《能言馬與男孩》第39期:阿拉維斯在塔什班城(5)

"And to think," said Lasaraleen, 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. You'll be saddled and bridled again. But there'll have to be food in Hwin's 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 you've been quite comfortable."

"Never better stabled in my life," said Bree. "But if the husband 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 Lasaraleen 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 Lasaraleen 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 Lasaraleen 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. Lasaraleen 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.

"I'm just wondering..." said Lasaraleen. "I'm not absolutely sure which way we go from here. I think it's the left. Yes, I'm almost sure it's 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.

“你倒想想看，”拉斯阿拉莉恩說，幾乎是在嚷嚷了，”只要你自己有頭腦，你就可以做大臣的妻子了！”阿拉維斯跑了出去，和兩匹馬兒說些悄悄話。

“你們必須跟一個侍從趕在日落之前的那會兒到達墳場，”她說，”不再背這些個馱包了。重新給你們配上鞍子和轡頭。但赫溫的鞍囊裏得放些食品，布里，你背上得裝滿滿一皮袋水。侍從奉命讓你們在遠離大橋的岸邊花點時間美美地把水喝足。”

“喝足了水，直奔納尼亞和北方！”布里低聲說道，”但如果沙斯塔不在墳場裏怎麼辦呢?”

“當然要等他啦，”阿拉維斯說，”我想你在這兒過得挺舒適吧。”

“我生平從來沒待過比這更好的馬底，”布里說道，”但你那位朋友，吃吃笑的泰克希娜，如果她的丈夫付給侍從頭兒的是買最好的燕麥的錢，那麼，我認爲那侍從頭兒是在欺騙主人了。”

阿拉維斯和拉斯阿拉莉恩在圓柱房間裏吃晚飯。

兩個鐘頭以後，她們準備出發了。阿拉維斯穿戴得像個大戶人家的高級女奴，臉上還戴了一個面紗。她們已經商量妥當，如果有人問起，拉斯阿拉莉恩就裝模作樣地說：阿拉維斯是個女奴，她要把這女奴作爲禮物獻給某一位公主。

兩個姑娘光着腳走出門去。沒有幾分鐘就到了王宮大門口。門口當然有士兵警衛，但軍官對拉斯阿拉莉恩十分熟稔，他叫他的士兵立正、敬禮。她們立刻走進了黑大理石大廳。好多廷臣、奴隸和其他人等仍在廳裏走動，這倒使這兩個姑娘更加不引人注目了。她們繼續前行，進入圓柱大廳，然後又進入雕像大廳，沿着柱廊行去，經過了覲見室的銅箔大門。她們在朦朧燈光中所能見到的一切，全都是富麗堂皇，非言語所能形容。

不久她們就出了宮殿，進入御花園，花園依着山勢經過許多臺地迤邐而下。她們在花園另一邊來到舊王宮。天色已經變得十分昏暗了，現在她們發覺自己置身於迴廊的迷宮之中，牆上偶爾有個托架插着火炬照明。拉斯阿拉莉恩在一個岔路口停步不前了:非此即彼，你要麼往左走，要麼往右走。

“往前走啊，往前走啊。”阿拉維斯低聲催促道，她的心怦怦地跳得可怕，她仍舊覺得她的父親很可能在任何一個角落裏撞見她們。

“我正在琢磨…”拉斯阿拉莉恩說道，”我們從這兒出去，該從哪一條路走，我沒有絕對的把握。我想是左邊那一條。是的，我幾乎確信是左邊那一條了。這多麼有趣！”

她們走上了左邊的那條路，發覺置身在一條壓根兒沒有什麼亮光的通道里，這通道不久就變成了一級又一級向下延伸的臺階。