Chapter 9 Chapter 9 The Gathering at Stable Hill

For a long time they could not speak, nor could they even shed a single tear.Then the unicorn stamped the ground with its hoof, shook its mane, and spoke. "Your Majesty," said it, "there is no need for discussion now. We have discovered the plot of the Ape, buried deeper than we had dreamed. There is no doubt that he has long been in secret association with the Teesrock, And even when he found the lion's fur, he sent word to Tithrock, telling him to deploy his navy to take Cair Paravel and all of Narnia. Now the seven of us have no choice but to go back to Stable Hill, declare the truth, and venture that Aslan sent us. If by some great miracle we defeat thirty Calormenes in league with the Ape, we shall turn our heads again to meet, and die in battle, the greater Calormene force that will soon come from Cair Paravel."

Tirian nodded.But he turned to the boys and said, "Ah, friends, the time has come for you to go back to your own world. You have undoubtedly done everything you were sent to do." "But— But we didn't do anything about it." said Jill, who was shaking, not really saying she was afraid, but because she felt so bad and disgusted. "That is wrong," said the king, "you loosed me from the tree, and you went before me last night through the woods like a snake, and caught the donkey astray; and you, Eustace, Killed the Calormene soldier. But you are too young to go to such a bloody end as we did, and the rest of us, tonight, or maybe three days from now, will have to face it Yes. I implore you—no, I command you—to return to your own worlds. I should be ashamed if I let such young warriors fall beside me in battle."

"No, no, no," said Jill (she was very pale at first, then suddenly flushed, and then pale again), "we don't want to go back, what you say, We don't care. We'll be true to you and stand with you no matter what happens, Eustace, don't you?" "Yes, but there's no need to be so excited about it," said Eustace, putting his hands in his pockets (he forgot how queer a position he looked in chain mail), "because, You see, we don't have a choice. What's the use of talking about going back? How? We don't have the magic of going back!"

It was a wise remark, but Jill hated Eustace for saying it at the moment.He always likes to go overboard when others get excited. When Tirian realized that the two strangers could not go home (unless Aslan suddenly took them away), his second move was to take them across the high mountains of the south into Archenland, where it might be safer.But they didn't know the way, and they couldn't send anyone to accompany them.As Poggin pointed out, once the Calormenes took Narnia, they were sure to take Archenland in the next week or so and "Tithroc" was always going to annex these northern countries for their own .At last Eustace and Jill pleaded.Then Tirian said they could go with him and take their chances--or, as he more wisely put it, "take whatever Aslan sent them."

The King's first idea was that they should not go back to Stable Hill until after dark--the name of which disgusted them now.But the Dwarf told them that if they reached the hill during the day, they were likely to find no one there, except maybe a few guards.The beasts, terrified by what the Apes (and Ginger) had told them of Aslan's - or Tashlan's - new rage, dared not go near the stables unless called upon to drive the dreaded Midnight meeting.The Calormenes were never good hands in the woods.Poggin thought they could easily get around somewhere behind Stable Hill during the day without being seen.It was much more difficult when night came, when the Apes would gather the Beast, and all the Calormenes were on duty.When the convention begins, they can leave Puzzle behind the horse, completely out of sight, until they want to bring him out for public display.This was obviously a good thing; for their only chance of success was to surprise the Beasts of Narnia suddenly and unexpectedly.

The plan was agreed upon, and the whole procession followed a new route—northwest—to the hateful hill.Eagles sometimes flew above them, and sometimes sat resting on their dazed backs.No one would dream of walking on a unicorn--not even a king rides on a unicorn, except in great necessity. This field, Jill and Eustace walked together.They had felt very brave when they begged the king to allow them to come and fight with the others, but now they did not feel brave at all. "Pole," said Eustace in a low voice, "I'll tell you, I've got a fright in my head." "Ah, Scrubb, you can," said Jill, "you can fight. But I—I'm trembling, if you want to know the truth."

"Oh, shivering is nothing," said Eustace, "I think I'm going to be sick." "My God, don't mention it," said Jill.They walked in silence for two minutes. "Poll," Eustace began again presently. "What is it?" she said. "What would happen if we were killed here?" "I think we'd be dead." "But I mean what happens in our own world? Will we wake up and find ourselves back in that train? Or will we simply disappear, never to be heard from again? Or are we dead in England too? " "God, I never thought of that."

"Peter and the others, if they see me waving out of the window, and then the train pulls in and can't find us anywhere, it's going to be weird to them! Or, if they find two —I mean, if we were dead over there in England." "Yeah," said Jill, "what a horrible idea." "It wouldn't be terrible for us," said Eustace. "We shouldn't be there." "I almost wish--no, though, I won't," said Jill. "What are you going to say?" "I was about to say, I wish we never had. But I won't, I won't, I won't. Not even if we were killed. I'd rather fight for Narnia And sacrificing your life instead of growing old and stupid at home, maybe wheeling around in a wheelchair and dying anyway."

"Or get smashed by a British train!" "Why do you say that?" "Ah, when the train shook terribly—the one that seemed to throw us into Narnia—I thought that was the beginning of the train wreck. So I was overjoyed to find us here." While Jill and Eustace were talking about the incident, the other mates were discussing plans, and it became less painful.For they were thinking now of what had to be done tonight--and thoughts of what had happened to Narnia, and the glory and joy of Narnia were over, and so on, were pushed to the back of their minds.When they stopped talking, the thoughts came up and made them suffer again; but they went on talking.Poggin was, indeed, quite pleased with their obligatory work for the night.He was sure that the boar and the bear, and probably all the dogs, would be on their side at once.He also couldn't believe that all the other dwarfs would cling to Griffle.It is to the advantage of the weaker side to fight by the fire and to haunt the trees.And if they win tonight, will they really need to sacrifice their lives a few days later to meet the Calormene main force?

Why not hide in the forest, or even go to the wild west outside the Great Falls, and live like fugitives? Then they may grow stronger and stronger, because the beasts that speak human and the Archenlanders will come to join them every day team.In the end they would pop up from hiding, sweep the Calormenes (who would be careless then) out of their country, and Narnia would be restored.After all, things like this happened in the time of King Miraz! Tirian heard all this, and what he was thinking was "But what is God Tash doing?"But he didn't say that.There was, of course, silence from all as they came closer to Stable Hill.Thus, the real forest activities began.From the moment when they first saw Stable Hill to the moment when they were all behind the belly of the horse it took them more than two hours.This process cannot be properly described without a page-by-page account.From each cover to the next is adventure after adventure, with long waits and several false alarms in between.If you're a good scout or a good guide, you already know what this must be like.Towards sunset they were all safe in a clump of holly about fifteen yards behind the stable.They all ate some biscuits and lay down on the ground.

Then comes the hardest part, the waiting.Fortunately the children slept for two hours, but of course when they woke up it was dark and cold, and worse, they woke up thirsty and had no chance to get water.Puzzle just stood there, trembling with a little nervousness.But Tirian slept soundly, with his head on Jewel's belly, as sweetly as on Cair Paravel's couch, until the sound of a gong woke him, and he arose, Seeing the flames in the distance of the stables, he knew the hour had come. "Kiss me, Jewel," said he, "for this must be our last night on this earth. If I have offended you in any way, great or small, forgive me now." "Dear King," said the Unicorn, "I almost wish you had offended me, so that I might forgive. Good-bye. We were so happy together. If Aslan would let me choose, I would only To choose the life I have lived is to choose only the sacrifices we have to make." That's when they woke the eagle.The eagle sleeps with its head tucked under its wings (which makes it seem as if it has no head at all).They crawled forward to the bottom of the horse.They left the donkey bewildered behind the stable (not without a kind word, because no one is angry with the donkey now).They told the donkey not to move until someone came to take it away, and they themselves set up a battle at one end of the horse.The bonfire had only just been lit and was just beginning to burn.The fire was only a few feet away from them, and a great pack of the Beasts of Narnia were on the other side, so Tirian couldn't see very well at first, but of course he saw a dozen pairs of eyes glowing in the fire's reflection, like yours. Like the eyes of a hare or cat seen in the light of a car's headlights.As soon as Tirian took his place, the gong stopped, and three dark figures appeared from a place to his left.One was Rishda "Tycan", captain of Calormene.The second was the Ape, with one of its front paws in the hands of the Taycan, who whimpered and muttered, "Don't go so fast, don't go so fast, I'm not well at all. Oh, I Poor head hurts! I'm getting sick of these midnight meetings. Apes are not fit to stay up at night. Apes are not nocturnal like mice or bats - oh my poor head hurts On the other side of the Ape, Ginger the Cat was coming, very light and dignified, with his tail upright in the air.They walked towards the fire, and they were so close to Tirian that if they were going in the right direction they would have seen Tirian at once.Fortunately they were looking in the wrong direction.But Tirian heard Rishta whispering to Ginger. "Cat, get to your station. Take care to play your part." "Fine, fine. Look at me!" said Ginger.Then he went outside the fire and sat down in the first row of the assembled beasts, among the audience, as you will say.Because of the development of things, the whole situation is really like being in a theater.The beasts of Narnia are like spectators sitting in their seats, and the little grass in front of the stable is like a stage, and the bonfire is burning brightly, and the ape and Captain Calormen stand there to speak to the crowd. Like the set behind the stage, and Tirian and his friends, like the people looming behind the set.If any of them stepped out into the firelight, all eyes would be fixed on them at once; on the other hand, as long as they stood motionless in the shadow of the far wall of the stable, the Ninety-nine is going to go unnoticed. Rishda "Tycan" dragged the ape close to the campfire.They both turned their faces away from the crowd, which meant, of course, that their backs were to Tirian and his friends. "Listen, monkey," whispered "Tykan" Rishda, "speak the words that have been put into your mouth by brains smarter than yours. Hold your head up." He spoke with his The tip of the toe pokes or kicks the ape in the back. "Let go of me," Shift murmured.But it sat up straighter, and in a louder voice, began, "Listen, all of you. A terrible thing has happened. A wicked thing. The most wicked thing that has ever happened in Narnia." things. Aslan—" "Tashlan, fool." Rishda "Tycan" corrected in a low voice. "I meant Tashlan, of course," said the Ape, "and Tashlan was very angry about it." There was an eerie silence on the meadow as the beasts waited to hear what new trouble they were about to encounter.The group at the foot of the stable wall held their breath too. What will happen now? "Yes," said the Ape, "at this very moment the terrible god is among us--and behind me in the stable--a wicked beast has deliberately done a heinous deed, and you will all I think that no god, even miles away, would dare to do such a thing. He has put a lion's skin on his body, and is running about in these woods, pretending to be Aslan the lion king." Jill wondered for a moment—is the ape mad? Is he going to tell the whole truth? There was a roar of terror and anger from the pack. "Damn it!" came the growl. "What is it? Where is it? Let's bite it with our teeth!" "Saw it last night," squealed the Ape, "but it got away. It's a donkey! A plain miserable donkey. If any of you see the donkey—" + "Damn it!" roared the beasts, "we must, must kill him. He better not touch us." Jill looked at the king.The king's mouth was open, and there was a look of horror on his face.At this moment he understood the evil and treacherous plan of the enemy.Adding a little truth makes their lies far more powerful.Now, tell the beasts that an ass has been dressed as a lion, to deceive them—what is the use? It is enough for the Ape to say, "That is what I have just said."What good is there in displaying a donkey in a lion's skin? Wild beasts will tear the donkey to pieces. "That's the wind that took off our sails," murmured Eustace. "Stolen the ground we stand on," said Tirian. "Damn, damn clever!" said Poggin, "I'll bet Ginger invented this new lie."