THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE BBC
PART 15
THE FROZEN LAKE
PREVIOUSLY: Peter, Susan, Lucy, the beavers and Chirp, while running to the southeast to escape the Witch and the Secret Police pursuing them, ran into Hamadryad named Blossom, who had been imprisoned inside of the solid ice mound by the White Witch for defying her rule over Narnia for one hundred years before finally escaping her prison. Having heard the message about the Witch's Secret Police's and Snowstorm's intent to cut the children's escape across the Great River from the southeast, Blossom instructs the children and the animals to go across of the Great Lake in the east to get to the other side of the Great River. To buy the children more time to get away, Blossom organizes all the nearby Trees to form the wall to block the Witch. Blossom deliberately provokes the Witch into turning her and the other Trees into stone to make sure that she won't get past them on her sleigh. The Witch is furious, but manages to deduce the direction the children have gone and aims to finally capture them at the Great Lake.
Note: "Because both the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe book and BBC-miniseries-version - to which my fanfiction is mostly based on - didn't have any intense scene before the children meet Aslan unlike what both Disney adapted LWW film and the animated LWW film had - if the Pevensies, the beavers and the Witch's race to the Stone Table in the latter can be classified as such - I decided to make this chapter an intense part of my fanfiction, reminiscent of the frozen waterfall scene in the Disney adaptation with heavy changes and additions, though I didn't originally expect it to be the longest chapter of my story so far."
It took the children and beavers some time to get another side of the woods, and non-stop running a long way in the snow - even if the snow wasn't as deep as it was last night - to get away from their pursuers was already starting to wear the children down.
Chirp had flew ahead to make sure the way across the Great Lake was still free, with no the Witch's Secret Police around to occupy this side of the lake.
The very last thing they'd wanted was to run into them now that they were this close of getting away from her.
Eventually, they arrived at the western shore of the Great Lake.
It was the biggest lake they had ever seen, a huge frozen lake with nothing but white snow and ice far into the horizon, where the eastern shore stood out as a gray thick line of the trees. The distance of the eastern shore was so far that getting to the other side would take some time.
And right now, Peter, Susan and Lucy were so tired that they had to stop to catch their breaths for a second. Panting from exhaustion, Peter and Lucy both bent down and leaned on their knees with their hands, hanging their heads down, while Susan leaned with her hand against the tree.
The beavers, however, though tired themselves too, insisted them to keep moving.
"Hurry up, children! We have to move! We cannot stop now!" Mr. Beaver urged. "Not when we're so close!"
"Just five minutes, Mr. Beaver! Just five minutes!" Peter pleaded breathlessly.
"We don't have five minutes!" Mr. Beaver argued. "We need to get across the lake before the Witch gets here!"
"But won't Blossom and those Trees stop her from following us?" Susan asked.
"Not for a long, sweetie." Mrs. Beaver said. "They can only delay her until she gets around of them on her sleigh from the northern side of the woods."
"And don't forget that Blossom's and the Trees' blockade won't hold Snowstorm or her Secret Police back at all
"And don't forget that her Secret Police and Snowstorm are closing on us from the south. The Trees' blockade won't hold them back at all." Mr. Beaver reminded. "Besides, the Witch is right on our heels anyway! I could hear her yelling from where we left Blossom, but I couldn't hear the ringing of the bells on her sleigh!"
"What about them?" Susan asked almost indifferently while panting.
Lucy, however, lifted her head up when the mention of bells hit her head and made her recall the beavers, Chirp's and those poor animals' terrified reactions upon hearing the Father Christmas' sleigh's bells earlier this morning. The dreadful realization of that matter dawned to her.
"The bells! The bells on the Witch's sleigh gives a warning of the her presence. But if she doesn't now have the bells on her sleigh... she aims to catch us without giving us a warning of her presence." Lucy said.
"Exactly!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed, glad that at least Lucy got his point about their rush. "And she could be upon us any minute now! Even right now without us ever even knowing it before its too late!"
Chirp then returned to them from his flight, and turned back into his anthropomorphic form as he landed to the shore in front of them.
"Chirp, chirp! The Witch is not the only problem we have! Chirp, chirp! The ice is leaving at a good pace around the mouth of the river at the southern end. Chirp, chirp! And the same thing from the northern end! Chirp, chirp!" Chirp reported, pointing his wings first to the south and then to the north.
Susan looked at the lake in front of them and became worried, because the thick layers of snow were rapidly disappearing both from the shore and from the ice - and just yesterday the snow cover was still thick. Even at the moment there was only a thin layer of snow on the ice, which would also be gone soon, revealing the frozen surface of the lake.
Her worry only grew as she recalled the Father Christmas, Mr. Fox and Blossom mentioning about the Witch's power weakening and that the winter will soon be over - even now she could already feel the frost leaving and the air warming up quickly. And with the winter, the ice also weakens and would eventually disappear altogether!
"Is it safe to even go to the lake now that the ice is leaving?" Susan asked worriedly.
"Well, every water site in Narnia has been frozen solid for a hundred years, sweetie." Mrs. Beaver said assuredly. "It won't be gone in the seconds. It can still hold us till we reach the other side."
"And with luck, we'll get to the other side before
"And with any luck, the ice won't leave until we get there, thus leaving the Witch and the Secret Police no way to get across." Mr. Beaver said.
"Or it may give in under our feet a long before we even get to the other side." Susan gulped with dread.
"Could there be any easier crossing points somewhere nearby?" she quickly asked, desperate for the positive answer, so that they don't need to take the risk on the lake's ice.
"No! We got no time to find another way across! Not now!" Mr. Beaver said strictly.
"Chirp, chirp! That would mean we have to go around the lake on either side! Chirp, chirp! And the north leads to the Witch's clutches and the south to the jaws of the wolves! Chirp, chirp!" Chirp pointed out.
"Chirp is right. This is the only way and our only chance to get to the other side of the Great River and away from the Witch." Mrs. Beaver said.
"Then let's not wait for the ice's melting or our pursuers." Peter said, standing up and taking Lucy's hand. "We need to get across! Now!"
"Chirp, chirp! I'll keep an eye on the area! I'll let you know at once if the wolves, Snowstorm or the Witch herself appear! Chirp, chirp!" Chirp said, before he turned back into a normal robin and took off in the air.
"Well then, let's go!" Mr. Beaver said.
"Hurry! Hurry!" Mrs. Beaver urged.
The beavers then lead Peter and Lucy to the lake.
Susan, however, stayed behind, reluctant to take a step onto the ice.
She just stood still, staring at her family as they followed the beavers, while pondering the whole point of going on the ice, which could give way under their feet at any moment.
"Susan! Are you coming or not!" Peter called over his shoulder after noticing that Susan wasn't moving.
"I'm still on the opinion that we should've sought for a much easier crossing point." Susan snapped lightly.
"We have no time to argue about this! Come on!" Peter snapped. Now even he himself was starting to get annoyed by this delay.
However, Susan was still reluctant to take a single step onto the ice.
"I'm not coming onto the ice that could give way the moment I step on it!" Susan said stubbornly.
However, all of the sudden...
"OOOOWWWWWWWW-WOOOOWWWWWWWW!"
Startled, everyone turned to look back in the direction they had come from when they heard that chilling and blood-curdling howl in the distance.
Heart pounding rapidly in her chest from increasing fear and anxiety due to that howl, Susan spun around and turned to look at Peter who gave her a knowing look.
"Are the wolves then much better option, or the Witch herself? Peter asked sarcastically.
"NO!" Susan almost screamed, both scared of the impending danger behind them and annoyed of Peter's sarcasm.
"Then COME ON!" Peter said, impatiently beckoning Susan to follow them.
Rolling her eyes, Susan let out a loud groan of frustration before she finally swallowed the bulk of her doubts and begrudgingly followed the beavers and her family onto the ice.
"Fine! But don't say I didn'twarn you!" she hissed under her breath.
With this, the children and the beavers began their cross over the frozen lake, hoping to put as much of distance to the western shore and get to the eastern shore as quickly as possible.
###
At the same time as the children and the beavers were crossing the Great Lake, the Secret Police had arrived to where Blossom's and the Trees' statues were still standing to form a blockade for the Witch's sleigh.
Snowstorm flew between the petrified trees examining them while Maugrim and his wolves, all of them having changed into their anthropomorphic forms, were standing at the feet of Blossom's statue and looked up at Snowstorm, waiting for the snow owl's report.
Snowstorm then perched on the arm of Blossom's statue and walked up to the Hamadryad's petrified face, looking at it closely and even tapping Blossom's stone nose and forehead with his beak.
The white owl then changed back to his anthropomorphic form himself and looked down at Maugrim and his pack.
"Hoo-hoo! The Queen has been in here! These traitorous Trees were trying to block her way to the Great Lake! Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm hooted. "Hoo-hoo! Her Majesty must have gone round this ridiculous obstacle on the north side of the woods. Hoo-hoo!"
"Their scent is not fresh, but it's not old either." Maugrim growled. "It hasn't been long since they left here, but they must have reached the Great Lake by now."
"Now that the Queen has had to take a longer trip from the north, it would take awhile before she gets to the lake." Maugrim's lieutenant pointed out.
"Then it's up to us to catch them! Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm said, before the white owl turned around and extended his left wing towards the Great Lake, which he could see between the petrified Trees and over the tops of the woods. "Run them down! Hoo-hoo! Kill everyone! Hoo-hoo!"
"FOR THE QUEEN!" the Secret Police cheered in unison.
"OOOOWWWWWWWW-WOOOOWWWWWWWW!" Maugrim let out another blood-curdling howl, which echoed all the way to the Great Lake.
And right afterwards, Maugrim let out a blood-thirsty growl out of his muzzle. "RRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH! ONWARD, MY WOLVES!"
With Maugrim's lead, the entire wolf pack changed into the forms of regular wolves and, barking savagely, galloped through the gaps between the petrified Trees with ease and headed towards the Great Lake.
Snowstorm, changing into a normal form, took off and flew after the wolves towards the Great Lake as well, while keeping an keen eye for the robin with the fugitives, as he thirsted to get his revenge on that wretched little bird that eluded him once in the past during of his spy flight over his Queen's castle.
"Hoo-hoo! Once I get my eyes on you, robin, you'd wish my Queen had turned you into stone before I get you first. Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm hooted eagerly.
###
At the same time, due to the stoned blockade of the "rebellious" Trees and that because there was no other way through the forest to get by sleigh, the Witch, Edmund and Ginarrbrik were forced to go around almost the entire forest from the north to get to the Great Lake.
"FASTER, YOU FOOL! FASTER!" the Witch roared furiously in her desperation and hurry.
In fear of his Queen's incredibly fast-growing fury, Ginarrbrik whipped the horses to run faster and faster, faster than they had ever run before, until the horses' endurance was starting to reach to their limits due to their non-stop running and pulling the heavy sleigh after them since the last night.
However, disregarding the horses' tiredness and their limits in his own fear of the Witch's fury, Ginarrbrik kept whipping them mercilessly and almost savagely, daring them to slow down at any point unless they wanted to taste more of his whip.
When they reached the northern end of the Great Lake, the Witch instructed Ginarrbrik to drive the sleigh straight onto the ice instead of following along the west shore, hoping that by taking the shortcut she might be able to easily catch he children on the ice.
"FASTER! Whip those beasts to death if you have to, but keep the pace as the same! We have to get those human-creatures before they get across the lake! FASTER!" the Witch demanded.
"Y-Y-Yes, my Queen." Ginarrbrik obeyed, not daring to tell the Witch that the horses couldn't get any faster than this, and kept whipping the poor animals to make them go faster.
As Ginarrbrik drove the sleigh on the ice, Edmund noticed something what both the Witch and Ginarrbrik disregarded completely.
Due to the rapidly warming temperatures, the ice began to crumble and break into chunks and rafts, which quickly melted into nothingness before his eyes, revealing the water beneath the ice, and the ominous cracks spread over an ever-wider area behind them as if following them.
Edmund started to get worried about this change, especilly if the Witch won't take any notice of this in her mad obsession to capture his family until it would be too late to save themselves from falling into ice.
However, little did Edmund or the Witch knew that they had already been spotted by none other than Chirp, who hovered high above them for a moment before flying away to the south to warn the children and the beavers about her coming.
###
In the meantime, the beavers and the children had made good progress across the lake. By now, they had put quite a lot of distance between them and the western shore and had already reached to the center of the lake.
Everything was going quite well so far, even though they still had a way to go to the other side of the lake.
However, they soon found out that the rest of the way would not be as easy as they'd initially thought.
They began to hear a rather ominous crumbling and even cracking noise under their feet with almost every step they took.
Looking down at their feet, they could have sworn they saw the grayish white color of the ice turning into grayish blue and was darkening rapidly before their eyes... not to mention about hearing the deep sound of moving water currents beneath the ice. An ominous sign that the ice was indeed melting much faster than first thought.
Peter looked to the south, his face contorted with dread and anxiety as he saw the edge of the crumbling ice approaching them fast, with even more and more chunks of ice breaking off and drifting away with the downstream.
Knowing that they needed to hurry before it reaches them, Peter took another step onward.
However, he instantly jumped back when the ice suddenly crackled under his foot, with the water spraying through the narrow cracks.
Both Susan and Lucy looked on this in shocked realization.
"The ice is already melting under our feet!" Susan gasped, before she scowled at Peter. "I knew this would happen but you didn't listen to me!"
"Don't panic!" Peter told her strictly over his shoulder, while trying to keep his own cool.
Though hesitating a bit, Peter was about to take another step until Mr. Beaver stopped him.
"Wait. Maybe I should go first." Mr. Beaver suggested. "I know how to navigate on the ice during the thaw."
"Maybe you should." Peter said almost immediately, finding himself in the immediate need of help to get them all safely across the rapidly melting ice.
"I'll test where the ice can still hold your weight. Just follow my lead through of them." Mr. Beaver said, before he moved on.
Taking careful steps, Mr. Beaver began to feel out the ice under his flat feet, testing their sturdiness with his own weight and by smacking the frozen surface with his tail. The ice cracked a little even under his little weight, making him flinch slightly, but it seemed somewhat sturdy nonetheless.
Mrs. Beaver nearly scowled at her mate as she watched him walking with light and careful steps on the ice as if sneaking.
"You know what, dear? Am I right to assume that you have been sneaking second helpings, haven't you?" Mrs. Beaver said, almost accusing her mate for stealing some rations from their pantry lately.
"Well, you never know which meal's gonna be your last nowadays. Especially when it's your cooking, dear." Mr. Beaver said with light chuckle, justifying himself.
As Mr. Beaver continued forward, he marked in his wake a still-sturdy route over the ice.
"Come on, dears. Go on." Mrs. Beaver said, beckoning the children to continue.
After a moment's hesitation, Peter tightened his grip on Lucy's hand before he carefully stepped first onto Mr. Beaver's marked route, followed by Lucy, Mrs. Beaver and lastly Susan.
They walked along Mr. Beaver's route at a slow pace due to him going zigzagging to get around the most unsteady and weakest spots, while watching their steps and doing their best to stay on the route.
Breathing tensely, Lucy grabbed with both hands from Peter's hand to keep herself steady.
The ice crackled and groaned ominously under their feet, but true to Mr. Beaver and Mrs. Beaver's words, it did last them all so far
"Think what mum would say if she saw what we're doing now." Susan grumbled under her breath.
However, Peter did hear his sister's mumbling and, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at her in annoyance, turned to look at her over his shoulder.
"Will you please focus on the matter on hand and not on what mum would think 'cause she's not here?!" Peter demanded.
They continued this way for a while, until the ice began to become somewhat firmer again the closer they got to the eastern shore, but they still proceeded with careful and quite leisurely steps as the ice still kept melting under their feet.
However, something caught Mr. Beaver's eye when he looked back at his mate and the children... and he gasped in horror.
"Hurry! Hurry, children! Hurry! Come on!" Mr. Beaver cried out frantically.
However, the children were too focused to watching their own steps to pay attention to Mr. Beaver's all of the sudden changed behavior.
"We'll come as fast as we can, Mr. Beaver! No need to rush!" Peter said.
"Weakening ice under out feet, remember?" Susan reminded.
However, Mr. Beaver ignored them as he kept frantically urging them to hurry up.
"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" he cried out as he beckoned then to hurry.
Peter was now seething, his nerves were already on edge and Mr. Beaver's urging them to hurry didn't help matters at all.
"Look, Mr. Beaver, if you tell us to hurry one more time, I'm gonna turn you into a big fluffy hat!" Peter said, nearly unable to keep his cool.
Mr. Beaver, however, still ignored him.
"Come on! Hurry up! RUN! RUN!" Mr. Beaver kept shouting.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Your husband's really getting a little bossy, don't you think, Mrs. Beaver?" she asked from Mrs. Beaver.
Unlike the children, however, Mrs. Beaver had taken her mate's agitated behavior fully into account, especially the fact that he wasn't looking just at them but also behind them. Fearing the worst possible reason that could've gotten Mr. Beaver so agitated, Mrs. Beaver dared to glance back over her shoulder to see it herself.
And when she did, she gasped in horror.
"AGH! NO, CHILDREN! HE MEANS IT!" she screamed.
Lucy, Peter and Susan turned to look at Mrs. Beaver, frowning in confusion of her agitated behavior.
"IT'S THEM! THE SECRET POLICE! THEY'RE AFTER US!"
The children turned to look back, and their faced went pale when they saw them.
Twelve black spots on a white horizon, the wolves, Maugrim and his Secret Police, spread out in a wide front and, barking savagely and thirsty for blood, galloped across the ice towards them and were quickly gaining on them. And above them Snowstorm was gliding through the air towards them like an owl hunting a mouse in the snow.
"RUN! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Mr. Beaver roared impatiently and frantically.
"RUN!" Peter told to his sisters.
Almost forgetting the melting ice, the children took off running, with Mr. Beaver and Mrs. Beaver changing into their normal beaver forms in order to run on all fours.
The air was shaking with the wolves' hungry and blood-curdling growls and barks that kept getting even closer, prompting the children and the beavers to run as faster as they could, never minding of their tiredness now that their own lives were at stake.
Mr. and Mrs. Beaver were gaining the headstart, but they always either stopped for a very short moment or glanced back over their shoulders to see that the children were keeping up and that they didn't fall far behind.
Susan was running much faster than her brother and little sister, due to Peter holding from Lucy's hand so that she won't fall behind.
Meanwhile, Maugrim, his lieutenant and ten other wolves ran over the spot where the ice had taken most of the toll of the warming temperatures and melting, almost not minding about the weakened and under of their weight crackling ice.
However, one of them ran straight to a very fragile spot where the ice gave way under the weight of the surprised wolf, and the beast whined as it fell through the ice.
Turning back into his anthropomorphic form while submerged, the wolf re-surfaced through the hole it had fallen through and tried to pull itself back up. However, it was futile, as the ice kept breaking away under his paws and the currents were pulling him back under the ice.
"Snowstorm! Sir! Captain! Help me!" the wolf pleaded as he barked for help from his pack mates and Snowstorm.
However, Snowstorm had his full focus on the children that he paid no attention to the wolf in distress.
However, Maugrim's lieutenant noticed that they were one wolf down and looked back over his shoulder, seeing their unfortunate packmate in distress.
"Captain! It's Warden! He fell through the ice!" the lieutenant reported. "Shall I dispatch couple wolves to help him?"
"NO! Leave him!" Maugrim ordered coldly. "Those humans are our priority right now! And to capture them I need all available pack mates!"
The lieutenant growled softly but obeyed nonetheless, reluctantly leaving Warden behind to drow.
A little further ahead, Peter and Lucy were falling dangerously behind from the others.
"PETER, I CAN'T RUN ANYMORE!" Lucy whined, feeling her legs getting nump from exhaustion.
"YOU MUST!" Peter insisted, never slowing down.
However, shortly after, Lucy suddenly screamed when she tripped over her own feet and fell to the ice, her grip slipping from Peter's hand.
"LUCY!" Peter gasped as he skidded to stop.
Peter turned around and was about to run back to get Lucy until Snowstorm, who seized his chance to stall the children's escape across the ice, dived down from the air and struck Peter in the chest with such violent force that it knocked him off his feet onto the ice.
Hearing Peter calling out Lucy's name, Susan stopped in her tracks and looked behind her. She gasped in horror as he saw both Lucy and Peter down on the ice, With Snowstorm circling above them like a vulture and the wolves were gaining on them.
Peter shook his head to shake off the slight dizziness after being knocked down by Snowstorm before trying to get back up to help Lucy. But once on his feet, he couldn't take but only couple steps towards Lucy before Snowstorm dive-bombed him again from the right, knocking him onto the ice on his left side.
"MR. BEAVER! MRS. BEAVER! WAIT! PETER AND LUCY ARE UNDER ATTACK!" Susan frantically called after the beavers.
The beavers heard her out and turned to look back, and after seeing what was happening, they quickly dashed back to help children.
Transforming back into their anthropomorphic forms, Mrs. Beaver stayed by Susan's side while Mr. Beaver took out his spear and rushed forward.
"Susan! Use your bow and arrows! Cover me!" Mr. Beaver called.
Susan had a lump in her throat when she suddenly remembered the bow and arrows she had received from the Father Christmas, and realized what Mr. Beaver meant.
However, with great hesitation though knowing that her siblings needed help, Susan grabbed her bow and took out one of her gold-feathered arrows, putting it into her bow's string and leveled her bow up with the shaking hands.
But she dared not draw the string fully back to shoot the arrow, not only because she had no experience in using bow and shooting with it, but also for fear of accidentally hitting either her siblings or Mr. Beaver.
Peter, meanwhile, groaned as he pulled himself up again, after having been knocked over by Snowstorm for the third time already.
In the air, the snowy owl in question cackled evilly, sadistically taking pleasure in Peter's inability to help his sister, while patiently waiting for Peter to get back on his feet so that he can keep knocking him over again... until Maugrim and the wolves get here.
Peter tried to move towards Lucy once more, but Snowstorm folded his wings and dived towards Peter again for another attack, this time aiming for his face.
Peter looked up and gasped as he saw the white owl closing in on him quickly, extending his sharp talons towards his face, making him instinctively raise his arms to shield his face from them.
However, at the last moment, as the Snowstorm was about to strike, the Snowy Owl was unexpectedly hit in the head by a fast moving fuzzy red figure, which sent him flying in a sideways spinning motion past Peter on his left side before crashing into the ice.
"Wha... Wha... What?!" Snowstorm, changing into hs anthropomorphic form, mumbled disoriently, wondering what or who had struck him off the sky.
The same blurry red figure then dive-bombed Snowstorm to the back of his head, causing him to stumble forward a bit.
Peter looked up at the blurry red figure that had just saved him from Snowstorm's attack, and smiled when it was revealed to be Chirp the robin.
Chirp circled above him before he dive-bombed Snowstorm again, this time stricking him in the face, poking him with his tiny beak and scratching him with his little talons before flying away.
"YOU! HOO-HOO!" Snowstorm hooted angrily before changing back into normal snowy owl and took off after the robin, thirsty for revenge against the small bird that he forgot the children for a time being.
Peter watched the two birds' bitter duel in the air: Since Snowstorm was a bird of prey and much larger and stronger than Chirp, and that with his own dives he was trying to capture Chirp from the air in his sharp talons, Chirp had to resort to mostly evasive techniques by flying zigzags to avoid the Snowy Owl's diving attacks. And after gaining the high ground advantage after each failed attack, Chirp immediately attacked Snowstorm by dive-bombing, clawing and poking him in the face/head, until she recovered enough to prepare for another attack.
Despite his small size, Chirp seemed to do quite well against Snowstorm, dodging at least four of his attacks in a row so far.
Leaving the birds to duel in the air, Peter turned back towards Lucy, who had already pulled herself off the ice.
However, the wolves' vicious barking made them to turn their gazes at them, and they both gasped with horror when they saw that the wolves were almost upon them.
"LUCY! RUN!" Peter called out as he dashed towards his little sister along with Mr. Beaver.
Lucy did as she was told, running as fast as she could despite her exhaustion, but she didn't reach far when two wolves, who changed into their anthropomorphic forms, caught up with and pounced on her together, pinning her to the ice.
"LUCY!" Peter let out, shocked.
"NO!" Susan cried out, horrified.
"PETER!" Lucy called as she desperately tried to crawl away from the wolves.
However, the wolves grabbed on her and roughly dragged her up on their knees. One wolf then grabbed Lucy's hair and pulled her head back, exposing her neck before the wolf raised his sharp claws over Lucy's throat, ready to cut. The other wolf grabbed Lucy's head and shoulder before opening his mouth and moved his bared sharp teeth dangerously close to Lucy's neck.
Peter drew his Rhindon-sword out and charged forward to help Lucy.
But before he could reach her, Maugrim, in his anthropomorphic form, leapt into his path, baring his teeth and let out a ferocious growl.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!"
Frightened, Peter jumped back and instinctively lifted Rhindon up with both hands and aimed it into Maugrim's chest.
At the same time, Mr. Beaver faced off Maugrim's lieutenant and three other wolves who had changed into their anthropomorphic forms and had him surrounded from all sides.
Growling menacingly, Mr. Beaver swung his spear at each bloodthirsty beast to keep them at bay, as the wolves snarled back and swung their claws at him while staying out of reach of the beaver's spear. Their growling almost sounded like a raspy laughter at Mr. Beaver's attempts to fight them all off by himself, and so far they appeared to be toying with him.
One wolf then let out the vicious growl and tried to lunge at Mr. Beaver when his attention was in the other wolves. Mr. Beaver did notice this, though, and quickly turned his spear towards the incoming beast in self-defense. The wolf's eyes went wide from shock upon seeing the spear being aimed at him but he was too late to try to dodge the spear.
The wolf let out a painful whine as he got speared through his chest - and his heart - before the mortally wounded wolf went limp and fell dead onto the ice.
However, killing the wolf left Mr. Beaver's guard open, and before he could prepare himself, the lieutenant pounced on him, pinning him to the ice with his paws.
As Mr. Beaver kept resisting, the lieutenant bared his teeth and bit hard down on the beaver's neck.
"AGH!" Mr. Beaver groaned in pain as the lieutenant's teeth sunk in his flesh.
"BEAVER! NO!" Mrs. Beaver cried out in horror to see her mate mauled by the wolf.
Glancing at Mr. Beaver, Peter gasped in shock to see him in trouble.
And to make matters worse, in the air, Chirp was beginning to tire up after constantly dodging and attacking against Snowstorm, who wasn't even showing any signs of tiring up himself. High above, Snowstorm watched with sadistic glee as an exhausted Chirp struggled to stay airborne before diving down towards him one last time at high speed.
Chirp was unable to dodge him again this time, and was quickly and brutally struck out of the sky by the snowy owl's talons.
Utterly defeated, wounded and chirping in pain, Chirp plumped down on his back on the ice to Lucy's right (and Peter's left), changing afterwards into his anthropomorphic form.
Cackling victoriously while changing back into his anthropomorphic form, Snowstorm dropped down from the sky with his talons extended forward, until he landed on top of downed Chirp, pinning him down by the chest with his sharp talons, making Chirp groan in pain.
Peter glanced at their situation and quickly realized that they were at a stalemate.
Then everyone's eyes turned straight to him, because he was the only one to making a stand!
Putting on the brave face he could muster, Peter turned to confront Maugrin at swordpoint.
"Let my sister go!" Peter demanded with steely but shaking voice as he glared at Maugrim. "Let them all go! Now!"
"Put the sword down, boy." Maugrim growled as he slowly took a step after another towards Peter, not afraid of him or the sword held up at him. "Or they'll get hurt."
"Indeed! Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm said, as he stepped off from Chirp's chest, releasing him.
However, he shortly after took a tight hold around of the robin's throat with his talons, making Chirp to choke hoarsely, before the white owl dragged Chirp with him along the ice like a ragdoll as he stepped towards Peter and Maugrim casually.
"Hoo-hoo! It's up to you which one you want to save, and which ones you want to sacrifice. Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm said coldly.
Peter glanced worriedly at Chirp, Lucy and Mr. Beaver, not wanting to sacrifice anyone of them.
"Don't worry about us, Peter! Save your sister!" Mr. Beaver cried out, briefly breaking free from the lieutenant's jaws.
"Chirp, chirp! Use your sword, Peter! Use your... URGH!" Chirp urged, until he was silenced when Snowstorm savagely and with contempt tightened his talons grip around of robin's throat, making the robins cheeks and eyes to bulge.
"Use your SWORD! RUN 'EM THROUGH!" Mr. Beaver urged, until the lieutenant locked his jaws around of his neck again and pinned him down.
"I said let them go!" Peter demanded, but otherwise made no move to attack Snowstorm or Maugrim.
"Hoo-hoo! You're not in the position to bargain with us! Hoo-hoo! We are!" Snowstorm snapped, slamming Chirp brutally into the ice to make his point.
"And we can easily kill them all if you even try anything! Hoo-hoo! Starting from your adorable little sister." Snowstorm threatened, gesturing Lucy with his wing.
"PETER!" Lucy called again, but was silenced when the wolf grabbed from her neck and squeezed tightly.
"Shut up!" the wolf growled.
Peter cringed upon facing the cruel truth that Snowstorm and Maugrim had the upper hand over him with the lives of his sister and friends, whose fates would be sealed if he attacked them now.
Peter felt his heart beating even faster in his chest from within him growing anxiety, as well as his fear for Lucy, Mr. Beaver, and Chirp, and the nagging uncertainty of what to do without risking their lives.
"Hoo-hoo! But it doesn't have to be that way. Our Queen has offered you terms." Snowstorm slyly assured.
Maugrim snarled in agreement, as he kept advancing Peter slowly and menacingly.
"Lower your sword and leave while you still can, and you can have your brother with you." Maugrim said.
The anxiety on Peter's face turned into surprise when the wolf mentioned Edmund... and the possibility of him being returned to them.
"Edmund will be returned to you alive and well in exchange for your surrender and leaving Narnia forever. Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm clarified assuredly.
Tempted or distracted by the thought of getting his brother back, Peter subconsciously began to lower his sword slowly down from Snowstorm and Maugrim, as they both smiled in satisfaction at this.
Maugrim chuckled. "Wise choice, boy."
"PETER!" Susan cried out, snapping Peter out of his thoughts. "What are you doing?!"
"Don't listen to them, Peter! Kill them! Kill them now!" Mr. Beaver urged, until the lieutenant bit down harder on his neck, making him groan in pain and silencing him.
Hastily and rather clumsily, Peter raised his sword back up and towards Snowstorm and Maugrim. Both the white owl and the wolf sighed in disappointment.
"Oh, come now! Hoo-hoo! Who do you think you're fooling here? What are you even trying to prove? Hoo-hoo! You think just holding a sword would make you a hero?" Snowstorm asked. "You're not a hero. You're just a boy. Hoo-hoo! A boy fighting for a cause he never even asked for himself."
"He's right, boy. This isn't even your fight." Maugrim snarled. "All our Queen wants is to reunite your little family and send you back to where you belong."
"Yes! Hoo-hoo! Our Queen would gladly arrange that. After all, isn't that exactly what you want? To get your brother back and go back home? Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm said temptingly. "So why bother to fight a losing war and risk of losing so much? Hoo-hoo! What's all this around you compared to a chance to have your brother and go?"
However, Snowstorm's voice soon became more menacing.
"Hoo-hoo! Or is fighting to save a world you don't even belong in far more important than your one and only chance to save your brother? Hoo-hoo! Are the lives of these wretched animals far more important to save than your brother's?" Snowstorm challenged, reffering to both Mr. Beaver and Chirp, before he turned towards Lucy. "And what of your sister? Is she even less important to save than your brother? Hoo-hoo! Would you rather sacrifice her in your brother's, or even Narnia's stead?"
Peter grimaced when he realized that he had been offered an ultimatum.
"It's time to choose: Hoo-hoo! Surrender and you can take your brother and go, or they all die? Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm announced.
"NO! Don't do it, Peter! Think of Mr. Tumnus! Think of those animals! Think of Blossom! They all gave their lives for us!" Lucy cried out.
"Think of Narnia, Peter! Narnia needs you! Cut them while you still have a chance!" Mr. Beaver pleaded desperately.
"SILENCE!" Snowstorm demanded, before turning back to Peter. "So what's it gonna be, Son of Adam? Hoo-hoo! We won't wait forever."
"Definitely not." Maugrim growled in cruel laughter.
The whole ultimatum left Peter internally conflicted with himself and the options available to him: His fear for his sister and friends clashed violently with the prospect of getting Edmund back and being allowed to return home freely...or be treacherously stabbed in the back and killed anyway.
Not to mention that almost everyone was pushing him to do one thing he'd never thought he'd have to do... to take a life, with the sword!
Not really wanting to get blood on his hands, whether his family's, friends' or enemies', and still tempted to jus thave Edmund back... Peter began to lower his sword down again.
"Peter, don't lower your sword!" Susan screamed.
Peter stopped his hand but did not raise his sword again. He was still torn between the options.
"Peter, you can't take their word for it! They're out to kill us anyway! She's out to kill us!" Susan tried to reason.
"But... But Edmund..." Peter said softly.
"Hey! I want Edmund back as much as you do, but even if they'd give him back, that doesn't guarantee they're ever gonna let us out of here alive! DON'T JUST STAND THERE, DO SOMETHING!" Susan desperately pleaded.
Peter turned back to Snowstorm and Maugrim, but he was too conflicted, too desperate and too scared to take the action.
Snowstorm smiled wickedly while Maugrim grinned savagely, both triumphantly enjoying of Peter's turmoil.
Suddenly one of the wolves howled to get everyone's attention.
"Oi! The Queen is here!" the wolf reported, pointing his paw to noth.
Everyone turned to look, and sure enough, they all saw a white sleigh speeding toward them in a fair distance, with a rooster tail of snow and ice pummeling in the air behind it.
The White Witch's sleigh... with Edmund on board.
On her sleigh, the Witch was overly delighted to see her wolves and Snowstorm having finally managed to capture the children, the beavers and the robin near the eastern shore. Grinning evilly, the Witch rubbed her white hands together before she reached down and picked up the shackles Ginarrbrik had loaded onto the sleigh before they left for hunt.
She had three pairs of shackles for ankles and three chain-linked shackles for necks and wrists, which the Witch intended to put on the children and then pull them behind her sleigh like mules all the way back to her House across the woods in order to show to any Narnian they come across that their only hopes for the prophecy to come true were in chains and her captives and on their way towards their doom.
Edmund was left devastated to see his family in distress, before he looked up at the Witch, and a look of terror wrapped over his face upon seeing the shackles in her hands, which were only enough for three but not for him.
I look forward to taking your brother and sisters on a tour of my House, Edmund." the Witch snickered wickedly, savouring this moment. "And don't worry, my dear, I'll find the perfect free spots that you four would decorate the best."
"No." Edmund said in quiet whisper as he turned to look back at the scene before them.
The arrival of the Witch filled the children, the beavers and Chirp with icy despair, while the Witch's minions let out the hailing roar for their Queen.
"It is too late to decide anymore, Son of Adam. Hoo-hoo! Our queen is already here. And she will decide your fate for us. Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm told Peter, wearing a smug grin on his beak.
Peter felt crushed, utterly defeated and a complete failure! He had failed not only his promise to their mother to take care of others, but he had also failed Edmund, his sisters, their friends the beavers and Chirp, Mr. Tumnus, those animals at the party, Blossom, all of Narnia, and even Aslan himself, and only because he couldn't do anything to protect his family.
Resigned, Peter finally lowered Rhindon down, with its tip touching the frozen lake's surface.
Everyone looked at Peter in shock and devastation.
"No." Lucy gasped softly.
"No!" Mr. Beaver said, hanging his head down in defeat.
Maugrim chuckled evilly. "You're a bigger coward than I thought, Son of Adam. Even a bigger coward than your brother." the wolf taunted.
Defeated, Peter stared down at Rhindon's blade and his own miserable reflection on it for a moment... until his eyes caught the writing engraved on its blade.
"When Aslan Bares His Teeth, Winter Meets Its death."
Frowning, Peter turned the sword around to read the other runes from its other side.
"When He Shakes His Mane, We Shall Have Spring Again."
The lines from the prophecy?
He also recalled Father Christmas' words when he gave Rhindon to him.
"Rhindon has defended Narnia from evil as long as it has been carried by the rightful royal hand. Many past kings of Narnia before the Witch have proudly carried this sword with Aslan's blessing. And it is said that just before Narnia fell under the Witch's power, Aslan helped in secret the Last King of Narnia to carve those lines into the blade to bind the prophecy to both the sword and its next owner, who is destined to save Narnia from the Witch's evil. The sword is now yours, Peter, Son of Adam."
Peter began to ponder the possible meaning of those words. If what Father Christmas said was true, that Rhindon was both bound to the prophecy and blessed by Aslan himself, then could it be able to do something more?
Of course it sounded silly that the sword could have any magical properties... as in Peter's eyes, it was still just a normal sword with engraved runes on its blade.
However, with the Witch approaching fast and with no other options left, Peter decided to put that theory into a test.
Peter looked up at Snowstorm and Maugrim with a steely look in his eyes and, with the determined look on his face, slowly lifted Rhindon up, but this time he did not raise it towards the snowy owl or the wolf, but rested it on his shoulder instead.
Seeing the sudden change in Peter's manner, Susan, Lucy, Chirp and the beavers looked on in anticipation, while both Snowstorm and Maugril were unfazed by it.
"What are you doing, little prince?" Maugrim taunted.
"Hoo-hoo! Do you honestly think you can do anything with that sword if you don't even have the guts to use it? Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm taunted as well.
However, Peter didn't let their taunts to get to him.
"No." Peter said honestly but unwaveringly. "But if this sword, Rhindon, that has defended this land from evil since long before the Witch, is said to be bound to prophecy only by the hand of its rightful owner, with the blessing of Aslan himself, and I am now its new rightful owner, then there is one thing I can do with it." Peter declared in an almost regal voice.
Snowstorm and Mugrim were taken aback by Peter's words and attitude, while his friend and family looking on in amazement.
Even the Witch and Edmund wondered on the sleigh that what was going on.
Slowly, Peter began to turn Rhindon upside down in his hands and raise it above his head as he repeated the words of the prophecy.
Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight,
At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more,
Everybody around gasped in astonishment when the runes on Rhindon's blade began to glow a golden light, before the blade itself was surrounded by a bright golden aura with flaming streaks around the edges.
The Witch and Edmund stared wide-eyed from her sleigh at Peter's sword as it glowed with a rich golden yellow light.
"Rhindon! It cannot be...!" the Witch gasped, instantly recognizing the sword in Peter's hands that she hadn't seen in the last one hundred years since she took over Narnia.
Though Peter himself too was astonished by this, he nonetheless regained his focus on the matter of hand and continued on reading the runes of the prophecy.
When Aslan bares his teeth, winter meets its death
And when he shakes his mane, WE SHALL HAVE SPRING AGAIN!
With that, Peter brought his sword down with all his strength, driving its blade through the ice.
But soon after, a golden aura suddenly emanated from Rhindon's blade and into the ice before it disappeared completely.
However, nothing happened afterwards, which confused both the wolves, Snowstorm, Maugrim, Lucy, Susan, the beavers, Chirp, and especially Peter.
But before Peter could feel himself like a complete fool for this, he was taken aback when something DID happen against all his expectations.
"RRRRROOOOAAAARRRR!"
There was a thunderous ROAR that was both terrible and powerful at the same time, and it seemed to come from the very spot where Peter had plunged Rhindon's blade.
The roar banished all fear and despair from the children, beavers, and Chirp, filling them with a powerful sense of relief, safety, courage, and new hope.
The wolves and Snowstorm, on the other hand, were terrified of it. Whining, the wolves cowered to the ice with their paws over their heads and ears firmly behind their heads, while Snowstorm hooted and flapped his wings frantically. Only Maugrim was brave enough to withstand it.
When the roar reached the Witch's sleigh, the horses came to an abrupt stop and reared up, neighing uneasily, while Ginarrbrik and the Witch both screamed as if utterly terrified of that loud and powerful roar. Edmund cowered down in fear as well, but the roar strangely also brought some form of comfort to him.
Then, almost right after the roar started, the water suddenly bursted violently through the ice around Peter's spot like a massive geysers, sending chunks of ice flying into the air.
However, the water that bursted through the ice soon turned into a tall tidal wave - probably as a result of roar, like the vibration that occurred on the seabed - that spread from Peter's spot to everywhere of the lake, pushing with force a large mass of water upwards and away.
The wolves yelped and whined as the tidal wave went past them under their feet and ice, knocking them all off their feet and onto the ice. The wolf lieutenant holding Mr. Beaver and the ones holding Lucy were forced to let them go in order to regain their footing.
But this was the least of their problems.
"Captain! The ice is breaking!" the lieutenant cried out.
True to the lieutenant's warning, the tidal wave caused the ice, that was already weakened from melting, to crack open and break into countless large and small unstable ice rafts here and there.
Maugrim tried to restore order to his pack, but they had already lost their nerve and, forgetting the children entirely for their own survival, each wolf dashed hither and thither to save their own hides.
But in their blind haste across the breaking ice to get to safety, one by one, the wolves either slipped or tripped on the unstable ice rafts and fell through the open crevices into the icy water, and though many tried to hold on to the tilting rafts with their claws to pull themselves out of the water, the slippery and crumbling ice prevented them from getting out.
"Get us out of here! GET US OUT OF HERE, YOU FOOL!" the Witch screamed to the Dwarf.
Hastily obeying, Ginarrbrik whipped the horses into motion and turned the sleigh towards the western shore. As the tidal wave approached fast, Ginarrbrik whipped the horses frantically to get them to pull them out of its way as fast as they could.
For a while they managed to stay ahead of the tidal wave, though it eventually caught up with them, making their escape a lot more bumpier, with Ginarrbrik having to fight to keep the sleigh steady so it wouldn't capsize. Along the way, the Witch and Edmund had difficulty to stay even on their seats, so they had to grab onto something for support.
In the ensuing chaos, Mr. Beaver, who was with the wolf lieutenant on the same ice raft that tilted left and right on the tidal wave, saw his chance to escape and quickly changed into a normal beaver form before jumping into the water. His escape caused the raft to tilt over under the weight of the surprised lieutenant who, despite his best efforts to grab onto something to stay afloat, slipped off and fell whining into the water.
"Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!" Snowstorm hooted as he tried to maintain his own balance as the tidal wave broke the ice beneath him into two small rafts, the rocking of which prevented him from taking into the air.
It was also made more difficult by the fact that he was still holding his grip tightly around Chirp's neck.
Not even the common sense of survival could dissuade him from his chance of revenge against robin.
"Chirp, chirp! Let go of me! Chirp, chirp!" Chirp demanded as he struggled to free himself from the owl's grip.
"Hoo-hoo! Be quiet, you! I'll deal with you later once I get out of HERE! HOO-HOO!" Snowstorm hooted in alarm when the ice raft he was standing on with his free leg was suddenly pushed up from the bottom.
Hooting and flapping his wings frantically Snowstorm got thrown back, which also forced the owl to finally let go of Chirp, freeing him.
Snowstorm then fell splashing into the icy water through the gap between the rafts, leaving him stuck there because water wasn't his element due to him being a bird.
The one who had pushed the ice raft up from under Snowstorm's foot was revealed to be Mr. Beaver, who quickly pulled himself onto the raft which Chirp was on.
After shaking his fur dry, Mr. Beaver quickly changed into his anthropomorphic form and hurried to Chirp's side, who was struggling to pull himself up due to his injuries.
"Hurry, Chirp! On your feet!" Mr. Beaver said as he bent down and helped his robin friend to his feet before carefully but hastily escorting him down the ice rafts to safety on the firmer and still intact ice.
At the same time as all this was happening, Peter saw that Lucy had managed to stay afloat on the ice raft as the tidal wave went on, but it had also pulled Lucy's raft away from them.
"PETER!" Lucy cried, not daring to move in fear that any wrong move could cause the raft to tilt over and throw her into the icy water.
Seeing his sister in trouble, Peter left Rhindon where he had plunged it and, almost disregarding his own safety, began to half-run and half-jump along the ice rafts that were big enough for him as he made his way towards the one Lucy was on.
It was quite difficult because after each jump from one unstable raft to another, he had to stop to adjust his balance so he wouldn't accidentally slip and fall into the water. Not to mention how much precious time it took from him due to another impending danger.
"Peter! Hurry! Another tidal wave is coming!" Susan warned as she pointed to the north.
Peter looked north and saw another tidal wave, empowered by the lake's strong currents, heading this way and pushing a wall of packed broken ice in front of it.
Picking up his pace, Peter kept going running and hopping from raft to raft, until he landed onto the raft next to Lucy's own
"Lucy! Reach to my hand!" Peter said as he went crouched as close to the edge of his raft as he could and reached out his hands towards Lucy.
Nodding her head, Lucy moved slowly towards the edge of her raft to get as close as possible and reached out her own hand towards Peter's.
However, the gap that separated their rafts was too wide that they couldn't reach to each others' hands.
Then, Lucy's raft started to tilt too much from her weight and was close to throwing her off the raft into the water if Lucy hadn't hastily moved back to the middle of the raft to stabilize it.
"I can't reach, Peter!" Lucy said.
Calculating the situation and going through a few options to get Lucy, Peter looked down at the gap between his and Lucy's rafts and noted that while it was wide, it wasn't so wide that you wouldn't make it over by jumping.
"Then you have to jump!" Peter said, beckoning Lucy to jump by holding out his arms.
"Now way! I'm not going to jump!" Lucy protested, shaking her head. "I'll never make it"
"Yes you can!" Peter said assuredly. "I'll catch you! Trust me!"
"Can't you use your sword sheath?!" Lucy asked instead, seeing Rhindon's empty sheath on Peter's hip. "I can reach to it so that you can pull me over there!"
"No time for that!" Peter protested. "There's another tidal wave coming! We have to move fast before it hits! Come on, Lucy! Jump!"
"No!" Lucy said, still refusing to move. "I won't jump!"
"Lucy! I'm in charge in here and I order you to jump this instant!" Peter yelled harshly, worry, hurry, impatience and frustration mixed with his voice.
Lucy flinched slightly at Peter's harsh voice.
Peter then collected himself and tried calmer method to convince Lucy to jump.
"Please, Lucy, you have to jump right now, unless you think staying put and waiting for that to come is much better option!" Peter said, pointing to the right.
Lucy turned to look where Peter was pointing and saw a tidal wave of packed ice not too far from them coming at them at breakneck speed.
Looking briefly back at Peter, then at the tidal wave, then again Peter and then again the tidal wave until she finally yielded, not really wanting to wait here to get caught by the wave of water and ice.
"Fine! Just... Just be ready to catch me, okay!" Lucy pleaded and she carefully and slowly stood up on her raft.
"I will! I promise! Just come on!" Peter said, beckoning her to come on.
However, Lucy was still hesitant to jump, fearing that she might not make it across the gap into Peter's waiting arms and that she might fall into the icy water instead.
However, snapping out of it, Lucy forced hersefl to suppress her fears and doubts and braced herself, before she finally jumped off her raft and towards Peter's own, reaching out her hands towards Peter's own.
That brief moment passed longer in Lucy's eyes than she thought, as if in slow motion.
However, just as she had feared, Lucy's jump didn't carry her far enough, and she might have fallen into the water if Peter hadn't reached a little further, even at the risk of capsizing his raft, and caught Lucy just in time before she hit the water.
After catching his sister, Peter quickly pulled Lucy into his arms before he quickly leaned back as one end of his ice raft began to tilt upwards from both of their weights until Peter fell onto his back against the flat of the raft. This caused their raft to fall back into the water and rock back and forth wildly before finally settling.
Both Peter and Lucy, with the latter still in the former's arms, panted in and out relieved that they'd made it, even if it was a very close call.
But they could not enjoy it for long, because the first currents before the actual tidal wave were already pushing large amounts of ice towards them, blocking the sloping surface of the water with many ice rafts.
On the sturdier ice at the eastern shore, Susan, Mrs. Beaver and Mr. Beaver and Chirp, who had already made it to the safety, watched anxiously as the tidal wave kept approaching Peter and Lucy's raft.
"Chirp, chirp! Tidal wave coming! Tidal wave coming! Chirp, chirp!" Chirp chirped, flapping his wings frantically.
"Get out of there! Get out of there!" Susan frantically screamed at them.
"Move your legs, children!" Mr. Beaver cried.
"Hurry, dearies! Hurry!" Mrs. Beaver urged.
Hearing them, Peter hastily scrambled up to his feet and took Lucy's hand into his own, pulling her up.
"Hurry, Lucy! We need to move!" Peter cried.
Now that the currents had already pressed the ice rafts tightly against each other, Peter led the way as they practically ran along them - somewhat clumsily due to their unstable and rocking movements - for their lives towards the others as the tidal wave coming even closer.
It initially looked like they were going to make it, until the half-way...
Maugrim suddenly re-appeared from behind into upright pose tilted ice raft. Seeing Peter and Lucy making their way towards the others on the eastern shore, Maugrim growled angrily and gave the chase!
Susan gasped from shock upon seeing Maugrim following his siblings right on their heels.
"LOOK OUT!" Susan warned but too late.
As Peter and Lucy ran along the large and straight ice raft, Maugrim landed crouched onto it and caused it to rock back and forth all of the sudden, which caught both Peter and Lucy by surprise and threw them onto the raft.
Both Peter and Lucy then got up and turned to look back to see what happened, only to gasp upon seeing Maugrim there in the other end of the raft, barking savagely at them.
"I am not losing you humans again! I'll tear you to bits or die trying!" Maugrim growled, his mind moved for the kill them and completely disregarding the incoming tidal wave.
Peter instinctively reached for his sword but found nothing but empty air in front of its sheath, until he quickly remembered that Rhindon was still where he had left it, thus leaving them defenseless against this monster.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Maugrim roared as he, fangs bared and claws extended forward, charged towards them and went after Lucy first.
However, unlike Peter, Lucy still had her gift dagger, which she quickly drew out out of desperation and stabbed Maugrim with it in his left shoulder as he was about to pounce on her, making the wolf to howl in pain and step back, holding his wounded shoulder with his paws.
With Maugrim distracted, Peter quickly kicked the wolf in the stomach with his foot, knocking him off his feet and onto his back to the other end of the raft.
However, unrelenting and now even angrier than ever, Maugrim got back up and, growling hungrily, prepared for another attack.
But at this point the tidal wave was almost upon them, so it was too late for both Maugrim to attack and Peter and Lucy to escape out of its way.
Peter and Lucy looked up with dread as the shadow of the tidal wave rose above of them.
"HOLD ON TO ME!" Peter told Lucy as he wrapped his arms protectively around her.
Lucy held onto Peter tightly as Peter put himself between her and both Maugrim and the tidal wave to shield his sister while preparing to take the blow from either of them for himself.
Maugrim was just about to attack them, until the shadow of the tidal wave falling over him caught his attention and he looked up.
The wolf's ears lowered against the back of his head as the worry fell over his face. He even let out a quiet whimper in "uh-oh" manner.
Finally, the tidal wave and the packed ice wall in front of it hit the raft Peter, Lucy and Maugrim were on with such of forcre, that it caused the raft to tilt sharply sideways upwards until it eventually capsized, much to Susan, the beavers' and Chiro's shock as they watched on.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Maugrim roared as he was thrown off the raft and into the water, disappearing from sight.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Peter and Lucy screamed as they got thrown off the raft as well, with their screams drowned out by the deafening rumble of the wave, until they splashed into the water and immediately vanished from the right.
The massive torrent of water and ice then washed over the spot where Peter and Lucy had fallen.
"PETER! LUCY! NOOOO!" Susan screamed in horror as she lost her sight of her brother and sister.
The tidal wave soon passed and the surface of the lake calmed down again.
The ice that had been over the Great Lake just a moment ago, and had been there to keep the water bound and still for one hundred years, was now completely gone, reduced to nothing more than countless chunks and rafts drifting downstream.
However, there was no sight of Peter and Lucy anywhere after the lake calmed down.
Susan, the beavers and Chirp just stood there, petrified from shock and dread, as they stared into the lake but saw nothing but streaming water and drifting ice.
"PETER?! LUCY?!" Susan called from top of her lungs, desperately hoping that they would respond to her.
"PETER?! LUCY?!"
But neither of them responded, increasing Susan's sense of anxiety as well as the even more awful realization she didn't want to believe, no matter how hopeless it sounded.
Agonizing seconds and minutes passed one after the other, until finally...
Peter's and Lucy's heads popped up out of the water, gasping for the air!
"There! They are over there!" Mr. Beaver called, pointing his clawed finger at where he saw Peter and Lucy, much to Susan's joy and relief.
Shivering from the cold and coughing and spluttering water out, Peter, holding onto Lucy tightly as he pulled her behind him, swam towards the eastern shore's ice where his sister and their friends were waiting for them.
The current of the lake was not very strong that it would have easily pulled him along, but swimming against it with all his strength - with only one hand while holding onto Lucy with the other - did wear him out rather quickly.
When he finally made it there, Peter tried to pull both himself and Lucy onto the ice but found no strength in him to do it. So Susan, beavers and Chirp grabbed on their coats and pulled them out of the water.
After they were safely on the ice, Susan immediately rushed in to pull both Peter and Lucy into a tight hug, glad that they were both safe. Peter and Lucy both tiredly returned to it in kind while the beavers and Chirp looked on from the side.
"Are you two alright?" Susan asked as she broke the hug, while gently helping Lucy onto her feet.
"W-W-W-We-We-We're fine. We're o-o-o-ok-ok-kay." Peter said with shivering voice as she awkwardly pulled himself up.
Mrs. Beaver was quick to dig out of her own sack the scarves they had lent to the children when they left the dam, but that was all they had with them. Armed with them, she quickly rushed to Peter's and Lucy's side and began to wrap the scarves around of the two's heads to keep them warm.
"There there, my dears. This should keep the cold out until we'll stop to warm up and drink some hot tea." Mrs. Beaver said motherly.
"T-T-T-Th-Th-Tha-Thank you, Mrs. B-B-B-B-Be-Be-Beaver." Lucy said with shivering voice.
"This is all I have unfortunately." Mrs. Beaver said apologetically, before she scowled at her mate. "If Beaver indeed hadn't been in such a fuss when we left home, I'd have brought some warm blankets with us."
However, Mr. Beaver ignored her as he was facing Peter with the scowl on his face, while holding Rhindon on his paws. Peter turned to him and was relieved to see his sword, but frowned in confusion upon seeing the look on Mr. Beaver's.
"I think you lost this." Mr. Beaver said, holding the sword out for Peter.
Awkwardly, Peter reached his hand for his sword and took it from Mr. Beaver's paws.
After putting Rhindon back into its sheath, Peter looked back up at Mr. Beaver, seeing the scowl was still there.
"What?" he asked.
"That was foolish thing to do! You could've gotten your sister killed in the process!" Mr. Beaver chided.
"Well, I wasn't sure it even worked. I would have felt like an idiot if it didn't." Peter said in his defense. "But there was no other way to save you."
"Yes there was! Why didn't you kill that wolf and Snowstorm when you had a chance?" Mr. Beaver asked angrily.
Peter was taken aback by the question, as well as Mr. Beaver being angry at him for not killing Maugrim and Snowstorm instead of being grateful that he was still alive because of him. Peter also didn't know whether he should be ashamed of himself for not killing that owl and the wolf or not.
However, he remembered how utterly helpless he had felt when they held Mr. Beaver, Lucy, and Chirp hostage and threatened to kill them if he tried anything to save them. That same feeling weighed on his shoulders even now.
Peter lowered his head down in shame for doing nothing to save his sister and all of them earlier.
"I tried." was all he could say.
"But Mr. Beaver. Peter did save our lives." Lucy protested, standing up for her older brother.
"Including yours." Susan pointed out, standing up to her brother's defense too. "You should at least be thankful for that."
"Would I be thankful had he chosen me or Chirp over Lucy?! Mr. Beaver shouted furiously. "Don't you understand?! No one's life is worth the entire Narnia! Not even mine or Chirp's! That's why Mr. Tumnus, those animals and Blossom gave their lives. For you! For Narnia! You are meant to save Narnia! That's why you three matter most than any of us And if you all perish because you'd rather trade the future of Narnia for a low wood animals, then there will be no one to save it and evil will rule forever!"
Peter, Susan, and Lucy were taken aback by that their friends would go through such lengths, that they would willingly lay down their own lives for them and for all of Narnia.
Of course, the children didn't like to carry on their shoulders any more lives of the innocent lost because of them... especially Lucy, who already carried the loss of poor Mr. Tumnus on her shoulders.
"That's why you children must shape up for your own sake, and for the sake of any hopes for a free Narnia!" Mr. Beaver said.
"Now, come now, dear." Mrs. Beaver said soothingly to her mate. "There's no need to put too much of pressure on their shoulders, especially after what we just lived through."
"Chirp, chirp! She's right, Mr. Beaver." Chirp said. "After all, at least some good came out of this. Chirp, chirp! We're all still alive. We got to this side of the river. And best of all, with the ice gone, the Witch has fallen far behind of us. Chirp, chirp!"
Suddenly...
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Those ear-piercing high-pitched screeches sent the chills down of everybody's spines.
"Chirp, chirp! And speaking of the Witch... Chirp, chirp!"
All of them turned to lookback to the western shore, where they saw the Witch standing on her sleigh that stood on the edge of the ice that was still intact.
The Witch waved her arms wildly in the air while screaming like a banshee, furious for having lost her chance to get the children before they could get across the lake.
And now that the ice was gone, there was no way for her to get across from this to continue hunting, which meant she had to travel a longer distance along the river either upstream or downstream to find a suitable spot where the ice hadn't melted yet for her sledge to get across.
And that alone would cost her too much precious time to get back on the children's trail, and by that time they would already be far beyond of her reach!
This set the Witch into such of vicious, uncontrollable and outright savage rage that she took it all out on her Dwarf Ginarrbrik... but mostly on Edmund out of spite.
Peter, Susan, and Lucy watched in utmost horror and disgust as the Witch unleashed her fury on their brother by beating him viciously: hitting him on the back of his head and slapping him across the face over and over again, and every blow she inflicted on him - which they could hear clearly even all the way up here - and Edmund's every pitiful cry in pain made all three of them flinch.
They had never seen such physical violence and cruelty inflicted towards the children before.
And despite what Edmund had been like before they parted at the dam, even he didn't deserve this kind of physical punishment.
Lucy cried for her brother and couldn't bear to watch, so Susan and Mrs. Beaver turned her gently away from this, but Peter kept looking on.
Every blow the Witch inflicted on Edmund, followed by his cry after every blow, made Peter's eyes narrow deeply, teeth grinding against each other and his hands clenched tightly into fists as he felt the rage building in his heart towards the Witch for her physical mistreatment on his brother.
The Witch then ceased abusing Edmund and her Dwarf, and turned to look towards them.
"THIS ISN'T OVER, SON OF ADAM AND THE DAUGHTERS OF EVE! YOU HAVEN'T WON ANYTHING HERE!" the Witch called to them, her scream echoing across the lake to their side.
"RUN LIKE A COWARDS TO THE SAFETY OF HIS PAWS IF YOU LIKE! BUT KNOW THIS! AS LONG AS I STILL HAVE YOUR BROTHER, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, THE PROPHECY WILL NEVER COME TRUE AND NARNIA WILL BE MINE FOREVER! THIS I SWEAR!"
Peter, Susan and Lucy winced uncomfortably at those words, including that "one way or another", which filled them with dread for poor Edmund.
With that, the Witch sat back on her sleigh and instructed Ginarrbrik to drive on, which the Dwarf did and whipped the horses into motion and turned them around.
The children, the beavers and Chirp watched sadly as the sleigh took off with their brother still aboard.
In the Witch's sleigh, Edmund, beaten, bruised, miserable and eyes welling up with tears, looked back at his family who stood on the eastern shore, watching their leave.
He was glad that at least they had gotten away, but he was still in the Witch's clutches. And for the hundredth time, he really wished he wasn't here, but back with his family instead.
"What would you be ready to give?" A familiar voice, that sounded too much like his own, only in the soft echo, asked.
Edmund slowly turned his head and saw the manifestation of his conscience, the "other" Edmund appearing out of nowhere to sit next to him, looking at him with pity in his eyes.
"What would you be ready to give to just be with your family again?" the "other" Edmund asked gently.
Edmund looked away from the "other" Edmund and back to his family as they disappeared into the horizon... and thought what he would really give to be back with his sisters and brother. Yeah, even with his brother.
He didn't even have to think about it for too long, because his answer was already clear.
"Anything. Everything." Edmund said in quiet whisper... so quiet that neither the Witch or Ginarrbrik could hear him.
The "other" Edmund nodded in understanding, before he faded away.
TO BE CONTINUED.