《能言馬與男孩》第75期:安瓦德之戰(3)
"Now the ram has started. If I could hear as well as see, what a noise that would make! Stroke after stroke: and no gate can stand it for ever. But wait! Something up by Stormness has scared the birds. They're coming out in masses. And wait again . . . I can't see yet . . . ah! Now I can. The whole ridge, up on the east, is black with horsemen. If only the wind would catch that standard and spread it out. They're over the ridge now, whoever they are. Aha! I've seen the banner now. Narnia, Narnia! It's the red lion. They're in full career down the hill now. I can see King Edmund. There's a woman behind among the archers. Oh! -"
"What is it?" asked Hwin breathlessly.
"All his Cats are dashing out from the left of the line."
"Cats?" said Aravis.
"Great cats, leopards and such," said the Hermit impatiently. "I see, I see. The Cats are coming round in a circle to get at the horses of the dismounted men. A good stroke. The Calormene horses are mad with terror already. Now the Cats are in among them. But Rabadash has reformed his line and has a hundred men in the saddle. They're riding to meet the Narnians. There's only a hundred yards between the two lines now. Only fifty. I can see King Edmund, I can see the Lord Peridan. There are two mere children in the Narnian line. What can the King be about to let them into battle? Only ten yards - the lines have met. The Giants on the Narnian right are doing wonders . . . but one's down . . . shot through the eye, I suppose. The centre's all in a muddle. I can see more on the left. There are the two boys again. Lion alive! one is Prince Corm. The other, like him as two peas. It's your little Shasta. Corm is fighting like a man. He's killed a Calormene. I 'can see a bit of the centre now. Rabadash and Edmund almost met then, but the press has separated them -"
"What about Shasta?" said Aravis.
"Oh the fool!" groaned the Hermit. "Poor, brave little fool. He knows nothing about this work. He's making no use at all of his shield. His whole side's exposed. He hasn't the faintest idea what to do with his sword. Oh, he's remembered it now. He's waving it wildly about . . . nearly cut his own pony's head off, and he will in a moment if he's not careful. It's been knocked out of his hand now. It's mere murder sending a child into the battle; he can't live five minutes. Duck you fool - oh, he's down."
"Killed?" asked three voices breathlessly.
"How can I tell?" said the Hermit. "The Cats have done their work. All the riderless horses are dead or escaped now: no retreat for the Calormenes on them. Now the Cats are turning back into the main battle. They're leaping on the rams-men. The ram is down. Oh, good! good! The gates are opening from the inside: there's going to be a sortie. The first three are out. It's King Lune in the middle: the brothers Dar and Darrin on each side of him. Behind them are Tran and Shar and Cole with his brother Colin. There are ten - twenty - nearly thirty of them out by now. The Calormen line is being forced back upon them. King Edmund is dealing marvellous strokes. He's just slashed Corradin's head off. Lots of Calormenes have thrown down their arms and are running for the woods. Those that remain are hard pressed. The Giants are closing in on the right - Cats on the left - King Lune from their rear. The Calormenes are a little knot now, fighting back to back. Your Tarkaan's down, Bree. Lune and Azrooh are fighting hand to hand; the King looks like winning - the King is keeping it up well - the King has won. Azrooh's down. King Edmund's down - no, he's up again: he's at it with Rabadash. They're fighting in the very gate of the castle. Several Calormenes have surrendered. Darrin has killed Ilgamuth. I can't see what's happened to Rabadash. I think he's dead, leaning against the castle wall, but I don't know. Chlamash and King Edmund are still fighting but the battle is over everywhere else. Chlamash has surrendered. The battle is over. The Calormenes are utterly defeated."
When Shasta fell off his horse he gave himself up for lost. But horses, even in battle, tread on human beings very much less than you would suppose. After a very horrible ten minutes or so Shasta realized suddenly that there were no longer any horses stamping about in the immediate neighbourhood and that the noise (for there were still a good many noises going on) was no longer that of a battle. He sat up and stared about him. Even he, little as he knew of battles, could soon see that the Archenlanders and Narnians had won. The only living Calormenes he could see were prisoners, the castle gates were wide open, and King Lune and King Edmund were shaking hands across the battering ram. From the circle of lords and warriors around them there arose a sound of breathless and excited, but obviously cheerful conversation. And then, suddenly, it all united and swelled into a great roar of laughter.
“現在攻城槌開始撞擊了。如果我看得見也聽得見就好了，那玩意兒會發出好大好大的聲音啊！一槌又一槌的！沒有一個城門能永遠頂得住受得了的。且慢！暴風雨峯附近有什麼東西驚動了飛鳥。鳥兒大羣大羣地飛出來了。再等一下……我還看不出……啊！現在我看得見了。東邊兒高處，整個山脊上黑壓壓的全是騎兵。但願風吹在軍旗上把旗子展開就好了。不管他們是誰，現在他們越過山脊了。啊哈！我現在看到旗子了。納尼亞，納尼亞啊！是紅獅旗。他們現在全速衝下山來了。我看見國王愛德蒙。殿後的弓箭手中有個女人。唷！——”
“那些是什麼東西啊？”赫溫屏息靜氣地問道。
“全部貓科野獸都從左邊隊伍裏衝出來了。”
“貓科嗎？”阿拉維斯說。
“貓科大野獸，豹子和豹子之類的野獸。”隱士不耐煩地說道，”我明白了，我明白了。貓科野獸要圍成一圈，去逮住那些已經無人乘坐的馬兒。好高明的一着棋。卡樂門的馬兒已經害怕得發瘋。現在貓科野獸又衝進這些馬兒中間去了。但拉巴達什重新調整了他的隊伍，有百來個騎兵坐上馬鞍了。他們縱馬迎戰納尼亞人。現在雙方隊伍相距不過一百碼光景。不過五十碼了。我看得見國王愛德蒙，我看得見珀裏丹勳爵。納尼亞隊伍裏有兩個人，都不過是孩子。國王怎麼能讓孩子參加戰鬥呢？雙方相距只有十碼了——雙方隊伍接觸了。納尼亞一方，右邊兒的巨人正在創造奇蹟般的功勳……但有個巨人倒下了……給射中了眼睛，我猜想。中心是一場混戰。左邊兒我倒看到更多。又是那兩個孩子。天哪，一個是科林王子。另一個很像科林，兩人像兩隻梨一樣相似。這另一個，就是你們的小沙斯塔。科林像個男子漢似的在作戰。他殺死了一個卡樂門人。現在我看得見一點兒中心的情況了。這時拉巴達什和愛德蒙幾乎撞上了，但被蜂擁上前的人羣把他們分開了——”
“沙斯塔怎麼樣了？”阿拉維斯問。
“這傻瓜啊！”隱士嘆息着說道，”可憐的、勇敢的小傻瓜。他對打仗啥也不知道。他壓根兒沒有使用他的盾牌。他的兩脅都暴露在外面。他一點兒也不懂得怎樣使用他的劍啊，現在他想起來要用劍了。他瘋狂地揮舞着劍……幾乎把他自己的馬駒子的腦袋砍了下來。現在他手裏的劍被人打落了。把孩子送上戰場，只不過是謀殺罷了；他活不到五分鐘了。你這傻瓜，低下腦袋呀——啊，他從馬上跌下來了。”
“給殺死了嗎？”三個聲音屏息問道。
“我怎麼知道呢？”隱士說道，”貓科野獸完成了它們的戰鬥任務，無人騎的馬兒不是死了就是逃散了：騎這些馬兒的卡樂門人無生還的希望了。現在貓科野獸迴轉身來投入主要的戰鬥。它們撲到使用攻城槌的人們身上。攻城槌掉到地上了。啊，妙！妙！城門正在從裏邊兒打開：就要有一番突圍出擊了。開頭出來三個人。國王倫恩在中間，達爾和達蘭兩兄弟在他的左右兩邊。他們的後面是特蘭、沙爾、科爾和科臨兄弟。現在他們出來了十個——二十個——三十個光景的將士。卡樂門隊伍被迫後退了。國王愛德蒙正東砍西殺，發揮不可思議的威力。他剛把科拉丁的腦袋砍了下來。許多卡樂門士卒丟下武器，向樹林裏逃跑。留下的那些人被狠狠地緊逼着，巨人從右邊，貓科野獸從左邊，國王倫恩從他們的後面，一起進逼過來。現在卡樂門人腹背受敵，有點兒慌亂緊張，他們背靠背地應戰。布里，你的那位泰坎倒下了。倫恩國王和阿茲魯正徒手作戰；國王看上去要贏了——國王保持着優勢——國王已經贏了。阿茲魯倒下了。國王愛德蒙倒下了——不，他重新站起來了：他是在和拉巴達什交手。他們就在城堡的大門口作戰。好幾個卡樂門人都投降了。達蘭殺了伊爾加默思。我看不見拉巴達什出了什麼事。我認爲他是死了，身體靠在城牆上，不過我弄不明白。奇拉馬什和國王愛德蒙仍在作戰，但其他地方的戰鬥都結束了。奇拉馬什投降了。戰爭結束了。卡樂門人完全被打敗了。”
沙斯塔從馬上跌下來時，他認爲自己沒有命了。但馬兒踩人踏人，即使在戰場上，也遠比你料想的要少得多。非常恐怖的十分鐘過去以後，沙斯塔突然發現：在鄰近的地方不再有什麼馬兒在跺腳了，而喧鬧的聲音(因爲仍舊有許許多多持續的喧鬧聲)不再是戰爭的聲音了。他坐了起來，瞪眼打量着周圍。雖然他對戰爭什麼也不知道，但連他也很快就看出來了：阿欽蘭人和納尼亞人已經勝利了。他所看見的活着的卡樂門人便是俘虜。城堡的大門大開着，倫恩國王和愛德蒙國王正越過攻城槌彼此握手。在他們周圍的一圈王公大人和戰士們中間，響起了一陣激動不已但顯然很愉快的談話。接着，談話聲突然聯結起來，擴展成爲轟然大笑的聲音。
