"...You and your men have been charged with finding this wolf," said King Edmund as he held up the charcoal sketch.
"Oh, I know the bastard," said the fox. "Lone-Eye Looney's what we called 'im. Lost his eye after falling out of a tree; brain wasn't the same after that, neither."
"That would certainly explain how he fell in with her. He'd serve her, and she'd give him his eye back."
The fox chuckled and wagged his shaggy tail. "Poetic, isn't it, gaining an eye but losing the whole body? Poor sod, that's wha' he is..."
But the cougar beside him lifted a paw and said, "Your Majesty, I knew that wolf better than anyone. Samerek wasn't a monster. He wouldn't have killed a fly if it ever came to the point."
"Oh, wha' about the trouble he caused?" said the fox. "He wasn'a pleasant bloke, that's fer sure."
"He was bitter over losing his eye, and he had his mad spells. That hardly made him a monster. And the second the Witch got one look at him, she would have killed him to put him out of her sight. Your Majesty, take it from someone who knows," he said to Edmund: "She could have offered him the world, and he would never have fallen in with the Witch, assuming he was healthy and sane enough to be taken in. Far be it for me to contradict royal orders, but we should at least find the bloke and question him."
"We have our orders, Barricklow," said Edmund. "We heard them from the greatest source of all, and he knows Lone-Eye Looney better than you."
"I know him well enough," said the cougar, "and I want to be sure that what I'm doing it is right."
"It is right, because Aslan ordered it."
"Or did Aslan order it because it's right?"
"Those are one and the same."
"Hardly, Your Majesty. I wouldn't set my village on fire just because Aslan ordered it."
Edmund stared at Barricklow for a moment, then sighed wearily and rolled the parchment between his fingers. "Donnegan, you told me he'd be like this..."
"I am sorry, Majesty," said the fox. "Perhaps it would be better if we relieved 'im o' his post..."
"Oh, confound it, Donny!" said Barricklow. "Innocent until proven guilty!"
"Guilty if the Lion says he's guilty. That's good enough fer me."
"Well, it isn't for me, and it shouldn't be for this monarchy, either. If the Witch were giving the order, we'd be talking ourselves out of it. Instead, Aslan gives the order, and we just do what we're told. Your Majesty, if the order is just, then command it. But just because Aslan is commanding it doesn't make it right. Shouldn't we demand evidence, so we can be sure of what we're doing?"
Edmund was less than pleased.