05

DROWNING

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Still in Peter's grasp, Alexandra watched as Beaver used his tail to test out the glacier by tapping it firmly and stumbling backwards on the ice, noticing that the frost would stumble below his feet. "You've been sneaking second helpings, haven't you?" his wife asked with narrowed eyes and an accusation claw pointing his way.

"Well you never know which meal will be your last," Mr Beaver replied as Peter finally let go of Alex's hands that he found to be as cold as the ice around them, it was a miracle that she hadn't frozen to death, "Especially with your cooking."

The grey-eyed girl let her boot step back onto the iceberg with Peter behind her, his hands wrapped around Lucy's who also held onto Susan. The ice below them started to shift but there was nothing that they could do about it. They had to try.

"If Mum knew what we were doing..." Susan muttered from the back of the line, Alex could hear the sarcastic tone within the words.

"Mum's not here," Peter remarked bluntly, perhaps a little too bluntly.

Lexi's eyes shifted to the frozen waterfall where she could see the pack of wolves running above them, a curse almost left her lips but she didn't let it. "Oh no," Lucy whined and slipped into Peter's embrace at the sight of the wolves.

"Run!"

"Hurry!"

They didn't make it as far as they hoped they would before the wolves jumped down the slope near the waterfall, landing not too far from Beaver with their teeth baring in a snarl and a threatening growl emitting from their jaws. Susan turned around to see that more wolves trapped them in from the other side, there were sounds of a struggle as a wolf pinned Beaver down with its teeth.

"No!"

"Peter!" Lucy shrieked at the sight.

Maugrim stepped closer to the group. His body was low to the ground as if he was ready to pounce at any given second, Peter and Alexandra both pulled out their weapons which only made the wolf even angrier. "Put that down, boy," he spat before facing Alex, "You too, princess. Someone could get hurt."

"Don't worry about me," Beaver groaned and tried to escape the grip from the wolf but failed miserably, "Run him through!"

"Leave now while you can and hand over Alexandra and your brother can leave with you," Maugrim offered whilst taking more stealthy steps towards the others, not even glancing to Alexandra as he kept his eyes on Peter.

"Stop, Peter!" Susan shouted and tried to gain her brother's attention but Peter tried his hardest to ignore her, "Maybe we should listen to him!"

A low chuckle left the wolf, "Smart girl."

The axe in Alexandra's hand seemed to pulsate in her palm which made the human think back to what Father Christmas had said merely a few hours ago, 'No matter how far that axe may fly, it will always join your side once again'.

"Don't listen to him! Kill him, kill him now!" Beaver struggled once more.

"Oh come on, this isn't your war," Maugrim stated and neared the children with a few more steps, Alex's axe pointing at him as if to warn him away.

A sneer left her lips, "It might not be their fight, but it's mine."

"As long as the Witch has her wand, Alexandra, you are her slave," he glared to the white-haired girl who looked just like the Witch when she was many years younger, "All my Queen wants is for you to take your family and go."

"Somehow I highly doubt that," the girl shouted back as Susan turned to her brother once more.

"Look, just because some man in a red coat hands you a sword, it doesn't make you a hero! Just drop it!" Susan shouted over the current of the water that almost drowned out her speech.

Alexandra was shocked at how openly Susan would be willing to not only run from the problem and leave Narnia in ruins of frost, but to hand over the Dawson girl with no worries where she would be locked away for the rest of her life for the outburst of defiance.

Alex felt the need to say something, but Beaver opened his mouth once more to strain from under the wolf, "No Peter, Narnia needs you! Gut him whilst you still have the chance," he watched as Peter was still hesitant and glanced to the girl beside him, "Lexi, this is your chance to be free! It's been 98 years, you deserve it."

"What's it gonna be, Son of Adam? I won't wait forever. And neither will the river."

"Peter!" Lucy screamed out as the ice of the waterfall started to crack, all it needed was a little push.

"Hold on to Lucy!" Alexandra screamed out as she let the axe fly from her side. She barely watched long enough to watch the axe rip through the ice just as Peter stabbed his sword through the snow below their feet and shouted at them to hold onto him, but it was too late for Alex.

The axe circled around behind the waterfall and came crashing through the rifts where it landed its place back in her palm that was waiting for the iron to return. Her eyes widened at the realisation that she only had seconds to react and she had no idea what to, there was no room on the ice for her which left her with the only other option. 

Jump.

As soon as the water burst through the cracks in the ice and flooded the river, taking the wolves and children in the current, Lexi lept from beside Peter and landed on another chunk of ice not too far away. She slammed the axe into the surface of the ice, using it as a handle to keep her out of the water. But it didn't hold for long. The strength of the current pulled her down into the water and devoured her body into the freezing waves where she felt the water enter her lungs.

With a gasp, her head broke the surface just long enough to see struggling Lucy's body slip from the sleeves of her coat and flow past her grey eyes. Alexandra pushed her feet off a chunk of ice and pulled Lucy away from flying ice. They both swam to the shoreline where coughs emitted from Alex's mouth hysterically to get the water out of her lungs that screamed for air.

"Has anyone seen my coat?" Lucy spoke up which caused her two siblings to look over in shock, Peter with the damp furs in his hand and Susan with a relieved smile on her shaking lips.

Using the axe to stand, Alex joined Lucy's side so that the others could see that they were both shivering from the cold.  Another cough left her lips but she pushed Lucy in the direction of her brother once she noticed the hesitation to leave her side. Peter placed the dripping wet coat over Lucy's shoulder.

"Don't you worry dear, your brother has got you well looked after," Mr Beaver told Lucy as his wife went to Alex's side to make sure that she was okay.

"I don't think you will be needing those coats anymore," Mrs Beaver said to the Pevensie children before touching the girl's hand, "Are you okay, Alex?" the Narnian asked to which she just nodded her head with her white hair stuck to her forehead in wet curls.

"I'm cold," Alexandra groaned and rubbed her arms to try and warm herself up, it was useless, "Can you all hurry up?"

"What did you just say?" The beaver's eyes widened.

"Can you hurry up?" Alex asked and continued to walk ahead of the group that stared in shock at her frame but the Pevensie family shared confused looks with each other.

"No, the other part," Mrs Beaver pushed on.

The girl stayed in silence for a second or two, "That I'm cold?"

Alexandra stopped in her tracks, a gasp leaving her lips before they turned into a grin the size of the moon. Alex dropped to her knees and pulled the snow into her hands where she felt the freezing cold of it slip past her already cold fingers, "I can feel it! I can feel the cold!"

"You mean to tell me that this whole time she has been warm?" Peter asked the Narnia at his side who just shook his head as a reply.

"Lexi had been cursed by the witch when she first arrived, ever since then she has had an inability to feel the icy winds or the comfort of the fire," Mrs Beaver answered for her husband and took his paw in her own care to walk paw in paw, "It drained everything from her."

Peter looked over to the girl who still had sunk to her knees in the ice and continued to play with the white frost in her bare hands as if it was the best thing she had seen in years. There was only one thing that beat it and that was the Pevensie children. Being able to see humans for the first time in what felt like a hundred Narnia years ignited a flame in her chest that had been burned out the whole time, but now she could feel the warmth of the flames spreading.

"What do you mean it drained her?" Susan asked and started to walk with Peter and Lucy behind her.

"Well, there is a myth that Alex had hair as orange as fire and eyes as green as the leaves on an oak tree. But no one has seen it, no one alive today anyway," Mrs Beaver muttered and continued to walk, catching up with Alexandra who finally stood to her feet though a grin was still evident on her features.

Susan turned to Peter who shared the same look, "She is the girl from the pictures, isn't she? The one at the Kirke mansion?"

"She has to be," Peter replied and continued to tread through the snow that started to melt around the base of the trees. Even the flowers on the branches started to bloom with its pink petals which started to show the end of winter and perhaps a new era for Narnia.

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It was a pleasant, swift walk through the forests as the trees were no longer covered in the snow and the flowers flourished amongst all the greenery around them. To Alexa, it was relieving to see something other than snow for once and to see colour in the land. Flowers of pinks, blues and even yellow sprouted at the foot of the trees that provided some much-needed shade from the sun, something else that Alexandra had missed from her time in England.

Like most of their time walking, she had found herself at the front of the group alone as the others made light conversation behind them. Most of which usually consisted of the Beavers educating the children on the Narnia customs and history, all of which Alexandra had learned from the books in Mr Tumnus' home or in the whispers of the trees that had made allegiance with forces against Jadis.

"Alexandra-" Peter jogged to keep up with her fast feet and almost tripped over a tree root in the process but the girl caught his arm, "Thank you."

There was an eerie silence between them.

Peter coughed to break the tension, "You're Digory Kirke's niece, aren't you?"

"Wow, you really do get to the point quickly," she scoffed with a hint of her laugh and continued to use the axe to push the vines out of their way to walk, "But yes, I am."

"He talks about you, a lot. He still hopes that you will go back through those doors one day, why haven't you?"

"You think that I want to be here? It's been 98 years, Peter. I have tried to walk through those wooden doors and back into my family home, but I can't. Ever since Jadis-" Alex stopped her words before she opened up too much. If she had learned one thing in Narnia, it was to be careful what you say.

"Look, Peter," she turned to the boy as she took several steps back, although her eyes were still the same dull grey as always, they were fierce, "I don't know if I will be accepted into the camp, but as long as I get the rest of the Pevensie children there then my duty will be fulfilled. Just, please, don't make this any harder than it needs to be."

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I love the plot so far!