JILLfeltsomethingticklingherear。ItwasJeweltheUnicorn,whisperingtoherwiththewidewhisperofahorse’smouth。Assoonassheheardwhathewassayingshenoddedandtip-toedbacktowherePuzzlewasstanding。Quicklyandquietlyshecutthelastcordsthatboundthelion-skintohim。Itwouldn’tdoforhimtobecaughtwiththaton,afterwhattheApehadsaid!Shewouldliketohavehiddentheskinsomewhereveryfaraway,butitwastooheavy。Thebestshecoulddowastokickitinamongthethickestbushes。ThenshemadesignstoPuzzletofollowherandtheybothjoinedtheothers.
TheApewasspeakingagain.
“Andafterahorridthinglikethat,Aslan-Tashlan-isangrierthanever。Hesayshe’sbeenagreatdealtoogoodtoyou,comingouteverynighttobelookedat,see!Well,he’snotcomingoutanymore。”
HowlsandmewingsandsquealsandgruntsweretheAnimals’answertothis,butsuddenlyaquitedifferentvoicebrokeinwithaloudlaugh.
“Harkwhatthemonkeysays,”itshouted。“Weknowwhyheisn’tgoingtobringhispreciousAslanout。I’lltellyouwhy:becausehehasn’tgothim。Heneverhadanythingexceptanolddonkeywithalion-skinonitsback。Nowhe’slostthatandhedoesn’tknowwhattodo。”
TiriancouldnotseethefacesontheothersideofthefireverywellbutheguessedthiswasGriffletheChiefDwarf。Andhewasquitecertainofitwhen,asecondlater,alltheDwarfs’voicesjoinedin,singing:“Don’tknowwhattodo!Don’tknowwhattodo!Don’tknowwhattodo-o-o!”
“Silence!”thunderedRishdaTarkaan。“Silence,childrenofmud!Listentome,youotherNarnians,lestIgivecommandtomywarriorstofalluponyouwiththeedgeofthesword。TheLordShifthasalreadytoldyouofthatwickedAss。Doyouthink,becauseofhimthatthereisnorealTashlaninthestable!Doyou?Beware,beware。”
“No,no,”shoutedmostofthecrowd。ButtheDwarfssaid,“That’sright,Darkie,you’vegotit。Comeon,Monkey,showuswhat’sinthestable,seeingisbelieving。”
Whennexttherewasamoment’squiettheApesaid:“YouDwarfsthinkyou’reveryclever,don’tyou?Butnotsofast。Ineversaidyoucouldn’tseeTashlan。Anyonewholikescanseehim。”
Thewholeassemblybecamesilent。Then,afternearlyaminute,theBearbeganinaslow,puzzledvoice:
“Idon’tquiteunderstandallthis,”itgrumbled,“Ithoughtyousaid-”
“Youthought!”repeatedtheApe。“Asifanyonecouldcallwhatgoesoninyourheadthinking。Listen,youothers。AnyonecanseeTashlan。Buthe’snotcomingout。Youhavetogoinandseehim。”
“Oh,thankyou,thankyou,thankyou,”saiddozensofvoices。“That’swhatwewanted!Wecangoinandseehimfacetoface。Andnowhe’llbekindanditwillallbeasitusedtobe。”AndtheBirdschattered,andtheDogsbarkedexcitedly。Thensuddenly,therewasagreatstirringandanoiseofcreaturesrisingtotheirfeet,andinasecondthewholelotofthemwouldhavebeenrushingforwardandtryingtocrowdintothestabledooralltogether。ButtheApeshouted:
“Getback!Quiet!Notsofast。”
TheBeastsstopped,manyofthemwithonepawintheairmanywithtailswagging,andallofthemwithheadsononeside.
“Ithoughtyousaid,”begantheBear,butShiftinterrupted.
“Anyonecangoin,”hesaid。“But,oneatatime。Who’llgofirst?Hedidn’tsayhewasfeelingverykind。He’sbeenlickinghislipsalotsinceheswallowedupthewickedKingtheothernight。He’sbeengrowlingagooddealthismorning。Iwouldn’tmuchliketogointothatstablemyselftonight。Butjustasyouplease。Who’dliketogoinfirst?Don’tblamemeifheswallowsyouwholeorblastsyouintoacinderwiththemereterrorofhiseyes。That’syouraffair。Nowthen!Who’sfirst?WhataboutoneofyouDwarfs?”
“Dilly,dilly,comeandbekilled!”sneeredGriffle。“Howdoweknowwhatyou’vegotinthere?”
“Ho-ho!”criedtheApe。“Soyou’rebeginningtothinkthere’ssomethingthere,eh?Well,allyouBeastsweremakingnoiseenoughaminuteago。What’sstruckyoualldumb?Who’sgoinginfirst?”
ButtheBeastsallstoodlookingatoneanotherandbeganbackingawayfromthestable。Veryfewtailswerewaggingnow。TheApewaddledtoandfrojeeringatthem。“Ho-ho-ho!”hechuckled。“IthoughtyouwereallsoeagertoseeTashlanfacetoface!Changedyourmind,eh?”
TirianbenthisheadtohearsomethingthatJillwastryingtowhisperinhisear。“Whatdoyouthinkisreallyinsidethestable?”shesaid。“Whoknows?”saidTirian。“TwoCalormeneswithdrawnswords,aslikelyasnot,oneoneachsideofthedoor。”“Youdon’tthink,”saidJill,“itmightbe。。。youknow。。。thathorridthingwesaw?”“Tashhimself?”whisperedTirian。“There’snoknowing。Butcourage,child:weareallbetweenthepawsofthetrueAslan。”
Thenamostsurprisingthinghappened。GingertheCatsaidinacool,clearvoice,notatallasifhewasexcited,“I’llgoin,ifyoulike。”
EverycreatureturnedandfixeditseyesontheCat。“Marktheirsubtleties,Sire,”saidPoggintotheKing。“Thiscursedcatisintheplot,intheverycentreofit。Whateverisinthestablewillnothurthim,I’llbebound。ThenGingerwillcomeoutagainandsaythathehasseensomewonder。”
ButTirianhadnotimetoanswerhim。TheApewascallingtheCattocomeforward。“Ho-ho!”saidtheApe。“Soyou,apertPuss,wouldlookuponhimfacetoface。Comeon,then!I’llopenthedoorforyou。Don’tblamemeifhescaresthewhiskersoffyourface。That’syouraffair。”
AndtheCatgotupandcameoutofitsplaceinthecrowd,walkingprimlyanddaintily,withitstailintheair,notonehaironitssleekcoatoutofplace。ItcameontillithadpassedthefireandwassoclosethatTirian,fromwherehestoodwithhisshoulderagainsttheend-wallofthestable,couldlookrightintoitsface。Itsbiggreeneyesneverblinked。(“Coolasacucumber,”mutteredEustace。“Itknowsithasnothingtofear。”)TheApe,chucklingandmakingfaces,shuttledacrossbesidetheCat:putuphispaw:drewtheboltandopenedthedoor。TirianthoughthecouldheartheCatpurringasitwalkedintothedarkdoorway.
“Aii-aii-aouwee!-”Themosthorriblecaterwaulyoueverheardmadeeveryonejump。Youhavebeenwakenedyourselfbycatsquarrellingormakingloveontheroofinthemiddleofthenight:youknowthesound.
Thiswasworse。TheApewasknockedheadoverheelsbyGingercomingbackoutofthestableattopspeed。Ifyouhadnotknownhewasacat,youmighthavethoughthewasaginger-colouredstreakoflightning。Heshotacrosstheopengrass,backintothecrowd。Noonewantstomeetacatinthatstate。Youcouldseeanimalsgettingoutofhiswaytoleftandright。Hedashedupatree,whiskedaround,andhungheaddownwards。Histailwasbristledouttillitwasnearlyasthickashiswholebody:hiseyeswerelikesaucersofgreenfire:alonghisbackeverysinglehairstoodonend.
“I’dgivemybeard,”whisperedPoggin,“toknowwhetherthatbruteisonlyactingorwhetherithasreallyfoundsomethingintherethatfrightenedit!”
“Peace,friend,”saidTirian,fortheCaptainandtheApewerealsowhisperingandhewantedtohearwhattheysaid。Hedidnotsucceed,exceptthatheheardtheApeoncemorewhimpering“Myhead,myhead,”buthegottheideathatthosetwowerealmostaspuzzledbythecat’sbehaviourashimself.
“Now,Ginger,”saidtheCaptain。“Enoughofthatnoise。Tellthemwhatthouhastseen。”
“Aii-Aii-Aaow-Awah,”screamedtheCat.
“ArtthounotcalledaTalkingBeast?”saidtheCaptain。“Thenholdthydevilishnoiseandtalk。”
Whatfollowedwasratherhorrible。Tirianfeltquitecertain(andsodidtheothers)thattheCatwastryingtosaysomething:butnothingcameoutofhismouthexcepttheordinary,uglycat-noisesyoumighthearfromanyangryorfrightenedoldTominabackyardinEngland。AndthelongerhecaterwauledthelesslikeaTalkingBeasthelooked。UneasywhimperingsandlittlesharpsquealsbrokeoutfromamongtheotherAnimals.
“Look,look!”saidthevoiceoftheBear。“Itcan’ttalk。Ithasforgottenhowtotalk!Ithasgonebacktobeingadumbbeast。Lookatitsface。”Everyonesawthatitwastrue。AndthenthegreatestterrorofallfelluponthoseNarnians。Foreveryoneofthemhadbeentaught-whenonlyachickorapuppyoracub-howAslanatthebeginningoftheworldhadturnedthebeastsofNarniaintoTalkingBeastsandwarnedthemthatiftheyweren’tgoodtheymightonedaybeturnedbackagainandbelikethepoorwitlessanimalsonemeetsinothercountries。“Andnowitiscominguponus,”theymoaned.
“Mercy!Mercy!”wailedtheBeasts。“Spareus,LordShift,standbetweenusandAslan,youmustalwaysgoinandspeaktohimforus。Wedaren’t,wedaren’t。”
Gingerdisappearedfurtherupintothetree。Nooneeversawhimagain.
Tirianstoodwithhishandonhissword-hiltandhisheadbowed。Hewasdazedwiththehorrorsofthatnight。SometimeshethoughtitwouldbebesttodrawhisswordatonceandrushupontheCalormenes:thennextmomenthethoughtitwouldbebettertowaitandseewhatnewturnaffairsmighttake。Andnowanewturncame.
“MyFather,”cameaclear,ringingvoicefromtheleftofthecrowd。TirianknewatoncethatitwasoneoftheCalormenesspeaking,forinTheTisroc’sarmythecommonsoldierscalltheofficers“MyMaster”buttheofficerscalltheirseniorofficers“MyFather”。JillandEustacedidn’tknowthisbut,afterlookingthiswayandthat,theysawthespeaker,forofcoursepeopleatthesidesofthecrowdwereeasiertoseethanpeopleinthemiddlewheretheglareofthefiremadeallbeyonditlookratherblack。Hewasyoungandtallandslender,andevenratherbeautifulinthedark,haughty,Calormeneway.
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