《能言馬與男孩》第76期:安瓦德之戰(4)

Shasta, picked himself up, feeling uncommonly stiff, and ran towards the sound to see what the joke was. A very curious sight met his eyes. The unfortunate Rabadash appeared to be suspended from the castle walls. His feet, which were about two feet from the ground, were kicking wildly. His chain-shirt was somehow hitched up so that it was horribly tight under the arms and came half way over his face. In fact he looked just as a man looks if you catch him in the very act of getting into a stiff shirt that is a little too small for him. As far as could be made out afterwards (and you may be sure the story was well talked over for many a day) what happened was something like this. Early in the battle one of the Giants had made an unsuccessful stamp at Rabadash with his spiked boot: unsuccessful because it didn't crush Rabadash, which was what the Giant had intended, but not quite useless because one of the spikes tore the chain mail, just as you or I might tear an ordinary shirt. So Rabadash, by the time he encountered Edmund at the gate, had a hole in the back of his hauberk. And when Edmund pressed him back nearer and nearer to the wall, he jumped up on a mounting block and stood there raining down blows on Edmund from above. But then, finding that this position, by raising him above the heads of everyone else, made him a mark for every arrow from the Narnian bows, he decided to jump down again. And he meant to look and sound - no doubt for a moment he did look and sound - very grand and very dreadful as he jumped, crying, "The bolt of Tash falls from above." But he had to jump sideways because the crowd in front of him left him no landing place in that direction. And then, in the neatest way you could wish, the tear in the back of his hauberk caught on a hook in the wall. (Ages ago this hook had had a ring in it for tying horses to.) And there he found himself, like a piece of washing hung up to dry, with everyone laughing at him.

"Let me down, Edmund," howled Rabadash. "Let me down and fight me like a king and a man; or if you are too great a coward to do that, kill me at once."

"Certainly," began King Edmund, but King Lune interrupted.

"By your Majesty's good leave," said King Lune to Edmund. "Not so." Then turning to Rabadash he said, "Your royal Highness, if you had given that challenge a week ago, I'll answer for it there was no one in King Edmund's dominion, from the High King down to the smallest Talking Mouse, who would have refused it. But by attacking our castle of Anvard in time of peace without defiance sent, you have proved yourself no knight, but a traitor, and one rather to be whipped by the hangman than to be suffered to cross swords with any person of honour. Take him down, bind him, and carry him within till our pleasure is further known."

Strong hands wrenched Rabadash's sword from him and he was carried away into the castle, shouting, threatening, cursing, and even crying. For though he could have faced torture he couldn't bear being made ridiculous. In Tashbaan everyone had always taken him seriously.

At that moment Corin ran up to Shasta, seized his hand and started dragging him towards King Lune. "Here he is, Father, here he is," cried Corin.

"Aye, and here thou art, at last," said the King in a very gruff voice. "And bast been in the battle, clean contrary to your obedience. A boy to break a father's heart! At your age a rod to your breech were fitter than a sword in your fist, ha!" But everyone, including Corin, could see that the King was very proud of him.

"Chide him no more, Sire, if it please you," said Lord Darrin. "His Highness would not be your son if he did not inherit your conditions. It would grieve your Majesty more if he had to be reproved for the opposite fault."

"Well, well," grumbled the King. "We'll pass it over for this time. And now -" '

What came next surprised Shasta as much as anything that had ever happened to him in his life. He found himself suddenly embraced inn bear-like hug by King Lune and kissed on both cheeks. Then the King set him down again and said, "Stand here together, boys, and let all the court see you. Hold up your heads. Now, gentlemen, look on them both. Has any man any doubts?"

And still Shasta could not understand why everyone stared at him and at Corin nor what all the cheering was about.

沙斯塔爬起身來，覺得四肢異乎尋常地不靈活，他朝着鬨笑聲跑過去，去看看鬧的是什麼笑話。他所見到的，是一幅十分奇怪的景象。倒黴的拉巴達什看來被懸掛在城堡的牆上。他的腳離地兩英尺光景，正瘋狂地亂踢着。他的鎖子甲有點兒被吊了起來，腋下緊得可怕，中間遮住了半個臉。事實上，他看上去就像一個人正把一件尺寸太小的硬襯衫穿上身去時的模樣兒。就後來儘可能收集到的材料看來(你可以確信無疑，這個故事被人們反覆講了好多天)，事情的經過大致是這樣的：剛開仗時，有個巨人用他的尖釘大靴子不成功地踩了拉巴達什一腳；不成功，是指他未能如願以償地把拉巴達什踩個稀巴爛；但也不是毫無作用，因爲靴子上的尖釘刺破了鎖子甲，就像你或我可能撕破一件普通的襯衫一樣。所以，拉巴達什正和愛德蒙在城門口交手搏鬥時，他那鎖子甲的背後有個窟窿。當愛德蒙逼得他愈來愈靠近城牆時，他跳上了一個高臺，他站在臺上，手中的劍雨點般向愛德蒙攻擊。但接着他就覺得這個地位既使他高出於衆人之上，又使他成爲納尼亞弓箭手的衆矢之的，他決定重新跳下臺來。他有意要觀察風色，試探試探——毫無疑問，他確實觀察試探了一會兒——他跳得十分莊嚴十分可怕，口中大聲喊道：”塔什神的雷霆從天上打下來了。”但他不得不朝旁邊跳，因爲他前邊兒的人羣很擠，正前方已沒有他插足的地方。接着，用你可以期望的最簡潔的方式來說，他背部鎖子甲上的窟窿，被牆上一個鉤子鉤住了(幾百年前，這鉤子曾經是個繫馬的鐵圈)。他發現自己像是一件洗好的、掛在那兒晾乾的衣服，人人都在嘲笑他哩。

“愛德蒙，放我下來，”拉巴達什號叫道，”放我下來，像個國王和男子漢那樣同我作戰；如果你是個大懦夫，不敢放我下來，就立刻殺了我。”

“當然可以。”國王愛德蒙開始說話了，但倫恩國王打斷了他的話。

“請陛下允許我插一句，”國王倫恩對愛德蒙說道，”不要這樣。”然後，他轉過來對拉巴達什說道：”殿下，如果你曾在一個星期前提出挑戰書，我就會保證：在國王愛德蒙的國土內，上至至尊王，下至最小的會說人話的耗子，誰也不會拒絕你的請求。然而，你在和平時期，挑戰書也不送一份，就進攻我們的安瓦德城堡，你的行爲證明你自己不是什麼真正的武士，而是個奸賊，是個只配由劊子手來鞭打的傢伙，不配由任何高貴的人持刀與之交鋒。把他帶下去，把他綁起來，帶他到城裏去，等我們公佈了我們歡樂的大喜事以後再說。”

強壯的手從拉巴達什手裏奪走了他的劍，他被帶進城堡裏去了，他叫喊着，威嚇着，咒罵着，甚至大號大哭着。因爲，儘管他能面對嚴刑拷打，卻受不了人們的嘲弄恥笑。在塔什班城，人人都是嚴肅認真地對待他的。

就在這個時候，科林向沙斯塔跑來，抓住他的手，開始拖着他向國王走去。”他在這兒了，父親，他在這兒了。”科林大聲說道。

“呀，你還是到這兒來了，”國王用一種十分粗暴的聲音說道，”而且壓根不聽話，竟參加了戰鬥。一個叫父親擔憂心碎的孩子啊。以你這般年紀，屁股後插根棍棒要比手中拿把劍合適得多。哈哈！”但包括科林在內，人人都看得出國王十分以沙斯塔自豪。

“陛下，對不起，別再責備他了，”達蘭勳爵說道，”如果他不繼承你的英雄氣概的話，殿下就不可能是你的兒子了。如果他應該爲相反的錯誤而受責備的話，那就會使陛下更加傷心了。”

“行了，行了，”國王咕咕噥噥地說道，”我們這一回就放過他吧。現在……”

繼之而來的事情使沙斯塔感到的驚訝，絲毫不亞於他生平遭遇到的任何事情。他發覺國王倫恩突然像熊一樣把他緊緊抱住，親吻他的雙頰。然後國王把他重新放下，說道：”孩子們一起站在這兒吧，讓朝廷上的人都來看看你們。昂起你們的頭來。現在，先生們，瞧瞧他們兩個人吧。還有什麼人會有什麼懷疑嗎？”

而沙斯塔依舊不明白：爲什麼人人都目不轉晴地瞧着他和科林？這一切歡呼又是怎麼一回事呢？