♘

         "HURRY, MOTHER! THEY'RE after us!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed as they made it back to the dam.

"Oh, right then!" Mrs. Beaver says and starts packing some food.

Peter, who held onto Dorothy's hand, looked down at Mr. Beaver. "What's she doing?" he asked but he only got an eye roll in response from the male beaver.

"Oh, you'll be thanking me later," Mrs. Beaver replied as she gathered food and Susan ran over to help her. "It's a long journey and Beaver gets pretty cranky when he's hungry."

"I'm cranky now!" Mr. Beaver shouted to his wife.

"Do you think we'll need jam?" Susan questioned as she helped.

"Only if the witch serves toast," Peter sarcastically replied, earning a look from Susan.

However, they didn't have time to argue because the sound of snarling and growling was heard. Everyone looked around the dam as it was being destroyed from the wolves outside, causing Lucy and Dorothy to gasp in fright. Mr. Beaver quickly ran to a secret hatch and opened it.

"Quick. It'll lead us out," he said and the siblings and Mrs. Beaver all hopped into the hole. Mr. Beaver came down and took the lead as Peter held a torch in his hand. "Badger and me dug this place. It comes right near his place."

"You told me it lead to your mum's!" Mrs. Beaver scolded her husband.

Suddenly, Dorothy tripped over a branch, causing her to fall with a grunt. Peter stopped and turned around as Susan and Lucy knelt down next to her.

"Dorothy!" Susan exclaimed worriedly, helping her sit up.

They became quiet when they heard the wolves barking, meaning that they had found the secret passage and were still following them.

The youngest gave them a frightened look. "They're in the tunnel," she whispered.

"Quick! This way."

"Hurry!"

As quickly as they could, Susan and Lucy both helped Dorothy up as they all continued to run through the tunnel until they came to a dead end.

"You should have brought a map!" Mrs. Beaver scolded her husband.

"There wasn't room next to the jam!"

The male beaver then climbed up the wall and dug up a hole to escape. Mrs. Beaver followed after, followed by Susan, Lucy, Dorothy, and then lastly, Peter. As everyone was up, Mr. Beaver and Peter both rolled a barrel in front of the escape tunnel. As Dorothy was backing up, she suddenly tripped over something, causing her to fall backwards and catching the attention of the others.

She looked up at them confusingly when she noticed that they were statues that she had tripped over. Peter rushed over to help her up as they all looked around and out of everyone, Mr. Beaver looked the most upset. He walked up to a statue that looked like a badger and Mrs. Beaver followed him, placing a comforting paw on her husband's shoulder.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, dear," Mrs. Beaver apologized sincerely.

"He was my best mate," Mr. Beaver muttered sadly.

The siblings walked around, looking at the statues in sadness. There was one of a bulldog, which made Dorothy gasp softly and back up into Susan by accident. Susan placed a hand on her youngest sister's shoulders to comfort her.

"What happened here?" Peter demanded.

"This is what becomes of those who cross the witch."

The group looked up at the new voice, which turned out to be a fox. Peter placed his sisters behind him to protect them in case the fox does something stupid. Mr. Beaver gave him a hard look and stomped towards him with Mrs. Beaver holding him back.

"You take one more step, traitor, and I'll chew you to splinters!" The male beaver threatened through his clenched teeth.

The fox merely chuckled and jumped down from the rock he was on top of. "Relax. I'm one of the good guys," he explained calmly to the two beavers and four siblings.

"Yeah? Well, you look an awful lot like one of the bad ones."

"An unfortunate family resemblance but we can argue breeding later. Right now, we've got to move," the fox says, his tone becoming more serious.

Howling was heard from the distance, meaning that the wolves were hot on their trails. Peter looked down at the fox.

"What do you have in mind?"

The fox smiled and looked up at the tree. The siblings and beavers, getting the message, quickly climbed up the tree as soon as the wolves appeared. The fox, who was hiding the tracks from the four siblings to protect them, looked up as the wolves surrounded him.

"Greetings, gents," the fox greeted casually, though he was in fear. "Lost something, have we?"

The leader of the pack snarled. "Don't patronize me! I know where your allegiance lies. We're looking for some humans."

The fox let out a nervous laugh. "Humans? Here in Narnia? That's a valuable bit of information, don't you think?" he questioned.

The Pevensie siblings and beavers watched from the trees as one of the wolves charged at the fox, catching his fur between his teeth. This caused Dorothy, Lucy, and Mr. Beaver to all gasp but their mouths were covered by Peter, Susan, and Mrs. Beaver.

"Your reward is your life," the leader tells him and lets out an evil laugh. "It's not much, but still. Where are the fugitives?"

The fox, unbeknownst to the wolf pack, looked up at the tree to the siblings. He noticed the scared look on each of their faces, including little Dorothy's. Finally, he let out a sigh and lifted his paw towards north.

"North," he says breathlessly. "They ran north."

"Smell them out," the leader ordered.

The wolf who had the fox threw him to the side, causing him to yelp and pass out as the wolf pack ran north. The Pevensie's and beavers all hopped down and gathered around the fox.

"Let's start a fire and I'll patch him up," Mrs. Beaver explained softly.

Everyone nodded and got to work.

♘

"They were helping Tumnus. The Witch got there before I did." Mr. Fox was explaining as they sat around the warm fire and he let out a yelp as Mrs. Beaver was cleaning his wounds. "Ow!"

"Are you alright?" Dorothy asked him softly, eating a piece of bread.

Mr. Fox gave her a small smile and chuckled a little. "Well, I wish I could say that their bark was worse than their bite. Ow!" He complained once again.

"Oh, stop squirming!" Mrs. Beaver scolded and continued her work. "You're worse than Beaver on bath day."

"Worse day of the year," Mr. Beaver muttered, causing the three sisters to chuckle softly.

"Thank you for your kindness, but that's all the cure I have time for," Mr. Fox thanked them kindly, standing up on his four paws."

"You're leaving?" Lucy wondered.

"It has been a pleasure, My Queen, and an honor, but time is short and Aslan himself has asked me to gather more troops," Mr. Fox explained as he bowed to Lucy.

Mr. and Mrs. Beaver both gasped in excitement when Mr. Fox mentioned Aslan.

"You've seen Aslan?" 

"What's he like?"

Mr. Fox chuckled amusingly at their excitement. "Like everything we've heard of." He turned to look at Peter. "You'll be glad to have him by your side in the battle against the witch."

Susan shook her head. "But we're not planning on fighting any witch."

"But surely, King Peter, the prophecy!"

"We can't go to war with out you," Mr. Beaver reminded him.

Peter looked between them and his sisters. "We just want our brother back," he says after a moment of silence.

♘

The next morning, the group woke up early to start their journey to Aslan's camp. They walked on top of a hill, gazing a amazing scenery. There was a frozen lake and sun was just arriving from the horizon.

"Now, Aslan's camp is near the Stone Table, just across the frozen river," Mr. Beaver explained to them.

Peter looked down at him with uncertain. "River?"

"Oh," Mrs. Beaver smiled calmly, looking up at Peter, "the river has been frozen solid for hundreds of years."

"It's so far," Peter says softly.

"It's the world, dear. Did you expect to be small?"

Susan, who rolled her eyes, looked over at Peter with one of her looks. "Smaller," she says smugly, and strode past them with an annoyed expression.

♘

The beavers were leading the way across the small, frozen river. Susan was not far behind them with Lucy and Peter behind Susan, and lastly, Dorothy was behind the rest, looking exhausted from walking. Occasionally, Lucy and Peter would back to make sure she was okay.

"Come on, humans!" Mr. Beaver says, looking behind him and at the Daughters of Eve and Son of Adam. "While we're still young."

Susan stopped to let Peter, Lucy, and Dorothy catch up to her. As Peter stopped next to Susan, he looked down at her with an annoyed look on his face.

"If he tells us to hurry up one more time," he starts to say and bends down, letting his youngest sister climb on his back. "I'm going to turn him into a big, fluffy hat."

His sisters all giggled as they continued their walk but they stopped when Mr. Beaver called out to them again.

"Hurry up! Come on!"

"He is getting a little bossy," Lucy joked and the siblings giggled once more.

"No! Behind you! It's her!" Mrs. Beaver cried out, looking behind the siblings.

They turned around in shock and noticed a giant sleigh coming behind them. Dorothy quickly slid off her brother's back and the siblings all ran behind the beavers as fast as they could.

"Run! Run!"

"Run!"

They could here the jingles coming from the sleigh as they continued to run for dear life. Susan held onto Lucy's hand while Peter held onto Dorothy's as they followed after the beavers. Finally, they reached the other side of the frozen river and into the forest.

"Hurry!"

"Inside!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed as they made it to a small cave. "Dive! Dive!"

"Quick! Quick, quick, quick!"

The four siblings quickly followed his and Mrs. Beaver's instructions and hid in the small cave with Mrs. Beaver and they were joined by Mr. Beaver. They huddled together and held their breaths as the sleigh approached and the jingles had come to a stop. The sound of footsteps were heard and a small pile of snow fell as a large, shadowy figure appeared. They all stayed silent as the shadow disappeared.

"Maybe she's gone," Dorothy whispered as Peter held onto her.

"I suppose I'll go look," Peter muttered softly, about to get up but was stopped by Mr. Beaver.

"No!" he cried in a whispered. "You're worth nothing to Narnia dead."

"While neither are you, Beaver," Mrs. Beaver says, grabbing her husband's paws.

He patted her paw with his other paw and gave her a small smile. "Thanks, sweetheart."

Mr. Beaver then scrambled to go see if it's the witch or not. The rest stayed behind and kept quiet as they waited for Mr. Beaver. Mrs. Beaver whimpered quietly but soon heard noise followed by footsteps. Suddenly, Mr. Beaver popped his head from above causing Lucy and Dorothy to shriek.

"Come out! Come out!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed excitedly. "I hope you've all been good 'cause there's someone here to see ya!"

After sharing confused looks with each other, Peter, Susan, Lucy, Dorothy, and Mrs. Beaver all climbed out of the small cave. Their expressions become shocked when they see a large, jolly man with white hair and rosy cheeks and smile plastered on his face. The man gave out a jolly laugh, seeing their expressions; Lucy and Dorothy with huge smiles, Peter and Susan with shocked expressions.

"Merry Christmas, sir," Dorothy smiled widely, stepping forward little.

"It certainly is, Dorothy, since you and Lucy both arrived," Father Christmas says, his smile never leaving.

Susan, still not believing her eyes, looked towards Peter. "Look, I've put up with a lot since we got here, but this--"

"We thought you were the Witch," Peter interrupted Susan, giving her a look then looked up at Father Christmas.

"Yes, yes, and I'm sorry about that," Father Christmas apologized and gave them another smile. "In my defense, I've been driving one of these longer than the Witch."

"I thought there was no Christmas in Narnia," Susan wondered.

Father Christmas shook his head but still had his smile. "No. Not for a long time. But the hope that you have brought us, Your Majesties, is finally starting to weaken the Witch's power. Still, I dare say you could do with these." He then pulled out a large, red filled with--

"Presents!" Dorothy and Lucy smiled, running forward and Father Christmas laughed at their excitement.

Father Christmas took out a red, heart-shaped necklace and a small glass vial with in a leather strap. He bent down to their heights and looked over at the youngest, handing over the small necklace.

"This necklace is magical. Whisper to it as you hold it with your hand, and it will take you to anyone where you desire but not physically," Father Christmas explained and handed the necklace to her. He then held out the small glass vile to Lucy. "This is the juice of the fire-flower. One drop will cure any injury. And though I hope you two will never have to use these." He took out two daggers in a red leather sheath and hand one of each to the sisters.

"Thank you, sir," Lucy says softly.

"But I think we can be brave enough," Dorothy finishes for both her and Lucy.

He smiled softly at both of them. "I'm sure either of you could. But battles are ugly affairs."

Lucy and Dorothy both gave him a smile before joining their siblings, admiring their gifts they had gotten. Father Christmas then took out a bow and a quiver with arrows, then looked towards Susan.

"Susan," he called to her and she walked over slowly towards him as he held out the gifts to her. "Trust in this bow and it will not easily miss."

Susan carefully took the bow and quiver then gave the man a curious look. "What happened to 'battles are ugly affairs'?" she questioned.

He gave a chuckle and then replied, "Though you don't seem to have a problem making yourself heard," He handed her a white horn, "blow on this, and wherever you are, help will come."

Susan took her second gift and gave Father Christmas a small smile. "Thanks."

"Peter," Father Christmas called and took out a sword and shield with a lion imprinted on it. "The time to use these may be at near hand."

Peter walked over and grabbed his gifts from Father Christmas. He unsheathed his sword and smiled as he read the inscription. "Thank you, sir," he thanked sincerely.

"These are tools, not toys. Bear them well and wisely," Father Christmas told them seriously as Peter placed his sword back. "Now, I must be off. Winter is almost over, and things do pile up when you've been gone a hundred years." He gave a jolly laugh as he placed his sack of presents on his sleigh, before climbing aboard himself and looked towards the siblings and beavers. "Long live Aslan! And Merry Christmas!" He then rode off as the others called after him.

"Bye!"

"Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas!"

"See you next year!"

When they were done, Dorothy turned towards her eldest sister with a smirk. "Told you he was real," she teased and Susan rolled her eyes as Lucy giggled.

"He said winter was almost over. You know what that means?" Peter says, catching his three sister's confused attentions. "No more ice."