《魔法師的外甥》第66期:不期而遇(5)

"Look here; where do you come into all this? Why are you so precious fond of my Mother all of a sudden? What's it got to do with you? What's your game?"

"Good for you, Digs," whispered Polly in his ear. "Quick! Get away now." She hadn't dared to say anything all through the argument because, you see, it wasn't her Mother who was dying.

"Up then," said Digory, heaving her on to Fledge's back and then scrambling up as quickly as he could. The horse spread its wings.

"Go then, Fools," called the Witch. "Think of me, Boy, when you lie old and weak and dying, and remember how you threw away the chance of endless youth! It won't be offered you again."

They were already so high that they could only just hear her. Nor did the Witch waste any time gazing up at them; they saw her set off northward down the slope of the hill.

They had started early that morning and what happened in the garden had not taken very long, so that Fledge and Polly both said they would easily get back to Narnia before nightfall. Digory never spoke on the way back, and the others were shy of speaking to him. He was very sad and he wasn't even sure all the time that he had done the right thing; but whenever he remembered the shining tears in Aslan's eyes he became sure.

All day Fledge flew steadily with untiring wings; eastward with the river to guide him, through the mountains and over the wild wooded hills, and then over the great waterfall and down, and down, to where the woods of Narnia were darkened by the shadow of the mighty cliff, till at last, when the sky was growing red with sunset behind them, he saw a place where many creatures were gathered together by the riverside. And soon he could see Aslan himself in the midst of them. Fledge glided down, spread out his four legs, closed his wings, and landed cantering. Then he pulled up. The children dismounted. Digory saw all the animals, dwarfs, satyrs, nymphs, and other things drawing back to the left and right to make way for him. He walked up to Aslan, handed him the apple and said:

"I've brought you the apple you wanted, sir."

“喂，你怎麼知道這麼多事情?爲什麼突然之間對我媽媽如此關心?她跟你有什麼關係?你想幹什麼?”

“好樣的，迪格雷，”波莉在他耳邊悄聲說，“快!馬上走。”在整個爭論的過程中，她不敢說什麼，因爲，你知道，快死的不是她的媽媽。

“上馬。”迪格雷說着將她舉上馬背，然後自己儘快地爬了上去，弗蘭奇展開了翅膀。

“走吧，傻瓜們，”女巫叫着，“當你老了，虛弱得快死的時候就想想我，小男孩，記住你是怎樣把永葆青春的機會扔掉的，機不可失，時不再來。”

他們已經飛上了高空，只聽見她的聲音，但聽不清她在說什麼。女巫也不願浪費時間目送他們，只見她朝北邊的山坡下走去了。

那天早上，他們走得很早，花園裏發生的事沒有耽誤太多的時間，弗蘭奇和波莉都說他們可以很容易地在天黑前趕回納尼亞。回去的路上，迪格雷一言不發，其他兩位也不好意思與他說話。他極度悲哀，一直拿不準自己是否做對了，但只要他想起阿斯蘭眼中閃爍的淚光，他就堅信自己沒有錯。

一整天，弗蘭奇都不知疲倦地扇動着翅膀，穩穩地飛行。越過高山，飛過森林覆蓋的原始山區，過了大瀑布，高度越來越低，一直飛到在高大巖壁投下的陰影中顯得灰暗無光的納尼亞林區。最後，背後的天空被夕陽染得緋紅。它看見河邊聚集了許多動物，很快就看見阿斯蘭也在其中。弗蘭奇收了雙翅，伸開四蹄滑了下來，慢跑着落在地上。停穩後，孩子們下了馬，迪格雷看見所有的動物、小矮人、森林之神、河澤仙女等全都朝兩邊退去，爲他留出一條路來。他徑直走到阿斯蘭跟前，將蘋果遞給它，說：

“閣下，我把你想要的蘋果摘來了。”