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·The Rashness Of The King·国王的轻率
About three weeks later the last of the Kings of Narnia sat under the great oak which grew beside the door of his little hunting lodge, where he often stayed for ten days or so in the pleasant spring weather. It was a low, thatched building not far from the Eastern end of Lantern Waste and some way above the meeting of the two rivers. He loved to live there simply and at ease, away from the state and pomp of Cair Paravel, the royal city. His name was King Tirian, and he was between twenty and twenty—five years old; his shoulders were already broad and strong and his limbs full of hard muscle, but his beard was still scanty. He had blue eyes and a fearless, honest face.
There was no one with him that spring morning except his dearest friend, Jewel the Unicorn. They loved each other like brothers and each had saved the other’s life in the wars. The lordly beast stood close beside the King’s chair with its neck bent round, polishing its blue horn against the creamy whiteness of its flank.
“I cannot set myself to any work or sport today, Jewel,” said the King. “I can think of nothing but this wonderful news. Think you we shall hear any more of it today?”
“They are the most wonderful tidings ever heard in our days or our fathers’ or our grandfathers’ days, Sire,” said Jewel, “if they are true.”
“How can they choose but be true?” said the King. “It is more than a week ago that the first birds came flying over us saying, Aslan is here, Aslan has come to Narnia again. And after that it was the squirrels. They had not seen him, but they said it was certain he was in the woods. Then came the Stag. He said he had seen him with his own eyes, a great way off, by moonlight, in Lantern Waste. Then came that dark Man with the beard, the merchant from Calormen. The Calormenes care nothing for Aslan as we do; but the man spoke of it as a thing beyond doubt. And there was the Badger last night; he too had seen Aslan.”
“Indeed, Sire,” answered Jewel, “I believe it all. If I seem not to, it is only that my joy is too great to let my belief settle itself. It is almost too beautiful to believe.”
“Yes,” said the King with a great sigh, almost a shiver, of delight. “It is beyond all that I ever hoped for in all my life.”
“Listen!” said Jewel, putting his head on one side and cocking his ears forward.
“What is it?” asked the King.
“Hoofs, Sire,” said Jewel. “A galloping horse. A very heavy horse. It must be one of the Centaurs. And look, there he is.”
A great, golden bearded Centaur, with man’s sweat on his forehead and horse’s sweat on his chestnut flanks, dashed up to the King, stopped, and bowed low. “Hail, King,” it cried in a voice as deep as a bull’s.
“Ho, there!” said the King, looking over his shoulder towards the door of the hunting lodge. “A bowl of wine for the noble Centaur. Welcome, Roonwit. When you have found your breath you shall tell us your errand.”
A page came out of the house carrying a great wooden bowl, curiously carved, and handed it to the Centaur. The Centaur raised the bowl and said,
“I drink first to Aslan and truth, Sire, and secondly to your Majesty.”
He finished the wine (enough for six strong men) at one draught and handed the empty bowl back to the page.
“Now, Roonwit,” said the King. “Do you bring us more news of Aslan?”
Roonwit looked very grave, frowning a little.
“Sire,” he said. You know how long I have lived and studied the stars; for we Centaurs live longer than you Men, and even longer than your kind, Unicorn. Never in all my days have I seen such terrible things written in the skies as there have been nightly since this year began. The stars say nothing of the coming of Aslan, nor of peace, nor of joy. I know by my art that there have not been such disastrous conjunctions of the planets for five hundred years.
“It was already in my mind to come and warn your Majesty that some great evil hangs over Narnia. But last night the rumour reached me that Aslan is abroad in Narnia. Sire, do not believe this tale. It cannot be. The stars never lie, but Men and Beasts do. If Aslan were really coming to Narnia the sky would have foretold it. If he were really come, all the most gracious stars would be assembled in his honour. It is all a lie.”
“A lie!” said the King fiercely. “What creature in Narnia or all the world would dare to lie on such a matter?” And, without knowing it, he laid his hand on his sword hilt.
“That I know not, Lord King,” said the Centaur. “But I know there are liars on earth; there are none among the stars.”
“I wonder,” said Jewel, “whether Aslan might not come though all the stars foretold otherwise. He is not the slave of the stars but their Maker. Is it not said in all the old stories that He is not a Tame lion.”
“Well said, well said, Jewel,” cried the King. “Those are the very words: not a tame lion. It comes in many tales.”
Roonwit had just raised his hand and was leaning forward to say something very earnestly to the King when all three of them turned their heads to listen to a wailing sound that was quickly drawing nearer. The wood was so thick to the West of them that they could not see the newcomer yet. But they could soon hear the words.
“Woe, woe, woe!” called the voice. “Woe for my brothers and sisters! Woe for the holy trees! The woods are laid waste. The axe is loosed against us. We are being felled. Great trees are falling, falling, falling.”
With the last “falling” the speaker came in sight. She was like a woman but so tall that her head was on a level with the Centaur’s, yet she was like a tree too. It is hard to explain if you have never seen a Dryad but quite unmistakable once you have—something different in the colour, the voice, and the hair. King Tirian and the two Beasts knew at once that she was the nymph of a beech tree.
“Justice, Lord King!” she cried. “Come to our aid. Protect your people. They are felling us in Lantern Waste. Forty great trunks of my brothers and sisters are already on the ground.”
“What, Lady! Felling Lantern Waste? Murdering the talking trees?” cried the King, leaping to his feet and drawing his sword. “How dare they? And who dares it? Now by the Mane of Aslan—”
“A—a—a—h,” gasped the Dryad, shuddering as if in pain—shuddering time after time as if under repeated blows. Then all at once she fell sideways as suddenly as if both her feet had been cut from under her. For a second they saw her lying dead on the grass and then she vanished. They knew what had happened. Her tree, miles away, had been cut down.
For a moment the King’s grief and anger were so great that he could not speak. Then he said: “Come, friends. We must go up river and find the villains who have done this, with all the speed we may. I will leave not one of them alive.”
“Sire, with a good will,” said Jewel.
But Roonwit said, “Sire, be wary even in your just wrath. There are strange doings on foot. If there should be rebels in arms further up the valley, we three are too few to meet them. If it would please you to wait while—”
“I will not wait the tenth part of a second,” said the King. “But while Jewel and I go forward, do you gallop as hard as you may to Cair Paravel. Here is my ring for your token. Get me a score of men—at—arms, all well mounted, and a score of Talking Dogs, and ten Dwarfs (let them all be fell archers), and a Leopard or so, and Stonefoot the Giant. Bring all these after us as quickly as may be.”
“With a good will, Sire,” said Roonwit. And at once he turned and galloped Eastward down the valley.
The King strode on at a great pace, sometimes muttering to himself and sometimes clenching his fists. Jewel walked beside him, saying nothing; so there was no sound between them but the faint jingle of a rich gold chain that hung round the Unicorn’s neck and the noise of two feet and four hoofs.
They soon reached the River and turned up it where there was a grassy road: they had the water on their left and the forest on their right. Soon after that they came to the place where the ground grew rougher and thick wood came down to the water’s edge. The road, what there was of it, now ran on the Southern bank and they had to ford the River to reach it. It was up to Tirian’s armpits, but Jewel (who had four legs and was therefore steadier) kept on his right so as to break the force of the current, and Tirian put his strong arm round the Unicorn’s strong neck and they both got safely over. The King was still so angry that he hardly noticed the cold of the water. But of course he dried his sword very carefully on the shoulder of his cloak, which was the only dry part of him, as soon as they came to shore.
They were now going Westward with the River on their right and Lantern Waste straight ahead of them. They had not gone more than a mile when they both stopped and both spoke at the same moment. The King said “What have we here?” and Jewel said “Look!”
“It is a raft,” said King Tirian.
And so it was. Half a dozen splendid tree—trunks, all newly cut and newly lopped of their branches, had been lashed together to make a raft, and were gliding swiftly down the river. On the front of the raft there was a water rat with a pole to steer it.
“Hey! Water Rat! What are you about?” cried the King.
“Taking logs down to sell to the Calormenes, Sire,” said the Rat, touching his ear as he might have touched his cap if he had had one.
“Calormenes!” thundered Tirian. “What do you mean? Who gave order for these trees to be felled?”
The River flows so swiftly at that time of the year that the raft had already glided past the King and Jewel. But the Water Rat looked back over its shoulder and shouted out:
“The Lion’s orders, Sire. Aslan himself.” He added something more but they couldn’t hear it.
The King and the Unicorn stared at one another and both looked more frightened than they had ever been in any battle.
“Aslan,” said the King at last, in a very low voice. “Aslan. Could it be true? Could he be felling the holy trees and murdering the Dryads?”
“Unless the Dryads have all done something dreadfully wrong—” murmured Jewel.
“But selling them to Calormenes!” said the King. “Is it possible?”
“I don’t know,” said Jewel miserably. “He’s not a tame lion.”
“Well,” said the King at last, “we must go on and take the adventure that comes to us.”
“It is the only thing left for us to do, Sire,” said the Unicorn. He did not see at the moment how foolish it was for two of them to go on alone; nor did the King. They were too angry to think clearly. But much evil came of their rashness in the end.
Suddenly the King leaned hard on his friend’s neck and bowed his head.
“Jewel,” he said, “what lies before us? Horrible thoughts arise in my heart. If we had died before today we should have been happy.”
“Yes,” said Jewel. “We have lived too long. The worst thing in the world has come upon us.” They stood like that for a minute or two and then went on.
Before long they could hear the hack—hack—hack of axes falling on timber, though they could see nothing yet because there was a rise of the ground in front of them. When they had reached the top of it they could see right into Lantern Waste itself. And the King’s face turned white when he saw it.
Right through the middle of that ancient forest—that forest where the trees of gold and of silver had once grown and where a child from our world had once planted the Tree of Protection—a broad lane had already been opened. It was a hideous lane like a raw gash in the land, full of muddy ruts where felled trees had been dragged down to the river. There was a great crowd of people at work, and a cracking of whips, and horses tugging and straining as they dragged at the logs. The first thing that struck the King and the Unicorn was that about half the people in the crowd were not Talking Beasts but Men. The next thing was that these men were not the fair—haired men of Narnia: they were dark, bearded men from Calormen, that great and cruel country that lies beyond Archenland across the desert to the south.
There was no reason, of course, why one should not meet a Calormene or two in Narnia—a merchant or an ambassador—for there was peace between Narnia and Calormen in those days. But Tirian could not understand why there were so many of them: nor why they were cutting down a Narnian forest. He grasped his sword tighter and rolled his cloak round his left arm. They came quickly down among the men.
Two Calormenes were driving a horse which was harnessed to a log. Just as the King reached them the log had got stuck in a bad muddy place.
“Get on, son of sloth! Pull, you lazy pig!” cried the Calormenes, cracking their whips. The horse was already straining himself as hard as he could; his eyes were red and he was covered with foam.
“Work, lazy brute,” shouted one of the Calormenes: and as he spoke he struck the horse savagely with his whip. It was then that the really dreadful thing happened.
Up till now Tirian had taken it for granted that the horses which the Calormenes were driving were their own horses; dumb, witless animals like the horses of our own world. And though he hated to see even a dumb horse overdriven, he was of course thinking more about the murder of the Trees. It had never crossed his mind that anyone would dare to harness one of the free Talking Horses of Narnia, much less to use a whip on it. But as that savage blow fell the horse reared up and said, half screaming:
“Fool and tyrant! Do you not see I am doing all I can?”
When Tirian knew that the Horse was one of his own Narnians, there came over him and over Jewel such a rage that they did not know what they were doing. The King’s sword went up, the Unicorn’s horn went down. They rushed forward together. Next moment both the Calormenes lay dead, the one beheaded by Tirian’s sword and the other gored through the heart by Jewel’s horn.
大约三周之后，纳尼亚最后一位国王正坐在他的小猎屋门旁的一棵大橡树下。每逢春暖花开、气候宜人的时节，他总会到这里住上十来天。猎屋是一个低矮的茅草房顶的建筑，离灯柱旷野东边不远，位于两河交汇处之外的某个地方。他喜欢在那里过一段简朴安逸的日子，远离开都城凯尔帕拉维尔的奢华与威严。人们称呼他为国王提里安。提里安王的年纪在二十到二十五之间，他的肩膀宽阔有力，四肢肌肉发达，只是胡须还很稀疏。他长着一双蓝色的眼睛和一张勇敢诚实的面孔。
在那个春天的早晨，只有国王最亲爱的朋友独角兽珠宝陪伴着他。他们像亲兄弟般彼此相爱，在战斗中都曾经救过对方的性命。高贵的独角兽站在国王的椅子旁边，正弯着脖子，把蓝色的独角在自己白色的肋旁摩擦着。
“珠宝，今天我没有心情去工作或者娱乐，”国王说，“因为我满脑子装的都是这个大好消息，别的什么都顾不上考虑了。你觉得，今天我们是否能得到更多的信息？”
“陛下，如果那些传言是真的，那将是从祖辈直到我们这个时代所听到的最大的福音了！”珠宝说。
“怎么可能不是真的呢？”国王说，“一个多星期以前，就有鸟儿从我们的上空飞过，叽叽喳喳地叫着：阿斯兰来了，阿斯兰又回到了纳尼亚。接着是松鼠，它们没有见到阿斯兰，却信誓旦旦地说，阿斯兰就在树林中。接下去是牡赤鹿。它说自己亲眼看到了他，在月光之下的灯柱旷野，尽管离得很远。再往后是那个长着胡须的、来自卡罗门的黑皮肤商人。卡罗门人不像我们，他们对阿斯兰漠不关心。就连那个人也说得有鼻子有眼儿的。还有昨天晚上的那只獾，它也见到了阿斯兰。”
“一点不错，陛下，”珠宝答道，“我相信他们的话。如果我显得有点疑心，那只是由于我太高兴的原故。这消息好得简直令人难以置信。”
“是啊，”国王说着，深深地叹了一口气，兴奋地差点儿颤抖起来，“这超过了我这一生的所求所想。”
“听！”珠宝说着，把脑袋歪向一边，支楞起两只耳朵。
“那是什么声音？”国王问道。
“马蹄声，陛下，”珠宝说，“是一匹马在急速奔驰。这匹马身躯魁伟，一定是个半人马。看哪，他在那儿。”
一个高大的、长着金色胡须的半人马冲到国王面前，停了下来。他前额上挂满了人类的汗珠，而在他栗色的两肋上则流淌着马的汗水。半人马深深地鞠了个躬：“向您致敬，国王！”他声音低沉，像是公牛的哞哞声。
“嗬，来人哪！”国王扭头朝着猎屋的门，吩咐道，“给高贵的半人马端碗酒来。欢迎，卢恩维特。你先喘口气，再报告你来此有何公干。”
一个侍童从屋里走了出来，手里端着一只雕刻奇特的大木碗，递给了半人马。半人马举起碗来，说道：
“陛下，我先为阿斯兰和真理干杯，再为您干杯。”
他把酒一饮而尽（足够六个大汉喝一壶了），将空碗交还给侍童。
“好吧，卢恩维特，”国王说，“你是否给我们带来有关阿斯兰的新消息？”
卢恩维特的表情非常严肃，皱了皱眉头。
“陛下，”他说，你知道，我在世上活了很久，多年来一直在研究星象。我们半人马比人类的寿命长，甚至比独角兽的寿命还要长。在以往的岁月中，我从未见过今年天空中出现的那些可怕征兆。对于阿斯兰的到来、和平与喜乐，星星们全都缄默不语。通过观星术，我了解到，五百年来，还从来没有见过行星间出现这样一些灾难性的会合。
“我心里不安，想来警告陛下，某种大邪恶已经笼罩在纳尼亚的上空。昨夜，谣言也传到了我的耳朵里，说是阿斯兰来到了纳尼亚。陛下，不要相信这个谎言。那绝对不可能。星星们从不撒谎，而人类和动物却会编造谎言。如果阿斯兰真的要来纳尼亚，天空会预先告知此事。如果他真的来了，所有最璀璨的星星将会聚集在一起，向他表示敬意。所以，这完全是个谎言。”
“谎言！”国王厉声说道，“在纳尼亚或者在全世界，有谁敢编造这样的谎言？”无意中，他把手按在了剑柄上。
“那我可不清楚，陛下，”半人马说，“可是我知道，世界上有骗子，而星星决不会撒谎。”
“我在想，”珠宝说，“尽管所有星象的预言都与之相反，难道阿斯兰就不会来吗？他不是星星的奴仆，而是它们的创造者。一切古老传说不是都在讲，他不是一头温顺的狮子吗？”
“说得好，说得好，珠宝，”国王叫道，“就是这几个字：不是一头温顺的狮子。很多故事中都提到了这一点。”
卢恩维特举起一只手来，向前俯下身子，打算对国王说几句肺腑之言，突然，他们三个都转过头去，侧耳倾听越来越近的一阵哀哭声。西边的树林非常茂密，他们看不见是谁在哭，但很快他们就听到了哭诉声。
“苦啊，苦啊，苦啊！”那个声音哭喊道，“我的兄弟姐妹遭殃了！圣洁的树木遭殃了！树林被人毁掉啦。斧头正向我们砍来。我们被砍倒在地。一棵棵大树倒下，倒下，倒下。”
随着最后一声“倒下”，哭诉者进入了他们的视线。看样子她像是一个女人，但她个头很高，几乎与半人马不相上下。然而，她的外貌也很像一棵树。如果你从来没有见过树精，那就很难跟你解释清楚。如果你见过树精，那就毋庸质疑了——无论是颜色、声音、还是头发，她们都与众不同。提里安王和两个动物立刻就辨认出来，这是一个山毛榉树精。
“陛下，快来主持公道啊！”她哭道，“快来帮帮我们。你要保护你的臣民。在灯柱旷野他们正在砍伐我们。四十个兄弟姐妹的巨大躯干已经倒在了地上。”
“啊，女士！在灯柱旷野砍伐？残害会说话的树木？”国王嚷着，跳起身来，拔剑出鞘。“他们如此大胆？是谁这么胆大包天？凭阿斯兰的鬃毛——”
“啊—啊—啊，”树精喘息着，像是在痛苦地抖动——一阵接一阵抖个不停，似乎受到了连续的击打。猛然间，她朝一边轰然倒下，好像她的双脚一下子被砍断了。顷刻之间，他们眼睁睁看着她倒在草地上死去，紧接着就消失踪影了。他们知道这是怎么一回事儿。几英里外她的那棵树，被人砍倒了。
有一会儿，国王悲愤至极，简直说不出话来。随后，他说道：“来吧，朋友们。我们必须全速赶到河的上游，抓住做这件事的恶棍们。他们谁也别想活着回去。”
“陛下，我乐意效劳。”珠宝说。
卢恩维特却说：“陛下，在您大发义怒时，一定要慎重考虑。有些奇怪的事情正在发生。如果在河谷深处有武装暴乱分子，我们三个前去，肯定寡不敌众。您若能再等待那么——”
“我半秒钟也等不了啦，”国王说，“珠宝和我前往那里，与此同时，你尽快赶回凯尔帕拉维尔。这是我的指环，给你作个凭据。给我调二十个全副武装的士兵，每个人都要善于骑马。还要二十只会说话的狗、十个矮人（都得是神射手）、一两头豹子，再加上石足巨人。你带他们火速赶来增援我们。”
“坚决执行命令，陛下。”卢恩维特说着，转过身去，朝着东边的峡谷疾驰而下。
国王迈开大步，向前奔走。有时，他喃喃自语；有时，他攥紧拳头。珠宝走在他的身边，默然前行，只能听到独角兽项上金链子的轻微叮当声，国王的脚步声，以及珠宝四个蹄子发出的得得声。
很快，他们来到了河边，顺着一条杂草丛生的道路，朝河的上游走去。他们左边是河水，右边是森林。过了不久，他们来到一个地方，那里地面越发崎岖不平，茂密的树木一直生长到了水边。而那条小路则转到了南边的岸上，为了继续沿着那条小路前进，他们只得渡水过河。河水淹到了提里安王的腋下，珠宝（它有四条腿，站得比较稳当）走在他的右边，以便减轻水流的冲击。提里安伸出强壮的手臂，搂住了独角兽粗壮的脖子，他们俩安全地到达了河对岸。国王依然怒不可遏，几乎没有注意到冰冷的河水。一登上南岸，他就用肩部的斗篷擦干宝剑，因为他身上只有那个部分还是干的。
于是，他们开始朝西行进，河在他们的右边，灯柱旷野则位于他们的正前方。还没有走出一英里，他们俩就停下脚步，同时开口说了起来。国王说的是：“那是个什么东西？”珠宝则说：“看哪！”
“是只木筏。”提里安王说。
的确是一只木筏。五六棵刚砍伐不久的挺拔的树干，被削去枝叉，牢牢地捆在一起，做成了一只木筏，正在河面上快速地顺流而下。在木筏的前部，一只水田鼠拿着一根杆在掌控方向。
“嘿！水田鼠！你在做什么？”国王大声叫道。
“把木材运到下游，卖给卡罗门人，陛下。”水田鼠说着，用爪子碰了一下耳朵，如果它戴着帽子，也许它会脱帽致敬。
“卡罗门人！”提里安吼叫道，“你什么意思？是谁下令砍了这些树？”
每年这个时候，河水都异常迅猛湍急，木筏从国王和珠宝旁边冲了过去。水田鼠转过头来，大声答道：
“是狮王的命令，陛下。阿斯兰亲自下的命令。”它又补充了一句什么，但他们已经听不见了。
国王和独角兽顿时惊呆了，他们大眼瞪小眼，看样子比从前打仗时还要惊恐。
“阿斯兰，”国王终于低声说道，“阿斯兰。这是真的吗？他能够砍伐神圣的树木，杀害树精吗？”
“除非树精犯了滔天大罪——”珠宝喃喃说道。
“可是把他们卖给卡罗门人！”国王说道。“这可能吗？”
“我不知道，”珠宝痛苦地说，“他不是一只温顺的狮子。”
“好吧，”国王终于说道，“我们必须前进，面对即将到来的风险。”
“我们也只能这样做了，陛下。”独角兽说。当时它没有想到，他们俩独自前行是一件愚蠢的事情。国王也没有意识到这一点。他们实在是气昏了头，无法冷静地思考问题。结果，他们的轻率带来了严重的后果。
突然，国王紧靠在他朋友的颈项上，垂下了脑袋。
“珠宝，”他说，“前边等待着我们的将会是什么呢？我心里浮现出一些可怕的念头。如果我们活不到今天，那该有多么幸福啊。”
“是的，”珠宝说，“我们已经活得太久了。世上最恐怖的事情落到了我们头上。”他们相互偎依着站立了一两分钟，随后又继续前进。
没过多久，他们听到了斧头砍击木材的砰—砰—声，前面地势很高，他们什么都看不见。等他们登上坡顶，灯柱旷野才完全展现在他们眼前。一眼望去，国王立刻气得脸色煞白。
横贯那座古老森林的正中央——那座树林曾经长出过金树银树；就是在那里，来自我们世界的一个孩子种下那棵守护之树——已经开辟了一条宽阔的通道。就像是大地上的一条新的伤口。那条丑陋的通道上满是泥泞的坑凹，人们经由那里把砍倒的树木运到河边。一大群人正在干活，随着鞭子的抽打声，马儿吃力地拖着圆木。国王和独角兽注意到的第一件事，就是人群中约有一半是人类，而不是会说话的动物。第二件引人注目的事情是，这些人并不是金发的纳尼亚男子，而是皮肤黝黑、长着胡须的卡罗门男人。卡罗门是一个残暴的大国，位于沙漠南面，阿陳兰国的另一边。
当然，在纳尼亚遇见一两个卡罗门人——商人或者使节——并不会让人感到奇怪。在那些日子里，纳尼亚和卡罗门维持着友好睦邻关系。但是提里安不明白，为什么这里有那么多卡罗门人，让他更不明白的是，那些卡罗门人为什么在砍伐纳尼亚的森林。他紧紧握住自己的宝剑，把斗篷缠到左臂上，与珠宝一起冲到了人群之中。
两个卡罗门人正在驱赶一匹拉着根大圆木的马儿。国王来到他们跟前时，那根圆木恰巧陷在了一个非常泥泞的地方。
“往前走，懒骨头！使劲儿拉，你这头懒猪！”卡罗门人骂着，把鞭子抽得劈啪作响。马儿用尽了九牛二虎之力，它的两眼通红，浑身大汗淋漓。
“干活，懒畜生。”一个卡罗门人嚷着，狠狠地用鞭子抽打着马儿。就在这时，真正可怕的事情发生了。
直到此刻，提里安还理所当然地认为，卡罗门人驱赶的是他们自己的马儿，就像我们世界里的马儿一样，是一些没有头脑的哑巴畜生。尽管他并不愿意看到哑巴马儿受虐待，而他更多考虑的是树精遭到杀害。他做梦也没有想到，有人胆敢役使纳尼亚会说话的自由马儿，更不用说用鞭子抽打它了。在马鞭狠狠的抽打之下，那匹马用后腿站立起来，嘶鸣着说道：
“傻瓜，暴君！难道你们没有看见，我已经使出了浑身的力气？”
提里安这才知道，这匹马是他的纳尼亚臣民。他和珠宝都怒不可遏，丧失了理智。国王举起宝剑，独角兽低下脑袋，他们并肩向前冲去。刹那之间，两个卡罗门人倒地身亡，一个被宝剑砍掉了脑袋，另一个被珠宝的独角刺穿了心脏。