《最後一戰》第17期:救援國王(1)
Chapter 5 How Help Came to the King
Bur his misery did not last long. Almost at once there came a bump, and then a second bump, and two children were standing before him. The wood in front of him had been quite empty a second before and he knew they had not come from behind his tree, for he would have heard them. They had in fact simply appeared from nowhere. He saw at a glance that they were wearing the same queer, dingy sort of clothes as the people in his dream; and he saw, at a second glance, that they were the youngest boy and girl out of that party of seven.
"Gosh!" said the boy, "that took one's breath away! I thought -"
"Hurry up and get him untied," said the girl. "We can talk, afterwards." Then she added, turning to Tirian, "I'm sorry we've been so long. We came the moment we could."
While she was speaking the Boy produced a knife from his pocket and was quickly cutting the King's bonds: too quickly, in fact, for the King was so stiff and numb that when the last cord was cut he fell forward on his hands and knees. He couldn't get up again till he had brought some life back into his legs by a good rubbing.
"I say," said the girl. "It was you, wasn't it, who appeared to us that night when we were all at supper? Nearly a week ago."
"A week, fair maid?" said Tirian. "My dream led me into your world scarce ten minutes since."
"It's the usual muddle about times, Pole," said the Boy.
"I remember now," said Tirian. "That too comes in all the old tales. The time of your strange land is different from ours. But if we speak of Time, 'tis time to be gone from here: for my enemies are close at hand. Will you come with me?"
"Of course," said the girl. "It's you we've come to help."
Tirian got to his feet and led them rapidly down hill, Southward and away from the stable. He knew where he meant to go but his first aim was to get to rocky places where they would leave no trail, and his second to cross some water so that they would leave no scent. This took them about an hour's scrambling and wading and while that was going on nobody had any breath to talk. But even so, Tirian kept on stealing glances at his companions. The wonder of walking beside the creatures from another world made him feel a little dizzy: but it also made all the old stories seem far more real than they had ever seemed before . . . anything might happen now.
"Now," said Tirian as they came to the head of a little valley which ran down before them among young birch trees, "we are out of danger of those villains for a space and may walk more easily." The sun had risen, dew-drops were twinkling on every branch, and birds were singing.
"What about some grub? - I mean for you, Sir, we two have had our breakfast," said the Boy.
可是國王的苦難爲時並不長久。幾乎立刻傳來砰的一聲，接着又是砰的一聲，兩個孩子就站在國王的面前了。一秒鐘以前，國王前邊的樹林裏是空無一人的；國王知道，他們也不是從綁牢他的那棵樹木背後跑出來的，因爲從樹背後出來，他會聽見腳步聲。事實上他們簡直是從只有天知道的地方突然冒出來的。國王一眼就看出來了，他們穿着跟他夢中所見人物一樣的古里古怪而邋里邋遢的衣服。再看第二眼，國王發現他們便是餐桌周圍七人中最年輕的男孩和女孩。
"天哪!"男孩說道，"簡直叫人氣也透不過來了!我以爲……"趕緊給他鬆綁，"女孩說道，"我們可以以後再談。"然後她轉向蒂蓮，補充道"我很抱歉，我們到得晚了。我們倒是儘量立刻出發的。"
她這麼說時，男孩從口袋裏拿出一把小刀，迅速把綁牢國王的繩索割斷，事實上也割得太快了，因爲國王渾身僵硬、麻木，最後一根繩索割斷時他就倒了下來，雙手和雙膝都着地了。他把雙腿好生擦了一陣，使雙腿恢復了生機，方纔能重新站起身來。
"嗨，"女孩說道，"那天夜裏，我們七個人在吃晚飯的時候，突然出現在我們面前的，就是你嗎，是不是?差不多一個星期以前。"
"漂亮的姑娘，一個星期以前嗎?"蒂蓮說道，"我的夢把我帶到你們的世界裏，還不過十分鐘哩。"
"關於時間問題，往往是一筆搞不清的糊塗賬。"男孩說道。"我現在記起來了，"蒂蓮說道，"在古老的故事裏，也有記載的。你們那奇怪世界裏的時間，跟我們的時間是很不相同的。但，如果我們說到時間和時候，現在倒是我們離開這兒的時候了因爲我的敵人就在附近。你們願意跟我一起走嗎?"
"當然啦，"女孩說，"我們趕來救援的，就是你啊。"蒂蓮邁開步子，帶領他們迅速走下山去，他朝南而行，離那馬廄遠遠的。他十分明白他要往哪兒去，但他第一個目的是走上石頭路，以便不致留下什麼足跡；第二個目的是涉水而過，以便不致留下什麼氣味。他們花了大約一個鐘頭的時間爬山蹚水；這麼爬山蹚水時，他們沒有一個人吭聲說話。即使如此，蒂蓮還是繼續不斷地偷偷瞧他的同伴一兩眼。同來自另一個世界的人物並肩而行的神奇之感，弄得他有點兒暈頭暈腦；但也使一切古老的故事遠比往常顯得更加真實了……如今任何事情都可能發生了。
"現在，"他們的前邊有個小山谷在白樺樹之間迤邐而下，當他們走到這小山谷的開端時，蒂蓮說道，"我們離那些惡棍的危險地帶有好長一段路了，現在不妨走得更從容自在點兒。"太陽已經升起，露珠在枝頭閃爍，鳥兒在鳴囀。
"來點兒吃的怎麼樣？——陛下，我的意思是你要不要吃點東西，我們已經吃過早飯了。"男孩說道。
