Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve Through the Stable Door

Jill would have been back to Whitestone by now, but she had completely forgotten this part of her order in the excitement of watching the battle.Now she remembered.She immediately turned around and ran towards Baishitou, arriving just one second earlier than the others.During the retreat they all turned their backs to the enemy for a while.They turned around when they reached the white stone.Their eyes beheld a terrible sight. A Calormene soldier was running towards the stable door with something kicking and struggling in his arms.When the Calormene soldiers came between them and the fire, they could clearly see the shape of the soldiers and what they were carrying.It was Eustace. :

Tirian and the Unicorn run to rescue Eustace.But the Calormene soldiers were much closer to the stable door now than they were.They had not come half the distance before the soldier threw Eustace through the door and closed it behind him.Six or seven Calormenes came up after him.The soldiers formed a formation in the open space in front of the stables.There's no way to break through now.At this moment Jill also remembered the order to turn her face away from the bowstring. "Even if I can't stop crying, I won't get my bowstring wet," she said. "Watch out for sharp arrows," said Poggin suddenly.

Everyone bowed their heads and pulled their helmets over their noses.The dogs crouched behind them.However, although a few arrows were shot in their direction, it soon became clear that they were not what the other side wanted to shoot.Griffle and his dwarfs were again fiddling with bows, this time calmly shooting Calormene soldiers. "Boys, take courage!" came Griffle's voice. "All together. Be careful. We don't want black skins, just as we don't want ape-lions-kings, exactly. Dwarfs always Stand up for the dwarfs." Whatever you may say about the dwarfs, no one can say that they are not brave.They can easily leave the scene and go to a safe area.They preferred to stay where they were, and kill as many fighters as they could on both sides: unless both sides killed each other, and mercifully spared the trouble of the dwarves.The Dwarfs want Narnia to be the Dwarfs' own Narnia.

What the dwarf probably didn't figure out was that the Calormene soldiers were in armor, but the horses were unprotected.Calormene soldiers also have a leader who directs the battle.Rishta's voice was yelling, "Thirty of you watch those fools by the white stone, and the rest follow me, and we might as well teach these sons of the dirt a hard lesson." Tirian and His friends, panting after the battle, were grateful for a few minutes' rest, and they stood watching as Tarkan led his men on the charge of the dwarfs.It was a strange sight.The flames of the bonfire fell, and the light it emitted dimmed and became dark red.All that could be seen was that the whole assembly-place was now empty, save for the Dwarfs and the Calormene soldiers.In this dim light, one can no longer see much of what is going on.It sounds like the dwarves are having a hard time fighting it out.Tirian could hear Griffle swearing in terrible language, and Tarkan yelled intermittently, "Take them all alive! Take them alive!"

No matter how the battle was fought, it didn't last long.The drum noise faded away.Then Jill saw Taykan coming back to the stable; eleven soldiers followed him, and eleven captured and bound dwarfs with him. (Whether all the other dwarfs were killed, or whether some of them escaped, is never known. "Throw them into the temple of Tash," said Rishda "Tycan." As the eleven dwarfs, one by one, were thrown or kicked into the dark door of the stable, which was closed again, he bowed to the stable and said, "These are also offerings for your burning." Goods. God Tash."

All the Calormenes thumped their shields with the backs of their swords, shouting: "Tash! Tash! Great Tash! Irresistible Tash!" The "Tashland" of the White Stone. The little company by the White Stone watched the action and whispered to each other. They found a trickle of water running down the White Stone, and all drank water eagerly—Jill, Both Poggin and the King drank from cups in their hands, and the four-legged animals licked and ate from little pools formed under the white stones. They were so thirsty that it seemed as if they had drank all their lives. The most delicious drink; they drank it so happily that they could think of nothing else. "I'm sure," said Poggin, "we'll all, one by one, go through that place before morning. The Dark Door. I don't want to die like that. I can think of a hundred other ways to die."

"It's a cruel door indeed," said Tirian, "it's more like a gaping mouth." "Oh, what can we do to stop it?" asked Jill in a trembling voice. "No, pretty friend," said Jewel, nudging her tenderly, "maybe this is the door to Aslan's country, and we can have supper at Aslan's table tonight." "Tykan" Rishda turned around and carried the stable on his back, and walked slowly towards a spot in front of the white stone. "Listen," he said, "if the boar, the dog, and the unicorn will come to me, and beg me for mercy. I will spare their lives. The boar may go to the cage in the royal garden of Teesrock. Go; the dogs may go to Teesrock's kennels, and the unicorn, after I've sawed off his horns, may pull the carts, but the eagles, and the children, and the king's man, It will be used as a sacrifice tonight, and it will be offered to God Tash.”

The only answer was a howl of anger. "Come on, warriors!" ordered the Tarkan. "Kill those beasts, and capture those two-legged men alive." Thus began the final battle of the last King of Narnia. Besides the enemy's numbers, what makes the battle hopeless is the enemy's spear.The Calormenes, who have been in league with the Apes almost from the beginning, have no spears: for they came into Narnia one by two disguised as traders, and of course they did not carry spears, which are not a thing to hide. up something. The new Calormenes must have come later, when the Apes were strong enough for the Calormenes to march openly.With spears, the situation is quite different.If you are quick and calm, with a spear in your hand, you can kill a boar before its tusks can reach you, and a unicorn before its horn can reach you.Many spears now in parallel were closing in on Tirian and his last friends.They were all fighting for their lives before long.

You might think that, in a way, fighting like this isn't such a bad thing.When you have used all your muscles—here ducking over a spear's point, there jumping over a spear's point, lunging forward, backing away, spinning and spinning—you have no time for panic or sorrow.Tirian knew there was nothing he could do with the others now: they were all doomed.He vaguely saw the boar go down by his side, and Jewel fighting fiercely on the other side.Out of the corner of one eye he saw, just barely, a big Calormene grabbing Jill by the hair and pulling her somewhere.But it was difficult for him to think about these things, and he couldn't think of any of them.His only thought now was to pay as high a price as he could for his own life.Worst of all, he could not hold his first chosen position under the white stone.A man fighting a dozen enemies at once must take advantage of his opportunity wherever he can meet; wherever he sees an unprotected chest or neck of an enemy, he must rush to it.And just a few cuts will put you quite a distance from where you started.Tirian presently found herself advancing farther and farther to the right, and nearer to the stables.He had a vague notion in his mind that there was a good reason to stay away from the stables.But he couldn't remember the truth.In any case, he was helpless and helpless.

Suddenly, it became quite clear again.He found himself fighting the Tarkan.The bonfire (what was left of it) was directly in front of him.In fact, he was fighting at the stable door, for the stable door was open, and two Calormene soldiers held the door, ready to close it the moment he entered.Now that he remembered everything, he realized that from the beginning of the battle the enemy had been trying to drive him gradually towards the stables.He was still fighting the Tarkan when he thought of it, fighting as hard as he could.A new idea came to Tirian's mind.He dropped his sword, and leaped forward under the scimitar brandished by the Tarkan, and taking the foe's belt with both hands, he drew him, and leaping himself through the stable door, cried out: " Come in and meet Tash yourself!"

There was a deafening sound.Like when an ape is thrown in, the earth shakes and glows blindingly. The Calormene soldiers outside the stable shouted, "Tash, Tash!" and slammed the door shut.If God Tash needs their own captain, God Tash will definitely keep him.They, in any case, did not want to meet the god Tash. : For a minute or two Tirian didn't know where he was, or even who he was.Then he steadied himself, blinked, and looked around.Unlike what he had expected, the stable was not dark.It turned out that he was now in a strong light: that was why he blinked. He turned to look at Rishda "Tycan", but Rishda was not looking at him.Rishta wailed and pointed; then, with his hands out in front of his face, and his face on the ground, he fell flat.Tirian looked in the direction "Tycan" pointed.So he understood. % A terrible shape was coming towards them.It was much smaller than what they had seen in the fort, though still much larger than a man, and it was the same thing.It had the head and four arms of a vulture.Its beak was open, fire was shining from its eyes, and a hoarse sound came from its beak. "Tycan, Rishda, you called to me to enter Narnia. Here I am. What have you to say to me?" He raised his head without saying a word.He was shaking like a sick hiccup.He was brave enough in battle; but half of his courage was gone when, earlier in the night, he had first doubted that there might be a real Tash too.What was left of his courage was now gone. Suddenly Tash twisted—like a chicken ducking to peck at a worm—and threw himself on poor Rishda, lifting him up and holding him under his left arms.Tash then tilted his head and fixed Tirian with a horrible eye straight on, for of course he couldn't look straight at people since he had a bird's head. However, from behind Tash, a voice suddenly sounded, loud and calm, like the sea waves in summer.The voice said: "We command you in the name of Aslan and Aslan's grandfather Overseas Emperor: Come, monster, and return to your own place with your lawful victim." The hideous, hideous creature, with the Taikan under his arm, vanished.Tirian turned to see who was speaking.What he saw made his heart pound like never before in any battle. " Seven Kings and Queens stood before him, all wearing crowns and shining garments, but the Kings were all in fine mail, and had drawn swords in their hands.Tirian bowed courteously, and was about to speak when the youngest Queen laughed.It turned out that she was Jill, not the last Jill he'd seen her: dirty and teary, in an old training suit with half of one shoulder slipping off.Now she looked cool and refreshed, and her complexion was as good as if she had just taken a bath.At first he thought she looked a little older, then he thought she looked younger, and he was not sure about that.Then he recognized that the youngest King was Eustace: but he too was changed like Jill. It suddenly occurred to Tirian that it was embarrassing to come before these kings and queens with the blood and sweat and dust of war on him, but in an instant he realized that he was not in such a situation at all.He, too, was clean, cool, and good-looking, and was dressed in the same clothes as he had worn to dinner at Cair Paravel. But, in Narnia, good clothes are not clothes that make you uncomfortable.In Narnia they knew how to make their clothes look good and feel comfortable.From this end of the country you will not find such things as starch for starching clothes, flannel, and elastic bands. "Your Majesty," said Jill, coming forward and curtseying beautifully, "let me present you to Peter the High King, who leads the Kings of Narnia." Tirian did not need to ask who the High King was, for he remembered the face he had seen in his dream, though the face he saw now was more majestic.He took a step forward, dropped to one knee, and kissed Peter's hand. "Hand of the High King," he said, "I welcome you." The High King lifted him up and kissed him on both cheeks, as the High King should do.Then the High King presented him to the oldest queen—but even she was not very old, she had no gray hair on her head, no wrinkles on her cheeks—and he said: "My lord, this is Lady Polly. She came to Narnia the first day Aslan made the trees grow and the beasts speak." Next, the High King led him to a man with long golden beards. Fluttering on the chest, the face is full of wisdom. "This is my brother, King Edmund, and this is my sister, Queen Lucy." "Your Excellency," said Tirian, after bowing to them all, "there must be one more, if I remember the Chronicles of Narnia I have read. Didn't Your Majesty have two sisters? Queen Susan was in Where?" "My sister Susan," answered Peter short and grave, "is no longer a friend of Narnia." "Yes," said Eustace, "whenever you try to Ask her to talk about Narnia or do something about Narnia and she always says: 'What a wonderful memory you have! I can't believe you still think about those fun games we used to play when we were children "Oh, Susan!" said Jill, "she's not interested in anything but nylons and lipstick and invitations these days. She's always been too sensitive to the joyous sights of growing up." "Grow up, really," said Lady Polly, "I wish she would. She's wasting all her school days trying to get to her age, and trying to stop She's going to waste the rest of her life at this age. Her whole intention is to get to the stupidest stage of life as fast as she can, and to stay there as long as she can." "Oh, let's not talk about it now," said Peter, "and look! There are beautiful and lovely fruits here. Let us taste." So Tirian, looking around for the first time, realized how queer this adventure was.