CHAPTER EIGHT WHAT NEWS THE EAGLE BROUGHT

IN the shadow of the trees on the far side of the clearing something was moving. It was gliding very slowly Northward. At first glance you might have mistaken it for smoke，for it was grey and you could see things through it. But the deathly smell was not the smell of smoke. Also，this thing kept its shape instead of billowing and curling as smoke would have done. It was roughly the shape of a man but it had the head of a bird; some bird of prey with a cruel，curved beak. It had four arms which it held high above its head，stretching them out Northward as if it wanted to snatch all Narnia in its grip; and its fingers-all twenty of them-were curved like its beak and had long，pointed，bird-like claws instead of nails. It floated on the grass instead of walking，and the grass seemed to wither beneath it．

After one look at it Puzzle gave a screaming bray and darted into the Tower. And Jill (who was no coward，as you know) hid her face in her hands to shut out the sight of it. The others watched it for perhaps a minute，until it streamed away into the thicker trees on their right and disappeared. Then the sun came out again，and the birds once more began to sing．

Everyone started breathing properly again and moved. They had all been still as statues while it was in sight．

“What was it ？”said Eustace in a whisper．

“I have seen it once before，”said Tirian. “But that time it was carved in stone and overlaid with gold and had solid diamonds for eyes. It was when I was no older than thou，and had gone as a guest to The Tisroc’s court in Tashbaan．He took me into the great temple of Tash. There I saw it，carved above the altar.”

“Then that-that thing-was Tash ？”said Eustace．

But instead of answering him Tirian slipped his arm behind Jill’s shoulders and said，“How is it with you，Lady ？”

“A-all right，”said Jill，taking her hands away from her pale face and trying to smile.“I’m all right. It only made me feel a little sick for a moment.”

“It seems，then，”said the Unicorn，“that there is a real Tash，after all.”

“Yes，”said the Dwarf.“And this fool of an Ape，who didn’t believe in Tash，will get more than he bargained for! He called for Tash：Tash has come.”

“Where has it-he-the Thing-gone to ？”said Jill．

“North into the heart of Narnia，”said Tirian.“It has come to dwell among us. They have called it and it has come.”

“Ho，ho，ho!”chuckled the Dwarf，rubbing his hairy hands together.“It will be a surprise for the Ape. People shouldn’t call for demons unless they really mean what they say.”

“Who knows if Tash will be visible to the Ape ？”said Jewel．

“Where has Puzzle got to ？”said Eustace．

They all shouted out Puzzle’s name and Jill went round to the other side of the Tower to see if he had gone there．

They were quite tired of looking for him when at last his large grey head peered cautiously out of the doorway and he said，“Has it gone away ？”And when at last they got him to come out，he was shivering the way a dog shivers before a thunderstorm．

“I see now，”said Puzzle，“that I really have been a very bad donkey. I ought never to have listened to Shift. I never thought things like this would begin to happen.”

“If you’d spent less time saying you weren’t clever and more time trying to be as clever as you could-”began Eustace but Jill interrupted him．

“Oh leave poor old Puzzle alone，”she said.“It was all a mistake; wasn’t it，Puzzle dear ？”And she kissed him on the nose．

Though rather shaken by what they had seen，the whole party now sat down again and went on with their talk．

Jewel had little to tell them. While he was a prisoner he had spent nearly all his time tied up at the back of the stable，and had of course heard none of the enemies’ plans. He had been kicked (he’d done some kicking back too) and beaten and threatened with death unless he would say that he believed it was Aslan who was brought out and shown to them by firelight every night. In fact he was going to be executed this very morning if he had not been rescued. He didn’t know what had happened to the Lamb．

The question they had to decide was whether they would go to Stable Hill again that night，show Puzzle to the Narnians and try to make them see how they had been tricked，or whether they should steal away Eastward to meet the help which Roonwit the Centaur was bringing up from Cair Paravel and return against the Ape and his Calormenes in force. Tirian would very much like to have followed the first plan：he hated the idea of leaving the Ape to bully his people one moment longer than need be. On the other hand，the way the Dwarfs had behaved last night was a warning. Apparently one couldn’t be sure how people would take it even if he showed them Puzzle. And there were the Calormene soldiers to be reckoned with. Poggin thought there were about thirty of them. Tirian felt sure that if the Narnians all rallied to his side，he and Jewel and the children and Poggin (Puzzle didn’t count for much) would have a good chance of beating them. But how if half the Narnians-including all the Dwarfs-just sat and looked on ？ or even fought against him ？ The risk was too great. And there was，too， the cloudy shape of Tash. What might it do ？