芷江最后一战 《最后一战》第20期:救援国王(4)

《最后一战》第20期:救援国王(4)  

As a matter of fact it was not particularly nice. It was rather dark and smelled very damp. There was only one room in it and this room went right up to the stone roof: a wooden staircase in one corner led up to a trap door by which you could get out on the battlements. There were a few rude bunks to sleep in
and a great many lockers and bundles. There was also a hearth which looked as if nobody had lit a fire in it for a great many years.
"We'd better go out and gather some firewood first thing
hadn't we?" said Jill.
"Not yet
rade
" said Tirian. He was determined that they should not be caught unarmed
and began searching the lockers
thankfully remembering that he had always been careful to have these garrison towers inspected once a year and to make sure that they were stocked with all things needful. The bow strings were there in their coverings of oiled silk
the swords and spears were greased against rust
and the armour was kept bright in its wrappings. But there was something even better. "Look you!" said Tirian as he drew out a long mail shirt of a curious pattern and flashed it before the children's eyes.
"That's funny-looking mail
Sire
" said Eustace.
"Aye
lad
" said Tirian. "No Narnian Dwarf smithied that. 'Tis mail of Calormen
outlandish gear. I have ever kept a few suits of it in readiness
for I never knew when I or my friends might have reason to walk unseen in The Tisroc's land. And look on this stone bottle. In this there is a juice which
when we have rubbed it on our hands and faces
will make us brown as Calormenes."
"Oh hurrah!" said Jill. "Disguise! I love disguises."
Tirian showed them how to pour out a little of the juice into the palms of their hands and then rub it well over their faces and necks
right down to the shoulders
and then on their hands
right up to the elbows. He did the same himself.
"After this has hardened on us
" he said
"we may wash in water and it will not change. Nothing but oil and ashes will make us white Narnians again. And now
sweet Jill
let us go see how this mail shirt bees you. 'Tis something too long
yet not so much as I feared. Doubtless it belonged to a page in the train of one of their Tarkaans."
After the mail shirts they put on Calormene helmets
which are little round ones fitting tight to the head and having a spike on top. Then Tirian took long rolls of some white stuff out of the locker and wound them over the helmets till they became turbans: but the little steel spike still stuck up in the middle. He and Eustace took curved Calormene swords and little round shields. There was no sword light enough for Jill
but he gave her a long
straight hunting knife which might do for a sword at a pinch.
"Hast any skill with the bow
maiden?" said Tirian.
"Nothing worth talking of
" said Jill
blushing. "Scrubb's not bad."
"Don't you believe her
Sire
" said Eustace. "We've both been practising archery ever since we got back from Narnia last time
and she's about as good as me now. Not that either of us is much."
Then Tirian gave Jill a bow and a quiver full of arrows. The next business was to light a fire
for inside that tower it still felt more like a cave than like anything indoors and set one shivering. But they got warm gathering wood - the sun was now at its highest - and once the blaze was roaring up the chimney the place began to look cheerful. Dinner was
however
a dull meal
for the best they could do was to pound up some of the hard biscuit which they found in a locker and pour it into boiling water
with salt
so as to make a kind of porridge. And of course there was nothing to drink but water.
"I wish we'd brought a packet of tea
" said Jill.
"Or a tin of cocoa
" said Eustace.
"A firkin or so of good wine in each of these towers would not have been amiss
" said Tirian.