《最後一戰》第32期:老鷹帶來的消息(2)

"Where has it - he - the Thing - gone to?" said Jill.

"North into the heart of Narnia," said Tirian. "It has come to dwell among us. They have called it and it has come."

"Ho, ho, ho!" chuckled the Dwarf, rubbing his hairy hands together. "It will be a surprise for the Ape. People shouldn't call for demons unless they really mean what they say."

"Who knows if Tash will be visible to the Ape?" said Jewel.

"Where has Puzzle got to?" said Eustace.

They all shouted out Puzzle's name and Jill went round to the other side of the Tower to see if he had gone there.

They were quite tired of looking for him when at last his large grey head peered cautiously out of the doorway and he said, "Has it gone away?" And when at last they got him to come out, he was shivering the way a dog shivers before a thunderstorm.

"I see now," said Puzzle, "that I really have been a very bad donkey. I ought never to have listened to Shift. I never thought things like this would begin to happen."

"If you'd spent less time saying you weren't clever and more time trying to be as clever as you could -" began Eustace but Jill interrupted him.

"Oh leave poor old Puzzle alone," she said. "It was all a mistake; wasn't it, Puzzle dear?" And she kissed him on the nose.

Though rather shaken by what they had seen, the whole party now sat down again and went on with their talk.

Jewel had little to tell them. While he was a prisoner he had spent nearly all his time tied up at the back of the stable, and had of course heard none of the enemies' plans. He had been kicked (he'd done some kicking back too) and beaten and threatened with death unless he would say that he believed it was Aslan who was brought out and shown to them by firelight every night. In fact he was going to be executed this very morning if he had not been rescued. He didn't know what had happened to the Lamb.

The question they had to decide was whether they would go to Stable Hill again that night, show Puzzle to the Narnians and try to make them see how they had been tricked, or whether they should steal away Eastward to meet the help which Roonwit the Centaur was bringing up from Cair Paravel and return against the Ape and his Calormenes in force. Tirian would very much like to have followed the first plan: he hated the idea of leaving the Ape to bully his people one moment longer than need be. On the other hand, the way the Dwarfs had behaved last night was a warning. Apparently one couldn't be sure how people would take it even if he showed them Puzzle. And there were the Calormene soldiers to be reckoned with. Poggin thought there were about thirty of them. Tirian felt sure that if the Narnians all rallied to his side, he and Jewel and the children and Poggin (Puzzle didn't count for much) would have a good chance of beating them. But how if half the Narnians - including all the Dwarfs - just sat and looked on? or even fought against him? The risk was too great. And there was, too, the cloudy shape of Tash. What might it do?

"它——這個東西——哪兒去了?"吉爾問。

"北上進入納尼亞的中心地區，"蒂蓮說，"它來住在我們這兒了。他們呼喚它，它就來了。"

"哈哈，哈哈，哈哈，"小矮人一邊報着嘴好笑，一邊用多毛的雙手互相摩擦，"會叫無尾猿大吃一驚的。人們不該呼喚魔鬼，除非他們口中說的確實就是他們心裏想的。"

"誰知道無尾猿是否會看得見塔什神呢?"珍寶說。

"迷惑上哪兒去了?"尤斯塔斯說。

他們大家都高喊迷惑的名字，吉爾還繞到堡壘另一邊，去看看它是否跑到那邊去了。

他們四處找它，找得簡直懶得再找時，它那灰色大腦袋終於小心翼翼地從門口探出來張望，口中問道。"它走了嗎?"最後他們把迷惑從堡壘裏拖出來時，它渾身哆嗦，就像一條狗遇到雷暴雨時一樣。

"我現在明白了，"迷惑說道，"我確實曾經是頭十分不好的驢子。我應該絕對不聽詭譎的話。我從來沒有想到竟會發生如此這般的事情。"

"如果你少花點時間說自己不聰明，多花點時間努力變得儘可能聰明——"尤斯塔斯剛開口便被吉爾打斷了。

"迷惑可憐巴巴的，年紀又大了，由它去吧，"她說，"這全是一個失誤，是不是，親愛的迷惑?"她親親驢子的鼻子。

他們所看到的東西，雖然使他們頗爲震動，大夥兒現在還是坐下來繼續談話。

珍寶沒有什麼可告訴他們的。它是個俘虜時，幾乎所有的時間都給綁在馬廄背後，當然點也沒聽到敵人的計劃。它曾經被拳打腳踢（它也回踢了幾腳），曾經受到處死的威脅，除非它願意說它相信每天夜裏帶出去在火光中給它們看的，確實就是阿斯蘭，否則就要宰了它。事實上，那天早晨就要執行死刑的，若不是蒂蓮救了它的話。它不知道羊羔遭到的災難。

他們非作出決定不可的問題是當夜他們要不要重上馬服山，把迷惑向納尼亞國民示衆，設法使他們明白他們被人欺騙了，或者，他們是否應該偷偷地向東而行，去與人頭馬龍威特從凱爾帕拉維爾帶來的援軍相會，然後一起回過頭來大舉進攻無尾猿和它的卡樂門士兵。蒂蓮很想採取第一個方案他一想到毫無必要地再聽任無尾猿繼續對納尼亞國橫行霸道下去，哪怕是短暫的片刻，他心裏也恨得不得了。但在另一方面，昨天夜裏小矮人們所表現出來的那種態度，倒是個警告。十分明顯，如果拿迷惑來示衆，大夥兒會採取什麼態度，那是誰也吃不準的。還得對付卡樂門士兵哩。波金估計大約有三十個光景的卡樂門士兵。蒂蓮覺得挺有把握，如果納尼亞的羣衆都站在他的一邊，他和獨角獸，加上孩子們和小矮人波金（驢子迷惑可算不了什麼）就會有大好機會打敗敵人。但，如果一半納尼亞羣衆——包括所有的小矮人們——只是坐在那兒冷眼旁觀呢?或者甚至同他作戰呢?這個風險可太大了。還有形體像雲疆的塔什呢，它可能搞什麼鬼把戲?