Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven An Unwelcome Fellow Traveler

Shasta went through the door, but saw before him a wilting hillside, with some heather creeping up near some trees.Now he had nothing to think about, no plans to make, he just had to run; and running was enough for him.His limbs trembled, his ribs began to hurt sharply, and beads of sweat kept rolling into his eyes, making them painful and blurry.His steps were also unsteady, and more than once, his ankle bones slammed into straggly stones. The trees are thicker now than before, and there are more clearings where the mulberry grows.The sun had gone down, but instead of cooling the place it made it hot and dull, and there were twice as many flies as usual.Shasta's face was covered with flies and he didn't even try to drive them away--he had too many other things to do.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a horn--not a loud horn like Tashbaan, but a joyous call, T-RO-TOTO-HO!Presently he entered a wide glade, and found himself in the midst of a large crowd. : At least it seemed to him a large crowd.In fact, there were about fifteen or twenty of them, all gentlemen in green hunting suits, with horses, some sitting in the saddle, some standing over the horse's head.In the center of the group, someone pulled a stirrup so that another could mount.The man who waited him to mount was the most jovial, fat, apple-faced, twinkling-eyed king you could imagine. As soon as Shasta came within sight of the King, the King completely forgot about the mount.He stretched out his arms to Shasta, and with a radiant countenance, he called out in that loud, deep voice that seemed to come from the depths of his chest.

"Colin my son! And on foot, in rags! What—" "No," said Shasta, panting, shaking his head, "not Prince Colin. I—I—know I look like him... I saw His Royal Highness in Tashbaan... I bring the prince's greetings." The King was looking intently at Shasta, with an unusual expression on his face. "Are you—King Lunn the King?" Shasta gasped, and without waiting for an answer, he went on," Your Majesty—Run—Anwald—close the gates— - The enemy is coming - Rabadash and two hundred men." "Can you trust me, my boy?" asked another gentleman.

"I saw them," said Shasta, "I saw them. I raced them all the way from Tashbaan." "On foot?" said the gentleman, raising his eyebrows a little. "Riding—the horse's at the Hermit's," said Shasta. "Ask no more, Darran," said King Lunn, "I see the truth in his face. Gentlemen, we must hurry. Give the boy a spare horse. Can you ride and gallop, my friend?" " The horse is brought over.In answer Shasta put his foot in the stirrup, and was presently seated in the saddle.He has been on horseback more than a hundred times in recent weeks, led by Bree, and on his first night on horseback Bree said it was like climbing a haystack, and things are very different now up.

He was pleased to hear Ser Darran say to the king, "The lad rides with true chivalry, my lord. I promise he has noble blood in him." "His blood, yes, that's the point," said the King.He was looking intently at Shasta again, with an inquiring look, an almost hungry look, in his dark gray eyes. But now this group of gentlemen was all moving with a brisk canter.Shasta's saddle was excellent, but he agonized not knowing how to handle the reins, which he never touched when he was on Bree's back.But he watched people carefully out of the corner of his eye (as some of us do at parties when we're not sure about which knife or fork to use), and tried to get his fingers right.But he didn't dare to use the reins to direct the horse, he was convinced that the horse would follow the rest of the horses.The horse was, of course, an ordinary horse, not a human-talking horse; but it was wise enough to realize that the strange child on its back had neither whip nor The Spurs are not the masters who really control the situation.That was why Shasta soon found himself at the bottom of the line.

Even so, he ran pretty fast.Now there are no flies, and the air is clean.He too was breathing normally, and his mission of reporting was complete.For the first time since his arrival in Tashbaan (it seemed so long ago!), he was enjoying himself. He looked up to see how close he was to the top of the mountain.To his disappointment, he couldn't see the top of the mountain at all, but saw a gray blur pouring down toward him.He had never been in the mountains before, and the scenery in front of him surprised him. "It's a big cloud," he said to himself, "a cloud that's descending. Staying here among the mountains, you're really in the sky. I'm about to see what it's like inside the clouds. Interesting! I've been trying to figure it out a lot." Far to his left, a little behind him, the sun was starting to set.

Now they came to the rough road, and were speeding up their gallop.But Shasta's horse was still last.Once or twice, at a turn in the main road (which was now lined with continuous forest), he could not see the people ahead for a second or two. Then they entered the fog, or rather the fog rolled on and engulfed them.The world turned gray.Shasta had never realized how cold and damp it could be everywhere in the clouds, or how dark it could be.Gray turned black with astonishing speed. Someone at the head of the column blew the horn from time to time, and each time the horn sounded, it was a little farther away than the last time.He couldn't see the others now, but if he turned the corner again he could see them at once.But when he turned the corner, he still couldn't see them.In fact, he couldn't see anything at all.Now his horse is on a walk. "Come on, horse, go on," said Shasta.Then came the sound of the horn, but very faintly.Bree always told him to keep his heels out and Shasta got the idea that if he let his heels poke into the horse's flanks something terrible would happen.He felt that he could try it now. "Listen, horse," he said, "if you don't run fast, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to stick my heels in your flanks. I can really do it." However, the horse He ignored his threat.So Shasta sat firmly in the saddle, with his teeth clenched and his knees clenching, and he thrust his heels into the horse's flanks as hard as he could.

The only effect was that the horse broke out into a mock trot, and after five or six strides the horse broke into a trot again.It was very dark now, and they seemed to have stopped blowing their horns.The only sound was the constant dripping of water from the branches of the trees. "Well, I suppose he'll go somewhere even on foot," said Shasta to himself; "I only hope I don't run into Rabadash and his men. He went on for what seemed a long time, always at that slow pace.He was beginning to hate the horse, and he was beginning to feel very hungry. Before long he came to a fork in the road.He was wondering which way led to Anwad when a voice behind him startled him.It turned out to be the sound of galloping horses. "Rabadash!" Shosta thought to himself.He had no way of guessing which way Rabadash would go. "But if I go this way," said Shasta to himself, "he might go that way, and if I stay at this fork, I'll be caught by them." Lili quickly led the horse and walked along the road on the right.

The cavalry's voices were coming closer and closer rapidly, and within a minute or two Shasta felt that they were at a fork in the road.He held his breath, waiting to see which way they would go. There was a muffled order "Stop!"—for the next moment, it was all the voices of horses—snorting in their noses, pawing the ground with their hooves, biting their bits dizzily, And the horse's neck being gently patted, etc.Then, a voice spoke. "Attention, all of you," said the voice, "we are now within an eighth of a mile of the castle. Remember the orders. Once we enter the borders of Narnia (should be at sunrise), you must do your best to Kill as little as possible. In this adventure you shall count every drop of Narnian blood more important than every gallon of your own blood. I mean in this adventure. God will give Give me a good time, then you won't have to leave anything alive between Cair Paravel and the Western Desert. But you haven't entered Narnia yet. Here in Archenland that's another It's the same thing. In attacking King Lunn's castle, all that matters is speed and nothing else. Show your courage. It must be taken within an hour. If you take it, I'll take it All to you. I keep no spoils for myself. Kill for me every savage man in the walls, down to the child born yesterday, and the rest is yours, and you can share it as you please. —women, gold, jewels, arms, and wine. Whoever shrinks at the gates of the city, I will burn him alive. In the name of Tash, the irresistible, unstoppable god—forward!"

The hooves clattered and the cavalry column began to move, and Shasta breathed a sigh of relief.They took another road. Shasta reckoned it took a long time for the cavalry column to pass, and though he talked and thought about "two hundred men" all day, he wasn't sure how many they had.At last the sound of the cavalry column died away, and he was alone again listening to the dripping of the branches of the trees. Now he knew the way to Anwad, but of course he couldn't go there at the moment, and to do so would only mean running into the swords of Rabadash's army. "What on earth should I do?" said Shasta to himself.He mounted his horse again, and went on along the road he had chosen, with the meager hope of finding a hut where he could seek shelter and a meal.He had wanted, of course, to go back to the hermit's quarters and meet Aravis, Bree, and Hwin, but he couldn't, because now he couldn't get his bearings at all.

"This way," thought Shasta, "is going to lead somewhere." But that's all about what you mean by somewhere.The road kept extending to a certain place, and there were more and more trees along the way, all of which were dark and dripping with drops of water, the air was getting colder and colder, and a strange and icy wind kept taking things from him. Blowing around, but never blowing away the mist.If he had been accustomed to mountain scenery, he would have understood that this meant that he was now climbing high—perhaps right on top of the pass.But Shasta knew nothing of mountains. "I do think," said Shasta, "that I must be the unluckiest child that ever lived. Everything went well for everyone but me. The Princes and Ladies of Narnia got out of Tash safely." Ban City, but I was left behind. Aravis, Bree, and Hwin were as comfortable as they could be with the old hermit: of course only me was sent out on the run. King Lunn and his entourage must be safe Enter the castle, shut the gates long before Rabadash arrives, and I alone am left out." He was very tired, and his stomach was empty, and he felt so sorry for himself that tears rolled down his cheeks. A sudden panic at the end of all this sadness.Shasta noticed a person or animal walking beside him.It was pitch black and he couldn't see anything.And this animal (or person) walks so quietly that he cannot hear any footsteps.All he could hear was the sound of breathing.The breath of his invisible companion seemed large in size, and Shasta got the impression that it was a colossal thing.He had come to notice the breathing gradually, so he really didn't know how long it had been there.It was a terrible shock. It suddenly occurred to him that he had heard a long time ago that there were giants in the northern countries.He bit his lip in horror.Now that he did have something to cry about, he stopped crying. The huge thing (unless it was a person) went on walking beside him, but so quietly that Shasta began to hope that it was only his hallucination.But just when he was becoming convinced that it was a hallucination, suddenly from the darkness around him came a long, deep sigh.It can't be an illusion!In any case, he felt a rush of heat from that long sigh rushing to his cold left hand. . If there was any use in the horse--or if he knew how to make it work--he would risk his escape and gallop wildly.But he knew he couldn't make the horse gallop.So he walked slowly, while his invisible companion walked and breathed beside him.Finally, he couldn't bear it any longer. "Who are you?" he said, his voice not much higher than a whisper. "I've been waiting for you to talk for a long time," said the guy.His speech was not loud, but loud and deep. "Are you—are you a giant?" "You may call me a giant," said the loud voice, "but I am not like the creature you call a giant." "I can't see you at all," said Shasta, after staring wide-eyed for a long time.Then (an even more terrible thought popped into his mind) he almost cried: "You ain't--something dead, are you?--go away, please. I didn't What hurt you! Well, I'm the most unlucky man in the world." Once again, he felt a hot breath from the other party rushing to his hands and face. "Listen," said the giant, "this is not the breath of a ghost. Tell me your troubles." Shasta was a little relieved by the smell, so he told the other that he never knew his real father or mother, and that he had been brought up harshly by a fisherman.Then he told the story of his escape, and how they were chased by lions, and forced to swim for their lives, etc.; Get yelled at him.He told of the heat and thirst of the desert journey, and how, as they were nearly reaching their destination, another lion chased them and scratched Aravis.He also told how he hadn't eaten anything for a long time since then. "I don't think you are unlucky," said the loud voice. "Don't you think it's bad luck to meet so many lions?" "Only one lion," said the voice. "What on earth do you mean by that? I told you just now that there were at least two lions on the first night, and . . . " "There was only one lion, but that one was running extremely fast." "How do you know?" "I am the lion," continued the huge creature, as Shasta opened his mouth wide with nervousness but could not speak, "I am the lion who forced you to go with Aravis. I am the dead man in the cemetery." I was the cat who comforted you at home. I was the lion who chased the wolves away while you were asleep. I was the horse who gave new strength to their fear and galloped the last leg, so that you could meet Len And I'm the lion you don't remember when you lay dying in a boat and I pushed it and made it float on a beach where a fisherman sat, Didn't sleep at midnight, took you in." "So, were you the one who scratched Aravis?" "it's me." "Why did you scratch her?" "Son," said the voice, "I'm telling you your story, not hers. I'll tell a man his own story and nothing else." "Who are you?" asked Shasta. "Myself," said the voice, so low and deep that the earth shook; then a second time, "Myself," loud, clear, cheerful; then a third time, "Myself." It was soft You can hardly hear it, but it comes to you from all directions, as if the leaves rustled with it. Shasta was no longer afraid that the sound came from the worm that was about to devour him, no longer afraid that it was the voice of a ghost.But a new and quite different trepidation spread through him.And he felt very happy. . The mist turned from pitch black to light gray, and then from light gray to snow white.This change must have begun some time ago.But while he was talking to the giant, he hadn't been paying attention to anything else.Now, the white around him had become a shimmering white.He started blinking.He could hear birds chirping somewhere ahead.He knew the night was finally over.Now he could see the horse's head, ears and mane quite easily.A golden light falls on them from the left.He thought it was the sun. He turned his head and saw walking beside him a lion, bigger than a horse.The horse didn't seem to be afraid of it, or else couldn't see it.It turned out that the golden light came from the lion.Nothing more macabre or more beautiful has been seen. It was fortunate that Shasta had lived so far south of Calormene that he had not heard the whispered rumors in Tashbaan that a terrible Devil of Narnia had taken the form of a lion.Of course Shasta knew nothing of the real story of Aslan, of the Great Lion, Son of the Overseas Emperor, High King of the Great Kings of Narnia.But after he had seen the Lion's face, he got off his horse, and fell at the Lion's feet.He couldn't say anything, but he didn't want to, and he knew he didn't need to. The supreme king of the great kings bowed his head before him.His mane, with a strange and majestic fragrance, hung down about Shasta.He licked his forehead with his tongue.He looked up.They look at each other.Then, the pale light of the mist and the fiery light of the lion immediately mixed together, turning into a vortex of brilliance, gathering and contracting, and finally disappeared without a trace.Shasta was alone on the grassy hillside under the blue sky.Birds were singing. 9