书城童书纳尼亚传奇系列(套装共7册)
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第430章 波澜再起(3)

“That‘s a rotten shot!” she said as her first arrow sped towards the enemy and flew over their heads. But she had another on the string next moment: she knew that speed was what mattered. She saw something big and black darting into the faces of the Calormenes. That was Farsight. First one man, and then another, dropped his sword and put up both his hands to defend his eyes. Then one of her own arrows hit a man, and another hit a Narnian wolf, who had, it seemed, joined the enemy.

But she had been shooting only for a few seconds when she had to stop. With a flash of swords and of the Boar’s tusks and Jewel‘s horn, and with deep baying from the dogs, Tirian and his party were rushing on their enemies, like men in a hundred yards’ race. Jill was astonished to see how unprepared the Calormenes seemed to be. She did not realize that this was the result of her work and the Eagle‘s. Very few troops can keep on looking steadily to the front if they are getting arrows in their faces from one side and being pecked by an eagle on the other.

“Oh well done. Well done!” shouted Jill. The King’s party were cutting their way right into the enemy. The Unicorn was tossing men as you‘d toss hay on a fork. Even Eustace seemed to Jill (who after all didn’t know very much about swordsmanship) to be fighting brilliantly. The Dogs were at the Calormenes‘ throats. It was going to work! It was victory at last-

With a horrible, cold shock, Jill noticed a strange thing. ThoughCalormenes were falling at each Narnian sword-stroke, they never seemed to get any fewer. In fact, there were actually more of them now than when the fight began. There were more every second. They were running up from every side. They were new Calormenes. These new ones had spears. There was such a crowd of them that she could hardly see her own friends.

Then she heard Tirian’s voice crying: “Back! To the rock!”

The enemy had been reinforced. The drum had done its work.

中文阅读

迅如闪电,利希达塔坎向后一跃,躲开了国王的宝剑。他不是一个懦夫,如果有需要的话,他可以同提里安或小矮人单打独斗,但他却无法对付老鹰和独角兽。他知道,老鹰会扑到他的脸上,啄他的眼睛,并用翅膀遮挡住他的视线。他曾经从父亲那里听到(他父亲与纳尼亚人打过仗),除非是射箭,或者使用长矛,否则没有人能够抵挡独角兽。因为当独角兽用后腿站立,扑到你身上时,你必须同时对付它的蹄子、独角和牙齿。于是,他冲进人群中,高声喊道:

“集合,集合,提斯洛克的勇士们,愿他万寿无疆。到我这里来,所有忠实的纳尼亚人,否则塔西兰的愤怒将要降临在你们身上!”

与此同时,又发生了另外两件事。猿猴没有像塔坎那样迅速地意识到危险。在短暂的一瞬间,它仍然蹲在篝火旁,呆呆地望着突然出现的人们。提里安冲到这个倒霉蛋身边,抓住它的后脖颈,拎了起来,跑向马棚,嘴里一边喊着:“开门!”朴金拉开了门。“席福特,去喝你自己酿的苦酒吧!”话音未落,他猛地把猿猴扔进了黑咕隆咚的门洞。就在小矮人砰的一声重新关上门时,一道耀眼的蓝绿色光芒从马棚里照射出来,大地震动了一下,还有一种奇怪的声音——咯咯的尖叫声,就像某种怪鸟所发出的刺耳声音。

动物们呻吟着,嚎叫呼喊着:“塔西兰!躲起来,别让他看见!”许多动物倒在地上,用翅膀或爪子遮住了脸。这时,只有老鹰千里眼(在所有的动物中,鹰的视觉最为锐利)注意到了利希达塔坎的面孔。根据所看到的,老鹰马上意识到,利希达和众人一样惊讶,而且几乎和众人一样惧怕。

“看样子,”千里眼心想,“这家伙招来了他自己并不相信的邪神。假如邪神真的来了,他该要怎么办呢?”

同时发生的另一件事,是那一夜唯一美好的事情。会众中会说话的狗(总共有十五只),全都快活地吠叫着,蹦跳着,跑到了国王身边。那是一些体型高大的狗,有着结实的肩膀和宽阔的下巴。它们跑上前来,就像海滩上涌起了一道巨浪,险些把人们给撞倒。尽管这些狗会说话,可它们的狗性依然不改。它们全都用后腿直立起来,把前爪搭在人们的肩膀上,舔着他们的脸,异口同声说道:“欢迎!欢迎!我们愿意帮忙,我们愿意帮忙,帮忙,帮忙。告诉我们该怎么做,告诉我们,告诉我们怎么帮忙,怎么帮忙。怎么-怎么-怎么帮忙?”

这个场景十分感人,使他们感动得想要流泪哭泣。而这也正是他们一直所期盼的,终于盼到了这一刻。过了一会儿,几只小动物(老鼠、鼹鼠、还有一两只松鼠)啪嗒啪嗒地跑了过来,喜悦地尖声叫着:“看,看哪。我们在这儿。”紧跟着,狗熊和野猪也过来了。尤斯塔斯开始感到,说不定一切都会顺利发展。但是,提里安朝四下里张望,发现站出来的动物寥寥无几。

“到我这儿来!到我这儿来!”他叫道,“自打我做了国王之后,你们都变成胆小鬼了吗?”

“我们不敢,”几十个声音呜咽着说,“塔西兰会发怒的。请保护我们免受塔西兰的伤害。”

“那些会说话的马儿在哪里?”提里安向野猪问道。

“我们看见了,我们看见了,”老鼠们吱吱叫道,“猿猴迫使它们做工。它们都被拴——拴在山脚下面。”

“那么,你们这些小家伙,”提里安说,“你们这些善于啃、啮、咬碎坚果者,赶紧以最快的速度跑下山去,看马儿是不是站在我们一边。如果是的话,就用你们的牙齿咬断绳索,使马儿恢复自由,然后把它们带到这里来。”“陛下,遵命,”它们用尖细的声音答道,一边摆动着尾巴。这些眼尖齿利的小动物们一窝蜂地冲下山去了。看着它们离去,提里安满怀爱意,露出了衷心的微笑。但是,现在该考虑其他事情了。利希达塔坎正在发布命令。“前进,”他说,“如果可能的话,就把他们生擒活捉,扔进马棚里,要不然,就把他们驱赶进去。等他们到了里面之后,我们放火点着马棚,把他们做为献给大神塔西的祭物。”

“哈!”千里眼自言自语道,“他这样做,是希望塔西能够赦免他的不信。”

敌人排成了一排——大约有利希达一半的兵力——开始向前挺进,提里安只有短暂的时间调兵遣将。