《能言馬與男孩》第40期:阿拉維斯在塔什班城(6)

"It's all right," said Lasaraleen. "I'm sure we're 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 Lasaraleen 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 Lasaraleen 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. Lasaraleen was hurrying her back to the top of the steps, on tiptoes, and groping wildly along the wall.

"Here's 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 Lasaraleen's breathing that she was terrified.

"Tash preserve us!" whispered Lasaraleen. "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.

"Let's lie down behind it," whimpered Lasaraleen. "Oh, I do wish we hadn't come."

There was just room between the sofa and the curtained wall and the two girls got down. Lasaraleen managed to get the better position and was completely covered. The upper part of Aravis's 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 Lasaraleen give her a little more room. But Lasaraleen, 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 Lasaraleen.

"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 couldn't 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 talismans that Aravis couldn't 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 husband, 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.

“對了，”拉斯阿拉莉恩說道，“我有把握我們現在是走對了。我記得這一級級的臺階。”但就在這當兒，前面出現一個移動的亮光。一秒鐘後，從一個遙遠的角落裏出現了兩個人的黑影，他們手執高大的蠟燭，正在往後倒退着走哩。當然啼，只有在國王和王族面前，人們才倒退着走的。阿拉維斯覺得拉斯阿拉莉恩抓住她的手臂——這種突然一抓，幾乎是擰了把，意味着那伸手抓的人實際上十分惶恐。阿拉維斯認爲這事很奇怪，拉斯阿拉莉恩竟會那麼害怕蒂斯羅克，如果蒂斯羅克確實是她的朋友；但阿拉維斯也沒有時間繼續思考這個問題。拉斯阿拉莉恩正催促她趕緊返回臺階的頂上，發瘋似的沿着牆垣摸索前進。

“這兒是門，”她悄悄說道，“快。”

她們走進門去，輕輕地把身後的門關上，發覺自己置身在一團漆黑之中。阿拉維斯能從拉斯阿拉莉恩的呼吸聲裏聽出她是誠惶誠恐的。

“塔什神救命啊！”拉斯阿拉莉恩低聲說道，”如果他走進這兒，我們怎麼辦呢?我們能躲藏起來嗎?”

她們的腳下有一塊地毯。她們摸索着進入房間，慌慌張張撞在一張沙發上。

“讓我們在沙發背後躺下來，”拉斯阿拉莉恩嗚嗚咽咽地說道，”啊，我但願我們沒有來。”

沙發與幕牆之間恰好有地方給這兩個姑娘躺下。拉斯阿拉莉恩設法佔據較好的位置，把自己的身體完全遮住了。阿拉維斯上半個臉在沙發背後露了出來，所以，如果有什麼人手中拿着個燈走進房間，碰巧朝這個角落一望，就會看見她了。當然，由於她戴着面紗，乍一看倒不會像是一個前額和一雙眼睛。阿拉維斯拼命推操，竭力使拉斯阿拉莉恩騰一點兒地方給她。但拉斯阿拉莉恩如今在驚慌失措中十分自私，她把對方擠回去，還擰她的腳。她們絕望了，動也不動地躺着，稍微有點兒氣喘。她們的呼吸似乎響得可怕，但室內沒有其他聲音。

“這兒安全嗎?”阿拉維斯終於儘可能低聲地說道。

“我——我——我想是安全的，”拉斯阿拉莉恩說道。

我那可憐的神經…”於是傳來了此時此刻她們所能聽到的最最可怕的聲音。開門的聲音。然後是燈光。因爲阿拉維斯在沙發背後可以伸長脖子，她什麼都看在眼裏。

首先進來兩個奴隸（又聾又啞，正如阿拉維斯所猜到的，以便開最祕密的會議），手持蠟燭，倒退着走進來。他們站定在沙發的兩頭。這倒是件好事，因爲一旦阿拉維斯的前面站了個奴隸，當然任何人就更難看到她了，而她卻可以在奴隸的兩個腳跟之間向外張望。接着進來的是一個老頭兒，很胖，戴一頂稀奇古怪的尖頂帽子，憑着這帽子，她立刻知道他就是蒂斯羅克了。他渾身上下都是珠寶首飾，其價值至少也要超過納尼亞王族所有衣服和武器加起來的總價值，但他是那麼胖，還有那麼一大堆飾邊、皺裙、小羊毛球、鈕釦、流蘇、辟邪物，阿拉維斯禁不住想到納尼亞的時裝（無論如何是給人穿的）看上去要雅緻得多了。蒂斯羅克之後，來了個高大的年輕人，頭上裹着一個插羽毛、鑲珠寶的頭巾，身邊佩一把象牙革肖的彎刀。他似乎很激動，他的眼睛和牙齒兇狠地在燭光裏閃爍。最後，進來一個駝背、枯搞的小老頭兒，她渾身不寒而慄，認出小老頭兒就是新首相，自己新訂婚的丈夫，泰坎阿霍什塔本人。

這三個人一進房間，門就關上了，蒂斯羅克在長沙發上落座，噓了一口心滿意足的氣，年輕人也就了位，站在蒂斯羅克的面前，首相雙膝跪了下來，兩肘撐着，俯首把臉伏在地毯上。