《最後一戰》第18期:救援國王(2)
Tirian wondered very much what he meant by "grub", but when the Boy opened a bulgy satchel which he was carrying and pulled out a rather greasy and squashy packet, he understood. He was ravenously hungry, though he hadn't thought about it till that moment. There were two hard-boiled egg sandwiches, and two cheese sandwiches, and two with some kind of paste in them. If he hadn't been so hungry he wouldn't have thought much of the paste, for that is a sort of food nobody eats in Narnia. By the time he had eaten all six sandwiches they had come to the bottom of the valley and there they found a mossy cliff with a little fountain bubbling out of it. All three stopped and drank and splashed their hot faces.
"And now," said the girl as she tossed her wet hair back from her forehead, "aren't you going to tell us who you are and why you were tied up and what it's all about?"
"With a good will, damsel," said Tirian. "But we must keep on the march." So while they went on walking he told them who he was and all the things that had happened to him. "And now," he said at the end, "I am going to a certain tower, one of three that were built in my grandsire's time to guard Lantern Waste against certain perilous outlaws who dwelled there in his day. By Aslan's good will I was not robbed of my keys. In that tower we shall find stores of weapons and mail and some victuals also, though no better than dry biscuit. There also we can lie safe while we make our plans. And now, prithee, tell me who you two are and all your story."
"I'm Eustace Scrubb and this is Jill Pole," said the Boy. "And we were here once before, ages and ages ago, more than a year ago by our time, and there was a chap called Prince Rilian, and they were keeping this chap underground, and Puddleglum put his foot in -"
"Ha!" cried Tirian, "are you then that Eustace and that Jill who rescued King Rilian from his long enchantment?"
"Yes, that's us," said Jill. "So he's King Rilian now, is he? Oh of course he would be. I forgot-"
"Nay," said Tirian, "I am the seventh in descent from him. He has been dead over two hundred years."
Jill made a face. "Ugh!" she said. "That's the horrid part about coming back to Narnia." But Eustace went on.
"Well now you know who we are, Sire," he said. "And it was like this. The Professor and Aunt Polly had got all us friends of Narnia together -"
"I know not these names, Eustace," said Tirian.
"They're the two who came into Narnia at the very beginning, the day all the animals learned to talk."
"By the Lion's Mane," cried Tirian. "Those two! The Lord Digory and the Lady Polly! From the dawn of the world! And still in your place? The wonder and the glory of it! But tell me, tell me."
"She isn't really our aunt, you know," said Eustace. "She's Miss Plummer, but we call her Aunt Polly. Well those two got us all together partly just for fun, so that we could all have a good jaw about Narnia (for of course there's no one else we can ever talk to about things like that) but partly because the Professor had a feeling that we were somehow wanted over here. Well then you came in like a ghost or goodness-knows-what and nearly frightened the lives out of us and vanished without saying a word. After that, we knew for certain there was something up.
"好了，"女孩一邊把潮溼的頭髮從前額上甩回去，一邊說道，"現在你可以告訴我們了：你是什麼人，爲什麼你被綁在樹上，以及這一切究竟是怎麼一回事?"
"小姐，我十分情願告訴你們，"蒂蓮說，"但我們必須繼續趕路。"所以，他們一面走路，他就一面講給他們聽：他是什麼人以及他所遭遇到的種種事情。"現在，我要到一個堡壘去，"他講到末末了兒，說道，"我的祖先統治的時代，曾經築了三個堡壘保衛燈柱野林，防範當年住在那兒的危險的亡命之徒。由於阿斯蘭的保佑，我的鑰匙沒有被搶走。在我要去的那個堡壘裏，我們可以找到武器和盔甲，也可以找到一些食物，雖然不會有比又乾又硬的餅乾更好的東西。我們還可以安全地躺在那兒訂立計劃。現在，請你們兩位告訴我——你們是什麼人，以及你們所有的經歷。"
"我是尤斯塔斯;斯克羅布，這一位是吉爾;波爾，"男孩說道，"從前我們到這兒來過一次，好幾個世紀以前；按照我們的時間來說，那就是一年多以前，有個人叫瑞廉王子的，他被人家關在地底下，帕德爾格拉姆又把他的腳伸進——""哈!"蒂蓮大聲說道，"那麼你們就是把國王瑞廉從長期的魔法困擾中拯救出來的尤斯塔斯和吉爾了?"
"是的，正是我們兩人，"吉爾說道，"那麼，現在他是國王瑞廉了，是不是?啊，當然他會做國王的。我忘記了——""不，"蒂蓮說，"我是他的第七代後裔了。他已經死了兩百多年了。"
吉爾做了個鬼臉。"呃!"她說，"回到納尼亞來，就是這檔子事情叫人不好受。"但尤斯塔斯繼續說下去。"陛下，現在你知道我們是什麼人了，"他說，"事情是這樣的。教授和姨媽波莉把我們納尼亞的朋友都請來了——""我不知道這些名字，尤斯塔斯。"蒂蓮說。"他們是最早進入納尼亞的兩個人，那時所有的野獸正學習講人話。"
"天哪!"蒂蓮大聲嚷道，"這兩個人啊!迪格雷勳爵和波莉夫人!鴻蒙初開時的人物!仍舊活在你們的世界裏嗎?真是神奇，真是光榮!講給我聽，講給我聽吧。"
"你要知道，她並非真是我們的姨媽，"尤斯塔斯說道，"她是普盧默小姐，不過我們管她叫姨媽罷了。卻說這兩位把我們大家都請去聚會了：一半隻是爲了尋尋開心，讓我們大家痛痛快快地聊一聊關於納尼亞王國的事情(因爲，像這樣的事，我們跟其他的人是沒法兒閒聊的)；一半是教授有種預感這兒用得着我們哩。然後是你來了，像個鬼魂，或者是個只有天知道的玩意兒，幾乎把我們的性命都嚇掉了，一句話也不說就消失了。這之後，我們知道肯定是發生了什麼事變了。
