It's well after midnight when Edmund hears a low howl from outside. He pushes off the wall of the cave, where he's been leaning for almost an hour. He'd been pacing the short width of the entrance for a while just to keep warm, but exhaustion had crept up on him, stilling his anxious movements. His muscles are stiff, and he's still stretching the ache in his back as Adan's sleek black form enters the cave, his coat speckled with ice and snow.
Adan shakes himself carefully by the entrance and then pads almost silently toward the fire. Edmund turns slightly toward the back of the cave as he passes. The girl's sleep has been troubled, but neither she nor Phillip are awoken by the Wolf's careful steps.
Edmund crosses to the fire as well and pokes at the coals before adding the last few large pieces of wood. Adan carefully shakes out his paws, holding them near the fire to thaw as Edmund slowly sinks to the ground beside him. He watches the Wolf for several long minutes, and it's not until Adan is still that Edmund finally speaks.
"And?" Edmund asks, keeping his voice low. Adan, settled now on his haunches, turns to his king with a slight bow.
"I followed the trail back nearly to the border," Adan reports, careful to keep his voice low as well. He gets up and paces by the fire— passing once, twice, three times across the width of the cave— before settling next to Edmund again. Adan leans in close after sparing a glance at the sleeping princess. "They've camped at the base of the trail," he continues quietly. Edmund stares at the princess, processing this information.
"Several men and their animals, bearing no crest or colors," Adan continues, and Edmund sighs. A mounted group can move quickly. On foot they'll be overtaken, and even if Phillip carried both Edmund and the princess they'd be outpaced by single riders over a long distance. Even so, they'd have a better chance at outrunning them than anything else.
"Forward, then," Edmund decides. Adan peers at the fire, his ears pointed back in agitation.
"We won't keep ahead of them for long," Adan says in a low growl. Edmund lowers his head, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Cellox?" Edmund asks, still staring down at the stone beneath his boots.
"He's more likely to come across them than us," Adan answers. As an Eagle, Cellox had excellent vision even from extraordinary heights, but he'd be looking for them along the border of Corsecant, not here. Edmund curses himself for a fool. He'd known there was something suspicious about this whole situation– had argued that no good could come of it– and he should have known to keep Cellox with him, or at the very least have agreed to bring more than one flighted Beast instead of leaving them trapped with no good options.
"It will take us another three days to reach the ford, if not more," Edmund figures. Phillip can't carry more than one rider if they want to move at a good speed for long, and with at least one of the humans on foot… He sighs, knowing he needs some way to buy more time— a distraction, a diversion, or plain old divine intervention. Show us a way, Aslan.
"I can make it in one." Edmund looks up sharply at Phillip's assertion. He hadn't even noticed that the Horse was awake, but Phillip stares back at him steadfastly, his head raised slightly above the princess's sleeping form.
"It's at least thirty miles just to the river, Phillip," Edmund says slowly. The Horse carefully shifts away from the girl and stands, joining Adan and Edmund by the fire.
"It's not so far for a Horse," Phillip says, "And the high king's men are just beyond in Lantern Waste, yes?"
"That's another twenty miles at best," Edmund replies.
"It's not so far," Phillip repeats, "For a Horse unencumbered." Adan stiffens, his hackles bristling slightly as he catches the Horse's meaning a second quicker than Edmund.
"And in the meantime," Adan says stiffly, "we will be overtaken, one man and a Wolf against a dozen mounted men." Edmund sets a restraining hand on the Wolf's shoulder, and he can feel the low rumble of a growl.
"I thought you would quite fancy those odds," Phillip teases. Edmund, thinking at first that Phillip has misread the Wolf and his anger, tenses his grip on Adan's shoulder, but the Wolf simply huffs and turns away from the Horse.
"I don't mean to suggest abandoning you, your majesty," Phillip says softly, all hints of jest gone now. "I would send back reinforcements, the swiftest flighted Beasts the high king has at hand." Edmund considers this, trying to remember who had been in Peter's company and calculating possible speeds and distances. He doesn't relish the idea of sending Phillip away now any more than he'd wanted Adan to go off alone last night, but if it could give them a better chance…
"Could we hold out for another day or two?" Edmund asks Adan. The Wolf stares into the fire, but his ears are no longer pinned to his head and he seems calmer now. Edmund drops his hand from Adan's fur, and the Wolf glances at the sleeping princess. She's curled up more tightly in the absence of Phillip's warmth, but from her steady breathing Edmund is sure their whispered conversation has not caused her to wake as well.
"Possibly," the Wolf answers at last, "but definitely no longer." Adan's piercing gaze shifts to Phillip, and the two share a significant look before Phillip nods and the two look to Edmund.
"I don't see that we have much choice," Edmund says slowly. He has no doubt the Horse will exert every effort to bring them aid, and he prays to Aslan they can keep ahead of their enemies until then.