Chapter 5 Chapter 5 Rescue the King

But the king's misery did not last long.Almost at once there was a bang, and another bang, and the two boys stood before the king.A second before, the wood in front of the king had been deserted; and the king knew that they had not come from behind the tree that bound him, for he would have heard footsteps from behind the tree.In fact they literally popped up out of nowhere from only God knows what.The king saw it at once, for they were dressed in the same quaint and shabby clothes he had seen in his dreams.Taking a second look, the King saw that they were the youngest boys and girls of the seven around the table.

"My God!" said the boy, "it's so overwhelming! I thought..." Untie him now," said the girl, "we can talk later. ' Then she turned to Tirian and added 'I'm sorry we're late.We tried to set off as soon as possible. " As she said so, the boy took a small knife from his pocket, and cut the ropes that bound the king quickly, too quickly in fact, for the king was so stiff and numb that he fell when the last rope was cut. Come down, on your hands and knees.He wiped his legs well for a while, bringing them back to life before he could stand up again.

"Hey," said the girl, "the seven of us were at supper that night, and that was you, wasn't it? About a week ago." "Pretty girl, was it a week ago?" said Tirian. "It was only ten minutes since my dream brought me into your world." "About the question of time, it is often a muddled account," said the boy. "I remember now," said Tirian, "in the old stories, too. Time in your strange world is very different from our time. But if we speak of time and time , now is the time for us to leave here for my enemies are near. Will you go with me?"

"Of course," said the girl, "you were the one we came to rescue." Tirian strode forward and led them quickly down the hill, heading south, away from the stables.He knew quite well where he was going, but his first object was to walk on the stone path so that no footprints were left; his second object was to wade through the water so that no smell was left.They spent about an hour climbing and wading; and during this wading, not one of them said a word.Even so, Tirian continued to sneak a glance or two at his companion.The magical feeling of walking side by side with characters from another world made him a little dizzy; but it also made all the old stories far more real than usual... Anything can happen now.

"And now," said Tirian, as they came to the beginning of a little valley that wound down among the birch trees ahead of them, "we're a long way from the danger of those rascals, You might as well walk more comfortably now." The sun has risen, the dew is glistening on the branches, and the birds are singing. "How about something to eat?—I mean would you like something to eat, Your Majesty, we've had breakfast," said the boy.Tirian wondered what he meant by "something to eat," but when the boy opened a bulging handbag he had brought and pulled out a bundle of greasy, limp stuff, he understood.He was starving, even though he hadn't thought of being hungry until now when he saw the food.The food consisted of two hard-boiled egg sandwiches, two dry sandwiches, and two jam sandwiches.He would hardly have eaten the jam sandwich if he had not been very hungry, for no one in Narnia eats that kind of jam.By the time he finished six sandwiches they had reached the bottom of the valley, where they found a mossy cliff with a bubbling spring.All three stopped to drink from the spring, and splashed it on their burning faces.

"Okay," said the girl, shaking her damp hair back from her forehead, "now you can tell us who you are, why you were tied to a tree, and how it all happened ?" "I'd love to tell you, madam," said Tirian, "but we must go on." So, as they walked, he told them what he was, and what happened to him. "Now, I will go to a fort," he said at last, "in the days of my ancestors, three forts were built to guard Lamppost Field, against the dangerous outlaws who once dwelt there. .By the blessing of Aslan, my key was not taken. In the fort to which I was going, we could find arms and armor, and also some food, though nothing better than dry, hard biscuits. Good stuff. We can still lay there safely and make plans. Now, tell me, both of you—who you are, and all your experiences."

"I'm Eustace Scrubb, and this is Jill Ball," said the boy, "we came here once, many centuries ago; in our time, that's more than a year." Once upon a time there was a man named Prince Rilian, who was shut up underground, and Padelgram put his foot in—" "Ha!" cried Tirian, "then you're taking King Rilian from Eustace and Jill rescued from a long magical obsession?" "Yes, that's just the two of us," said Jill, "and now he's King Rilian, isn't he? Oh, of course he'll be. I forgot—" "No," said Tirian , "I am his seventh generation descendant. He has been dead for more than two hundred years."

Jill made a face. "Er!" she said, "back to Narnia, that's the kind of thing that hurts." But Eustace went on. "Now you know who we are, Your Majesty," said he, "the thing is. The Professor and Aunt Polly have all our Narnian friends here—" "I don't know the names, Yoss." Tas," said Tirian. "They were the first two to come into Narnia, when all the beasts were learning to speak the human language." "My God!" cried Tirian, "these two! Lord Digory and Lady Polly! People from the First Beginning! Are they still alive in your world? It's a wonder and an honor! Tell me! Listen, tell me."

"She's not really our aunt, you know," said Eustace, "She's Miss Plummer, but we call her Auntie. Said these two took us all to a party: half for fun, and for us all to have a good chat about the Kingdom of Narnia (because, like that, we can't chat with other people); half the professor had a hunch that we were needed here. And then you came, like a ghost, or God only knows It almost scared our lives away, and disappeared without saying a word. After that, we knew that something must have happened. The second problem was how to get here. We can't think We came here, we came here. We discussed and discussed, and finally, the professor said, the only way is to rely on the magic of the Lord of the Rings. A long time ago, long before our young generation was born, they were just the children of young people. The Professor and Aunt Polly came here in those days, with the magic of those 'Lord of the Rings'. But the 'Lord of the Rings' are all buried in the garden of a house in London (that's our big city, Your Majesty) , the dwelling has been sold. So, the next question is how to get the Lord of the Rings. You will never guess how we got it in the end. Peter and Edmund - Peter is the Supreme King Peter, The man who was talking to you - came to London, entered the garden from behind in the early morning when people were still up. They dressed like workmen, so that if anyone saw them, they could appear to be dredging the gutter. , drain. I hope it must be an honor and a pleasure to go with them. They must have done well, for there was a telegram from Peter the next day that was a means of communication, Your Majesty. , I'll explain to you later - say he got the 'Lord of the Rings'. The next day, Pol and I both had to go back to school - only the two of us were still in school, and we both entered the same school. A school. So Peter and Edmund are going to meet us at a point on the way to school, and give us the Lord of the Rings. You see, we have to make two trips to Narnia , because old people can't come anymore. So we took the train - that's how people travel in our world, a lot of coaches linked together - Professor, Aunt Polly, Lucy Come with us. We'll stay together as long as we can. We're all in the train. We've just arrived at a station where other people are welcoming us, and I lean out the window to see if I could see the people who came to welcome me, when suddenly there was the most terrible shaking and noise, ah, we are in Narnia, and your Majesty is tied to a tree.'"

"So you've never used the 'Lord of the Rings'?" Tirian asked. "The Lord of the Rings is not used," said Eustace, "never even seen the Lord of the Rings. Aslan has arranged everything for us in his own way, and there is no need for a Lord of the Rings." ." "But High King Peter holds the 'Lord of the Rings'," said Tirian. "Yes," said Jill, "but we don't think he can use the Lord of the Rings. The last time the other two heads of state—King Edmund and Queen Lucy—were here, Aslan said , they will never come to Narnia again. Aslan said the same thing about High King Peter, but much earlier. You can be sure that, if allowed, High King Peter will be like an arrow Usually came."

"My God!" said Eustace, "it's getting hotter and hotter in this sun. Are we almost there, Sire?" "Look!" said Tirian, pointing ahead.Not many yards away the majestic fortress rose above the trees, and they continued walking for a few minutes before they entered an open meadow.A brook ran through the meadow, and on the other side of the brook stood a square fortress, with long and sparse windows, and a heavy-looking gate in the wall facing them. Tirian looked this way and that vigilantly, to make sure that there were no enemies around.Then he went up to the fort, and stood still for a moment, and from his hunting-coat drew out a bunch of keys, which were fastened on a long, thin silver chain, which hung about his neck.The set of keys which he produced was of exquisite beauty, two of which were of gold, and many of which were ornately decorated, so that you could see at once that they were used to open the doors of the solemn and secret chambers of the palace, Or to open the fragrant wooden cabinets and wooden boxes that housed the royal treasures.However, the key he inserted into the lock of the gate of the fortress was large and ordinary, and the casting was rough.Locks are not very flexible.For a moment Tirian worried that he would not be able to make it turn.But at last he turned the lock, and with an unpleasant creaking sound, the door swung open. "Friends, welcome to the light Temple," said Tirian, "I am afraid it is the best palace in which the King of Narnia can now receive his distinguished guests. "Tirian was pleased to see that the two strangers were well-bred. They both said you were welcome, and they were sure it would be all right. In fact, it's not particularly "pretty good".It was rather dark inside the fort, with a rather damp smell.There was only one room in the fort, and this room went up to the stone roof, and in one corner of the room a wooden staircase led up to a trap door, from which it was possible to go up to the Butterfly Wall.There were a few chunky bunks to sleep in, and lots of small lockers and packages.There was also a fireplace that looked as if no one had lit a fire in it for years. "We'd better go out and get some wood first, shall we?" said Jill. "Wait a minute, comrades," said Tirian.He made up his mind that they shouldn't be caught unarmed; he began to rummage through the cupboards, remembering with gratitude that he had always made a prudent rule to inspect these fortresses once a year to make sure that everything necessary was stocked.Sure enough, there are many things in stock: there are bowstrings, well covered with oiled silk, swords and spears, all coated with oil to prevent rust, and armor, tightly wrapped, still shining brightly.But there's even something more wonderful. "Look!" said Tirian, drawing out a long chain mail of fancy shape, and waving it before the eyes of the children. "It's a very interesting piece of chain mail, my lord," said Eustace. "Yes, my boy," said Tirian, "no Narnian dwarf could have made such mail. It is Calormene mail, and it is a queer thing. I have several in my collection." Spare, because I never know when I or my friends will need to walk in the land of 'Teeth Rock' without being noticed. And look at this stone bottle, there is a liquid in it, use it to wipe On our hands and faces, it can turn our skin brown, just like the Calormenes." "Ah, hooray I," said Jill, "disguise! I love disguising." Tippen showed them how to pour a little liquid in the palm of their hand and rub it on their face and neck up to their shoulders and then rub it on their arms up to their elbows.He did the same himself. "When this fluid has hardened on our skin," said he, "we are not afraid to wash in water, and it will not fade. Only washing with oil and ashes can make us fair-skinned Narnians again." .Lovely Jill, let's see if this chain mail suits your figure. It's grown a bit, but not as much as I feared. No doubt it belonged to 'Tycan' of one of the many attendants." After putting on the chain mail, they put on the Calormene helmets, which are little round things that fasten over the heads, with a point of iron on top.Then Tirian took a long roll of white cloth from the chest of drawers, and wrapped it around the helmet until it was wrapped into a turban, with the little point still sticking out of the middle.He and Eustace took the Calormene and the little round shield.There was no light enough sword for Jill, but he gave her a long, straight hunting knife to use as a sword in a pinch. "Miss, do you know how to draw a bow and shoot an arrow?" asked Tirian. "Not worth mentioning," said Jill, blushing, "Scrubb's skill is not bad." "Don't take her word for it, Your Majesty," said Eustace, "since we last came back from Narnia, we've been She practiced drawing the bow and archery, and she was about as good as I was. But neither of us was very good." So Tirian gave Jill a bow and a quiver full of arrows.The second thing was to make a fire, because being in the fortress didn't feel like being in a room, but more like being in a cave, which made people shiver with cold.But, warm as they brought the wood in--the sun was high--the place looked pleasant and cozy as the fire roared up the chimney.Dinner, however, was tedious, for the best they could do was to crack their hard biscuits in a cupboard, pour them into boiling water, add salt, and boil them into a kind of mush.There was nothing to drink except water. "I wish I could bring a box of tea," said Jill. "Or a tin of cocoa," said Eustace. "It can't be wrong to have a keg of good wine in each of these forts," said Tirian.