CHAPTER TWELVE THROUGH THE STABLE DOOR（第3/4页）

“Come in and meet Tash yourself!”

There was a deafening noise. As when the Ape had been flung in，the earth shook and there was a blinding light．

The Calormene soldiers outside screamed.“Tash，Tash!”and banged the door. If Tash wanted their own Captain，Tash must have him. They，at any rate，did not want to meet Tash．

For a moment or two Tirian did not know where he was or

even who he was. Then he steadied himself，blinked，and looked around. It was not dark inside the stable，as he had expected. He was in strong light：that was why he was blinking．

He turned to look at Rishda Tarkaan，but Rishda was not looking at him. Rishda gave a great wail and pointed; then he put his hands before his face and fell flat，face downwards，on the ground. Tirian looked in the direction where the Tarkaan had pointed. And then he understood．

A terrible figure was coming towards them. It was far smaller than the shape they had seen from the Tower，though still much bigger than a man，and it was the same. It had a vulture’s head and four arms. Its beak was open and its eyes blazed. A croaking voice came from its beak．

“Thou hast called me into Narnia，Rishda Tarkaan. Here I am. What hast thou to say ？”

But the Tarkaan neither lifted his face from the ground nor said a word. He was shaking like a man with a bad hiccup. He was brave enough in battle：but half his courage had left him earlier that night when he first began to suspect that there might be a real Tash. The rest of it had left him now．

With a sudden jerk-like a hen stooping to pick up a worm- Tash pounced on the miserable Rishda and tucked him under the upper of his two right arms. Then Tash turned his head sidewise to fix Tirian with one of his terrible eyes：for of course，having a bird’s head，he couldn’t look at you straight．

But immediately，from behind Tash，strong and calm as the summer sea，a voice said：

“Begone，Monster，and take your lawful prey to your own place：in the name of Aslan and Aslan’s great Father the Emperor-over-the-Sea.”

The hideous creature vanished，with the Tarkaan still under its arm. And Tirian turned to see who had spoken．And what he saw then set his heart beating as it had never beaten in any fight．

Seven Kings and Queens stood before him，all with crowns on their heads and all in glittering clothes，but the Kings wore fine mail as well and had their swords drawn in their hands. Tirian bowed courteously and was about to speak when the youngest of the Queens laughed. He stared hard at her face，and then gasped with amazement，for he knew her. It was Jill：but not Jill as he had last seen her，with her face all dirt and tears and an old drill dress half slipping off one shoulder. Now she looked cool and fresh，as fresh as if she had just come from bathing. And at first he thought she looked older，but then didn’t，and he could never make up his mind on that point. And then he saw that the youngest of the Kings was Eustace：but he also was changed as Jill was changed．

Tirian suddenly felt awkward about coming among these people with the blood and dust and sweat of a battle still on him. Next moment he realized that he was not in that state at all. He was fresh and cool and clean，and dressed in such clothes as he would have worn for a great feast at Cair Paravel. (But in Narnia your good clothes were never your uncomfortable ones. They knew how to make things that felt beautiful as well as looking beautiful in Narnia：and there was no such thing as starch or flannel or elastic to be found from one end of the country to the other.)

“Sire，”said Jill coming forward and making a beautiful curtsey，“let me make you known to Peter the High King over all Kings in Narnia.”

Tirian had no need to ask which was the High King，for he remembered his face (though here it was far nobler) from his dream. He stepped forward，sank on one knee and kissed Peter’s hand．