The wolves, led by Maugrim, rushed out of the castle, towards Bag End.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Beaver was packing a bag, a beaver sized bag, while Peter and Susan were loading supplies into hobbit sized bags that Bilbo had left behind.
Mr. Beaver cried out, "We'd better hurry, the witch will be after us!"
Mrs. Beaver said, "You'll be thanking me later. Mr. Beaver gets cranky when he's hungry."
"I'm cranky now! We've gotta get out of here before they can find us! If either the witch or worse still Sauron himself gets the ring, it's all over!" he cried out.
Just then, they heard a rustle in the bushes outside.
Mr. Beaver said, "Everyone be quiet."
He went towards the source of the noise and taking a risk, he peeped out.
He suddenly leapt out and there came sounds of a commotion.
A few moments later, the door opened to admit Mr. Beaver and none other than Sam.
Mr. Beaver cried out, "What did you hear?"
Sam said, "Something about the white witch getting the ring and it being all over."
Lucy said, "It's alright. Sam's a good friend. He wouldn't betray us to the witch."
Sam said, "I'd die before I did that."
Mrs. Beaver said, "He's a good fellow. I think we can trust him."
Just then, they heard snarls and screams outside, not very far away.
Maugrim and his wolves had reached Bag End and were outside the house.
Maugrim, at the gate, looked up and seeing a light inside, he said, "Take them."
The wolves leapt over the gate, which was not very tall, and rushed to the house. A couple tried to break down the door, and another one went for the window.
Finally, one of the wolves managed to break through the window and they all went inside, only to find no one.
One of them came to a door and scratched at it in suspicion before opening it.
It led to a tunnel.
Peter, Susan and Lucy were following the Beavers with Peter carrying a torch.
Mr. Beaver was saying, "I'm sorry I didn't ask you before Badger and I dug this out."
Lucy said, "It's not a problem. If you hadn't done that…"
But before she could say anything else, they heard sounds of barking.
Lucy said, "They're in the tunnel."
Peter cried out, "Run!"
They began to run as fast as they could, and finally came to what seemed a dead end.
Mrs. Beaver cried out, "You should have brought a map!"
Mr. Beaver said, "There wasn't room next to the jam!" and leapt up into a hole which led out of the tunnel.
The others followed suit and Peter and Mr. Beaver seized a nearby barrel and used it to close the way.
They then turned around, only to be greeted by eerie silence in a woody environment, and statues of a badger and some other animals, and even two hobbits.
Mr. Beaver cried out, "My friends! Turned to stone!"
Susan said, "I'm so sorry."
Sam tearfully exclaimed, "What did they do to deserve this?!"
Just then, a male voice spoke, "This is what becomes of those who dare to cross the witch." and a fox emerged from the woods.
Even as the fox came near, Mr. Beaver cried out in anger, "Come any closer and I'll tear you to splinters!"
The fox said, "Relax, I'm one of the good guys."
Mr. Beaver cried out, "Oh yeah?! You look awfully more like the bad ones.!"
"An unfortunate family trait resemblance." the fox calmly replied.
Just then, they heard barks, which meant the wolves were near.
Peter turned to the fox and asked, "What do you have in mind?"
A minute later, Maugrim and his wolves burst forth from the tunnel and surrounded the fox who was just smiling cunningly at them.
"Greetings gents," the fox said, "Lost something, have we?"
"Don't patronize me," Maugrim snarled, "I know where your allegiance lies. We're looking for some humans."
"Humans in the Shire?" the fox laughingly replied, "Well that's some valuable information.", even as the Beavers, Sam, Peter and his sisters watched from the branches of a tree.
One of the wolves suddenly closed its jaws threateningly on the fox's back and held him. Peter closed Lucy's mouth to stop her from crying out in horror even as Maugrim spoke, "Your reward is your life. It's not much of an achievement; where are they?"
The fox was silent for a few moments, let his head fall in defeat, and said, "They ran east. Heading for the Grey Havens and onto Valinor."
He was released and Maugrim commanded, "Smell them out." before they ran away from the place.
A few moments later, Mrs. Beaver was tending to the fox's back even as Lucy said, "Thank you for saving us."
The fox said, "It's nothing. You should be careful. You have to leave."
Mr. Beaver said, "We know the witch is after us."
The fox said, "My name is Auron by the way, and it's not just the witch that's after you."
Peter asked, "What do you mean?"
The fox said, "I received word that Sauron has sent his servants to the Shire to get the ring. You can't stop. You need to make it for Bree. Gandalf said to meet him there."
"Sauron's servants?" Peter said, "That makes it even worse!"
"Bree's where we're headed," Sam said.
"Good," Auron said, "Well a bit of advice; whatever ring you have, don't put it on. And stay away from the main road."
"We'll remember that." Susan said, "Thanks for helping us."
In the witch's castle…
Edmund sat on an ice cold floor of a prison cell, with nothing but a piece of hard bread in his hands.
How could this have happened?
He had trusted the Queen, had even thought she loved him, only to find out she was a monster who wanted to kill his family.
At this point, he was wishing he could just die.
He was interrupted from his thoughts by a voice saying, "Well if you're not going to eat that.
He looked to his left and saw a faun, similar to the picture he had seen in Tumnus' house, looking at him.
Like him, he was in chains.
Edmund gave him the bread saying, "Here, have it."
"Thank you." the faun said.
"Mr. Tumnus?" Edmund guessed.
"That's right", came the reply, "You're Lucy Pevensie's brother aren't you?"
Edmund said, "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking…"
Suddenly the cell door burst open and Jadis strode in and furiously asked, "My police tore that place apart, and found no one. They're not at the house! Where are your siblings? Tell me!"
Edmund cried out, "I don't know!"
"You are of no more use to me," the witch spoke cruelly.
She suddenly pulled out a sword and was about to stab Edmund when he cried out, "Wait!"
Even as Jadis stopped what she was doing, Edmund said, "The Beaver said something about Aslan!"
"Aslan?" the witch said.
After a few moments of shock which she did not show, she asked, "Where is he?"
Edmund said, "I don't know. I wanted to see you."
Jadis asked, "Did you hear anything else at all?"
At this point, Tumnus said, "He's a stranger, he can't be expected to know anything."
Ginabrik, who was in the cell, hit him with the handle of an axe, and then turned to Edmund and asked, "What else did you hear?"
Edmund in fright said, "I heard something about someone called Gandalf."
Jadis began to laugh evilly at this statement and she said, "My Edmund, your Gandalf is in my power. He cannot save you or your siblings now."
She then said, "Release him."
An ogre strode into the cellar and broke off the shackles holding Tumnus. He was then dragged up to the witch.
Jadis said, "Do you know why you are here? This boy turned you in, for the sweeties."
She smiled cruelly even as Tumnus gave Edmund a look which contained pain.
Edmund felt even worse.
He hadn't known at that time, or rather understood what kind of person the Queen of Northern Narnia was. He knew now.
He then heard the witch say, "Ready my chariot. If Aslan is here, if he wants a war, he shall have it. Edmund, we shall ride out to Isengard, to my tower Orthanc, and you will behold my true power."
Saying so, she laughed evilly and gave him a look which meant more was coming.
Soon, Edmund was brought upstairs by Ginabrik where he came across a horrible sight.
There, in front of him, was a statue. It was none other than Tumnus.
He had been turned to stone.
And soon, the chariot of the White Witch set out, with Edmund being forced to sit at Jadis' feet even as she held her black staff in one hand and a silver wand in the other.
Meanwhile, the company, minus the fox who had insisted on remaining behind, set out across the woods.
Soon, it was daybreak and they were still walking.
They stopped at one point for a bit of breakfast and moved on.
Not until it was close to evening did Mr. Beaver call it for the day and found a spot under the roots of a large tree.
Even as Lucy was sleeping in Susan's lap, Peter suddenly heard voices. It sounded like sorrowful music.
He and Mr. Beaver looked around to see what it was.
Close to them, was the road, on which was traveling, a group of fair and tall human-like creatures, some with horses, all singing sadly.
Peter asked, "What is that?"
Mr. Beaver said, "They're elves. They're going away. They fear Sauron is going to destroy everything."
"But what about Aslan?" Peter asked.
Mr. Beaver said, "Not everyone knows that Aslan is about. I don't even know where he is. Gandalf should know though. I do know that he's waiting for you though."
Soon, the whole party minus Mr. Beaver was asleep.
—-
The next day..
The sun rose in the morning sky.
At this moment, some distance away from the woods, a group of wolves was standing.
A wolf asked, "Shall we get them now?"
Maugrim said, "No. We'll go in but very slowly. We've been ordered to stay clear of the Nazgul and not get in their way."
"Nazgul?!" the other wolf cried out, "Where are they then?"
Maugrim said, "Take a look over there."
The other wolf looked in the direction Maugrim had indicated and saw a black rider on a black horse, not far away.
Peter, Lucy, Susan and Sam were all following the Beavers through a farmer's field.
They were on a path that led through some tall crops.
"Don't lose sight of them, don't lose," Sam was repeating like a mantra.
Lucy smiled at Sam and said, "It's alright Sam, you don't need to be scared. We're all going to be together."
Sam said, "I know, that's what I want to make sure of."
Mr. Beaver said, "Another minute and we'll soon be out of the Shire. Now come on. Right this way."
Suddenly, two figures, a hobbit and a hobbit sized gray rabbit, holding vegetables, sprang out of the crop on their left and crashed into them.
The hobbit got up and exclaimed, "Lucy! Thumper, it's Lucy Baggins!"
Lucy said, "It's actually Lucy Pevensie." even as Susan helped her up.
Peter asked, "Who are you?"
Lucy said, "This is Pippin the hobbit and Thumper the rabbit. They're very naughty."
Mr. Beaver turned around and said, "Thumper, Pippin, what in Aslan's name do you think you're doing?"
Even as Thumper passed some vegetables to Sam, the latter cried out, "You've been into farmer Maggot's crop!"
Just then, there came sounds of shouting and a dog's barking and not very far away, a pole with some sort of attachment at the end could be seen hovering above the crop.
Pippin grabbed Peter and Lucy crying out, "Run!"
Sam stared at the farming tool for a moment, dropped his vegetables, and ran off with the rest of the group.
Peter cried out, "What do you mean there's no problem stealing?!"
Pippin said, "It was only a bunch of carrots, a few cabbages, and a bag of potatoes from last week, and don't forget the mushrooms!"
Susan said, "Are you mad?"
Thumper said, "No, that farmer is, though. The point is, clearly, he's overreacted."
Suddenly, they came out of the crop to a cliff overlooking a muddy slope of hill, not too steep though.
Before they could do anything else, Sam bumped into them and the whole group ended up rolling down the hill and falling into a pile at the bottom.
"Ooh, get off me!" Mr. Beaver cried out even as Mrs. Beaver managed to free herself. She asked, "Is everyone alright?"
"Ow," Peter cried out, "Lucy! Are you alright?! Everyone get off!"
"It's alright," Lucy said, even as the others began to get up and help each other.
Thumper said, "I think I've broken something," and held up a broken carrot.
Susan said, "Now we really are in a mess."
Sam said, "Yeah, we've gone off course. We're on the main road."
Thumper said, "Don't worry, it was only a detour."
"A detour to what?!" Mr. Beaver cried out angrily.
At this point, Pippin suddenly cried out, "Mushrooms!"
Close by, there was indeed a pile of mushrooms.
Instantly, Thumper, Pippin, Sam, and Mr. Beaver made a rush for the mushrooms and began to gather them in a bag.
Mrs. Beaver said, "You know those mushrooms might come in useful."
Lucy, Peter and Susan looked at the road.
It seemed deserted, and safe.
But clearly, something was off.
Lucy said, "I think we should get off the road."
Susan said, "Lucy's right, Auron told us to stay away from the main road."
Mr. Beaver said, "You're right, just give us a minute, and we'll be on our way."
Suddenly, there came a horrible screaming or screeching kind of sound and leaves began to fly about.
Peter looked at the leaves and cried out, "Get off the road!"
They moved away from the road and got into a hollow in the ground under the roots of a large tree, facing away from the road.
Even as Thumper and Pippin began to whisper about their mushrooms, Sam and Mr. Beaver whispered, "Stop it, quiet!"
Suddenly they heard sounds and fell silent, even as a black horse which looked like it had seen better days stopped at the tree, with a black rider on it.
Peter looked around and through a small hole could see a hoof plant itself onto the ground, which meant the horse had stopped.
A boot of steel which looked evil and terrible to look at descended on the ground and could be seen through the hole.
Peter looked away and put an arm across Lucy who was clinging on to him and Susan.
Lucy did not realize it, but her hand was making its way to her pocket.
The black rider came near the hollow and knelt down, gripping a thick root but it did not see the group hiding below.
In the hollow, everyone had just realized that there were a lot of bugs on the ground and in the tree.
Lucy almost screamed but Peter closed her mouth.
The rider seemed to be edging closer to them.
And Lucy's hand was almost inside the pocket.
Suddenly, Susan placed her hand over Lucy's and held it tightly.
Lucy looked at Susan even as she held on to her tightly.
Sam flung the bag of mushrooms out of the hollow in a random direction, away from them of course.
The rider, with a shriek, went after it.
Seizing their chance, the group climbed out of the hollow and ran alongside the slope of the hill through some trees before stopping at a group of bushes and small trees and grass, a good hiding spot.
Even as Thumper collapsed in fright, he cried out, "What was that?!"
Susan was holding Lucy even as Peter said, "I think I know what it is, and why. Sauron's servants are here."
Lucy said, "I know why."
Susan asked, "It's the ring isn't it?"
Lucy opened her palm and showed the ring, the ring Bilbo had given her, or rather the One ring, Sauron's ring.
It was the reason Sauron's servants were after them.
The day wore on thus, with the group darting from tree to tree, bush to bush, doing their best to keep out of sight of the rider, whose shrieks were renting the air with fear.
Soon it was almost dark.
The rider was checking a part of the road.
Not finding anything, the rider let out a shriek and rode away.
Mr. Beaver, who was hiding behind a tree said, "Come on."
He and the rest of the group darted from one tree to another, then again to a third one.
Even as Peter stopped at the tree, Susan asked, "Anything there Peter?"
Peter said, "Nothing."
Even as the group got together near the tree, Pippin flapped his arms in exhaustion and cried out softly, "What is going on everyone?"
Thumper went up to the Pevensies and said, "That black rider was looking for something, looking for someone. Lucy?"
Lucy turned to Thumper, about to answer when suddenly Mrs. Beaver cried out, "Get down!"
The whole group got down at once and hid in a group of bushes.
Some distance away was the black rider.
The group waited with bated breath for what would happen.
Fortunately, the horse let out a snort and then turned away.
At this point, Lucy said, "We have to leave the Shire. The witch and Sauron are after us."
Thumper whispered, "The witch?! And Sauron?! That's horrible!"
Susan said, "We have to get to Bree."
Thumper nodded in understanding and said, "Alright. Buckleberry ferry; follow me."
With that, he set out and the rest of the group began to follow him.
They had to cross the road and Mr. Beaver said, "I hope you know what you're doing."
Just then, there was a shriek and the black rider sprang out of the dark wood.
Even as the horse stopped, Lucy screamed and panicked, running back and forth in confusion.
"RUN!" Thumper and Pippin cried out, even as the horse moved left and right in confusion.
"RUN FOR IT!" Mr. Beaver cried out, "FOLLOW THE RABBIT!"
"FOLLOW ME," Thumper cried out, "Run!"
"Run Lucy, run!" Susan cried out even as she went to grab Lucy's hand and started running.
The rider began to pursue them, on the horse of course.
The hobbits, the beavers, the rabbit and Peter ran, jumped over a fence and towards a raft that was moored to the docks.
Peter looked behind and saw that Susan and Lucy were coming in through the entrance, the black rider hot on their tail.
Even as Peter joined the others on the raft, Sam, Thumper and Pippin began removing the ropes even as Mr. Beaver and Mrs. Beaver got into the water to push the boat away.
"Throw the ropes," Pippin cried out even as Thumper undid the last one and grabbed the steering pole.
They looked up and saw that Lucy and Susan were near but so was the rider, who was on the verge of catching them.
"Run!" Peter cried out, "Jump for it girls! Grab my hand!"
Even as Susan and Lucy reached the end of the dock, they held hands and jumped as far as they could, and luckily landed on top of Peter.
The horse bucked and stopped where it was.
Peter helped his sisters up and looked at the black rider.
It was not making any attempt to pursue them. It couldn't.
There was not enough space for it to jump to them.
With a shriek and some horrible sounds, it turned away.
Even as Lucy watched it go, Sam asked, "Do you think there's more of them?"
As if to answer Sam's question, two black riders burst out of the darkness and rode past them, but did not move in close.
Even as Thumper held the pole, Mr. Beaver asked, "How far is the nearest crossing?"
Thumper replied, "Brandywine bridge, 20 miles."
At that moment, it began to rain.