CHAPTER FIVE
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CASPIAN'S ADVENTURE IN THE MOUNTAIN<bdi>..</bdi>SAFTER this, Caspian and his Tutor had many more secret versations oop of?9９ｌiｂ?he Great Tower, and at each versation Caspian learned more about Old Narnia, so that thinking and dreaming about the old days, and longing that they might e back, filled nearly all his spare hours. But of course he had not many hours to spare, for now his education was beginning in ear. He learned sword-fighting and riding, swimming and diving, how to shoot with the bolay on the recorder and the theorbo, how to hunt the stag and cut him up when he was dead, besides ography, Rhetoric, Heraldry, Versification, and of course History, with a little Law, Physic, Alchemy, and Astronomy. Of Magic he learned only the theory, for Doctor elius said the practical part was not proper study for princes. "And I myself," he added, "am only a very imperfect magi and do only the smallest experiments." Of Navigation ("Which is a noble and heroical art," said the Doctor) he was taught nothing, because King Miraz disapproved of ships and the sea.
He also learned a great deal by using his own eyes and ears. As a little boy he had often wondered why he disliked his aunt, Queen Prunaprismia; he now saw that it was because she disliked him. He also began to see that Narnia was an unhappy try. The taxes were high and the laws were stern and Miraz was a cruel man.
After some years there came a time when the Queen seemed to be ill and there was a great deal of bustle and pother about her in the castle and doctors came and the courtiers whispered. This was in early summertime. And one night, while all this fuss was going on, Caspian was uedly wakened by Doctor elius after he had been only a few hours in bed.
"Are we going to do a little Astronomy, Doctor?" said Caspian.
"Hush!" said the Doctor. "Trust me and do exactly as I tell you. Put on all your clothes; you have a long journey before you."
Caspian was very surprised, but he had learo have fiden his Tutor and he began doing what he was told at once. When he was dressed the Doctor said, "I have a wallet for you. We must go into the room and fill it with victuals from yhness's supper table."
"My gentlemen-in-waiting will be there," said Caspian.
"They are fast asleep and will not wake," said the Doctor. "I am a very mini but I at least trive a charmed sleep."
They went into the antechamber and there, sure enough, the two gentlemen-in-waiting were, sprawling on chairs and sn hard. Doctor elius quickly cut up the remains of a cold chi and some slices of venison and put them, with bread and an apple or so and a little flask of good wine, into the wallet which he then gave to Caspian. It fitted on by a strap over Caspian's shoulder, like a satchel you would use for taking books to school.
"Have you your sword?" asked the Doctor.
"Yes," said Caspian.
"Then put this mantle over all to hide the sword and the wallet. That's right. And now we must go to the Great Tower and talk."
When they had reached the top of the Tower (it was a cloudy night, not at all like the night when they had seen the jun of Tarva and Alambil) Doctor elius said,
"Dear Prince, you must leave this castle at ond go to seek your fortune in the wide world. Your life is in danger here."
"Why?" asked Caspian.
"Because you are the true King of Narnia: Caspiaenth, the true son and heir of Caspian the Ninth. Long life to your Majesty' - and suddenly, to Caspian's great surprise, the little man dropped down on one knee and kissed his hand.
"What does it all mean? I don't uand," said Caspian.
"I wonder you have never asked me before," said the Doctor, "why, being the son of King Caspian, you are not King Caspian yourself. Everyone except your Majesty knows that Miraz is a usurper. When he first began to rule he did not eveend to be the King: he called himself Lord Protector. But then your royal mother died, the <q>藏书网</q>good Queen and the only Telmarine who was ever kind to me. And then, one by one, all the great lords, who had known your father, died or disappeared. Not by act, either. Miraz weeded them out. Belisar and Uvilas were shot with arrows on a hunting party: by ce, it retended. All the great house of the Passarids he sent to fight giants on the northern froill one by ohey fell. Arlian and Erimon and a dozen more he executed for treason on a false charge. The two brothers of Beaversdam he shut up as madmen. And finally he persuaded the seven noble lords, who alone among all the Telmarines did not fear the sea, to sail away and look for new lands beyond the Eastern O, and, as he intehey never came back. And when there was no o who could speak a word for you, then his flatterers (as he had instructed them) begged him to bee King. And of course he did."
"Do you mean he now wants to kill me too?" said Caspian.
"That is almost certain," said Doctor elius.
"But why now?" said Caspian. "I mean, why didn't he do it long ago if he wao? And what harm have I done him?"
"He has ged his mind about you because of something that happened only two ho. The Queen has had a son."
"I don't see what that's got to do with it," said Caspian.
"Don't see!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Have all my lessons in History and Politics taught you no more than that? Listen. As long as he had no children of his own, he was willing enough that you should be King after he died. He may not have cared much about you, but he would rather you should have the throhan a stranger. Now that he has a son of his own he will want his own son to be the King. You are in the way. He'll clear you out of the way."
"Is he really as bad as that?" said Caspian. "Would he really murder me?"
"He murdered your Father," said Doctor elius.
Caspia very queer and said nothing.
"I tell you the whole story," said the Doctor. "But not now. There is no time. You must fly at once."
"You'll e with me?" said Caspian.
"I dare not," said the Doctor. "It would make your danger greater. Two are more easily tracked than one. Dear Prince, dear King Caspian, you must be very brave. You must go alone and at ory to get across the southern border to the court of King Nain of Arland. He will be good to you."
"Shall I never see you again?" said Caspian in a quavering voice.
"I hope so, dear King," said the Doctor. "What friend have I in the wide world except your Majesty? And I have a little magic. But in the meantime, speed is everything. Here are two gifts before you go. This is a little purse of gold alas, all the treasure in this castle should be your own by rights. And here is something far better."
He put in Caspian's hands something which he could hardly see but which he knew by the feel to be a horn.
"That," said Doctor elius, "is the greatest and most sacred treasure of Narnia. Many terrors I endured, many spells did I utter, to find it, when I was still young. It is the magic horn of Queen Susan herself which she left behind her when she vanished from Narnia at the end of the Golde is said that whoever blows it shall have strange help - no one say how stra may have the power to call Queen Lud King Edmund and Queen Susan and High Kier back from the past, and they will set all thts. It may be that it will call up Asian himself. Take it, King Caspian: but do not use it except at yreatest need. And now, haste, haste, haste. The little door at the very bottom of the Tower, the door into the garden, is unlocked. There we must part."
" I get my horse Destrier?" said Caspian.
"He is already saddled and waiting for you just at the er of the orchard."
During the long climb down the winding staircase elius whispered many more words of dire and advice. Caspian's heart was sinking, but he tried to take it all in. Then came the fresh air in the garden, a fervent handclasp with the Doctor, a run across the lawn, a weling whinny from Destrier, and so King Caspiaenth left the castle of his fathers. Looking back, he saw firewoing up to celebrate the birth of the new prince.
All night he rode southward, choosing by-ways and bridle paths through woods as long as he was in try that he knew; but afterwards he kept to the high road. Destrier was as excited as his master at this unusual journey, and Caspian, though tears had e into his eyes at saying good-bye to Doctor elius, felt brave and, in a way, happy, to think that he was King Caspian riding to seek adventures, with his sword on his left hip and Queen Susan's magic horn on his right. But when day came, with a sprinkle of rain, and he looked about him and saw on every side unknown woods, wild heaths, and blue mountains, he thought how large and strahe world was a frightened and small.
As soon as it was full daylight he left the road and found an open grassy place amid a wood where he could rest. He took off Destrier's bridle a him graze, ate some cold chi and drank a little wine, and presently fell asleep. It was late afternoon when he awoke. He ate a morsel and tinued his journey, still southward, by many unfrequented lanes. He was now in a land of hills, going up and down, but always more up than down. From every ridge he could see the mountains growing bigger and blacker ahead. As the evening closed in, he was riding their lower slopes. The wind rose. Soon rain fell in torrents.
Destrier became uneasy; there was thunder in the air. And now they entered a dark and seemingly endless pine forest, and all the stories Caspian had ever heard of trees being unfriendly to Man crowded into his mind. He remembered that he was, after all, a Telmarine, one of the race who cut down trees wherever they could and were at war with all wild things; and though he himself might be uher Telmarihe trees could not be expected to know this.
Nor did they. The wind became a tempest, the woods roared and creaked all round them. There came a crash. A tree fell right across the road just behind him. "Quiet, Destrier, quiet!" said Caspian, patting his horse's neck; but he was trembling himself and khat he had escaped death by an inch. Lightning flashed and a great crack of thunder seemed to break the sky in two just overhead.
Destrier bolted in good ear. Caspian was a good rider, but he had not the strength to hold him back. He kept his seat, but he khat his life hung by a thread during the wild career that followed. Tree after tree rose up before them in the dusk and was only just avoided. Then, almost too suddenly to hurt (a did hurt him too) something struck Caspian on the forehead and he knew no more.
When he came to himself he was lying in a firelit place with bruised limbs and a bad headache. Low voices were speaking close at hand.
"And now," said one, "before it wakes up we must decide what to do with it."
"Kill it," said another. "We 't let it live. It would betray us."
"We ought to have killed it at once, or else let it alone," said a third voice. "We 't kill it now. Not after we've taken it in and bas head and all. It would be murdering a guest."
"Gentlemen," said Caspian in a feeble voice, "whatever you do to me, I hope you will be kind to my poor horse."
"Your horse had taken flight long before we found you," said the first voice - a curiously husky, earthy voice, as Caspian now noticed.
"Now don't let it talk you round with its pretty words," said the sed voice. "I still say-"
"Horns and halibuts!" exclaimed the third voice. "Of course we're not going to murder it. For shame, Nikabrik. What do you say, Trufflehunter? What shall we do with it?"
"I shall give it a drink," said the first voice, presumably Trufflehunter's. A dark shape approached the bed. Caspia an arm slipped gently under his shoulders - if it was exactly an arm. The shape somehow seemed wrong. The face that bent towards him seemed wrong too. He got the impression that it was very hairy and very long nosed, and there were odd white patches on each side of it. "It's a mask of some sort," thought Caspian. "Or perhaps I'm in a fever and imagining it all." A cupful of something sweet and hot was set to his lips and he drank. At that moment one of the others poked the fire. A blaze sprang up and Caspian almost screamed with the shock as the sudden light revealed the face that was looking into his own. It was not a man's face but a badger's, though larger and friendlier and more intelligent than the face of any badger he had seen before. And it had certainly been talking. He saw, too, that he was on a bed of heather, in a cave. By the fire sat two little bearded men, so much wilder and shorter and hairier and thicker than Doctor elius that he khem at once for real Dwarfs, a Dwarfs with not a drop of human blood in their veins. And Caspiahat he had found the Old Narnians at last. Then his head began to swim again.
In the few days he learo know them by he Badger was called Trufflehunter; he was the oldest and ki of the three. The Dwarf who had wao kill Caspian was a sour Black Dwarf (that is, his hair and beard were black, and thid hard like horsehair). His name was Nikabrik. The other Dwarf was a Red Dwarf with hair rather like a Fox's and he was called Trumpkin.
"And now," said Nikabrik on the first evening when Caspian was well enough to sit up and talk, "we still have to decide what to do with this Human. You two think you've do a great kindess by not letting me kill it. But I suppose the upshot is that we have to keep it a prisoner for life. I'm certainly not going to let it go alive - to go back to its own kind aray us all."
"Bulbs and bolsters! Nikabrik," said Trumpkin. "Why need you talk so unhandsomely? It isn't the creature's fault that it bashed its head against a tree outside our hole. And I don't think it looks like a traitor."
"I say," said Caspian, "you haven't yet found out whether I want to go back. I don't. I want to stay with you - if you'll let me. I've been looking for people like you all my life."
"That's a likely story," growled Nikabrik. "You're a Telmarine and a Human, aren't you? Of course you want to go back to your own kind."
"Well, even if I did, I couldn't," said Caspian. "I was flying for my life when I had my act. The King wants to kill me. If you'd killed me, you'd have dohe very thing to please him."
"Well now," said Trufflehunter, "you don't say so!"
"Eh?" said Trumpkin. "What's that? What have you been doing, Human, to fall foul of Miraz at ye?"
"He's my uncle," began Caspian, when Nikabrik jumped up with his hand on his dagger.
"There you are!" he cried. "Not only a Telmari close kin areatest enemy. Are you still mad enough to let this creature live?" He would have stabbed Caspian then and there, if the Badger and Trumpkin had not got in the way and forced him back to his seat and held him down.
"Now, ond for all, Nikabrik," said Trumpkin. "Will you tain yourself, or must Trufflehunter and I sit on your head?"
Nikabrik sulkily promised to behave, and the other two asked Caspian to tell his whole story. When he had done so there was a moment's silence.
"This is the queerest thing I ever heard," said Trumpkin.
"I don't like it," said Nikabrik. "I didn't know there were stories about us still told among the Humans. The less they know about us the better. That old nurse, now. She'd better have held her tongue. And it's all mixed up with that Tutor: a renegade Dwarf. I hate 'em. I hate 'em worse than the Humans. You mark my words - no good will e of it.
"Don't you go talking about things you don't uand, Nikabrik," said Trufflehunter. "You Dwarfs are as fetful and geable as the Humans themselves. I'm a beast, I am, and a Badger what's more. We don't ge. We hold on. I say great good will e of it. This is the true King of Narnia we've got here: a true King, ing back to true Narnia. And we beasts remember, even if Dwarfs fet, that Narnia was never right except when a son of Adam was King."
"Whistles and whirligigs! Trufflehunter," said Trumpkin. "You don't mean you want to give the try to Humans?"
"I said nothing about that," answered the Badger. "It's not Men's try (who should know that better than me?) but it's a try for a man to be King of. We badgers have long enough memories to know that. Why, bless us all, wasn't the High Kier a Man?"
"Do you believe all those old stories?" asked Trumpkin.
"I tell you, we don't ge, we beasts," said Trufflehunter. "We don't fet. I believe in the High Kier and the rest that reig Cair Paravel, as firmly as I believe in Aslan himself."
"As firmly as that, I dare say," said Trumpkin. "But who believes in Aslan nowadays?"
"I do," said Caspian. "And if I hadn't believed in him before, I would now. Back there among the Humans the people who laughed at Aslan would have laughed at stories about Talkis and Dwarfs. Sometimes I did wonder if there really was such a person as Aslan: but then sometimes I wondered if there were really people like you. Yet there you are."
"That's right," said Trufflehunter. "You're right, King Caspian. And as long as you will be true to Old Narnia you shall be my King, whatever they say. Long life to your Majesty."
"You make me sick, Badger," growled Nikabrik. "The High Kier and the rest may have been Men, but they were a different sort of Men. This is one of the cursed Telmarines. He has hunted beasts for sport. Haven't you, now?" he added, rounding suddenly on Caspian.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I have," said Caspian. "But they weren't Talkis."
"It's all the same thing," said Nikabrik.
"No, no, no," said Trufflehunter. "You know it isn't. You know very well that the beasts in Narnia nowadays are different and are no more than the poor dumb, witless creatures you'd find in en or Telmar. They're smaller too. They're far more different from us than the half-Dwarfs are from you."
There was a great deal more talk, but it all ended with the agree藏书网ment that Caspian should stay and even the promise that, as soon as he was able to go out, he should be taken to see what Trumpkin called "the Others"; for apparently in these wild parts all sorts of creatures from the Old Days of Narnia still lived on in hiding.
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