The Final Battle For Mepergand

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The Last Battle - Wikipedia

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The lordly beast stood close beside the King's chair, with its neck bent round polishing its blue horn against the creamy whiteness of its flank. Think you we shall hear more of them to-day? And after that it was the squirrels. They had not seen him, but they said it was certain he was in the woods. Then came the Stag. He said he had seen him with his own eyes, a great way off, by moonlight, in Lantern Waste. Then came that dark Man with the beard, the merchant from Calormen. The Calormenes care nothing for Aslan as we do; but the man spoke of it as a thing beyond doubt.

And there was the Badger last night; he too had seen Aslan. If I seem not to, it is only that my joy is too great to let my belief settle itself. It is almost too beautiful to believe. A very heavy horse. It must be one of the Centaurs. And look, there he is. A great, golden-bearded Centaur, with man's sweat on his forehead and horse's sweat on his chestnut flanks, dashed up to the King, stopped, and bowed low. When you have found your breath, you shall tell us your errand. A page came out of the house carrying a great wooden bowl, curiously carved, and handed it to the Centaur.

The Centaur raised the bowl and said,. He finished the wine enough for six strong men at one draught and handed the empty bowl back to the page. Never in all my days have I seen such terrible things written in the skies as there have been nightly since this year began. The stars say nothing of the coming of Aslan, nor of peace, nor of joy. I know by my art that there have not been such disastrous conjunctions of the planets for five hundred years. It was already in my mind to come and warn your Majesty that some great evil hangs over Narnia.

But last night the rumour reached me that Aslan is abroad in Narnia. Sire, do not believe this tale. The stars never lie, but Men and Beasts do. If Aslan were really coming to Narnia, the sky would have foretold it. If he were really come, all the most gracious stars would be assembled in his honour. It is all a lie. He is not the slave of the stars but their Maker. Is it not said in all the old stories that He is not a Tame Lion? It comes in many tales. Roonwit had just raised his hand and was leaning forward to say something very earnestly to the King when all three of them turned their heads to listen to a wailing sound that was quickly drawing nearer.

The wood was so thick to the west of them that they could not see the newcomer yet. But they could soon hear the words. Woe for the holy trees!

The woods are laid waste. The axe is loosed against us. We are being felled. Great trees are falling, falling, falling. With the last "falling," the speaker came in sight. She was like a woman but so tall that her head was on a level with the Centaur's: It is hard to explain if you have never seen a Dryad but quite unmistakable once you have—something different in the colour, the voice, and the hair.

King Tirian and the two Beasts knew at once that she was the nymph of a beech-tree. They are felling us in Lantern Waste. Forty great trunks of my brothers and sisters are already on the ground. Murdering the talking trees? And who dares it? Now by the Mane of Aslan——". For a second they saw her lying dead on the grass and then she vanished. They knew what had happened.

Her tree, miles away, had been cut down. We must go up river and find the villains who have done this, with all the speed we can. I will leave not one of them alive. But Roonwit said, "Sire, be wary even in your just wrath. There are strange doings on foot. If there should be rebels in arms further up the valley, we three are too few to meet them.

If it would please you to wait while——". Here is my ring for your token. Get me a score of men-at-arms, all well-mounted, and a score of Talking Dogs, and ten Dwarfs let them all be fell archers , and a Leopard or so, and Stonefoot the Giant. Bring all these after us as quickly as can be. And at once he turned and galloped Eastward down the valley. The King strode on at a great pace, sometimes muttering to himself and sometimes clenching his fists. Jewel walked beside him, saying nothing; so there was no sound between them but the faint jingle of a rich gold chain that hung round the Unicorn's neck and the noise of two feet and four hoofs.

They soon reached the River and turned up it where there was a grassy road: Soon after that they came to the place where the ground grew rougher and thick wood came down to the water's edge. The road, what there was of it, now ran on the southern bank and they had to ford the River to reach it. It was up to Tirian's armpits, but Jewel who had four legs and was therefore steadier kept on his right to break the force of the current, and Tirian put his strong arm round the Unicorn's strong neck and they both got safely over.

The King was still so angry that he hardly noticed the cold of the water. But of course he dried his sword very carefully on the shoulder of his cloak, which was the only dry part of him, as soon as they came to shore. They were now going westward with the River on their right and Lantern Waste straight ahead of them. They had not gone more than a mile when they both stopped and both spoke at the same moment.

The King said "What have we here" and Jewel said "Look! And so it was. Half a dozen splendid tree trunks, all newly cut and newly lopped of their branches, had been lashed together to make a raft, and were gliding swiftly down the River. On the front of the raft there was a water rat with a pole to steer it. Who gave order for these trees to be felled? The River flows so swiftly at that time of the year that the raft had already glided past the King and Jewel. But the Water Rat looked back over its shoulders and shouted:. The King and the Unicorn stared at one another and both looked more frightened than they had ever been in any battle.

Could it be true? Could he be felling the holy trees and murdering the Dryads?

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He did not see at the moment how foolish it was for two of them to go alone; nor did the King. They were too angry to think clearly. But much evil came of their rashness in the end. Horrible thoughts arise in my heart. If we had died before to-day we should have been happy. The worst thing in the world has come upon us. Before long they could hear the hack-hack-hack of axes falling on timber, though they could see nothing yet because there was a rise of the ground in front of them. When they had reached the top of it they could see right into Lantern Waste itself.

And the King's face turned white when he saw it. Right through the middle of that ancient forest—that forest where the trees of gold and of silver had once grown and where a child from our world had once planted the Tree of Protection—a broad lane had already been opened.

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It was a hideous lane like a raw gash in the land, full of muddy ruts where felled trees had been dragged down to the river. There was a great crowd of people at work, and a cracking of whips, and horses tugging and straining as they dragged at the logs. The first thing that struck the King and the Unicorn was that about half the people in the crowd were not Talking Beasts but Men. The next thing was that these men were not the fair-haired men of Narnia: There was no reason, of course, why one should not meet a Calormene or two in Narnia—a merchant or an ambassador—for there was peace between Narnia and Calormen in those days.

But Tirian could not understand why there are so many of them: He grasped his sword tighter and rolled his cloak round his left arm. They came quickly down among the men. Two Calormenes were driving a horse which was harnessed to a log. Just as the King reached them, the log got stuck in a bad muddy place. Pull, you lazy pig! The horse was already straining himself as hard as he could; his eyes were red and he was covered with foam. It was then that the really dreadful thing happened. Up till now Tirian had taken it for granted that the horses which the Calormenes were driving were their own horses; dumb, witless animals like the horses of our own world.

And though he hated to see even a dumb horse overdriven, he was of course thinking more about the murder of the Trees. It had never crossed his mind that anyone would dare to harness one of the free Talking Horses of Narnia, much less to use a whip on it. But as that savage blow fell the horse reared up and said, half screaming:. When Tirian knew that the Horse was one of his own Narnians, there came over him and over Jewel such a rage that they did not know what they were doing. The King's sword went up, the Unicorn's horn went down.

They rushed forward together. Next moment both the Calormenes lay dead, the one beheaded by Tirian's sword and the other gored through the heart by Jewel's horn. Has there been a battle? It is all by his orders. Tirian looked up and saw that Calormenes mixed with a few Talking Beasts were beginning to run towards them from every direction. The two dead men had died without a cry and so it had taken a moment before the rest of the crowd knew what had happened. But now they did. Most of them had naked scimitars in their hands.

The King flung himself astride of his old friend who turned and galloped away. He changed direction twice or thrice as soon as they were out of sight of their enemies, crossed a stream, and shouted without slackening his pace, "Whither away, Sire? We are two murderers, Jewel. I am dishonoured forever. The Rat said the same. They all say Aslan is here. But if it were true? We, who are murderers. Jewel, I will go back. I will give up my sword and put myself in the hands of these Calormenes and ask that they bring me before Aslan. Let him do justice to me.

Would it not be better to be dead than to have this horrible fear that Aslan has come and is not like the Aslan we have believed in and longed for? It is as if the sun rose one day and were a black sun. You are in the right, Sire. This is the end of all things. Let us go and give ourselves up. As soon as they came to the place where the work was going on the Calormenes raised a cry and came towards them with their weapons in hand. But the King held out his sword with the hilt towards them and said:.

Bring me before him. Then the dark men came round them in a thick crowd, smelling of garlic and onions, their white eyes flashing dreadfully in their brown faces. They put a rope halter round Jewel's neck. They took the King's sword away and tied his hands behind his back. One of the Calormenes, who had a helmet instead of a turban and seemed to be in command, snatched the gold circlet off Tirian's head and hastily put it away somewhere among his clothes. They led the two prisoners uphill to a place where there was a big clearing. And this was what the prisoners saw.

At the centre of the clearing, which was also the highest point of the hill, there was a little hut like a stable, with a thatched roof. Its door was shut. On the grass in front of the door there sat an Ape. Tirian and Jewel, who had been expecting to see Aslan and had heard nothing about an Ape yet, were very bewildered when they saw it.

The Ape was of course Shift himself, but he looked ten times uglier than when he lived by Caldron Pool, for he was now dressed up. He was wearing a scarlet jacket which did not fit him very well, having been made for a dwarf. He had jewelled slippers on his hind paws which would not stay on properly because, as you know, the hind paws of an Ape are really like hands. He wore what seemed to be a paper crown on his head.

There was a great pile of nuts beside him and he kept cracking nuts with his jaws and spitting out the shells. And he also kept on pulling up the scarlet jacket to scratch himself. A great number of Talking Beasts stood facing him, and nearly every face in that crowd looked miserably worried and bewildered.

When they saw who the prisoners were, they all groaned and whimpered. By our skill and courage and by the permission of the great god Tash we have taken alive these two desperate murderers. So they took the King's sword and handed it, with the sword-belt and all, to the monkey. And he hung it round his own neck: Now listen to me, everyone. The first thing I want to say is about nuts. Where's that Head Squirrel got to? I want—I mean, Aslan wants—some more nuts. These you've brought aren't anything near enough.

You must bring some more, do you hear? And they got to be here by sunset tomorrow, and there mustn't be any bad ones or any small ones among them. A murmur of dismay ran through the other squirrels, and the Head Squirrel plucked up courage to say:. In we might be allowed to see him——". Then you can all have a look at him. But he will not have you all crowding round him and pestering him with questions. Anything you want to say to him will be passed on through me: In the meantime all you squirrels had better go and see about the nuts.

And make sure they are here by tomorrow evening or, my word! The poor squirrels all scampered away as if a dog were after them. This new order was terrible news for them. The nuts they had carefully hoarded for the winter had nearly all been eaten by now; and of the few that were left they had already given the Ape far more than they could spare. Then a deep voice—it belonged to a great tusked and shaggy Boar—spoke from another part of the crowd. Aslan says he's been far too soft with you before, do you see?

Well, he isn't going to be soft any more. He's going to lick you into shape this time. He'll teach you to think he's a tame lion! A low moaning and whimpering was heard among the Beasts; and, after that, a dead silence which was more miserable still. If I look like an Ape, that's because I'm so very old: And it's because I'm so old that I'm so wise. And it's because I'm so wise that I'm the only one Aslan is ever going to speak to. He can't be bothered talking to a lot of stupid animals. He'll tell me what you've got to do, and I'll tell the rest of you. And take my advice, and see you do it in double quick time, for He doesn't mean to stand any nonsense.

There was dead silence except for the noise of a very young badger crying and its mother trying to make it keep quiet. Well, you can get that idea out of your heads at once. And not only the Horses either. Everybody who can work is going to be made to work in the future. Aslan has it all settled with the King of Calormen—The Tisroc, as our dark-faced friends, the Calormenes, call him. All you horses and bulls and donkeys are to be sent down into Calormen to work for your living—pulling and carrying the way horses and such do in other countries. And all you digging animals like moles and rabbits and Dwarfs are going down to work in the Tisroc's mines.

Aslan would never sell us into slavery to the King of Calormen. You won't be slaves. You'll be paid—very good wages too. That is to say, your pay will be paid in to Aslan's treasury and he will use it all for everybody's good. The Calormene bowed and replied, in the pompous Calormene way:. And all for your own good.

We'll be able, with the money you earn, to make Narnia a country worth living in. There'll be oranges and bananas pouring in—and roads and big cities and schools and offices and whips and muzzles and saddles and cages and kennels and prisons—Oh, everything. And we want to hear Aslan speak himself. What do you know about freedom? You think freedom means doing what you like. That isn't true freedom. True freedom means doing what I tell you.

What have we to do with the Calormenes? We belong to Aslan. They belong to Tash. They have a god called Tash. They say he has four arms and the head of a vulture. They kill Men on his altar. I don't believe there's any such person as Tash. But if there was, how could Aslan be friends with him? All the animals cocked their heads sideways and all their bright eyes flashed towards the Ape. They knew it was the best question anyone had asked yet. Go home to your mother and drink milk. What do you understand of such things? But you others, listen. Tash is only another name for Aslan.

All that old idea of us being right and the Calormenes wrong is silly. We know better now. The Calormenes use different words but we all mean the same thing. Tash and Aslan are only two different names for you know Who. That's why there can never be any quarrel between them. Get that into your heads, you stupid brutes. You know how sad your own dog's face can look sometimes. Think of that and then think of all the faces of those Talking Beasts—all those honest, humble, bewildered birds, bears, badgers, rabbits, moles, and mice—all far sadder than that.

Every tail was down, every whisker drooped. It would have broken your heart with very pity to see their faces. There was only one who did not look at all unhappy. It was a ginger cat—a great big Tom in the prime of life—who sat bolt upright with his tail curled round his toes, in the very front row of all the Beasts. He had been staring hard at the Ape and the Calormene captain all the time and had never once blinked his eyes. Does your friend from Calormen say the same?

Aslan means neither less nor more than Tash. I only wanted to be quite clear. I think I am beginning to understand. Up till now the King and Jewel had said nothing: But now, as Tirian looked round on the miserable faces of the Narnians, and saw how they would all believe that Aslan and Tash were one and the same, he could bear it no longer. You lie like a Calormene. You lie like an Ape. He meant to go on and ask how the terrible god Tash who fed on the blood of his people could possibly be the same as the good Lion by whose blood all Narnia was saved.

If he had been allowed to speak, the rule of the Ape might have ended that day; the Beasts might have seen the truth and thrown the Ape down. But before he could say another word two Calormenes struck him in the mouth with all their force, and a third, from behind, kicked his feet from under him. And as he fell, the Ape squealed in rage and terror:. Take him where he cannot hear us, nor we hear him.

There tie him to a tree.

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I will—I mean, Aslan will—do justice to him later. The King was so dizzy from being knocked down that he hardly knew what was happening until the Calormenes untied his wrists and put his arms straight down by his sides and set him with his back against an ash tree. Then they bound ropes round his ankles and his knees and his waist and his chest and left him there. What worried him worst at the moment—for it is often little things that are hardest to stand—was that his lip was bleeding where they had hit him and he couldn't wipe the little trickle of blood away although it tickled him.

From where he was he could still see the little stable on the top of the hill and the Ape sitting in front of it. He could just hear the Ape's voice still going on and, every now and then, some answer from the crowd but he could not make out the words. Presently the crowd of Beasts broke up and began going away in different directions. Some passed close to Tirian. They looked at him as if they were both frightened and sorry to see him tied up but none of them spoke. Soon they had all gone and there was silence in the wood.

Then hours and hours went past and Tirian became first very thirsty and then very hungry; and as the afternoon dragged on and turned into evening, he became cold too. His back was very sore. The sun went down and it began to be twilight. When it was almost dark Tirian heard a light pitter-patter of feet and saw some small creatures coming towards him.

The three on the left were Mice, and there was a Rabbit in the middle: Both of these were carrying little bags on their backs which gave them a curious look in the dark so that at first he wondered what kind of beasts they were. Then, in a moment, they were all standing up on their hind legs, laying their cool paws on his knees and giving his knees snuffly animal kisses. They could reach his knees because Narnian Talking Beasts of that sort are bigger than the dumb beasts of the same kinds in England.

We daren't untie you because Aslan might be angry with us. But we've brought you your supper. At once the first Mouse climbed nimbly up till he was perched on the rope that bound Tirian's chest and was crinkling his blunt nose just in front of Tirian's face. Then the second Mouse climbed up and hung on just below the first Mouse. The other beasts stood on the ground and began handing things up.

It was only the size of an eggcup so that he had hardly tasted the wine in it before it was empty. But then the Mouse passed it down and the others re-filled it and it was passed up again and Tirian emptied it a second time. In this way they went on till he had quite a good drink, which was all the better for coming in little doses, for that is more thirst-quenching than one long draught. There is blood on it. We don't want any other King.

If it were only the Ape and the Calormenes who were against you, we would have fought till we were cut into pieces before we'd have let them tie you up. We would, we would indeed. But we can't go against Aslan. But there's no doubt about it. Everyone says it is Aslan's orders, and we've seen him. We didn't think Aslan would be like that. Why, we—we wanted him to come back to Narnia.

He must be punishing us for something. But I do think we might be told what it was! But the others said, "Oh hush," and "do be careful," and then they all said, "We're sorry, dear King, but we must go back now. It would never do for us to be caught here. The stars came out and time went slowly on—imagine how slowly—while the last King of Narnia stood stiff and sore and upright against the tree in his bonds. But at last something happened. Far away there appeared a red light. Then it disappeared for a moment and came back again, bigger and stronger.

Then he could see dark shapes going to and fro on this side of the light and carrying bundles and throwing them down. He knew now what he was looking at. It was a bonfire, newly lit, and people were throwing bundles of brushwood onto it. Presently it blazed up and Tirian could see that it was on the very top of the hill. He could see quite clearly the stable behind it, all lit up in the red glow, and a great crowd of Beasts and Men between the fire and himself.

A small figure, hunched up beside the fire, must be the Ape. It was saying something to the crowd, but he could not hear what. Then it went and bowed three times to the ground in front of the door of the stable. Then it got up and opened the door. And something on four legs—something that walked rather stiffly—came out of the stable and stood facing the crowd. Be angry with us no more. From where Tirian was, he could not make out very clearly what the thing was; but he could see that it was yellow and hairy.

He had never seen the Great Lion. He had never seen even a common lion. He couldn't be sure that what he saw was not the real Aslan. He had not expected Aslan to look like that stiff thing which stood and said nothing. But how could one be sure? For a moment horrible thoughts went through his mind: The Ape put his head close up to the yellow thing's head as if he were listening to something it was whispering to him.

Then he turned and spoke to the crowd, and the crowd wailed again. Then the yellow thing turned clumsily round and walked—you might almost say, waddled—back into the stable and the Ape shut the door behind it. After that the fire must have been put out for the light vanished quite suddenly, and Tirian was once more alone with the cold and the darkness. He thought of other Kings who had lived and died in Narnia in old times and it seemed to him that none of them had ever been so unlucky as himself.

He thought of his great-grandfather's great-grandfather, King Rilian, who had been stolen away by a Witch when he was only a young prince and kept hidden for years in the dark caves beneath the land of the Northern Giants. But then it had all come right in the end, for two mysterious children had suddenly appeared from the land beyond the world's end and had rescued him so that he came home to Narnia and had a long and prosperous reign. Then he went further back and thought about Rilian's father, Caspian the Seafarer, whose wicked uncle King Miraz had tried to murder him, and how Caspian fled away into the woods and lived among the Dwarfs.

But that story too had all come right in the end too: And Aslan had come into that story a lot. He had come into all the other stories too, as Tirian now remembered. Oh, if only they could now. And still there was no change in the night or the wood, but there began to be a kind of change inside Tirian. Without knowing why, he began to feel a faint hope. And he felt somehow stronger. Or let me call them.

Let my voice carry beyond the world. And immediately he was plunged into a dream if it was a dream more vivid than any he had had in his life. He seemed to be standing in a lighted room where seven people sat round a table. It looked as if they had just finished their meal. Two of these people were very old, an old man with a white beard and an old woman with wise, merry, twinkling eyes. He who sat at the right hand of the old man was hardly full grown, certainly younger than Tirian himself, but his face had already the look of a king and a warrior.

And you could almost say the same of the other youth who sat at the right hand of the old woman. Facing Tirian across the table sat a fair-haired girl younger than either of these, and on either side of her, a boy and girl who were younger still. They were all dressed in what seemed to Tirian the oddest kind of clothes. But he had no time to think about details like that, for instantly the youngest boy and both the girls started to their feet, and one of them gave a little scream. The old woman started and drew in her breath sharply.

The old man must have made some sudden movement too for the wine glass which stood at his right hand was swept off the table: Tirian could hear the tinkling noise as it broke on the floor. Then Tirian realised that these people could see him; they were staring at him as if they saw a ghost.

But he noticed that the king-like one who sat at the old man's right never moved though he turned pale except that he clenched his hand very tight. You have a Narnian look about you and we are the seven friends of Narnia. Tirian was longing to speak, and he tried to cry out aloud that he was Tirian of Narnia, in great need of help. But he found as I have sometimes found in dreams too that his voice made no noise at all. The one who had already spoken to him arose to his feet. I am Peter the High King. The room began to swim before Tirian's eyes. He heard the voices of those seven people all speaking at once, and all getting fainter every second, and they were saying things like, "Look!

The wood was full of the pale, dreary light that comes before sunrise, and he was soaking wet with dew; it was nearly morning. But his misery did not last long. Almost at once there came a bump, and then a second bump, and two children were standing before him. The wood in front of him had been quite empty a second before and he knew they had not come from behind his tree, for he would have heard them. They had in fact simply appeared from nowhere. He saw at a glance that they were wearing the same queer, dingy sort of clothes as the people in his dream; and he saw, at a second glance, that they were the youngest boy and girl out of that party of seven.

We came the moment we could. While she was speaking the Boy had produced a knife from his pocket and was quickly cutting the King's bonds: He couldn't get up again till he had brought some life back into his legs by a good rubbing. Nearly a week ago. The time of your strange land is different from ours. But if we speak of Time, 'tis time to be gone from here: Will you come with me?

Tirian got to his feet and led them rapidly downhill, southward and away from the stable. He knew well where he meant to go but his first aim was to get to rocky places where they would leave no trail, and his second to cross some water so that they would leave no scent. This took them about an hour's scrambling and wading and while that was going on nobody had any breath to talk. But even so, Tirian kept on stealing glances at his companions. The wonder of walking beside the creatures from another world made him feel a little dizzy: Tirian wondered very much what he meant by "grub," but when the Boy opened a bulgy satchel which he was carrying and pulled out a rather greasy and squashy packet, he understood.

He was ravenously hungry, though he hadn't thought about it till that moment. There were two hard-boiled egg sandwiches, and two cheese sandwiches, and two with some kind of paste in them. If he hadn't been so hungry, he wouldn't have thought much of the paste, for that is a sort of food nobody eats in Narnia. By the time he had eaten all six sandwiches they had come to the bottom of the valley and there they found a moss cliff with a little fountain bubbling out of it.

All three stopped and drank and splashed their hot faces. By Aslan's good will I was not robbed of my keys. In that tower we shall find store of weapons and mail and some victuals also, though no better than dry biscuit. There also we can lie safe while we make our plans. And now, prithee, tell me who you two are and all your story. Oh of course he would be. He has been dead over two hundred years. Jill made a face. The Professor and Aunt Polly had got all us friends of Narnia together——". The Lord Digory and the Lady Polly!

From the dawn of the world! And still alive in your place? The wonder and the glory of it! But tell me, tell me. Well, those two got us all together: Well then you came in like a ghost or goodness-knows-what and nearly frightened the lives out of us and vanished without saying a word. After that, we knew for certain there was something up. The next question was how to get here. You can't go just by wanting to. So we talked and talked and at last the Professor said the only way would be by the Magic Rings.

It was by those Rings that he and Aunt Polly got here long, long ago when they were only kids, years before we younger ones were born. But the Rings had all been buried in the garden of a house in London that's our big town, Sire and the house had been sold. So then the problem was how to get at them. You'll never guess what we did in the end!

Peter and Edmund—that's the High King Peter, the one who spoke to you—went up to London to get into the garden from the back, early in the morning before people were up.

They were dressed like workmen so that if anyone did see them it would look as if they'd come to do something about the drains. I wish I'd been with them: And they must have succeeded for next day Peter sent us a wire—that's a sort of message, Sire, I'll explain about it some other time—to say he'd got the Rings. And the day after that was the day Pole and I had to go back to school—we're the only two who are still at school and we're at the same one.

So Peter and Edmund were to meet us at a place on the way down to school and hand over the Rings. It had to be us two who were to go to Narnia, you see, because the older ones couldn't come again. So we got into the train—that's kind of thing people travel in in our world: We wanted to keep together as long as we could. Well there we were in the train. And we were just getting to the station where the others were to meet us, and I was looking out of the window to see if I could see them when suddenly there came a most frightful jerk and a noise: Aslan did it all for us in his own way without any Rings.

And he said something of the same sort to the High King, only longer ago. You may be sure he'll come like a shot if he's allowed. Not many yards away grey battlements rose above the treetops, and after a minute's more walking they came out in an open grassy space.

A stream ran across it and on the far side of the stream stood a squat, square tower with very few and narrow windows and one heavy-looking door in the wall that faced them. Tirian looked sharply this way and that to make sure that no enemies were in sight. Then he walked up to the tower and stood still for a moment fishing up his bunch of keys which he wore inside his hunting-dress on a narrow silver chain that went round his neck.

It was a nice bunch of keys that he brought out, for two were golden and many were richly ornamented: But the key which he now put into the lock of the door was big and plain and more rudely made. The lock was stiff and for a moment Tirian was afraid that he would not be able to turn it: But at last he did and the door swung open with a sullen creak.

Tirian was pleased to see that the two strangers had been well brought up. They both said not to mention it and that they were sure it would be very nice. As a matter of fact it was not particularly nice. It was rather dark and smelled very damp. There was only one room in it and this room went right up to the stone roof: There were a few rude bunks to sleep in, and a great many lockers and bundles. There was also a hearth which looked as if nobody had lit a fire in it for a great many years. He was determined that they should not be caught unarmed, and began searching the lockers, thankfully remembering that he had always been careful to have these garrison towers inspected once a year to make sure that they were stocked with all things needful.

The bow strings were there in their coverings of oiled silk, the swords and spears were greased against rust, and the armour was kept bright in its wrappings. But there was something even better. I have ever kept a few suits of it in readiness, for I never knew when I or my friends might have reason to walk unseen in the Tisroc's land. And look on this stone bottle.

In this there is a juice which, when we have rubbed it on our hands and faces, will make us brown as Calormenes. Tirian showed them how to pour out a little of the juice into the palms of their hands and then rub it well over their faces and necks, right down to the shoulders, and then on their hands, right up to the elbows. He did the same himself. Nothing but oil and ashes will make us white Narnians again.

And now, sweet Jill, let us go see how this mail-shirt becomes you. Doubtless it belonged to a page in the train of one of their Tarkaans. After the mail shirts they put on Calormene helmets, which are little round ones fitting tight to the head and having a spike on top. Then Tirian took long rolls of some white stuff out of the locker and wound them over the helmets till they became turbans: He and Eustace took curved Calormene swords and little round shields. There was no sword light enough for Jill, but he gave her a long, straight hunting knife which might do for a sword at a pinch.

Not that either of us is much. Then Tirian gave Jill a bow and a quiver full of arrows. The next business was to light a fire, for inside that tower it still felt more like a cave than like anything indoors and set one shivering. But they got warm gathering the wood—the sun was now at its highest—and when once the blaze was roaring up the chimney the place began to look cheerful.

Dinner was, however, a dull meal, for the best they could do was to pound up some of the hard biscuit which they found in a locker and pour it into boiling water, with salt, so as to make a kind of porridge. And there was nothing to drink but water. About four hours later Tirian flung himself into one of the bunks to snatch a little sleep. The two children were already snoring: Also, he had tired them out. First he had given Jill some practice in archery and found that, though not up to Narnian standards, she was really not too bad. Indeed she had succeeded in shooting a rabbit not a Talking rabbit, of course: He had found that both the children knew all about this chilly and smelly job; they had learned that kind of thing on their great journey through Giant-Land in the days of Prince Rilian.

Then he had tried to teach Eustace how to use his sword and shield. Eustace had learned quite a lot about sword fighting on his earlier adventures but that had been all with a straight Narnian sword. He had never handled a curved Calormene scimitar and that made it hard, for many of the strokes are quite different and some of the habits he had learned with the long sword had now to be unlearned again. But Tirian found that he had a good eye and was very quick on his feet. He was surprised at the strength of both the children: It is one of the effects which Narnian air often has on visitors from our world.

All three of them agreed that the very first thing they must do was to go back to Stable Hill and try to rescue Jewel the Unicorn. After that, if they succeeded, they would try to get away Eastward and meet the little army which Roonwit the Centaur would be bringing from Cair Paravel. An experienced warrior and huntsman like Tirian can always wake up at the time he wants. So he gave himself till nine o'clock that night and then put all worries out of his head and fell asleep at once.

It seemed only a moment later when he woke but he knew by the light and the very feel of things that he had timed his sleep exactly. He got up, put on his helmet-and-turban he had slept in his mail-shirt , and then shook the other two till they woke up. They looked, to tell the truth, very grey and dismal as they climbed out of their bunks and there was a good deal of yawning. If we are challenged, then do you two hold your peace and I will do my best to talk like a curst, cruel, proud lord of Calormen.

If I draw my sword then thou, Eustace, must do likewise and let Jill leap behind us and stand with an arrow on the string. But if I cry 'Home,' then fly for the Tower both of you. And let none try to fight on—not even one stroke—after I have given the retreat: And now friends, in the name of Aslan let us go forward.

Out they went into the cold night. All the great northern stars were burning above the treetops. The North-Star of that world is called the Spear-Head: For a time they could go straight towards the Spear-Head but presently they came to a dense thicket so that they had to go out of their course to get round it. And after that—for they were still overshadowed by branches—it was hard to pick up their bearings.

It was Jill who set them right again: And of course she knew her Narnian stars perfectly, having travelled so much in the wild Northern Lands, and could work out the direction from other stars even when the Spear-Head was hidden. As soon as Tirian saw that she was the best pathfinder of the three of them he put her in front. And then he was astonished to find how silently and almost invisibly she glided on before them.

If she had Dryad's blood in her she could scarce do it better. But Jill from in front said: All round them the wood was very quiet. Indeed it was far too quiet. On an ordinary Narnian night there ought to have been noises—an occasional cheery "Good night" from a hedgehog, the cry of an owl overhead, perhaps a flute in the distance to tell of Fauns dancing, or some throbbing, hammering noises from Dwarfs underground. All that was silenced: After a time they began to go steeply uphill and the trees grew further apart. Tirian could dimly make out the well known hilltop and the stable. Jill was now going with more and more caution: Then she stopped dead still and Tirian saw her gradually sink down into the grass and disappear without a sound.

A moment later she rose again, put her mouth close to Tirian's ear, and said in the lowest possible whisper, "Get down. Tirian at once lay down, almost as silently as Jill, but not quite for he was heavier and older. And once they were down, he saw how from that position you could see the edge of the hill sharp against the star-strewn sky. Two black shapes rose against it: He was keeping very ill watch: She had shown him exactly what he needed to know.

They got up and Tirian now took the lead. Very slowly, hardly daring to breathe, they made their way up to a little clump of trees which was not more than forty feet away from the sentinel. The man started when he saw him and was just going to jump to his feet: But before he could get up, Tirian had dropped on one knee beside him, saying:. It cheers my heart to meet thee among all these beasts and devils of Narnians.