The Last Battle tcon-7 Page 5

  All round them the wood was very quiet. Indeed it was far too quiet. On an ordinary Narnia night there ought to have been noises—an occasional cheery “Goodnight” from a Hedgehog, the cry of an Owl overhead, perhaps a flute in the distance to tell of Fauns dancing, or some throbbing, hammering noises from Dwarfs underground. All that was silenced: gloom and fear reigned over Narnia.

  After a time they began to go steeply uphill and the trees grew further apart. Tirian could dimly make out the wellknown hill-top and the stable. Jill was now going with more and more caution: she kept on making signs to the others with her hand to do the same. Then she stopped dead still and Tirian saw her gradually sink down into the grass and disappear without a sound. A moment later she rose again, put her mouth close to Tirian's ear, and said in the lowest possible whisper, “Get down. Thee better.” She said thee for see not because she had a lisp but because she knew the hissing letter S is the part of a whisper most likely to be overheard. Tirian at once lay down, almost as silently as Jill, but not quite, for he was heavier and older. And once they were down, he saw how from that position you could see the edge of the hill sharp against the star-strewn sky. Two black shapes rose against it: one was the stable, and the other, a few feet in front of it, was a Calormene sentry. He was keeping very ill watch: not walking or even standing but sitting with his spear over his shoulder and his chin on his chest. “Well done,” said Tirian to Jill. She had shown him exactly what he needed to know.

  They got up and Tirian now took the lead. Very slowly, hardly daring to breathe, they made their way up to a little clump of trees which was not more than forty feet away from the sentinel.

  “Wait here till I come again,” he whispered to the other two. “If I miscarry, fly.” Then he sauntered out boldly in full view of the enemy. The man started when he saw him and was just going to jump to his feet: he was afraid Tirian might be one of his own officers and that he would get into trouble for sitting down. But before he could get up Tirian had dropped on one knee beside him, saying:

  “Art thou a warrior of the Tisroc's, may he live for ever? It cheers my heart to meet thee among all these beasts and devils of Narnians. Give me thy hand, friend.”

  Before he well knew what was happening the Calormene sentry found his right hand seized in a mighty grip. Next instant someone was kneeling on his legs and a dagger was pressed against his neck.

  “One noise and thou art dead,” said Tirian in his ear. “Tell me where the Unicorn is and thou shalt live.”

  “B—behind the stable, O My Master,” stammered the unfortunate man.

  “Good. Rise up and lead me to him.”

  As the man got up the point of the dagger never left his neck. It only travelled round (cold and rather ticklish) as Tirian got behind him and settled it at a convenient place under his ear. Trembling he went round to the back of the stable.

  Though it was dark Tirian could see the white shape of Jewel at once.

  “Hush!” he said. “No, do not neigh. Yes, Jewel, it is I. How have they tied thee?”

  “Hobbled by all four legs and tied with a bridle to a ring in the stable wall,” came Jewel's voice.

  “Stand here, sentry, with your back to the wall. So. Now, Jewel: set the point of your horn against this Calormene's breast.”

  “With a good will, Sire,” said Jewel.

  “If he moves, rive him to the heart.” Then in a few seconds Tirian cut the ropes. With the remains of them he bound the sentry hand and foot. Finally he made him open his mouth, stuffed it full of grass and tied him up from scalp to chin so that he could make no noise, lowered the man into a sitting position and set him against the wall.

  “I have done thee some discourtesy, soldier,” said Tirian. “But such was my need. If we meet again I may happen to do thee a better turn. Now, Jewel, let us go softly.”

  He put his left arm round the beast's neck and bent and kissed its nose and both had great joy. They went back as quietly as possible to the place where he had left the children. It was darker in there under the trees and he nearly ran into Eustace before he saw him.

  “All's well,” whispered Tirian. “A good night's work. Now for home.”

  They turned and had gone a few paces when Eustace said, “Where are you, Pole?” There was no answer. “Is Jill on the other side of you, Sire?” he asked.

  “What?” said Tirian. “Is she not on the other side of your”

  It was a terrible moment. They dared not shout but they whispered her name in the loudest whisper they could manage. There was no reply.

  “Did she go from you while I was away?” asked Tirian.

  “I didn't see or hear her go,” said Eustace. “But she could have gone without my knowing. She can be as quiet as a cat; you've seen for yourself.”

  At that moment a far off drum beat was heard. Jewel moved his ears forward. “Dwarfs,” he said.

  “And treacherous Dwarfs, enemies, as likely as not,” muttered Tirian.

  “And here comes something on hoofs, much nearer,” said Jewel.

  The two humans and the Unicorn stood dead still. There were now so many different things to worry about that they didn't know what to do. The noise of hoofs came steadily nearer. And then, quite close to them, a voice whispered:

  “Hallo! Are you all there?”

  Thank heaven, it was Jill's.

  “Where the devil have you been to?” said Eustace in a furious whisper, for he had been very frightened.

  “In the stable,” gasped Jill, but it was the sort of gasp you give when you're struggling with suppressed laughter.

  “Oh,” growled Eustace, “you think it funny, do you? Well all I can say is—”

  “Have you got Jewel, Sire?” asked Jill.

  “Yes. Here he is. What is that beast with you?”

  “That's him,” said Jill. “But let's be off home before anyone wakes up.” And again there came little explosions of laughter.

  The others obeyed at once for they had already lingered long enough in that dangerous place and the Dwarf drums seemed to have come a little nearer. It was only after they had been walking Southward for several minutes that Eustace said:

  “Got him? What do you mean?”

  “The false Aslan,” said Jill.

  “What?” said Tirian. “Where have you been? What have you done?”

  “Well, Sire,” said Jill. “As soon as I saw that you'd got the sentry out of the way I thought hadn't I better have a look inside the stable and see what really is there? So I crawled along. It was as easy as anything to draw the bolt.

  Of course it was pitch black inside and smelled like any other stable. Then I struck a light and—would you believe it?—there was nothing at all there but this old donkey with a bundle of lion-skin tied on to his back. So I drew my knife and told him he'd have to come along with me. As a matter of fact I needn't have threatened him with the knife at all. He was very fed up with the stable and quite ready to come—weren't you, Puzzle dear?”

  “Great Scott!” said Eustace. “Well I'm—jiggered. I was jolly angry with you a moment ago, and I still think it was mean of you to sneak off without the rest of us: but I must admit—well, I mean to say—well it was a perfectly gorgeous thing to do. If she was a boy she'd have to be knighted, wouldn't she, Sire?”

  “If she was a boy,” said Tirian, “she'd be whipped for disobeying orders.” And in the dark no one could see whether he said this with a frown or a smile. Next minute there was a sound of rasping metal.

  “What are you doing, Sire?” asked Jewel sharply.

  “Drawing my sword to smite off the head of the accursed Ass,” said Tirian in a terrible voice. “Stand clear, girl.”

  “Oh don't, please don't,” said Jill. “Really, you mustn't. It wasn't his fault. It was all the Ape. He didn't know any better. And he's very sorry. And he's a nice Donkey. His name's Puzzle. And I've got my arms round his neck.”

  “Jill,” said Tirian, “you are the bravest and most woodwise of all my
subjects, but also the most malapert and disobedient. Well: let the Ass live. What have you to say for yourself, Ass?”

  “Me, Sire?” came the Donkey's voice. “I'm sure I'm very sorry if I've done wrong. The Ape said Aslan wanted me to dress up like that. And I thought he'd know. I'm not clever like him. I only did what I was told. It wasn't any fun for me living in that stable. I don't even know what's been going on outside. He never let me out except for a minute or two at night. Some days they forgot to give me any water too.”

  “Sire,” said Jewel. “Those Dwarfs are coming nearer and nearer. Do we want to meet them?”

  Tirian thought for a moment and then suddenly gave a great laugh out loud. Then he spoke, not this time in a whisper. “By the Lion,” he said, “I am growing slow witted! Meet them? Certainly we will meet them. We will meet anyone now. We have this Ass to show them. Let them see the thing they have feared and bowed to. We can show them the truth of the Ape's vile plot. His secret's out. The tide's turned. Tomorrow we shall hang that Ape on the highest tree in Narnia. No more whispering and skulking and disguises. Where are these honest Dwarfs? We have good news for them.”

  When you have been whispering for hours the mere sound of anyone talking out loud has a wonderfully stirring effect. The whole party began talking and laughing: even Puzzle lifted up his head and gave a grand Haw-hee-haw-hee-hee; a thing the Ape hadn't allowed him to do for days. Then they set off in the direction of the drumming. It grew steadily louder and soon they could see torchlight as well. They came out on one of those rough roads (we should hardly call them roads at all in England) which ran through Lantern Waste. And there, marching sturdily along, were about thirty Dwarfs, all with their little spades and mattocks over their shoulders. Two armed Calormenes led the column and two more brought up the rear.

  “Stay!” thundered Tirian as he stepped out on the road. “Stay, soldiers. Whither do you lead these Narnian Dwarfs and by whose orders?”

  CHAPTER SEVEN.

  MAINLY ABOUT DWARFS

  THE two Calormene soldiers at the head of the column, seeing what they took for a Tarkaan or great lord with two armed pages, came to a halt and raised their spears in salute.

  “O My Master,” said one of them, “we lead these manikins to Calormen to work in the mines of The Tisroc, may-he-live-forever. “

  “By the great god Tash, they are very obedient,” said Tirian. Then suddenly he turned to the Dwarfs themselves. About one in six of them carried a torch and by that flickering light he could see their bearded faces all looking at him with grim and dogged expressions. “Has The Tisroc fought a great battle, Dwarfs, and conquered your land?” he asked, “that thus you go patiently to die in the salt-pits of Pugrahan?”

  The two soldiers glared at him in surprise but the Dwarfs all answered, “Aslan's orders, Aslan's orders. He's sold us. What can we do against him?”

  “Tisroc indeed!” added one and spat. “I'd like to see him try it!”

  “Silence, dogs!” said the chief soldier.

  “Look!” said Tirian, pulling Puzzle forward into the light. “It has all been a lie. Aslan has not come to Narnia at all. You have been cheated by the Ape. This is the thing he brought out of the stable to show you. Look at it.”

  What the Dwarfs saw, now that they could see it close, was certainly enough to make them wonder how they had ever been taken in. The lion-skin had got pretty untidy already during Puzzle's imprisonment in the stable and it had been knocked crooked during his journey through the dark wood. Most of it was in a big lump on one shoulder. The head, besides being pushed sideways, had somehow got very far back so that anyone could now see his silly, gentle, donkeyish face gazing out of it. Some grass stuck out of one corner of his mouth, for he'd been doing a little quiet nibbling as they brought him along. And he was muttering, “It wasn't my fault, I'm not clever. I never said I was.”

  For one second all the Dwarfs were staring at Puzzle with wide open mouths and then one of the soldiers said sharply, “Are you mad, My Master? What are you doing to the slaves?” and the other said, “And who are you?” Neither of their spears was at the salute now—both were down and ready for action.

  “Give the password,” said the chief soldier.

  “This is my password,” said the King as he drew his sword. “The light is dawning, the lie broken. Now guard thee, miscreant, for I am Tirian of Narnia.”

  He flew upon the chief soldier like lightning. Eustace, who had drawn his sword when he saw the King draw his, rushed at the other one: his face was deadly pale, but I wouldn't blame him for that. And he had the luck that beginners sometimes do have. He forgot all that Tirian had tried to teach him that afternoon, slashed wildly (indeed I'm not sure his eyes weren't shut) and suddenly found, to his own great surprise, that the Calormene lay dead at his feet. And though that was a great relief, it was, at the moment, rather frightening. The King's fight lasted a second or two longer: then he too had killed his man and shouted to Eustace, “'Ware the other two.”

  But the Dwarfs had settled the two remaining Calormenes. There was no enemy left.

  “Well struck, Eustace!” cried Tirian, clapping him on the back. “Now, Dwarfs, you are free. Tomorrow I will lead you to free all Narnia. Three cheers for Aslan!”

  But the result which followed was simply wretched. There was a feeble attempt from a few Dwarfs (about five) which died away all at once: from several others there were sulky growls. Many said nothing at all.

  “Don't they understand?” said Jill impatiently. “What's wrong with all you Dwarfs? Don't you hear what the King says? It's all over. The Ape isn't going to rule Narnia any longer. Everyone can go back to ordinary life. You can have fun again. Aren't you glad?”

  After a pause of nearly a minute a not-very-nice-looking Dwarf with hair and beard as black as soot said: “And who might you be, Missie?”

  “I'm Jill,” she said. “The same Jill who rescued King Rilian from the enchantment and this is Eustace who did it too—and we've come back from another world after hundreds of years. Aslan sent us.”

  The Dwarfs all looked at one another with grins; sneering grins, not merry ones.

  “Well,” said the Black Dwarf (whose name was Griffle), “I don't know how all you chaps feel, but I feel I've heard as much about Aslan as I want to for the rest of my life.”

  “That's right, that's right,” growled the other Dwarfs. “It's all a plant, all a blooming plant.”

  “What do you mean?” said Tirian. He had not been pale when he was fighting but he was pale now. He had thought this was going to be a beautiful moment, but it was turning out more like a bad dream.

  “You must think we're blooming soft in the head, that you must,” said Griffle. “We've been taken in once and now you expect us to be taken in again the next minute. We've no more use for stories about Aslan, see! Look at him! An old moke with long ears!”

  “By heaven, you make me mad,” said Tirian. “Which of us said that was Aslan? That is the Ape's imitation of the real Aslan. Can't you understand?”

  “And you've got a better imitation, I suppose!” said Griffle. “No thanks. We've been fooled once and we're not going to be fooled again.”

  “I have not,” said Tirian angrily, “I serve the real Aslan.”

  “Where's he? Who's he? Show him to us!” said several Dwarfs.

  “Do you think I keep him in my wallet, fools?” said Tirian. “Who am I that I could make Aslan appear at my bidding? He's not a tame lion.”

  The moment those words were out of his mouth he realized that he had made a false move. The Dwarfs at once began repeating “not a tame lion, not a tame lion,” in a jeering sing-song. “That's what the other lot kept on telling us,” said one.

  “Do you mean you don't believe in the real Aslan?” said Jill. “But I've seen him. And he has sent us two here out of a different world.”

  “Ah,” said Griffle with a broad smile. “So you say. They've taught you your stuff all right. Saying your lessons, ain't
you?”

  “Churl,” cried Tirian, “will you give a lady the lie to her very face?”

  “You keep a civil tongue in your head, Mister,” replied the Dwarf. “I don't think we want any more Kings—if you are Tirian, which you don't look like him—no more than we want any Aslans. We're going to look after ourselves from now on and touch our caps to nobody. See?”

  “That's right,” said the other Dwarfs. “We're on our own now. No more Aslan, no more Kings, no more silly stories about other worlds. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs.” And they began to fall into their places and to get ready for marching back to wherever they had come from.

  “Little beasts!” said Eustace. “Aren't you even going to say thank you for being saved from the salt-mines?”

  “Oh, we know all about that,” said Griffle over his shoulder. “You wanted to make use of us, that's why you rescued us. You're playing some game of your own. Come on you chaps.”

  And the Dwarfs struck up the queer little marching song which goes with the drum-beat, and off they tramped into the darkness.

  Tirian and his friends stared after them. Then he said the single word “Come,” and they continued their journey.

  They were a silent party. Puzzle felt himself to be still in disgrace, and also he didn't really quite understand what had happened. Jill, besides being disgusted with the Dwarfs, was very impressed with Eustace's victory over the Calormene and felt almost shy. As for Eustace, his heart was still beating rather quickly. Tirian and Jewel walked sadly together in the rear. The King had his arm on the Unicorn's shoulder and sometimes the Unicorn nuzzled the King's cheek with his soft nose. They did not try to comfort one another with words. It wasn't very easy to think of anything to say that would be comforting. Tirian had never dreamed that one of the results of an Ape's setting up as a false Aslan would be to stop people from believing in the real one. He had felt quite sure that the Dwarfs would rally to his side the moment he showed them how they had been deceived. And then next night he would have led them to Stable Hill and shown Puzzle to all the creatures and everyone would have turned against the Ape and, perhaps after a scuffle with the Calormenes, the whole thing would have been over. But now, it seemed, he could count on nothing. How many other Narnians might turn the same way as the Dwarfs?