༄ 𝑇𝐻𝐸 𝑃𝐻𝑂𝐸𝑁𝐼𝑋 𝐴𝑅𝐶𝐻𝐸𝑅（𝐿𝑊𝑊）༄

Chapter 9- The Fox Friend

I heard their howls first followed shortly by a crashing sound as the wolves pushed the barrel away from the tunnel exit. The Fox was still below us and still discreetly erasing our tracks. A moment later he was surrounded by the wolves and they began circling him.

"Greetings, gents!" he stopping his actions and perking up. "Lost something, have we?"
"Don't patronize me!" the head wolf, Maugrim, growled. "I know where your allegiance lies. We're looking for some humans."
The Fox chuckled. "Humans? Here in Narnia? That's a valuable bit of information don't you think?"

Suddenly, one of the wolves pounced on The Fox and grabbed him in their teeth. Mr. Fox let out a small yelp but nothing else; however the action made Lucy nearly gasp before Peter quickly placed his hand over her mouth to stop her. A glance to my right told me that the Beavers had done the same thing to each other.

"Your reward is your life," Maugrim taunted, laughing. "It's not much, but still. Where are the fugitives?!"

There was a pause. I held my breath, knowing that he would make the right choice. But the Pevensies and the Beavers, however, looked as if they believed The Fox would actually give them up. There was worry in their eyes. But I knew there was no way he would. He followed Aslan and knew better than to send anyone into the hands of the Witch. Of course there was also the small matter of the prophecies that probably aided his decision.

The Fox sighed and hung his head, seemingly in defeat. "North. They ran north," he told them, gesturing with his paw.
"Smell them out!" Maugrim commanded to the rest of the wolves.

Then the wolf holding The Fox tossed him down on the ground as he growled. The Fox yelped once again when he hit the ground. All the wolves took off running, heading north and he tried to stand but was unable to. We watched silently from the tree as The Fox laid limp on the ground. Everyone seemed to want to help him, but was unsure if it was safe to go. I was the first move.

I scrambled down a couple branches and then jumped the rest of the way down. No one protested like I expected them to, so I ran for our Fox friend. By the time I reached him, Lucy and her siblings were right beside me. The Fox was still alive and didn't appear too badly injured. It was enough that he couldn't get up at the moment but some of that was probably due to the pain from being bitten. Mrs. Beaver was quick to react.

"I'll help our Fox friend here. Ana, could you please collect some firewood? Peter, please help me move him," she assigned.
"What about us?" Lucy asked, her voice begging to help.
"Well, you can stay here, for now."
"Oh, okay," she replied rather sadly.

It looked as if she wanted to help in some way, but she realized she couldn't. Susan and Lucy stayed behind and made themselves comfortable on the snow, as much as one could anyway on the cold ground. I handed the bag I was still holding off to Lucy abd told her to watch it carefully. She smiled and preceded to guard it closely. Mr. Beaver seemed to wander through the stone creatures, almost like he was looking for something. Peter carefully picked up The Fox and moved him prior to Mrs. Beaver instructions. I left to gathered some loose branches and sticks on the ground—if there were any to find—for a small fire. We would need a lot of it and I figured I would need to break small branches off of the trees to get enough.

I came back with an armload of sticks for firewood, some of which I had managed to find in the snow. The Pevensies were sitting in a circle on the ground and our Fox friend was beside Peter. They all glanced at me when I came back. Mrs. Beaver was getting something out of the bag she had made. I set the firewood down in the middle of the Pevensies, closer to The Fox. Then I looked around for Mr. Beaver because I hadn't seen him earlier. He appeared to come out of nowhere. But in reality, he suddenly just came into view and I assumed that he was with his badger friend.