About three weeks later the last of the Kings of Narnia sat under the great oak which grew beside the door of his little hunting lodge, where he often stayed for ten days or so in the pleasant spring weather. It was a low, thatched building not far from the Eastern end of Lantern Waste and some way above the meeting of the two rivers. He loved to live there simply and at ease, away from the state and pomp of Cair Paravel, the royal city. His name was King Tirian, and he was between twenty and twenty-five years old; his shoulders were already broad and strong and his limbs full of hard muscle, but his beard was still scanty. He had blue eyes and a fearless, honest face.
There was no one with him that spring morning except his dearest friend, Jewel the Unicorn. They loved each other like brothers and each had saved the other's life in the wars. The lordly beast stood close beside the King's chair, with its neck bent round polishing its blue horn against the creamy whiteness of its flank.
“I cannot set myself to any work or sport today, Jewel,” said the King. “I can think of nothing but this wonderful news. Think you we shall hear any more of it today?”
“They are the most wonderful tidings ever heard in our days or our fathers' or our grandfathers' days, Sire,” said Jewel, “if they are true.”
“How can they choose but be true?” said the King. “It is more than a week ago that the first birds came flying over us saying, Aslan is here, Aslan has come to Narnia again. And after that it was the squirrels. They had not seen him, but they said it was certain he was in the woods. Then came the Stag. He said he had seen him with his own eyes, a great way off, by moonlight, in Lantern Waste. Then came that dark Man with the beard, the merchant from Calormen. The Calormenes care nothing for Aslan as we do; but the man spoke of it as a thing beyond doubt. And there was the Badger last night; he too had seen Aslan.”
“Indeed, Sire,” answered Jewel, “I believe it all. If I seem not to, it is only that my joy is too great to let my belief settle itself. It is almost too beautiful to believe.”
“Yes,” said the King with a great sigh, almost a shiver, of delight. “It is beyond all that I ever hoped for in all my life.”
“Listen!” said Jewel, putting his head on one side and cocking his ears forward.
“What is it?” asked the King.
“Hoofs, Sire,” said Jewel. “A galloping horse. A very heavy horse. It must be one of the Centaurs. And look, there he is.”
A great, golden bearded Centaur, with man's sweat on his forehead and horse's sweat on his chestnut flanks, dashed up to the King, stopped, and bowed low. “Hail, King,” it cried in a voice as deep as a bull's.
“Ho, there!” said the King, looking over his shoulder towards the door of the hunting lodge. “A bowl of wine for the noble Centaur. Welcome, Roonwit. When you have found your breath you shall tell us your errand.”
A page came out of the house carrying a great wooden bowl, curiously carved, and handed it to the Centaur. The Centaur raised the bowl and said,
“I drink first to Aslan and truth, Sire, and secondly to your Majesty.”
He finished the wine (enough for six strong men) at one draught and handed the empty bowl back to the page.
“Now, Roonwit,” said the King. “Do you bring us more news of Aslan?”
Roonwit looked very grave, frowning a little.
“Sire,” he said. “You know how long I have lived and studied the stars; for we Centaurs live longer than you Men, and even longer than your kind, Unicorn. Never in all my days have I seen such terrible things written in the skies as there have been nightly since this year began. The stars say nothing of the coming of Aslan, nor of peace, nor of joy. I know by my art that there have not been such disastrous conjunctions of the planets for five hundred years. It was already in my mind to come and warn your Majesty that some great evil hangs over Narnia. But last night the rumour reached me that Aslan is abroad in Narnia. Sire, do not believe this tale. It cannot be. The stars never lie, but Men and Beasts do. If Aslan were really coming to Narnia the sky would have foretold it. If he were really come, all the most gracious stars would be assembled in his honour. It is all a lie.”
“A lie!” said the King fiercely. “What creature in Narnia or all the world would dare to lie on such a matter?” And, without knowing it, he laid his hand on his sword hilt.
“That I know not, Lord King,” said the Centaur. “But I know there are liars on earth; there are none among the stars.”
“I wonder,” said Jewel, “whether Aslan might not come though all the stars foretold otherwise. He is not the slave of the stars but their Maker. Is it not said in all the old stories that He is not a tame lion.”
“Well said, well said, Jewel,” cried the King. “Those are the very words: not a tame lion. It comes in many tales.”
Roonwit had just raised his hand and was leaning forward to say something very earnestly to the King when all three of them turned their heads to listen to a wailing sound that was quickly drawing nearer. The wood was so thick to the West of them that they could not see the newcomer yet. But they could soon hear the words.
“Woe, woe, woe!” called the voice. “Woe for my brothers and sisters! Woe for the holy trees! The woods are laid waste. The axe is loosed against us. We are being felled. Great trees are falling, falling, falling.”
With the last “falling” the speaker came in sight. She was like a woman but so tall that her head was on a level with the Centaur's yet she was like a tree too. It is hard to explain if you have never seen a Dryad but quite unmistakable once you have—something different in the colour, the voice, and the hair. King Tirian and the two Beasts knew at once that she was the nymph of a beech tree.
“Justice, Lord King!” she cried. “Come to our aid. Protect your people. They are felling us in Lantern Waste. Forty great trunks of my brothers and sisters are already on the ground.”
“What, Lady! Felling Lantern Waste? Murdering the talking trees?” cried the King, leaping to his feet and drawing his sword. “How dare they? And who dares it? Now by the Mane of Aslan—”
“A-a-a-h,” gasped the Dryad shuddering as if in pain—shuddering time after time as if under repeated blows. Then all at once she fell sideways as suddenly as if both her feet had been cut from under her. For a second they saw her lying dead on the grass and then she vanished. They knew what had happened. Her tree, miles away, had been cut down.
For a moment the King's grief and anger were so great that he could not speak. Then he said:
“Come, friends. We must go up river and find the villains who have done this, with all the speed we may. I will leave not one of them alive.”
“Sire, with a good will,” said Jewel.
But Roonwit said, “Sire, be wary in your just wrath. There are strange doings on foot. If there should be rebels in arms further up the valley, we three are too few to meet them. If it would please you to wait while—”
“I will not wait the tenth part of a second,” said the King. “But while Jewel and I go forward, do you gallop as hard as you may to Cair Paravel. Here is my ring for your token. Get me a score of men-at-arms, all well mounted, and a score of Talking Dogs, and ten Dwarfs (let them all be fell archers), and a Leopard or so, and Stonefoot the Giant. Bring all these after us as quickly as may be.”
“With a good will, Sire,” said Roonwit. And at once he turned and galloped Eastward down the valley.
The King strode on at a great pace, sometimes muttering to himself and sometimes clenching his fists. Jewel walked beside him, saying nothing; so there was no sound between them but the faint jingle of a rich gold chain that hung round the Unicorn's neck and the noise of two feet and four hoofs.
They soon reached the River and turned up it where there was a grassy road: they had the water on their left and the forest on their right. Soon after that they came to the place where the ground grew rougher and thick wood came down to the water's edge. The road, what there was of it, now ran on the Southern bank and they had to ford the River to reach it. It was up to Tirian's arm-pits, but Jewel (who had four legs and was therefore steadier) kept on his right so as to break the force of the current, and Tirian put his strong arm round the Unicorn's strong neck and they both got safely over. The King was still so angry that he hardly noticed the cold of the water. But of course he dried his sword very carefully on the shoulder of his cloak, which was the only dry part of him, as soon as they came to shore.
They were now going Westward with the River on their right and Lantern Waste straight ahead of them. They had not gone more than a mile when they both stopped and both spoke at the same moment. The King said “What have we here?” and Jewel said “Look!”
“It is a raft,” said King Tirian.
And so it was. Half a dozen splendid tree-trunks, all newly cut and newly lopped of their branches, had been lashed together to make a raft, and were gliding swiftly down the river. On the front of the raft there was a water rat with a pole to steer it.
“Hey! Water-Rat! What are you about?” cried the King.
“Taking logs down to sell to the Calormenes, Sire,” said the Rat, touching his ear as he might have touched his cap if he had had one.
“Calormenes!” thundered Tirian. “What do you mean? Who gave order for these trees to be felled?”
The River flows so swiftly at that time of the year that the raft had already glided past the King and Jewel. But the Water-Rat looked back over its shoulder and shouted out:
“The Lion's orders, Sire. Aslan himself.” He added something more but they couldn't hear it.
The King and the Unicorn stared at one another and both looked more frightened than they had ever been in any battle.
“Aslan,” said the King at last, in a very low voice. “Aslan. Could it be true? Could he be felling the holy trees and murdering the Dryads?”
“Unless the Dryads have all done something dreadfully wrong—” murmured Jewel.
“But selling them to Calormenes!” said the King. “Is it possible?”
“I don't know,” said Jewel miserably. “He's not a tame lion.”
“Well,” said the King at last, “we must go on and take the adventure that comes to us.”
“It is the only thing left for us to do, Sire,” said the Unicorn. He did not see at the moment how foolish it was for two of them to go on alone; nor did the King. They were too angry to think clearly. But much evil came of their rashness in the end.
Suddenly the King leaned hard on his friend's neck and bowed his head.
“Jewel,” he said, “what lies before us? Horrible thoughts arise in my heart. If we had died before today we should have been happy.”
“Yes,” said Jewel. “We have lived too long. The worst thing in the world has come upon us.” They stood like that for a minute or two and then went on.
Before long they could hear the hack-hack-hack of axes falling on timber, though they could see nothing yet because there was a rise of the ground in front of them. When they had reached the top of it they could see right into Lantern Waste itself. And the King's face turned white when he saw it.
Right through the middle of that ancient forest—that forest where the trees of gold and of silver had once grown and where a child from our world had once planted the Tree of Protection—a broad lane had already been opened. It was a hideous lane like a raw gash in the land, full of muddy ruts where felled trees had been dragged down to the river. There was a great crowd of people at work, and a cracking of whips, and horses tugging and straining as they dragged at the logs. The first thing that struck the King and the Unicorn was that about half the people in the crowd were not Talking Beasts but Men. The next thing was that these men were not the fair-haired men of Narnia: they were dark, bearded men from Calormen, that great and cruel country that lies beyond Archenland across the desert to the south.
There was no reason, of course, why one should not meet a Calormene or two in Narnia—a merchant or an ambassador—for there was peace between Narnia and Calormen in those days. But Tirian could not understand why there were so many of them: nor why they were cutting down a Narnian forest. He grasped his sword tighter and rolled his cloak round his left arm. They came quickly down among the men.
Two Calormenes were driving a horse which was harnessed to a log. Just as the King reached them the log had got stuck in a bad muddy place.
“Get on, son of sloth! Pull, you lazy pig!” cried the Calormenes, cracking their whips. The horse was already straining himself as hard as he could; his eyes were red and he was covered with foam.
“Work, lazy brute,” shouted one of the Calormenes: and as he spoke he struck the horse savagely with his whip. It was then that the really dreadful thing happened.
Up till now Tirian had taken it for granted that the horses which the Calormenes were driving were their own horses; dumb, witless animals like the horses of our own world. And though he hated to see even a dumb horse overdriven, he was of course thinking more about the murder of the Trees. It had never crossed his mind that anyone would dare to harness one of the free Talking Horses of Narnia, much less to use a whip on it. But as that savage blow fell the horse reared up and said, half screaming:
“Fool and tyrant! Do you not see I am doing all I can?”
When Tirian knew that the Horse was one of his own Narnians, there came over him and over Jewel such a rage that they did not know what they were doing. The King's sword went up, the Unicorn's horn went down. They rushed forward together. Next moment both the Calormenes lay dead, the one beheaded by Tirian's sword and the other gored through the heart by Jewel's horn.
大約三個星期以后,納尼亞的最后一位國王坐在他的狩獵小屋旁的一棵大橡樹底下:在氣候宜人的春天,他都要到這里來住上十來天時間。這是一幢茅草蓋頂?shù)陌孔樱湓跓糁囊暗臇|端,兩條河流交匯處的上游。國王喜歡擺脫政務,離開繁華的凱爾帕拉維爾王宮,來這里過上一段時間簡樸而自在的生活。他的名字叫提里安,年紀在二十到二十五歲之間;他肩膀很寬,很強壯,四肢的肌肉很結實,但胡子是稀稀的,眼睛是藍藍的,誠實的臉上透露出無所畏懼的神情。
那個春天的早晨,他沒有帶侍臣,陪伴他的只有他最親密的朋友:一只叫作珠厄兒的獨角獸。他們親如兄弟,在戰(zhàn)場上還相互救過對方的性命。這只高貴的野獸此時就站在國王的椅子旁,低著頭,用藍藍的獨角摩擦雪白的腹部。
“我今天什么事也不想做,也不想打獵,珠厄兒,”國王說,“我滿腦子想的是這個美妙的消息。你覺得我們今天還能聽到更多的消息嗎?”
“如果傳聞是真實的,陛下,”珠厄兒說,“在我們這個時代,甚至在我們的父親或爺爺?shù)臅r代,這消息無疑是最美妙的。”
“誰還能不相信它呢?”國王說,“一個星期以前,從我們頭頂飛過的第一群鳥兒就說,阿斯蘭在這里,阿斯蘭又來納尼亞了。這以后是松鼠,他們雖然沒有親眼看見,但都確信阿斯蘭就在森林里。之后報信的是鹿,他說是他親眼看見的,只是距離有點遠,在月光底下,在燈柱荒野那邊。再以后是那個長著胡子的黑皮膚的人,即那個來自卡樂門的商人??烽T人不像我們那樣在意阿斯蘭;但他說到阿斯蘭時是不容你懷疑的。還有昨天晚上那只獾,他也親眼看見了阿斯蘭。”
“是的,陛下,”珠厄兒說,“我是完全相信的。如果我覺得不可信,那也是因為我心里太高興,以致不敢相信這一切都是真的。這消息太美妙了,美妙得讓人起了疑心?!?/p>
“是啊,”國王感嘆著說,因為興奮,身子差不多在顫抖,“這是我一生中最大的愿望了?!?/p>
“聽!”珠厄兒一邊叫道,一邊側轉腦袋,豎起耳朵。
“什么聲音?”國王問。
“是馬蹄聲,陛下,”珠厄兒說,“一匹奔騰的馬,一匹極其魁梧的馬??隙ㄊ侨祟^馬。看,他來了。”
一匹高大的、胡子金黃的人頭馬朝國王飛奔而來,他的額頭上流著人的汗水,栗色的馬身上流著馬的汗水。他在國王跟前停了下來,深深地鞠了一躬。“萬福,國王陛下!”他的聲音像公牛那樣深沉。
“來人!”國王扭頭朝狩獵小屋的門口呼喊,“給高貴的客人端一碗酒來。歡迎你,魯威特。你先喘喘氣,等氣順了再說你的來意?!?/p>
一位侍者從小屋里端出一個雕刻得十分新奇的大木碗,遞給人頭馬。人頭馬將木碗高高舉起,說:
“陛下,讓我先為阿斯蘭和真理干杯!然后再為國王您干杯!”
他把酒一飲而盡(那一大碗酒足夠六個人喝),然后將空碗還給侍者。
“說吧,魯威特,”國王說,“你是不是帶來了有關阿斯蘭的消息?”
魯威特表情嚴肅,還皺了皺眉頭。
“陛下,”他說,“你知道,長期以來我一直在研究星相學;我們人頭馬比你們人類長壽,我們的壽命甚至超過你們獨角獸。但從今年年初到現(xiàn)在,每天晚上我都能從空中見到不祥之兆,這是我一生中從未見過的。星相沒有顯示阿斯蘭到來,也沒有顯示和平與幸福。我憑我的法術知道,災難性的行星會合的天象,已有五百年沒有出現(xiàn)了。我早就想來提醒陛下:納尼亞即將面臨一場大災難。昨天晚上又有謠言傳到我耳里,說阿斯蘭已經(jīng)來到納尼亞。陛下,不要相信這樣的無稽之談,這是不可能的。星相永遠不會說謊,說謊的只有人和野獸。如果阿斯蘭真的要來納尼亞,天上會有預兆的。如果獅王真的要來,所有的吉祥星都會聚集在一起向他致敬。這次肯定是個謊言?!?/p>
“謊言!”國王顯得有點激動,“在納尼亞乃至整個世界,誰敢撒這樣的彌天大謊?”不知不覺間,他已把自己的手按在劍柄上。
“這我也不知道了,國王陛下,”人頭馬說,“我只知道世上有說謊者;星星中是沒有的?!?/p>
“我在懷疑,”珠厄兒說,“即便所有的星相都顯示出相反的預兆,阿斯蘭是不是就不來了呢?他不是星星的奴隸,而是他們的創(chuàng)造者。在所有的傳說中,不是說他并不是一只溫馴的獅子嗎?”
“說得對,說得對,珠厄兒,”國王說,“就這句話,不是溫馴的獅子,許多故事里都這么說?!?/p>
魯威特舉起手,正想靠近國王跟他說句什么話,一陣號啕大哭的聲音突然響起,并且離他們越來越近。大家于是轉過頭去諦聽。西邊的樹木太茂密,他們一時還看不到來人,但聲音已經(jīng)聽見了。
“不幸啊,不幸啊,不幸啊!”那聲音高叫著,“我的兄弟姐妹大禍臨頭了!神圣的樹木大禍臨頭了!森林被毀了。斧子砍到我們身上來了。我們被砍了。大樹一棵棵倒下了,倒下了,倒下了。”
當最后一聲“倒下了”響起時,他們已經(jīng)看見了說話的人。來者像一個女子,但十分高大,論個頭不亞于人頭馬,同時還像一棵樹。如果你從來沒有見過樹精,我在這里就很難向你解釋了,但如果你見過,事情是一目了然的:無論膚色、聲音、頭發(fā),樹精跟人類女子都是不一樣的。提里安國王和兩只動物立刻認出,來者是山毛櫸仙子。
“主持公道吧,國王陛下!”仙子大聲呼叫,“快來救救我們,快來保護你的子民。他們正在燈柱荒野砍伐我們。我的四十個兄弟姐妹已經(jīng)倒在地上了?!?/p>
“什么,夫人!砍伐燈柱荒野?屠殺會說話的樹木?”國王忽地站了起來,拔劍在手,“他們怎么如此膽大包天?誰敢這樣肆意妄為?我憑阿斯蘭的鬃毛起誓——”
“啊——啊——啊,”樹精喘著粗氣,痛苦地顫抖著——她不停地顫抖著,好像正遭受著一次次的打擊。突然間,她斜著身子倒了下去,好像她的雙腳已經(jīng)被砍斷。不一會兒,他們看見她倒在草地上,死了,身影也隨即消失。他們知道發(fā)生了什么事:幾英里以外,屬于她的那棵樹被砍了。
國王悲憤交加,一時間竟不知道說什么好了。過了一會兒,他開口說:
“來吧,朋友們。我們應以最快的速度去上游看看,找到犯事的歹徒。不管是誰,一個也不能輕饒?!?/p>
“愿為陛下效勞,”珠厄兒說。
魯威特說:“陛下,您在氣頭上,務必謹慎行事。各種怪事已經(jīng)出現(xiàn);上游山谷里如果有武裝的叛徒,光憑我們三個是對付不了的。我以為陛下還是再等等吧——”
“我半秒鐘也不想等了,”國王說,“我和珠厄兒先趕過去,你以最快的速度返回凱爾帕拉維爾王宮。這是我的戒指,你拿去作為憑證。馬上給我調集二十個勇士,每人騎上一匹快馬,然后再調集二十只會說話的狗,十個小矮人(個個必須是百發(fā)百中的好射手),一兩只豹子,還有巨人斯頓福特。迅速將這支隊伍帶來這里增援我們?!?/p>
“遵命,陛下,”魯威特說,隨即轉身,朝山谷的東邊奔馳而去。
國王大踏步前行,時而喃喃自語,時而握緊拳頭。珠厄兒默默地走在他身邊;除了獨角獸脖子上掛著的金鏈子發(fā)出的叮當聲以及他們的腳步聲和蹄聲,四周一片寂靜。
他們很快來到河邊,并沿著河邊一條長滿綠草的小路往上走:左側就是河流,右側是森林。不久,他們眼前的地面越來越陡峭,茂密的樹木一直延伸到河邊。那條道路——如果算得上道路——已經(jīng)向南岸延展,要想到達那里,就得渡過河去。河水淹及提里安的腋窩,珠厄兒(他因為有四條腿,在水中行走得更穩(wěn)當)始終走在國王的右側,為他阻擋河水的沖擊;國王則用自己強壯的手臂抱住獨角獸的脖子。他們就這樣安全地過了河。國王仍在盛怒之中,沒注意到河水的寒冷。上岸以后,國王小心翼翼地用外套的肩膀位置擦干他的寶劍,那也是他身上唯一一處沒被水浸泡過的地方。
現(xiàn)在他們沿著右側的河流向西行走,燈柱荒野就在他們前面不遠。兩人還沒走上一英里,便同時停下腳步,同時開口說話。國王說:“這是什么東西?”珠厄兒則說:“看!”
“是木排,”提里安國王說。
確實是木排。六根剛被砍下的挺拔的樹干,削去了枝丫,被扎在一起,做成了一個木排,正飛快地順流而下。木排的前端站著一只水鼠,他正握著一根竹篙駕馭著木排。
“喂,水鼠!你在干什么?”國王大聲喊話。
“把木頭運下去,賣給卡樂門人,陛下,”水鼠一邊說,一邊還碰了碰耳朵,表示對國王的敬意,好像耳朵就是他的帽子。
“卡樂門人!”提里安厲聲責問,“你這是什么意思?誰命令你們砍倒這些樹的?”
一年中這個季節(jié)水流湍急,轉眼間木排已經(jīng)從國王和珠厄兒身邊漂過去。水鼠轉身回頭,大聲回應說:
“奉獅王的命令,陛下。阿斯蘭本尊。”他還補充說了其他的話,但他們已經(jīng)聽不見了。
國王和獨角獸面面相覷,很是驚慌,這樣的表情是他們在出生入死的戰(zhàn)場上都未曾有過的。
“阿斯蘭,”國王終于輕聲嘟噥起來,“阿斯蘭。這會是真的嗎?他會砍倒神圣的樹木,屠殺樹精嗎?”
“可能是樹精犯下了可怕的罪孽——”珠厄兒喃喃地說。
“把木頭賣給卡樂門人!”國王說,“這怎么可能呢?”
“這我就不知道了,”珠厄兒傷心地說,“他不是一只溫馴的獅子。”
“好吧,”國王說,“我們還是繼續(xù)前進,把已經(jīng)開始的歷險進行下去吧。”
“我們也只好這樣辦了,陛下,”獨角獸說。此時此刻,他根本沒意識到他們兩個單獨行動是多么的愚蠢;國王也是。他們出于義憤已經(jīng)有點頭腦發(fā)昏。由于魯莽,他們最終將付出慘重的代價。
國王突然把身子斜靠在他的朋友的脖子上,垂下頭去。
“珠厄兒,”他說,“真不知后面會發(fā)生什么事!我感到十分恐懼。如果我們昨天就一死了之,那該多幸福啊?!?/p>
“是啊,”珠厄兒說,“我們活得太久了。世上最糟糕的事降臨到我們身上了?!彼麄兙湍菢哟舸舻卣玖艘粌煞昼姡缓罄^續(xù)前行。
不久以后,他們來到一個山岡跟前,盡管那里什么也看不見,但已能聽見斧子砍樹的噼噼啪啪聲。當他們登上山頂時,燈柱荒野已盡收眼底??吹窖矍暗木跋螅瑖醯哪樁及琢?。
就在那座長有金樹銀樹的古老的森林里——來自我們這個世界的一個孩子曾經(jīng)在那里栽種過一棵“幸運樹”——一條寬敞的通道已經(jīng)開辟出來。這是一條令人厭惡的通道,就像大地開了一個丑陋的口子,砍伐下來的樹木經(jīng)由那里被拖向河邊,通道上留下了深深的拖痕。一大班人在那里忙碌著,馬鞭噼噼啪啪地響著,馬兒拖曳著木頭,全身的肌肉緊緊地繃著。國王和獨角獸首先注意到,這些生靈有一半是不會說話的野獸,而是人。隨后他們又注意到,這些人都不是金發(fā)碧眼的納尼亞人,而是黑皮膚大胡子的卡樂門人。這卡樂門是個兇殘的大國,位于大沙漠以南,與魔王之鄉(xiāng)遙相呼應。
許多年以來,納尼亞王國和卡樂門王國是和平共處的,因此,你在納尼亞碰見一兩個卡樂門人——商人或使者——也是自然不過的事。但這一次提里安就弄不懂了:為什么一下子冒出那么多卡樂門人;更讓他納悶的是,他們?yōu)槭裁匆獊砜撤ゼ{尼亞的森林呢?國王緊緊地握住手中的劍,把外套卷起,擱在左臂上。國王和獨角獸很快來到他們中間。
兩個卡樂門人正鞭策著一匹拉著木頭的馬。國王來到他們身邊時,木頭陷入了一個糟糕的泥坑。
“走啊,懶小子!拉啊,你這頭懶豬!”卡樂門人吆喝著,打著響鞭。那馬兒已經(jīng)竭盡全力;他的眼睛紅紅的,渾身冒著汗。
“出力啊,懶惰的畜生,”一個卡樂門人一邊大聲嚷嚷著,一邊惡狠狠地鞭打馬兒。隨后便出現(xiàn)令人震驚的一幕。
到目前為止,提里安還一直以為卡樂門人駕馭的馬是他們自己的馬,即那些不會說話、缺乏智慧的牲口,就像我們這個世界的馬一樣。雖然他不愿看到啞巴馬受虐待,但他想得更多的是他的樹精被屠殺。他萬萬沒有想到有人竟敢奴役會說話的納尼亞馬,更不要說用鞭子抽打他們。當野蠻的鞭子再次落下時,那馬用后腿立起,尖叫著抗議:
“傻瓜和暴君!你沒看見我已經(jīng)竭盡全力了嗎?”
提里安這才知道那馬是他治下的納尼亞馬,他和獨角獸都不由得怒不可遏,一時間也不知道自己在做什么了。國王的寶劍舉了起來,獨角獸的長角低了下去。他們同時朝前沖去。兩個卡樂門人倒地死了:一個被國王的劍砍了頭,另一個被珠厄兒的長角刺穿了心臟。