Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Across the Great Desert

"How dreadful! How dreadful!" whimpered Lasaraleen. "Oh, dear, I'm so frightened. I'm shaking all over. You touch me." "Come on," said Aravis, trembling herself, "they're going back to the Imperial Palace. We're safe out of this room. But a lot of time has been wasted. Do what you can, hurry Take me to the water gate below the mountain." "Baby, how can you push me like this?" screamed Lasaraleen, "I can't do anything--not now. My poor nerves! No! We must lie still for a while, Then go back." "Why go back?" Aravis asked.

"Oh, you don't understand. You're so unsympathetic," said Lasaraleen, and began to cry.Aravis made up his mind: this was not the time or the occasion for pity and sympathy. "Listen!" she said, grabbing Lasaraleen and shaking her body violently, "if you say one more word to go back, if you don't start leading me to the Watergate right away—do you know what I'm going to do? I To run into the passage and yell. That yell will get us both caught." "Then we shall both be killed!" said Lasaraleen. "Did you hear Tethrok (may he live forever!)?"

"Listen, I'd rather be killed than marry Ahosta." "Oh, you are cruel," said Lasaraleen, "that I have landed!" But in the end she had to give in to Aravis.She led the way down the stone steps they had just gone down, walked along another passage, and finally came to an open place.Now they were in the imperial garden, and the terraces of the garden meandered down to the city wall.The moon was shining brightly.One of the great drawbacks of adventure is that when you come to the most beautiful places, you are often too anxious and too hasty to appreciate the beauty of the moment, so that Aravis has only a vague impression (although after a few years there is still a I remember it very hard): the silver-gray grass, the quiet spring where tears flow, and the long black shadow of the cypress.

When they reached the foot of the hill, and the wall stood before them frowning, Lasaraleen trembled and could not lift the latch of the water-gate.Aravis opened the door.Finally, I saw the river, the moonlight was reflected everywhere on the river, there was a small pier, and a few yachts. "Good-bye," said Aravis, "thank you. I'm sorry if I've been stubborn as a pig. But please think I'm on the run!" "Oh, Aravis, baby," said Lasaraleen, "would you change your mind? Now you've seen with your own eyes what a great man Ahhosta is!" "What a great man!" said Aravis, "a monstrously servile slave who flattered his ass when he was kicked, and kept it to himself, and encouraged the dreadful Tithrock designs Putting his son to death, hoping to avenge himself."

"Ah, Aravis, how can you say such terrible things, Aravis, and involve Tithrok (may he live forever!). If he does it, it must be right of." "Good-bye," said Aravis, "I think your clothes are lovely, I think your house is lovely, and I am sure you will live a lovely life--although it will not be like mine. Appropriate. Gently close the door behind me." She broke free from her friend's affectionate embrace, stepped into a punt, poled the boat away from the river bank, and in a short while the boat was in the river!manage.Above the head is a huge real bright moon, and deep in the bottom of the river is the reflection of a huge bright moon.The air was fresh and cool, and as the boat approached the opposite bank she heard the hooting of an owl. "Ah! wonderful." She had lived in the country and hated every minute of her time in Tashbaan.

When she got to the opposite bank, she felt that she was in darkness because the ground rose and the trees blocked the moonlight.But she managed to find the way that Shasta found, and as he came to the end of the wilting grass and the beginning of the desert, and (like him) looked to the left and saw the great grave of Hei Kui Kui field.Although she was a brave girl, now at last she was afraid in her heart.Maybe the others weren't there!Maybe the ghouls are down there!She risked sticking out her chin (and sticking out her tongue a little) and walked straight toward the cemetery. But she saw Bree, Hewen and the attendant before she reached the school grounds.

"Now you may go back to your mistress," said Aravis (completely forgetting that the squire could not go back until the gates were opened next morning), "and here is your reward." "When you hear the order, follow it." The attendant said, and immediately ran towards Tashbaan City at a fairly fast speed.He didn't need to tell him to hurry back, he already thought a lot about ghouls. Aravis spent the next few seconds kissing Hwin and Bree's noses and patting their necks as if they were normal horses. "Here comes Shasta! Thank you Lion!" said Bree.

Aravis looked around, and it was true that Shasta saw the squire go, and immediately came out of his hiding place. "Attention," said Aravis, "a moment must not be lost." She hastily told of Rabadash's plot for the expedition. "Treacherous bastard," said Bree, waving his fur and stamping his hooves, "to attack in peacetime and not even send a challenge! But we'll oil the oats for him. We'll catch got there before him." "Can we?" Aravis asked, jumping on Hwin's saddle.Shasta wished he could jump on his horse like that. "Bloch-hooch!" snorted Bree, "come up, Shasta.

we can!And off to a good start! " "He said he was going right away," said Aravis. "That's the way people boast," said Bree, "but you can't get a company of two hundred men all watered, fed, armed, and saddled to set off in a minute, and that's no good." No. Hey, which direction am I going? North?” "No," said Shasta, "I know the way. I've made a ditch. I'll tell you later. You're both a little to the left of us. Ah, that's right." "Listen," Bree said, "running like in the story for a day and a night is actually impossible. It has to be a brisk trot mixed with a walk and a trot, short walks. When we walk, you two You can come down for a walk, too. Say, are you ready, Hwin? Let's go. To Narnia, to the north!"

The beginning is pleasant.The night had lasted for hours, the desert had lost most of the sun's heat it had absorbed during the day, and the air was cool, fresh, and pure.The desert, visible on all sides, glistened in the moonlight as if it were a pool of smooth, calm water, or a great silver basin.Not a sound could be heard save Bree and Hwin's hooves.Shasta would almost have fallen asleep if he hadn't had to dismount now and then for a walk. This seemed to go on for hours.In the next period of time, the bright moon will no longer be seen.Hour after hour they seemed to be running in deathly darkness.For a moment after this Shasta noticed that he could see ahead of him Bree's neck and head a little better than before; and then, slowly, very slowly, he began to see the wide, flat The gray desert.It looked absolutely lifeless, like something from the underworld; and Shasta, feeling terribly tired, noticed that he was cold and his lips were dry.All the while, there was the creaking of the belts, the clinking of the bits, and the constant clatter of hooves—not the singing of treading on hard roads, but the rustling of treading on dry sand.

After riding for several hours, finally, far to his right, a streak of pale gray appeared, low on the horizon.Then came a streak of red.At last it was morning, but not a single bird sang morning.He was glad to go for a walk now, for he was colder than before. Then suddenly the sun came up and in a split second everything changed.The gray desert turned yellow and shimmered as if it were strewn with diamonds.The shadows of Shasta, Hwin, Bree, Aravis, long and large, raced to their left.The twin peaks of Peel Peak were far ahead, glistening in the sun.Shasta saw that they were going a little off. "A little to the left, a little to the left," he cried.Best of all, Tashbaan is small and far away when you look back.The cemetery was completely out of sight, engulfed in the jagged hump that was the city of Teesrock.Everyone felt much better than before. " However, the good times did not last long.The first time they looked back at the city of Tashbaan, though it seemed far away, it seemed no further away as they moved on.Shasta didn't look back anymore, because when he looked into the distance, it gave him the feeling of being stuck in the same place at all.So the light also became a nuisance.The blinding reflections of the desert hurt his eyes, but he knew he couldn't close them.He had to squint hard, keep looking ahead at Mount Pierre, and shout out the direction to go.What followed was scorching heat.He felt the heat for the first time when he had to dismount for a walk; he slid off the horse and onto the sand, and the heat from the sand rushed straight into his face as if from a stove door.It was worse the second time I dismounted.For the third time, as soon as his bare feet touched the sand, he cried out in pain, and before he could speak, he drew one foot back into the stirrup and the other half over Bree's back. "I'm sorry, Bree," he said breathlessly, "I can't walk. The sand burns my feet." "Of course!" gasped Bree. "I should have thought of that myself. Stay on your back, there's no help." "You're all right," said Shasta to Aravis, who was walking beside Hwin. "You've got your shoes on." Aravis said nothing, with a serious face.Let's hope she doesn't mean to, but she does. Trot, walk, trot again, jingle, jingle, jingle, creak, creak, creak, the smell of sweat from the heat, the smell of the heat itself, the blinding reflections, the headache.Mile after mile of the same old way, nothing different at all.The city of Tashbaan never seemed to be further away.The mountains and ridges never seem to get any closer.You feel like it's going on all the time—jingle, jingle, jingle, creak, creak, creak, the smell of the horses sweating from the heat, the smell of the heat itself. Of course, people try to pass the time with all kinds of games: of course, all kinds of games are useless.They tried not to think of the drink—cold juice sung in a royal palace in Tashbaan, springs of fresh water from dark earth, milk rich in cream but not greasy, cold and soft—the more they tried not to think of it, But the more you think about it. At last there was something a little different—a large boulder rising out of the sand, thirty feet high and fifty yards long or so.The boulders did not cast much shadow, for the sun was high at the moment and provided only a little shade.They crowded into the shade, where they ate and drank a little water.Water in skins was hard for a horse to drink, but Bree and Hwin both used their lips skillfully.Nobody eats or drinks enough.No one spoke.The horse was covered in spots of sweat, and the sound of breathing was loud.The children were pale. After a short break, we resumed our journey.The same sound, the same smell, the same blinding reflection, finally, the shadow began to fall on their right, getting longer and longer, as if to stretch to the end of the world.The sun was approaching the western horizon very slowly, and now that it had finally set, thank God, the cruel reflected light was gone, although the heat rising from the desert was still aggressive.All four pairs of eyes were eagerly watching the valley, which both Saropad and Raven had mentioned.Yet, mile after mile, there was still nothing but flat sand.Now the day must have been quite over, and most of the stars were out, and the horses went on and on, and the children heaved in their saddles, thirsty, tired, and miserable.The moon was not up yet, and Shasta cried out in that strange rough voice of a man with a dry mouth: "It's just ahead!" Can't be wrong now.Ahead, slightly to the right, there finally appeared a slope: a winding slope, with stone hillocks on both sides.The horse was too tired to speak, but staggered forward, and in a minute or two they were in the defile.At first it was more uncomfortable in the dell than in the open desert, for the heat was stifling and there was less moonlight between the stone walls.The slope descends steeply, and the rocks on both sides rise into cliffs.Then they began to encounter plants—thorny cacti-like plants and rough weeds that pricked their fingers.Soon, the horse's hooves were no longer on the sand, but on the pebbles.At every turn in the valley--many miles of turns--they were desperately looking for water.The horse was almost exhausted, and Hwin staggered and panted behind Bree.At last, when they were almost desperate, they encountered a little mud, and a trickle of water seeping from between the lush soft grass.The trickle became a creek, the creek became a scrub-banked creek, and the creek became a river.After so many disappointments that I cannot describe, there came a moment of joy: Shasta, who had been dozing, suddenly realized that Bree had stopped walking and that he himself had slid off the horse.Before them a small waterfall fell into a wide pool: the two horses were already in the pool, with their heads bowed, drinking, drinking, drinking. "Oh-oh-oh," said Shasta, and he jumped into the pond--the water was up to his knees--and he just stuck his head into the little waterfall.Perhaps this was the happiest moment of his life. About ten minutes later, the four of them (the two children were almost soaked from top to bottom) came out of the pond and looked around.The moon was now high enough to shine into the valley.On both sides of the great river grew tender grass, and beyond the grass, tall trees and shrubs stretched up to the base of the cliffs.There must be some strange flower and herb hidden in that dark bush, for the coolest and most fragrant smells permeate the glade.From the darkest nook among the trees came a voice--such as Shasta had never heard before--the song of a nightingale. Everyone was too tired to talk or eat.The horse lay down immediately without taking off the saddle.Aravis and Shasta also lay down. About ten minutes later, the cautious Hwin said, "But we must not sleep. We must be ahead of Rabadash." "Yeah," Bree said slowly, "must stay up. Just rest." Shasta understood (for a moment): they would all be falling asleep if he didn't get up and do something, and he felt he ought to.In fact, he made up his mind to get up himself, and persuaded them all to go on.But after a while he changed his mind again; wait a minute, just a little... Soon the moon was shining on the two horses and the two children, and the nightingale was singing in the ears of the two horses and the two children, but they were all fast asleep. Aravis was the first to wake up.The sun was high and the cool hours of the morning were wasted. "It's my fault," she said to herself angrily, jumping up and beginning to wake the others. "The horses have been running like this for a day. You shouldn't expect them not to sleep, even if they are horses that can speak human words. Of course you shouldn't expect the boy to not sleep. He is not well-bred. But I should be more sensible. Makes sense." The other people and horses were all in a deep sleep, and they were all sleepy. "Hey-beep!--Bro-heh!" said Bree. "Falling asleep without getting the saddle off, eh? I ain't gonna do it again. The most uncomfortable thing is--" "Come on, let's go," said Aravis, "we've lost half the morning. There's no more time left." "Must have a mouthful of grass," Bree said. "I'm afraid we cannot wait," Aravis said. "Why such a dreadful hurry?" said Bree. "We crossed the desert, didn't we?" "But we're not in Archenland yet," said Aravis. "We've got to get there before Rabadash." "Oh, we must be miles ahead of him," said Bree. "Didn't we take the shortest way? Shasta, didn't your raven friend say it was a short cut?" "It doesn't say nearer," answered Shasta, "it just says it's better, because you can touch a river on this road. If the oasis is just north of Tashbaan, then I think that The road may be longer." "I can't go without a meal," said Bree. "Shasta, unsaddle me." "I'm sorry," said Hwin, very shyly, "I feel like Bree, I can't go on. But someone is on horseback (with spurs or something) and the horse isn't Do you tend to be driven when you're hungry too? That's when horses figured out they could. I mean - now that we're free we should be able to travel more. It's all about Nani Ya." "I think, ma'am," said Bree, overwhelmingly, "that I know a little more than you do about war, and haste marches, and the endurance of horses, and so on." Hwin didn't respond to this. Like a noble horse, he was timid and gentle in nature, so he was easily deflated.In fact, it was quite right in its opinion, and Bree could run like hell for hours with a Tarkan on his back at this very moment.But the worst result of being a slave and being forced to work is this: when no one is forcing you to work, you find that you have almost lost the power to force yourself to work. So they had to wait for Bree to eat and drink; and of course Hwen and the children followed suit.It must have been near eleven o'clock in the morning when they finally resumed their journey.And even at this hour Bree was working more gracefully than yesterday.Although Hwin was the weaker and more fatigued of the two horses, it was Hwin who really led. The valley itself and the cool brown river in the valley, the grass, moss, wildflowers, and magpie flowers, are so pleasing to the eye that you want to slow down.