unsure if she had heard him correct.
"Sure you know the prophecy?" Mr. Fox inquired with the raised eyebrow.
"Yes." Peter confirmed. "The beavers and Chirp told us something about it earlier."
"When four Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve sits on the Four Thrones of Cair Paravel, that will end both the Witch's reign and the Witch's herself." Lucy repeated it simply, remembering how it went at heart.
"But what does that have to do with any fighting?" Susan questioned.
"A lot of." Mr. Fox said proudly. "With Aslan back and you having arrived at last after 100 years, the Winter Revolution has began. So Aslan has sent his messengers to every corner of Narnia to summon all who are still faithful to him, like us, as more troops to fit out your army."
"Our army?!" Lucy gasped in surprise.
Susan's eyes went wide when it all dawned to her. "Wait! Are you saying that... we are supposed to fight in real battle?"
"Yes." Mr. Fox confirmed. "After all, it has long been foretold that two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve will come to defeat the White Witch and restore peace to Narnia."
All these news left the children dumbfounded with shock that they were actually meant to fight against the White Witch in the real war, not just to save Edmund and Mr. Tumnus, but to save this whole country from her reign.
"And that is why we're taking you to Aslan." Mr. Beaver said at last, making the children to turn towards him. "For him to prepare you to lead us to the battle against the White Witch."
While Peter and Lucy remained stunned by this, Susan was the first one to snap out of it and stared at the beavers and Chirp with the glare.
"You knew about this." Susan said almost accusingly. "You knew about this, but you never said anything about us having to fight in a real war!"
"Now, calm down, dear." Mrs. Beaver soothed calmly.
Mr. Beaver then stood up to explain. "To be honest with you, children... Yes. We knew about this all along, for we too received a call to arms from Aslan's messenger for a couple days ago, but we declined it for a few more days because you children were our primary concern due to Mr. Tumnus having entrusted you to our care."
"Then why didn't you tell us sooner?" Susan asked, while trying to keep her cool.
"Chirp, chirp! Yes. We had our reasons why we didn't tell you earlier. Chirp, chirp!" Chirp said.
"That's right!" Mr. Beaver then continued. "Like I told you earlier, we had to be very cautious with revealing what we knew. Especially since your brother, well, you know…"
Although Mr. Beaver didn't finish what he was about to say, Peter, Susan, and Lucy knew without him needing to tell them that he was specifically referring to Edmund's intentions to go to the Witch to betray them all to her, and that he had probably told her all he had heard from the beavers about Aslan, the Stone Table, and the preparation of the army to stand up against her, including their whereabouts at the Beaver's dam.
"Well, that doesn't matter." Susan shrugged as she turned from beavers and Chirp towards Mr. Fox with the politely apologetic but firm look on her face. "Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Fox, but we're not heroes, and besides, this isn't our war. Our mom sent us away so we wouldn't get caught up in a war, whether it was in ours or in this world. And... and we're not planning on fighting the Witch. All we want is to get our brother back... and return our home as soon as possible."
Mr. Fox and all the other animals frowned in disappointment by this answer, just like Susan had expected the moment her words left her mouth... at least until Mr. Beaver spoke.
"Well, you won't get your brother back from the Witch without the fight." he said, before the next words came almost in desperate pleading. "And besides, you can't just leave!"
"Chirp, chirp! He's right. I hate to break this out to you, children, but there is no turning back anymore. Chirp, chirp!" Chirp said apologetically.
"Why's that?" Susan asked, turning towards the robin.
"Chirp, chirp! Because at this point the Witch must have had already cut us off from where you came here, to prevent your escape. Chirp, chirp!" Chirp explained. "Chirp, chirp! Your only hope is to keep going and go to Aslan. Chirp, chirp!"
"But..." Susan tried to say, until Lucy spoke over her words.
"He's right." Lucy said, making everybody turn towards her.
"It's too late for us to turn back now. We'll help Edmund, Mr. Tumnus, and all of them, whatever it takes." she declared, as if she had fully accepted their destiny and was ready to do anything to save their brother, Mr. Tumnus, these people and Narnia herself.
The animals were left pleased to hear Lucy's devotion to them, but Susan, appalled by this, tried to say something in protest at Lucy's determination to participate in something that had gotten them sent away from their home in the first place. However, she almost immediately gave in when concluding that Lucy would stay firmly true to her words, like she did with the whole existence of this world.
And so, Susan turned to Peter.
"Peter?" Susan said, asking her older brother's opinion on this and hopefully his support to her own opinion that Edmund was their priority and that they should have nothing to do with any of the fighting.
Everyone else turned to Peter, awaiting for his answer.
"You have come to save Narnia. And to save her, and yourself and your brother, you must fight. Whether you like it or not." Mr. Fox said to him with soft and sympathetic voice.
"And besides, we can't go to war without you." Mr. Beaver added pleadingly.
Peter was mostly lost in his own thoughts - that he only acknowledged those who spoke directly to him with the brief glance - about the burden of fate placed on his and his siblings' shoulders, and the fact that these animals were looking at them as if considering them great heroes or mighty warriors, like those fictional heroes from some stories, and expecting them to save them and this world.
If Peter really thought of himself as some kind of brave and heroic knight in shining armor, like when he heard Aslan's name for the first time, he no longer felt that way as all those thoughts were replaced by his own worries for his missing brother and his sisters' safety.
Although he agreed with Susan that right now saving their brother was their main concern, and the reason why they needed to go to Aslan, he couldn't quite say if they should be doing more for these animals and this country, unlike Lucy who had already affirmed her devotion to save her along with Edmund and Mr. Tumnus, even if it meant that they had to fight in the war to save them.
Peter let out a sigh before lifting his head to look at his siblings and the animals around him.
"Look, that part is just under consideration. Saving our brother is still our priority." Peter told them.
Satyr, Dwarfs, squirrels, bears and Mr. Fox exchanged glances with each other. Of course they understood Peter's concern for his brother, but they couldn't expect him to give such an answer that he would consider whether or not they will help them to defeat the White Witch and end her tyrannical reign and this everlasting winter... until Mr. Braver spoke up.
"As long as you at least consider it, that'll be good enough." he said, before he picked up the lantern from the table and blew the flame out, making the cave entirely dark. "Now we must get a few hours' sleep. It's going to be a long journey tomorrow."
"There, if you hadn't all been in such a fuss when we were starting, I'd have brought some pillows and blankets." Mrs. chided her mate.
"Well, there wasn't any room left next to the jam." Mr. Beaver shot back, as he began to take a comfortable pose to sleep.
"Well, it's dry anyway." Susan said as she and her siblings lied down. "And we'll all stay warm and snug if we're hudled together."
Lucy, however, groaned while trying to adjust herself to some comfortable spot in the floor, but the floor was just so bumpy and uncomfortable.
However, it didn't seem to bother Chirp, the beavers and other animals because of their thick feather and fur coats: Chirp just curled up into a ball and closed his eyes near the cave entrance, while the squirrels just snuggled together on the floor without a problem. Mama bear let her little ones sleep on her stomach with her protective paws wrapped around of them, while she herself leaned her back against the wall. However, Mr. Fox had to carefully lie down on his side due to the wounds on his back, while the Satyr and Dwarfs themselves were just trying to get comfortable in their own spots. The Dwarfs especially let out very loud yawns, and when they fell asleep they snored loudly, which were only rivaled by Mama bear's own loud snoring.
"I wish the floor were a bit smoother. I'll never get to sleep." Lucy told to Peter.
But before Peter could've say anything, Mrs. Beaver spoke up quicker.
"Ah! I have just the thing." Mrs. Beaver said looked down to her own sack before she began to go through of its contents.
Mrs Beaver then pulled a little flask from her sack and handed it to Susan who took a couple of small sips from it before handing the flask to Lucy who took a couple of sips herself too before giving it to Peter who also took a couple of sips.
The drink in the flask tasted quite strange and stung the children's throats a bit - making a cough to escape from Lucy's mouth after she'd swallowed it - but at the same time it made them feel a deliciously warm and comfortable.
Finally, exhausted from everything today, the children began to fall asleep: Lucy yawned before she tiredly leaned against Susan and fell asleep with her big sister's arm wrapped around her while Susan fell asleep resting her head on her little sister. At the same time, Mr. Beaver let Peter lean against his own fur, and tapped soothingly the boy in the back with his paw as he fell asleep.
Mr. and Mrs. Beaver watched over the sleeping children for a moment, before they too fell asleep.
TO BE CONTINUED...