《最後一戰》第56期:穿過馬廄的門(4)

A new idea came into Tirian's head. He dropped his sword, darted forward, in under the sweep of the Tarkaan's scimitar, seized his enemy by the belt with both hands, and jumped back into the stable, shouting: "Come in and meet Tash yourself!"

There was a deafening noise. As when the Ape had been flung in, the earth shook and there was a blinding light.

The Calormene soldiers outside screamed. "Tash, Tash!" and banged the door. If Tash wanted their own Captain, Tash must have him. They, at any rate, did not want to meet Tash.

For a moment or two Tirian did not know where he was or even who he was. Then he steadied himself, blinked, and looked around. It was not dark inside the stable, as he had expected. He was in strong light: that was why he was blinking.

He turned to look at Rishda Tarkaan, but Rishda was not looking at him. Rishda gave a great wail and pointed; then he put his hands before his face and fell flat, face downwards, on the ground. Tirian looked in the direction where the Tarkaan had pointed. And then he understood.

A terrible figure was coming towards them. It was far smaller than the shape they had seen from the Tower, though still much bigger than a man, and it was the same. It had a vulture's head and four arms. Its beak was open and its eyes blazed. A croaking voice came from its beak.

"Thou hast called me into Narnia, Rishda Tarkaan. Here I am. What hast thou to say?"

But the Tarkaan neither lifted his face from the ground nor said a word. He was shaking like a man with a bad hiccup. He was brave enough in battle: but half his courage had left him earlier that night when he first began to suspect that there might be a real Tash. The rest of it had left him now.

With a sudden jerk -like a hen stooping to pick up a worm - Tash pounced on the miserable Rishda and tucked him under the upper of his two right arms. Then Tash turned his head sidewise to fix Tirian with one of his terrible eyes: for of course, having a bird's head, he couldn't look at you straight.

But immediately, from behind Tash, strong and calm as the summer sea, a voice said: "Begone, Monster, and take your lawful prey to your own place: in the name of Aslan and Aslan's great Father the Emperor-over-the-Sea."

The hideous creature vanished, with the Tarkaan still under its arm. And Tirian turned to see who had spoken.

And what he saw then set his heart beating as it had never beaten in any fight.

一個新的主意來到蒂蓮的頭腦裏。他放下他的劍，在泰坎揮舞的彎刀下朝前躥了過去，他雙手拉住敵人的皮帶，把敵人抓了過來，他自己也跳進馬廄門裏，大聲喊道：“你自己進來跟塔什見面吧！”

一陣震耳欲聾的聲音。就像無尾猿被扔進去時一樣，大地震動，發出令人目眩的光芒。

馬廄外的卡樂門士兵大聲叫喊，“塔什，塔什！”砰的一聲，把門關上了。如果塔什神需要他們自己的隊長，塔什神必定會留他的。他們，無論如何，可不想同塔什神見面。

有那麼一兩分鐘，蒂蓮不知道他是在什麼地方，甚至不知道他自己是誰。然後他站穩身體，眨眨眼睛，向周圍打量。並不像他所料想的，馬廄裏倒並不黑暗。原來他現在置身於強烈的光芒之中：這就是他眨眨眼睛的緣故。

他轉過身來看看泰坎利什達，但利什達卻不在看他。利什達號啕大哭，指指點點；然後他雙手伸在面部前面，面部朝着地上，直挺挺地倒下去了。蒂蓮朝着泰坎所指的方向瞧去。於是他明白了。%

一個可怕的形體正在向他們走來。它的形體比他們在堡壘裏見到的要小得多，儘管還是比一個人的形體大得多，而且它就是同一個傢伙。它生着一個禿鷲的腦袋和四條胳膊。它的尖嘴巴是張開着的，它的眼睛裏冒出火光來，它的尖嘴巴里發出嘶啞的聲音。

“泰坎利什達，你曾經向我呼籲，要我進入納尼亞。現在我來了。你有什麼話要跟我說呢？”

然而，那位泰坎既不從地上擡起頭來，也不說一句話。他渾身發抖，像個患惡性打呃的病人。他在戰鬥中是夠勇敢的；但，當夜早些時候他心裏第一次開始懷疑也可能有真正的塔什存在時，他的一半兒勇氣已經消失了。剩下來的勇氣現在都消失無遺了。

塔什突然身體一扭——像只雞俯下頭來啄一條小蟲一樣——撲到那可憐巴巴的利什達身上，把他提起來挾在它左邊兩條胳膊下面。塔什然後斜過頭來用一隻可怕的眼睛盯住蒂蓮直瞧，因爲它既然長的是個鳥頭，當然沒法兒筆直地瞧人。

然而，從塔什的背後，突然響起了一個聲音，洪大而又平靜，猶如夏天的海濤。這聲音說道：“我們以阿斯蘭和阿斯蘭的祖父海外皇帝的名義命令你，來吧，妖怪，帶着你合法的犧牲品回到你自己的地方去吧。”

那醜陋可怕的傢伙，臂下挾着泰坎，銷聲匿跡了。蒂蓮轉過頭來看看，是誰在說話。

他所看到的景象，使他的心怦怦直跳，他在任何戰鬥中都從來不曾這樣心跳過。