Heart and Home~ Edmund Pevensie

Chapter 9: Merry Witchmas

Peter:

"Come on humans! While we're still young!" Mr Beaver called out from ahead. Peter sighed heavily.

"If he tells us to hurry one more time, I'm going to turn him into a big fluffy hat," Susan giggled slightly - a sound he hadn't heard since they'd arrived in Narnia and perhaps even a long time before that. Peter hauled a tired Lucy onto his back before they continued walking. Closer to Aslan, closer to Edmund, he kept telling himself.

The familiar guilt surged through him once Edmund's name echoed inside his head. You did this, this is your fault. You were too hard on him. Now Amelia has to suffer for it... He still couldn't believe that Amelia had run after him into the witch's castle. It blew his mind that someone they hardly knew, someone who hardly even liked Edmund, would run in after him. Peter could recall how he tried to follow them. How badly he wanted to save his brother so that Amelia wouldn't have to. He remembered that smile she gave them moments before she ran, a smile that, for a moment, made him believe that everything would be okay. Peter was comforted by the fact that she was in there with his little brother. He didn't know the girl very well, but from what he did know, he could see her heart was in the right place.

"Hurry up! Come on!" The beaver called out again. Peter's irritation levels spiked. Could he not be alone with his thoughts for just one second?

Lucy, seeming to have read his thoughts, muttered over Peter's shoulder, "He is getting a little bossy."

"No!" Mrs Beaver called back, "Behind you! It's her!"

Suddenly, Peter could hear the thunderous roar of the reindeers' hooves behind him. The sound seemed to shake the ice of the frozen lake as Peter quickly dropped Lucy to the ground. Her feet wobbled slightly - from nerves or the seemingly shaking ground he would never know- but he grabbed her hand to steady her before they started running.

"Run!" Peter called out to his siblings. Susan was just behind the beavers while he lagged in the back with Lucy in tow. The five of them ran across the frozen ice as fast as they could. Peter could feel his heart pumping fear and adrenaline into his body a million times a minute. He tried to move faster while pulling Lucy behind him. He needed to get his sisters to safety. He was not prepared to lose either one of them, especially not after Edmund. They made it to the tree line and they all started weaving through the trees like confused mice in a maze. Where can they go? The witch will catch up if they don't find a place to hide.

Suddenly, Mr Beaver paused in his tracks and he herded Susan and Mrs Beaver off the hill, "Inside!" He called out. Peter hurried to catch up. He tugged on Lucy's arm so hard he was afraid he might rip it off. Mr Beaver quickly followed once they got to the hillside. Peter could now see what he was talking about. There was a small cave, barely big enough for all of them, that he had not seen from the top of the small hill. It was perfect.

Mr Beaver was quick to shove them inside while Mrs Beaver called out, "Quick! Quick! Quick! Quick!" Then, suddenly, it was silent. No sound could be heard except for the boom of reindeer's hooves and ringing bells- a sound he had not heard on the frozen lake- but they too, eventually, stopped and all was quiet.

The sound of feet crunching the snow above them snapped the silence as if it were a chord that was pulled too tight. Peter could see Lucy jump slightly as the footsteps drew nearer to them. He could see the shadow of a person - the witch, he assumed- on the mound of snow opposite them. Although, he had to admit to himself, the shadow was rather masculine. Then again, he had never seen the witch for himself, how would he know how she looked?

It was quiet again.

"Maybe she's gone?" Lucy hopefully suggested. Peter surely hoped she was, otherwise she may have heard the nervous echo of Lucy's voice.