《能言馬與男孩》第74期:安瓦德之戰(2)

"Battering ram," whispeRed Corin. "They're battering the gate."

Even Corin looked quite serious now.

"Why doesn't King Edmund get on?" he said. "I can' stand this waiting about. Chilly too."

Shasta nodded: hoping he didn't look as frightened as felt.

The trumpet at last! On the move now - now trotting the banner streaming out in the wind. They had topped low ridge now, and below them the whole scene sudden opened out; a little, many-towered castle with its gate towards them. No moat, unfortunately, but of course the gate shut and the portcullis down. On the walls they could see, like little white dots, the faces of the defenders. Down below, about fifty of the Calormenes, dismounted, were steadily swinging a great tree trunk against the gate. But at once the scene changed. The main bulk of Rabadash's men had been on foot ready to assault the gate. But now he had seen the Narnians sweeping down from the ridge. There is no doubt those Calormenes are wonderfully trained. It seemed to Shasta only a second before a whole line of the enemy were on horseback again, wheeling round to meet them, swinging towards them.

And now a gallop. The ground between the two armies grew less every moment. Faster, faster. All swords out now, all shields up to the nose, all prayers said, all teeth clenched. Shasta was dreadfully frightened. But it suddenly came into his head, "If you funk this, you'll funk every battle all your life. Now or never."

But when at last the two lines met he had really very littler idea of what happened. There was a frightful confusion`; and an appalling noise. His sword was knocked clean out of his hand pretty soon. And he'd got the reins tangled somehow. Then he found himself slipping. Then a spear came straight at him and as he ducked to avoid it he rolled right off his horse, bashed his left knuckles terribly against someone else's armour, and then - But it is no use trying to describe the battle from Shasta's point of view; he understood too little of the fight in general and even of his own part in it. The best way I can tell you what really happened is to take you some miles away to where the Hermit of the Southern March sat gazing into the smooth pool beneath the spreading tree, with Bree and Hwin and Aravis beside him.

For it was in this pool that the Hermit looked when he wanted to know what was going on in the world outside the green walls of his hermitage. There, as in a mirror, he could see, at certain times, what was going on in the streets of cities far farther south than Tashbaan, or what ships were putting into Redhaven in the remote Seven Isles, or what robbers or wild beasts stirred in the great Western forests between Lantern Waste and Telmar. And all this day he had hardly left his pool, even to eat or drink, for he knew that great events were on foot in Archenland. Aravis and the Horses gazed into it too. They could see it was a magic pool: instead of reflecting the tree and the sky it revealed cloudy and coloured shapes moving, always moving, in its depths. But they could see nothing clearly. The Hermit could and from time to time he told them what he saw. A little while before Shasta rode into his first battle, the Hermit had begun speaking like this:

"I see one - two - three eagles wheeling in the gap by Stormness Head. One is the oldest of all the eagles. He would not be out unless battle was at hand. I see him wheel to and fro, peering down sometimes at Anvard and sometimes to the east, behind Stormness. Ah - I see now what Rabadash and his men have been so busy at all day. They have felled and lopped a great tree and they are now coming out of the woods carrying it as a ram. They have learned something from the failure of last night's assult. He would have been wiser if he had set his men to making ladders: but it takes too long and he is impatient. Fool that he is! He ought to have ridden back to Tashbaan as soon as the first attack failed, for his whole plan depended on speed and surprise. Now they are bringing their ram into position. King Lune's men are shooting hard from the walls. Five Calormenes have fallen: but not many will. They have their shields above their heads. Rabadash is giving his orders now. With him are his most trusted lords, fierce Tarkaans from the eastern provinces. I can see their faces. There is Corradin of Castle Tormunt, and Azrooh, and Chlamash, and Ilgamuth of the twisted lip, and a tall Tarkaan with a crimson beard -"

"By the Mane, my old master Anradin!" said Bree.

"S-s-sly" said Aravis.

“攻城槌，”科林低聲說道，”敵人正在猛撞城門。”

現在甚至科林也神情嚴肅。

“愛德蒙國王爲什麼不出擊呢?”他說，”我受不了這種等待。也冷得很。”

沙斯塔點點頭：希望他外表上不像他心裏所感覺到的那麼害怕。

喇叭聲終於響了！現在部隊行動起來了——現在馬兒小跑着——旗幟在風中飄揚翻動着。現在他們爬上一個低低的山脊，山下整個景色突然展開在他們的面前。一個多塔樓小城堡，城門正對着他們。不幸沒有護城河：城門當然是關上的，吊閘放下來了。他們望得見城牆上保衛者的臉，像小小的白點子。城下，大約五十個卡樂門人下了馬，正穩穩地晃動着一根大樹幹撞擊城門。但這景象立刻就發生變化了。拉巴達什的主力部隊一直是下馬步行準備攻擊城門的，現在他們看到納尼亞軍隊從山脊上奔騰而下。毫無疑問，這些卡樂門部隊訓練有素。沙斯塔覺得敵人在一秒鐘內都上了馬，形成整齊的一列隊伍，撥轉馬頭，向他們迎過來。"

現在是一陣小跑，兩軍之間的距離時時刻刻都在縮短。跑得愈來愈快，愈來愈快。所有的刀都出鞘了，所有的盾牌都舉到鼻子跟前了，所有的禱告都做過了，所有的牙齒都咬緊了。沙斯塔驚惶得厲害。但他腦子裏突然想到：”這次你如果畏縮害怕，那麼，你這一生，每打一次仗，都要畏縮害怕了。千載難逢，機不可失！”

然而，最後兩軍相遇時，他確實對於現場發生的事情一點也不清楚。可怕的混亂和駭人聽聞的吶喊。他手中的刀不久就乾脆被打掉了。他手中的繮繩不知怎麼也搞丟了。他發覺自己正在滑下馬來。一枝長矛筆直地向他刺過來，他低頭避開時從馬上滾了下來，左膝關節猛烈地撞在別人的盔甲上，於是……但試圖從沙斯塔的觀點去描寫戰爭是毫無用處的；他對一般戰鬥懂得太少，連他自己在戰鬥中所扮演的角色他也不明白。把戰役實際情況告訴你，最好的辦法就是帶你到幾英里之外的南征隱士家裏去，他正在大樹的樹陰下向平靜的池水裏目不轉睛地凝視，布里、赫溫和阿拉維斯都在他身邊。

隱士想知道他隱居的綠牆之外的世界上正在發生的事情時，他就朝這池水裏張望。在池水裏，正如在鏡子裏一樣，他能看得見在某一個特定的時間裏，遠在塔什班南方的城市裏街道上正在發生的事情，或是什麼船在遙遠的七羣島駛進了紅港，或是什麼強盜或野獸在燈柱野林和臺爾馬之間的西部大森林裏騷擾。這一天隱士一整天沒有離開池塘，哪怕吃飯喝水也不離開，因爲他知道有重大事件正在阿欽蘭發生着。阿拉維斯和兩匹馬兒也在朝池塘裏張望。她們看得出，這是一池魔水。水中不反映綠樹藍天，卻在深處反映出那始終在活動着的、雲霧似的彩色形象。但她們什麼都看不清楚。隱士看得清，他時常把他所見到的告訴她們。沙斯塔騎馬進入他初次作戰的戰場之前一會兒，隱士便這樣講道：

“我看見一隻——兩隻——三隻鷹在暴風雨峯的豁口裏盤旋。有一隻鷹是年紀最大的。除非戰鬥迫在眉睫，它是不會飛出來的。我看見它來回盤旋，有時俯瞰安瓦德，有時俯瞰暴風雨峯背後的東方。啊——現在我看到拉巴達什和他的部隊整天在忙些什麼了。他們伐倒一棵大樹，鋸了一大段樹幹，現在掮着樹幹從樹林裏出來了，要把樹幹當做攻城槌用。他們昨夜的攻擊失敗了，從失敗中學到了一點兒東西。如果他叫他的部隊製造雲梯，他就更聰明瞭：但做雲梯更費時間，他不耐煩，等不及。他真是個傻瓜！初戰失敗，他應該立刻騎馬奔回塔什班去，因爲他的整個作戰計劃，靠的是速度和出人意外。現在他們把攻城槌部署好了。倫恩國王的士兵從城上往下拼命射箭。五個卡樂門兵倒下了；但不會有許多人倒下的，他們的頭上有盾牌擋着。現在拉巴達什發佈命令了。跟他一起的，有他最信賴的王公大人，從東部各省來的兇猛的泰坎們。我看得見他們的臉。有託芒城堡的科拉丁、阿茲魯、奇拉馬什，歪嘴伊爾加默思，還有一個紅鬍子的泰坎——”

“天哪，我的老東家安拉丁啊！”布里說。

“嘶——噓。”阿拉維斯說。