CHAPTER TWELVE THROUGH THE STABLE DOOR（第2/3页）

The only answer was growls．

“Get on，warriors，”said the Tarkaan.“Kill the beasts，but take the two-legged ones alive.”

And then the last battle of the last King of Narnia began．

What made it hopeless，even apart from the numbers of the enemy，was the spears. The Calormenes who had been with the Ape almost from the beginning had had no spears：that was because they had come into Narnia by ones and twos，pretending to be peaceful merchants，and of course they had carried no spears for a spear is not a thing you can hide. The new ones must have come in later，after the Ape was already strong and they could march openly. The spears made all the difference. With a long spear you can kill a boar before you are in reach of his tusks and a unicorn before you are in reach of his horn; if you are very quick and keep your head. And now the levelled spears were closing in on Tirian and his last friends. Next minute they were all fighting for their lives．

In a way it wasn’t quite so bad as you might think．When you are using every muscle to the full-ducking under a spear-point here，leaping over it there，lunging forward，drawing back， wheeling round-you haven’t much time to feel either frightened or sad. Tirian knew he could do nothing for the others now; they were all doomed together. He vaguely saw the Boar go down on one side of him，and Jewel fighting furiously on the other. Out of the corner of one eye he saw，but only just saw，a big Calormene pulling Jill away somewhere by her hair. But he hardly thought about any of these things. His only thought now was to sell his life as dearly as he could. The worst of it was that he couldn’t keep to the position in which he had started，under the white rock. A man who is fighting a dozen enemies at once must take his chances wherever he can; must dart in wherever he sees an enemy’s breast or neck unguarded. In a very few strokes this may get you quite a distance from the spot where you began. Tirian soon found that he was getting further and further to the right，nearer to the stable. He had a vague idea in his mind that there was some good reason for keeping away from it. But he couldn’t now remember what the reason was. And anyway，he couldn’t help it．

All at once everything came quite clear. He found he was fighting the Tarkaan himself. The bonfire (what was left of it) was straight in front. He was in fact fighting in the very doorway of the stable，for it had been opened and two Calormenes were holding the door，ready to slam it shut the moment he was inside. He remembered everything now，and he realized that the enemy had been edging him to the stable on purpose ever since the fight began. And while he was thinking this he was still fighting the Tarkaan as hard as he could．

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.”