The gray, pre-dawn light is just filtering into the cave when Edmund hears a sharp, barely suppressed yelp from Adan. Edmund sits up quickly, already reaching for the sword by his head as he blinks away the bleariness of sleep. Phillip, standing watch near the entrance, glances back at him, but seems unalarmed. Edmund looks down at Adan, stretched out to Edmund's right with the princess between the Wolf and the dwindling fire.
Adan is awake, but holds himself perfectly still. He carefully turns his head and glances up at Edmund before twisting his head around toward his shoulder. It's then that Edmund finally notices the princess's hand clenched tightly in Adan's fur, right at the back of his neck. The girl makes a soft, pained sort of noise in her sleep and presses her face into Adan's other side as her grip flexes again and the Wolf winces.
Edmund slowly sets his sword back down by his side and shifts onto his knees. The girl's fingers are wrapped tightly in Adan's dark fur, and Edmund hesitates, worried that she might wake if he tries to help. Edmund looks past her at the fire, measuring the distance between it and the girl and debating if he could catch her before she got too close to it. When she flinches in her sleep and pulls at his friend's fur again, though, Edmund reaches for her hand. Working as quickly and carefully as possible, he pries her fingers from Adan's fur and slips a corner of the blanket into her grip instead.
She doesn't wake, but she does press closer to Adan. Edmund casts a sympathetic look at the Wolf, but then shifts onto his feet and picks up his sword before crossing to Phillip at the cave entrance. The snowy landscape outside is slowly gaining clarity as dawn approaches, and Edmund is too awake now to consider trying for a few more minutes of rest.
"You're sure of this?" Edmund asks quietly, laying a hand on his friend's neck. Phillip stands straighter, his muscles coiled tight.
"I may not be as young as I once was, but I will serve you well, my king." Edmund leans his head beside his hand on Phillips neck, breathing in the earthy smell of summer fields that clings to his mane even in this desolate landscape.
"Be careful, Phillip," he says, pulling his head back and moving his hand to scratch the Horse's mane in just the way he likes. Phillip leans into Edmund for a moment longer– no longer the boy he'd trained before the Battle of Beruna, but his king and closest friend. He was determined not to fail him, and would push himself as hard as he must to ensure his safety.
"Of course, your majesty," Phillip says quietly. He pulls back and Edmund lets his hand slip from Phillip's mane. The valiant Horse slips out as the first rays of sunlight peek into the valley, the fresh inch or so of snow crunching under his hooves.
"Aslan be with you," Edmund whispers as Phillip breaks into a trot.
"He's leaving?" the princess's startled voice asks, still slightly groggy from her restless sleep. Edmund turns back toward the girl. Now disentangled from the princess, Adan sits up, keeping some distance between himself and the girl, Edmund notices.
"He's going ahead for reinforcements," Edmund answers after turning his attention back to the princess and seeing her panicked look in the low glow of the fire. The princess climbs to her feet, one hand at her waist— holding the too-large pants, Edmund realizes— and the other holding the blanket around her shoulders as she approaches silently with only his wool socks on her feet. Her hair is frizzy and coming loose from its braid, and she appears disheveled and unkempt with Edmund's oversized clothing. She stops just short of the entrance and looks past him with the beginnings of dark circles under her eyes, watching as Phillip disappears around a far off bend in the trail.
Seeing his friend has gone, Edmund turns back to the pile of supplies by the back wall of the cave. The saddle can be left behind now, but Edmund determines to find somewhere out of sight to leave it. Though the fire will be an obvious sign of their passing the night here, Edmund would prefer not to leave any further aid for their pursuers– including any supplies that will be too heavy to bring along without Phillip's help.
Edmund opens his pack and the other saddle bags. After pulling out a shallow baking pan he and Adan slip out of the cave. While Adan heads off to hunt down his own breakfast, Edmund piles fresh snow into the pan. This he sets in the coals of the fire to heat and dumps in the rest of the water from the waterskin, hoping to speed up the melting and get underway as soon as possible.
The princess, Edmund sees, has already rolled up the bedroll and folded the blanket, placing both with the pile of supplies. She crouches across the fire from Edmund, feeling the hem of her dress and cloak.
"Have they dried?" Edmund asks, wrapping his cloak around his hand to adjust the pan.
"Mostly," she answers, picking up her slippers. Edmund watches her inspect the worn silk shoes and realizes she can't possibly hike through the mountains in those. He silently prays to Aslan for mercy from Lucy's wrath as he stands, removes his cloak, and holds it out at arms' length. With a leather outside and an inner lining of fur, the cloak is the best material at his disposal to fashion some sort of footwear from.
"Get changed," Edmund orders, settling close to the door with his back to the fire. "But keep the pants and put the shirt over your dress," he adds. Without a word, the princess does as she's told and Edmund pulls the small knife from his boot. He cuts the decorative leather cords on the bottom hem and carefully starts pulling it free. When she steps up beside him he's already loosed a few yards of the stuff from the bottom and sides of his cloak.
"Those slippers will be useless," he explains, looking over at the purple silk-clad feet beside his leg. Standing and gathering his cloak and the cords, he moves back to the fire. He sees that the snow has fully melted and he gently shifts the pan out of the fire with the toe of his boot before settling against the wall. Careful to avoid the fire, he spreads the bottom edge of his cloak on the floor and gestures for the princess to come closer. She sets her feet where he indicates, and Edmund carefully cuts two oversized ovals from the cloak before cutting off the rest of the bottom to create a straight edge. The cloak will be a few hands shorter, but no less useful. Once finished, he replaces the cloak around his own shoulders.
"Can you pour that into the waterskin?" Edmund waves at the pan of water before picking up the two ovals. It doesn't occur to Edmund to not ask her, and without even glancing up from his project, he simply starts poking small holes in the edges of the ovals. His only focus is on getting packed up and on the move as quickly as possible.