《能言馬與男孩》第26期:科林王子(2)
"Let him try," said the second Dwarf. "At sea we are as big as he is. And if he assaults us by land, he has the desert to cross."
"True, friend," said Edmund. "But is the desert a sure defence? What does Sallowpad say?"
"I know that desert well," said the Raven. "For I have flown above it far and wide in my younger days," (you may be sure that Shasta pricked up his ears at this point). "And this is certain; that if the Tisroc goes by the great oasis he can never lead a great army across it into Archenland. For though they could reach the oasis by the end of their first day's march, yet the springs there would be too little for the thirst of all those soldiers and their beasts. But there is another way."
Shasta listened more attentively still.
"He that would find that way," said the Raven, "must start from the Tombs of the Ancient Kings and ride northwest so that the double peak of Mount Pire is always straight ahead of him. And so, in a day's riding or a little more, he shall come to the head of a stony valley, which is so narrow that a man might be within a furlong of it a thousand times and never know that it was there. And looking down this valley he will see neither grass nor water nor anything else good. But if he rides on down it he will come to a river and can ride by the water all the way into Archenland."
"And do the Calormenes know of this Western way?" asked the Queen.
"Friends, friends," said Edmund, "what is the use of all this discourse? We are not asking whether Narnia or Calormen would win if war arose between them. We are asking how to save the honour of the Queen and our own lives out of this devilish city. For though my brother, Peter the High King, defeated the Tisroc a dozen times over, yet long before that day our throats would be cut and the Queen's grace would be the wife, or more likely, the slave, of this prince."
"We have our weapons, King," said the first Dwarf. "And this is a reasonably defensible house."
"As to that," said the King, "I do not doubt that every one of us would sell our lives dearly in the gate and they would not come at the Queen but over our dead bodies. Yet we should be merely rats fighting in a trap when all's said."
"Very true," croaked the Raven. "These last stands in a house make good stories, but nothing ever came of them. After their first few repulses the enemy always set the house on fire."
"I am the cause of all this," said Susan, bursting into tears. "Oh, if only I had never left Cair Paravel. Our last happy day was before those ambassadors came from Calormen. The Moles were planting an orchard for us . . . oh . . . oh."
And she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.
“讓他試試吧，”第二個小矮人說道，”我們在海上跟他一般兒強大。如果他從陸地進攻，他就得穿過大沙漠。”
“的確，朋友，”愛德蒙說，”但大沙漠是個可靠的屏障嗎?薩羅帕德你怎麼看?”
“我很瞭解這個大沙漠，”渡鴉說道，”在我年輕的歲月裏，我曾在大沙漠上空飛翔得又遠又廣。”(你一定深信沙斯塔聽到這裏時豎起了耳朵。)”有一點是無可置疑的：如果蒂斯羅克從大綠洲進軍，他永遠不可能率領一支龐大的軍隊進入阿欽蘭。因爲，儘管他們在第一天急行軍之後可以到達綠洲，但那兒的泉水太少了，不足以給所有的士兵和牲口解渴。但還有另外一條路徑。”
沙斯塔一動也不動，更加註意地靜聽着。
“要找到這條路徑的人，”渡鴉說道，”必須從古代國王的墳場出發，騎馬朝西北馳去，皮爾峯的雙峯便始終在他的正前方。如此騎馬走上一天或稍稍再多一點兒時間，他就來到一個石頭山谷的入口處，那個地方是那麼狹窄，以致一個人可以上千次離它二百米光景，卻不知道它就在那兒。向山谷裏望下去，他既看不到青草或水，也看不到任何好東西。但如果他繼續騎馬前進，跑下山谷去，他就會來到一條河流邊上，他可以沿着河流馳去，一路直達阿欽蘭境內。”
“卡樂門人可知道這朝西去的路徑?”女王問。
“朋友們，朋友們，”愛德蒙說，”這一切討論有什麼用處?我們不是在問如果納尼亞王國和卡樂門王國之間發生戰爭，哪一個國家會獲得勝利。我們要問的是:如何挽救女王的榮譽，以及如何從這魔鬼的城市裏救出我們自己的生命?因爲，就算我的哥哥至尊王彼得會把蒂斯羅克打敗十多次，然而早在這一天之前，我們的脖子已經被砍斷了，而女王卻成了這位王子的妻子，或者更可能是成了他的奴隸。”
“國王，咱們有武器啊，”第一個小矮人說道，”而且這是幢完全可以防禦的房屋。”
“至於這一點，”國王說，”我毫不懷疑，我們每一個人都會在門口拼命，叫敵人付出沉重的代價，除非從我們的屍體上跨過去，他們休想侵犯女王。然而我們畢竟不過是老鼠在陷阱裏搏鬥罷了。”
“千真萬確，”渡鴉哇哇地說道，”在房子裏堅守到最後的人，傳爲美談，但一向毫無效果。在他開頭幾次打退敵人之後，敵人總是放火焚燒房屋的。”
“我是這一切的禍根，”蘇珊說，她淚水都流下來了，”啊，如果我從未離開凱爾帕拉維爾就好了。卡樂門的大使到來之前，是我們最後的快樂日子。摩爾人正在爲我們種植一個花園……啊……啊。”
她雙手掩着臉嗚咽。
