《最後一戰》第45期:誰將入馬廄?(4)

"Now, Ginger," said the Captain. "Enough of that noise. Tell them what thou hast seen."

"Aii - Aii - Aaow - Awah," screamed the Cat.

"Art thou not called a Talking Beast?" said the Captain. "Then hold thy devilish noise and talk."

What followed was rather horrible. Tirian felt quite certain (and so did the others) that the Cat was trying to say something: but nothing came out of his mouth except the ordinary, ugly cat-noises you might hear from any angry or frightened old Tom in a backyard in England. And the longer he caterwauled the less like a Talking Beast he looked. Uneasy whimperings and little sharp squeals broke out from among the other Animals.

"Look, look!" said the voice of the Bear. "It can't talk. It has forgotten how to talk! It has gone back to being a dumb beast. Look at its face." Everyone saw that it was true. And then the greatest terror of all fell upon those Narnians. For every one of them had been taught - when it was only a chick or a puppy or a cub - how Aslan at the beginning of the world had turned the beasts of Narnia into Talking Beasts and warned them that if they weren't good they might one day be turned back again and be like the poor witless animals one meets in other countries. "And now it is coming upon us," they moaned.

"Mercy! Mercy!" wailed the Beasts. "Spare us, Lord Shift, stand between us and Aslan, you must always go in and speak to him for us. We daren't, we daren't."

Ginger disappeared further up into the tree. No one ever saw him again.

Tirian stood with his hand on his sword-hilt and his head bowed. He was dazed with the horrors of that night. Sometimes he thought it would be best to draw his sword at once and rush upon the Calormenes: then next moment he thought it would be better to wait and see what new turn affairs might take. And now a new turn came.

"My Father," came a clear, ringing voice from the left of the crowd. Tirian knew at once that it was one of the Calormenes speaking, for in The Tisroc's army the common soldiers call the officers "My Master" but the officers call their senior officers "My Father". Jill and Eustace didn't know this but, after looking this way and that, they saw the speaker, for of course people at the sides of the crowd were easier to see than people in the middle where the glare of the fire made all beyond it look rather black. He was young and tall and slender, and even rather beautiful in the dark, haughty, Calormene way.

"喂，金格，"卡樂門隊長說，"你號叫得夠了。把你所看見的，告訴它們吧。"

"阿艾——阿艾——阿奧——阿瓦。"貓兒叫道。

"難道你不是被稱爲會說人話的野獸嗎，"隊長說，"那就停止邪惡的嗥叫，開口說話吧！"

接下來的事是很可怕的。蒂蓮十分有把握地覺得（別人也一樣）貓兒正竭力說出一些話來，但它的嘴巴里講不出人話來，只能發出普普通通的十分難聽的貓叫聲，在英國的後院裏，你可以從任何憤怒或吃驚的貓兒那裏聽到這種叫聲。而且，它鳴叫的時間越長，看上去就越發不像一隻說人話的獸類。其他的野獸中間進發出了心神不安的嗚咽和微弱的尖叫聲。

"瞧，瞧，"野豬的聲音說道，"它不能說人話了。它忘記怎樣說人話了。它已經倒退成爲一隻啞巴畜生了。瞧瞧它的臉。"大家看到確實是那樣。於是一切恐怖中最大的恐怖落在這些納尼亞禽獸心上了。因爲它們每一個都受過這樣的教導——當它們是隻小雞或小狗或幼狐的時候——阿斯蘭曾在世界開創之時，把納尼亞的禽獸變成了會說人話的禽獸，並且警告它們，如果它們行爲不端，有朝一日，它們就會重新變回老樣子，同人們在其他國家裏遇到的可憐而愚蠢的禽獸一模一樣。"如今這種變化臨到我們頭上了。"它們悲嘆道。

"發發慈悲，發發慈悲吧！"野獸們哀告道，"救救我們，詭譎王爺，你站在我們和阿斯蘭之間，你必須經常進去，替我們跟他說話。我們可不敢，我們可不敢。"

金格消失在樹林深處。誰也沒再看到它。

蒂蓮聾拉着腦袋，手撫在劍柄上站在那兒。他被那一夜的恐怖搞得頭昏眼花。有時他想，最好還是立刻拔出劍來向卡樂門兵衝去；接着他又覺得還是等着瞧瞧形勢新的演變較好。如今新的演變來了。

"我的父親，"一個清脆響亮的聲音從羣衆的左邊傳來。蒂蓮立刻聽出來了，這是一個卡樂門士兵在說話，因爲在"蒂斯羅克"的軍隊裏，普通士兵稱他們的軍官爲"我的師父"，而普通軍官稱他的上級軍官爲"我的父親"。吉爾和尤斯塔斯不知道這個規矩，但他們左看右望，終於看到了說話的人，因爲在大夥兒邊上的人，要比在中間的人容易看得見，中間火光熊熊，使它後面的一切倒顯得很黑了。他年輕，高個兒，身材苗條，黑蒼蒼、自命不凡的卡樂門風度，看上去倒也漂亮。