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he was wakened suddenly by a noise he had never heard before. "perhaps it was only a nightmare," said shasta to himself. at the same moment he noticed that the cat had gone from his back, and he wished it hadnt. but he lay quite still without even opening his eyes because he felt sure he would be more frightened if he sat up and looked round at the tombs and the loneliness: just as you or i might lie still with the clothes over our heads. but then the noise came again - a harsh, piercing cry from behind him out of the desert. then of course he had to open his eyes and sit up.
the moon was shining brightly. the tombs - far bigger and nearer than he had thought they would be - looked grey in the moonlight. in fact, they looked horribly like huge people, draped in grey robes that covered their heads and faces. they were not at all nice things to have near you when spending a night alone in a strange place. but the noise had come from the opposite side, from the desert. shasta had to turn his back on the tombs (he didnt like that much) and stare out across the level sand. the wild cry rang out again.
"i hope its not more lions," thought shasta. it was in fact not very like the lions roars he had heard on the night when they met hwin and aravis, and was really the cry of a jackal. but of course shasta did not know this. even if he had known, he would not have wanted very much to meet a jackal.
the cries rang out again and again. "theres more than one of them, whatever they are,”
thought shasta. "and theyre coming nearer.”
i suppose that if he had been an entirely sensible boy he would have gone back through the tombs nearer to the river where there were houses, and wild beasts would be less likely to come. but then there were (or he thought there were) the ghouls. to go back through the tombs would mean going past those dark openings in the tombs; and what might come out of them? it may have been silly, but shasta felt he would rather risk the wild beasts. then, as the cries came nearer and nearer, he began to change his mind.
he was just going to run for it when suddenly, between him and the desert, a huge animal bounded into view. as the moon was behind it, it looked quite black, and shasta did not know what it was, except that it had a very big, shaggy head and went on four legs. it did not seem to have noticed shasta, for it suddenly stopped, turned its head towards the desert and let out a roar which re-echoed through the tombs and seemed to shake the sand under shastas feet. the cries of the other creatures suddenly stoppd and he thought he could hear feet scampering away. then the great beast turned to examine shasta.
"its a lion, i know its a lion," thought shasta. "im done. i wonder will it hurt much. i wish it was over. i wonder does anything happen to people after theyre dead. o-o-oh!
here it comes!" and he shut his eyes and his teeth tight.
but instead of teeth and claws he only felt something warm lying down at his feet. and when he opened his eyes he said, "why, its not nearly as big as i thought! its only half the size. no, it isnt even quarter the size. i do declare its only the cat!! i must have dreamed all that about its being as big as a horse.”
and whether he really had been dreaming or not, what was now lying at his feet, and staring him out of countenance with its big, green, unwinking eyes, was the cat; though certainly one of the largest cats he had ever seen.
"oh, puss," gasped shasta. "i am so glad to see you again. ive been having such horrible dreams." and he at once lay down again, back to back with the cat as they had been at the beginning of the night. the warmth from it spread all over him.
"ill never do anything nasty to a cat again as long as i live," said shasta, half to the cat and half to himself. "i did once, you know. i threw stones at a half- starved mangy old stray. hey! stop that." for the cat had turned round and given him a scratch. "none of that," said shasta. "it isnt as if you could understand what im saying." then he dozed off.
next morning when he woke, the cat was gone, the sun was already up, and the sand hot.
shasta, very thirsty, sat up and rubbed his eyes. the desert was blindingly white and, though there was a murmur of noises from the city behind him, where he sat everything was perfectly still. when he looked a little left and west, so that the sun was not in his eyes, he could see the mountains on the far side of the desert, so sharp and clear that they looked only a stones throw away. he particularly noticed one blue height that divided into two peaks at the top and decided that it must be mount pire. "thats our direction, judging by what the raven said," he thought, "so ill just make sure of it, so as not to waste any time when the others turn up." so he made a good, deep straight furrow with his foot pointing exactly to mount pire.
the next job, clearly, was to get something to eat and drink. shasta trotted back through the tombs - they looked quite ordinary now and he wondered how he could ever have been afraid of them - and down into the cultivated land by the rivers side. there were a few people about but not very many, for the city gates had been open several hours and the early morning crowds had already gone in. so he had no diffculty in doing a little "raiding" (as bree called it). it involved a climb over a garden wall and the results were three oranges, a melon, a fig or two, and a pomegranate. after that, he went down to the river bank, but not too near the bridge, and had a drink. the water was so nice that he took off his hot, dirty clothes and had a dip; for of course shasta, having lived on the shore all his life, had learned to swim almost as soon as he had learned to walk. when he came out he lay on the grass looking across the water at tashbaan - all the splendour and strength and glory of it. but that made him remember the dangers of it too. he suddenly realized that the others might have reached the tombs while he was bathing ("and gone on without me, as likely as not"), so he dressed in a fright and tore back at such a speed that he was all hot and thirsty when he arrived and so the good of his bathe was gone.
like most days when you are alone and waiting for something this day seemed about a hundred hours long. he had plenty to think of, of course, but sitting alone, just thinking, is pretty slow. he thought a good deal about the narnians and especially about corin. he wondered what had happened when they discovered that the boy who had been lying on the sofa and hearing all their secret plans wasnt really corin at all. it was very unpleasant to think of all those nice people imagining him a traitor.
but as the sun slowly, slowly climbed up to the top of the sky and then slowly, slowly began going downwards to the west, and no one came and nothing at all happened, he began to get more and more anxious. and of course he now realized that when they arranged to wait for one another at the tombs no one had said anything about how long.
he couldnt wait here for the rest of his life! and soon it would be dark again, and he would have another night just like last night. a dozen different plans went through his head, all wretched ones, and at last he fixed on the worst plan of all. he decided to wait till it was dark and then go back to the river and steal as many melons as he could carry and set out for mount pire alone, trusting for his direction to the line he had drawn that morning in the sand. it was a crazy idea and if he had read as many books as you have about journeys over deserts he would never have dreamed of it. but shasta had read no books at all.
before the sun set something did happen. shasta was sitting in the shadow of one of the tombs when he looked up and saw two horses coming towards him. then his heart gave a great leap, for he recognized them as bree and hwin. but the next moment his heart went down into his toes again. there was no sign of aravis. the horses were being led by a strange man, an armed man pretty handsomely dressed like an upper slave in a great family. bree and hwin were no longer got up like pack-horses, but saddled and bridled.
and what could it all mean? "its a trap," thought shasta. "somebody has caught aravis and perhaps theyve tortured her and shes given the whole thing away. they want me to jump out and run up and speak to bree and then ill be caught too! and yet if i dont, i may be losing my only chance to meet the others. oh i do wish i knew what had happened." and he skulked behind the tomb, looking out every few minutes, and wondering which was the least dangerous thing to do.
w w w/xiao shu otx t.com
CHAPTER SEVEN
大``学"生:小..说 网
aravis in tashbaan what had really happened was this. when aravis saw shasta hurried away by the narnians and found herself alone with two horses who (very wisely) wouldnt say a word, she never lost her head even for a moment. she grabbed brees halter and stood still, holding both the horses; and though her heart was beating as hard as a hammer, she did nothing to show it. as soon as the narnian lords had passed she tried to move on again.
but before she could take a step, another crier ("bother all these people" thought aravis)
was heard shouting out, "way, way, way! way for the tarkheena 【创建和谐家园】raleen!" and immediately, following the crier, came four armed slaves and then four bearers carrying a litter which was all a-flutter with silken curtains and all a-jingle with silver bells and which scented the whole street with perfumes and flowers. after the litter, female slaves in beautiful clothes, and then a few grooms, runners, pages, and the like. and now aravis made her first mistake.
she knew 【创建和谐家园】raleen quite well - almost as if they had been at school together - because they had often stayed in the same houses and been to the same parties. and aravis couldnt help looking up to see what 【创建和谐家园】raleen looked like now that she was married and a very great person indeed.
it was fatal. the eyes of the two girls met. and immediately 【创建和谐家园】raleen sat up in the litter and burst out at the top of her voice.
"aravis! what on earth are you doing here? your father-”
there was not a moment to lose. without a seconds delay aravis let go the horses, caught the edge of the litter, swung herself up beside 【创建和谐家园】raleen and whispered furiously in her ear.
"shut up! do you hear! shut up. you must hide me. tell your people-”
"but darling-" began 【创建和谐家园】raleen in the same loud voice. (she didnt in the least mind making people stare; in fact she rather liked it.)
"do what i tell you or ill never speak to you again," hissed aravis. "please, please be quick, las. its frightfully important. tell your people to bring those two horses along.
pull all the curtains of the litter and get away somewhere where i cant be found. and do hurry.”
"all right, darling," said 【创建和谐家园】raleen in her lazy voice. "here. two of you take the tarkheenas horses." (this was to the slaves.) "and now home. i say, darling, do you think we really want the curtains drawn on a day like this? i mean to say-”
but aravis had already drawn the curtains, enclosing 【创建和谐家园】raleen and herself in a rich and scented, but rather stuffy, kind of tent.
"i mustnt be seen," "she said. "my father doesnt know im here. im running away.”
"my dear, how perfectly thrilling," said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "im dying to hear all about it.
darling, youre sitting on my dress. do you mind? thats better. it is a new one. do you like it? i got it at-”
"oh, las, do be serious," said aravis. "where is my father?”
"didnt you know?" said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "hes here, of course. he came to town yesterday and is asking about you everywhere. and to think of you and me being here together and his not knowing anything about it! its the funniest thing i ever heard." and she went off into giggles. she always had been a terrible giggler, as aravis now remembered.
"it isnt funny at all," she said. "its dreadfully serious. where can you hide me?”
"no difficulty at all, my dear girl," said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "ill take you home. my hu【创建和谐家园】ands away and no one will see you. phew! its not much fun with the curtains drawn. i want to see people. theres no point in having a new dress on if ones to go about shut up like this.”
"i hope no one heard you when you shouted out to me like that," said aravis.
"no, no, of course, darling," said 【创建和谐家园】raleen absentmindedly. "but you havent even told me yet what you think of the dress.”
"another thing," said aravis. "you must tell your people to treat those two horses very respectfully. thats part of the secret. theyre really talking horses from narnia.”
"fancy!" said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "how exciting! and oh, darling, have you seen the barbarian queen from narnia? shes staying in tashbaan at present. they say prince rabadash is madly in love with her. there have been the most wonderful parties and hunts and things all this last fortnight. i cant see that shes so very pretty myself. but some of the narnian men are lovely. i was taken out on a river party the day before yesterday, and i was wearing my-”
"how shall we prevent your people telling everyone that youve got a visitor - dressed like a beggars brat - in your house? it might so easily get round to my father.”
"now dont keep on fussing, theres a dear," said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "well get you some proper clothes in a moment. and here we are!”
the bearers had stopped and the litter was being lowered. when the curtains had been drawn aravis found that she was in a courtyard-garden very like the one that shasta had been taken into a few minutes earlier in another part of the city. 【创建和谐家园】raleen would have gone indoors at once but aravis reminded her in a frantic whisper to say something to the slaves about not telling anyone of their mistresss strange visitor.
"sorry, darling, it had gone right out of my head," said 【创建和谐家园】releen. "here. all of you.
and you, doorkeeper. no one is to be let out of the house today. and anyone i catch talking about this young lady will be first beaten to death and then burned alive and after that be kept on bread and water for six weeks. there.”
although 【创建和谐家园】raleen had said she was dying to hear araviss story, she showed no sign of really wanting to hear it at all. she was, in fact, much better at talking than at listening.
she insisted on aravis having a long and luxurious bath (calormene baths are famous)
and then dressing her up in the finest clothes before she would let her explain anything.
the fuss she made about choosing the dresses nearly drove aravis mad. she remembered now that 【创建和谐家园】raleen had always been like that, interested in clothes and parties and gossip. aravis had always been more interested in bows and arrows and horses and dogs and swimming. you will guess that each thought the other silly. but when at last they were both seated after a meal (it was chiefly of the whipped cream and jelly and fruit and ice sort) in a beautiful pillared room (which aravis would have liked better if 【创建和谐家园】raleens spoiled pet monkey hadnt been climbing about it all the time) 【创建和谐家园】raleen at last asked her why she was running away from home.
when aravis had finished telling her story, 【创建和谐家园】raleen said, "but, darling, why dont you marry ahoshta tarkaan? everyones crazy about him. my hu【创建和谐家园】and says he is beginning to be one of the greatest men in calormen. he has just been made grand vizier now old axartha has died. didnt you know?”
"i dont care. i cant stand the sight of him," said aravis.
"but, darling, only think! three palaces, and one of them that beautiful one down on the lake at ilkeen. positively ropes of pearls, im told. baths of asses milk. and youd see such a lot of me.”
"he can keep his pearls and palaces as far as im concerned," said aravis.
"you always were a queer girl, aravis," said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "what more do you want?”
in the end, however, aravis managed to make her friend believe that she was in earnest and even to discuss plans. there would be no difficulty now about getting the two horses out of the north gate and then on to the tombs. no one would stop or question a groom in fine clothes leading a war horse and a ladys saddle horse down to the river, and 【创建和谐家园】raleen had plenty of grooms to send. it wasnt so easy to decide what to do about aravis herself. she suggested that she could be carried out in the litter with the curtains drawn. but 【创建和谐家园】raleen told her that litters were only used in the city and the sight of one going out through the gate would be certain to lead to questions.
when they had talked for a long time - and it was all the longer because aravis found it hard to keep her friend to the point-at last 【创建和谐家园】raleen clapped her hands and said, "oh, i have an idea. there is one way of getting out of the city without using the gates. the tisrocs garden (may he live for ever!) runs right down to the water and there is a little water-door. only for the palace people of course - but then you know, dear (here she tittered a little) we almost are palace people. i say, it is lucky for you that you came to me. the dear tisroc (may he live for ever!) is so kind. were asked to the palace almost every day and it is like a second home. i love all the dear princes and princesses and i positively adore prince rabadash. i might run in and see any of the palace ladies at any hour of the day or night. why shouldnt i slip in withyou, after dark, and let you out by the water-door? there are always a few punts and things tied up outside it. and even if we were caught-”
"all would be lost," said aravis.
"oh darling, dont get so excited," said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "i was going to say, even if we were caught everyone would only say it was one of my mad jokes. im getting quite well known for them. only the other day- do listen, dear, this is frightfully funny-”
"i meant, all would be lost for me," said aravis a little sharply.
"oh - ah - yes - i do see what you mean, darling. well, can you think of any better plan?”
aravis couldnt, and answered, "no. well have to risk it. when can we start?”
"oh, not tonight," said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "of course not tonight. theres a great feast on tonight (i must start getting my hair done for it in a few minutes) and the whole place will be a blaze of lights. and such a crowd too! it would have to be tomorrow night.”
this was bad news for aravis, but she had to make the best of it. the afternoon passed very slowly and it was a relief when 【创建和谐家园】raleen went out to the banquet, for aravis was very tired of her giggling and her talk about dresses and parties, weddings and engagements and scandals. she went to bed early and that part she did enjoy: it was so nice to have pillows and sheets again.
but the next day passed very slowly. 【创建和谐家园】raleen wanted to go back on the whole arrangement and kept on telling aravis that narnia was a country of perpetual snow and ice inhabited by demons and sorcerers, and she was mad to think of going there. "and with a peasant boy, too!" said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "darling, think of it! its not nice." aravis had thought of it a good deal, but she was so tired of 【创建和谐家园】raleens silliness by now that, for the first time, she began to think that travelling with shasta was really rather more fun than fashionable life in tashbaan. so she only replied, "you forget that ill be nobody, just like him, when we get to narnia. and anyway, i promised.”
"and to think," said 【创建和谐家园】raleen, almost crying, "that if only you had sense you could be the wife of a grand vizier!" aravis went away to have a private word with the horses.
"you must go with a groom a little before sunset down to the tombs," she said. "no more of those packs. youll be saddled and bridled again. but therell have to be food in hwins saddle-bags and a full water-skin behind yours, bree. the man has orders to let you both have a good long drink at the far side of the bridge.”
"and then, narnia and the north!" whispered bree. "but what if shasta is not at the tombs.”
"wait for him of course," said aravis. "i hope youve been quite comfortable.”
"never better stabled in my life," said bree. "but if the hu【创建和谐家园】and of that tittering tarkheena friend of yours is paying his head groom to get the best oats, then i think the head groom is cheating him.”
aravis and 【创建和谐家园】raleen had supper in the pillared room.
about two hours later they were ready to start. aravis was dressed to look like a superior slave-girl in a great house and wore a veil over her face. they had agreed that if any questions were asked 【创建和谐家园】raleen would pretend that aravis was a slave she was taking as a present to one of the princesses.
the two girls went out on foot. a very few minutes brought them to the palace gates.
here there were of course soldiers on guard but the officer knew 【创建和谐家园】raleen quite well and called his men to attention and saluted. they passed at once into the hall of black marble. a fair number of courtiers, slaves and others were still moving about here but this only made the two girls less conspicuous. they passed on into the hall of pillars and then into the hall of statues and down the colonnade, passing the great beatencopper
doors of the throne room. it was all magnificent beyond description; what they could see of it in the dim light of the lamps.
presently they came out into the garden-court which sloped downhill in a number of terraces. on the far side of that they came to the old palace. it had already grown almost quite dark and they now found themselves in a maze of corridors lit only by occasional torches fixed in brackets to the walls. 【创建和谐家园】raleen halted at a place where you had to go either left or right.
"go on, do go on," whispered aravis, whose heart was beating terribly and who still felt that her father might run into them at any corner.
"im just wondering..." said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "im not absolutely sure which way we go from here. i think its the left. yes, im almost sure its the left. what fun this is!”
they took the left hand way and found themselves in a passage that was hardly lighted at all and which soon began going down steps.
"its all right," said 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "im sure were right now. i remember these steps." but at that moment a moving light appeared ahead. a second later there appeared from round a distant corner, the dark shapes of two men walking backwards and carrying tall candles.
and of course it is only before royalties that people walk backwards. aravis felt 【创建和谐家园】raleen grip her arm - that sort of sudden grip which is almost a pinch and which means that the person who is gripping you is very frightened indeed. aravis thought it odd that 【创建和谐家园】raleen should be so afraid of the tisroc if he were really such a friend of hers, but there was no time to go on thinking. 【创建和谐家园】raleen was hurrying her back to the top of the steps, on tiptoes, and groping wildly along the wall.
"heres a door," she whispered. "quick.”
they went in, drew the door very softly behind them, and found themselves in pitch darkness. aravis could hear by 【创建和谐家园】raleens breathing that she was terrified.
"tash preserve us!" whispered 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "what shall we do if he comes in here. can we hide?”
there was a soft carpet under their feet. they groped forward into the room and blundered on to a sofa.
"lets lie down behind it," whimpered 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "oh, i do wish we hadnt come.”
there was just room between the sofa and the curtained wall and the two girls got down.
【创建和谐家园】raleen managed to get the better position and was completely covered. the upper part of araviss face stuck out beyond the sofa, so that if anyone came into that room with a light and happened to look in exactly the right place they would see her. but of course, because she was wearing a veil, what they saw would not at once look like a forehead and
a pair of eyes. aravis shoved desperately to try to make 【创建和谐家园】raleen give her a little more room. but 【创建和谐家园】raleen, now quite selfish in her panic, fought back and pinched her feet.
they gave it up and lay still, panting a little. their own breath semed dreadfully noisy, but there was no other noise.
"is it safe?" said aravis at last in the tiniest possible whisper.
"i - i - think so," began 【创建和谐家园】raleen. "but my poor nerves -" and then came the most terrible noise they could have heard at that moment: the noise of the door opening. and then came light. and because aravis couldnt get her head any further in behind the sofa, she saw everything.
first came the two slaves (deaf and dumb, as aravis rightly guessed, and therefore used at the most secret councils) walking backwards and carrying the candles. they took up their stand one at each end of the sofa. this was a good thing, for of course it was now harder for anyone to see aravis once a slave was in front of her and she was looking between his heels. then came an old man, very fat, wearing a curious pointed cap by which she immediately knew that he was the tisroc. the least of the jewels with which he was covered was worth more than all the clothes and weapons of the narnian lords put together: but he was so fat and such a mass of frills and pleats and bobbles and buttons and tassels and tali【创建和谐家园】ans that aravis couldnt help thinking the narnian fashions (at any rate for men) looked nicer. after him came a tall young man with a feathered and jewelled turban on his head and an ivory-sheathed scimitar at his side. he seemed very excited and his eyes and teeth flashed fiercely in the candlelight. last of all came a little hump-backed, wizened old man in whom she recognized with a shudder the new grand vizier and her own betrothed hu【创建和谐家园】and, ahoshta tarkaan himself.
as soon as all three had entered the room and the door was shut, the tisroc seated himself on the divan with a sigh of contentment, the young man took his place, standing before him, and the grand vizier got down on his knees and elbows and laid his face flat on the carpet.