Narnia: The Horse and His Boy - Audiobook - Pt 2/4 - video Dailymotion

benedictsmaths

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy - Audiobook - Pt 2/4   Complete unabridged, read by Alex Jennings   00:00:00 - Chapter 4  00:19:27 - Chapter 5  00:37:07 - Chapter 6  00:52:57 - Chapter 7

Transcript

00:00:00Chapter 4 Shasta Falls in with the Narnians

00:00:08At first Shasta could see nothing in the valley below him but a sea of mist with a few domes

00:00:15and pinnacles rising from it. But as the light increased and the mist cleared away, he saw

00:00:20more and more. A broad river divided itself into two streams, and on the island between

00:00:26them stood the city of Tashban, one of the wonders of the world. Round the very edge

00:00:32of the island, so that the water lapped against the stone, ran high walls strengthened with

00:00:37so many towers that he soon gave up trying to count them. Inside the walls the island

00:00:42rose in a hill, and every bit of that hill, up to the Tisroch's palace and the great temple

00:00:47of Tash at the top, was completely covered with buildings. Terrace above terrace, street

00:00:53above street, zigzag roads or huge flights of steps bordered with orange trees and lemon

00:00:58trees, roof gardens, balconies, deep archways, pillared colonnades, spires, battlements,

00:01:05minarets, pinnacles. And when at last the sun rose out of the sea and the great silver-plated

00:01:12dome of the temple flashed back its light, he was almost dazzled.

00:01:17Get on, Shasta, Brie kept saying. The river-banks on each side of the valley were such a mass

00:01:23of gardens that they looked at first like forest, until you got closer and saw the white

00:01:29walls of innumerable houses peeping out from beneath the trees. Soon after that Shasta

00:01:34noticed a delicious smell of flowers and fruit. About fifteen minutes later they were down

00:01:40among them, plodding on a level road with white walls on each side and trees bending

00:01:45over the walls.

00:01:46"'I say,' said Shasta in an awed voice, "'this is a wonderful place!'

00:01:52"'I dare say,' said Brie, "'but I wish we were safely through it and out on the other

00:01:57side. Narnia and the North!'

00:02:02At that moment a low throbbing noise began, which gradually swelled louder and louder

00:02:07till the whole valley seemed to be swaying with it. It was a musical noise, but so strong

00:02:12and solemn as to be a little frightening.

00:02:15"'That's the horns blowing for the city gates to be open,' said Brie. "'We shall be there

00:02:20in a minute. Now, Aravis, do droop your shoulders a bit and step heavier and try to look less

00:02:25like a princess. Try to imagine you being kicked and cuffed and called names all your

00:02:30life.'

00:02:31"'If it comes to that,' said Aravis, "'what about you drooping your head a bit more, and

00:02:36arching your neck a bit less, and trying to look less like a war-horse?'

00:02:39"'Hush!' said Brie. "'Here we are!'

00:02:43And they were. They had come to the river's edge, and the road ahead of them ran along

00:02:48a many-arched bridge. The water danced brightly in the early sunlight. Away to their right,

00:02:54nearer the river's mouth, they caught a glimpse of ships' masts. Several other travellers

00:02:59were before them on the bridge, mostly peasants driving laden donkeys and mules, or carrying

00:03:05baskets on their heads. The children and horses joined the crowd.

00:03:10"'Is anything wrong?' whispered Shasta to Aravis, who had an odd look on her face.

00:03:15"'Oh, it's all very well for you,' whispered Aravis, rather savagely.

00:03:19"'What would you care about Tashpan? But I ought to be riding in on a litter with soldiers

00:03:24before me, and slaves behind. And perhaps going to a feast in the Tisrock's palace,

00:03:29may he live for ever. Not sneaking in like this. It's different for you.'

00:03:35Shasta thought all this very silly. At the far end of the bridge, the walls of the city

00:03:40towered high above them, and the brazen gate stood open in the gateway, which was really

00:03:45wide but looked narrow because it was so very high. Half a dozen soldiers, leaning on their

00:03:50spears, stood on each side. Aravis couldn't help thinking, "'They'd all jump to attention

00:03:56and salute me if they knew whose daughter I am!' But the others were only thinking of

00:04:00how they'd get through, and hoping the soldiers would not ask any questions.

00:04:05Fortunately they did not. But one of them picked a carrot out of a peasant's basket,

00:04:10and threw it at Shasta with a rough laugh, saying,

00:04:13"'Hey, horse-boy! You'll catch it if your master finds you've been using his saddle-horse for

00:04:19pack-work!' This frightened him badly, for of course it showed that no one who knew anything

00:04:24about horses would mistake Bree for anything but a charger.

00:04:28"'It's my master's orders, so there,' said Shasta. But it would have been better if he

00:04:34had held his tongue, for the soldier gave him a box on the side of his face that nearly

00:04:38knocked him down, and said, "'Take that, you young filth, to teach you how to talk to free

00:04:42men!' But they all slunk into the city without being stopped. Shasta cried only a very little.

00:04:49He was used to hard knocks. Inside the gates, Tashban did not at first

00:04:55seem so splendid as it had looked from a distance. The first street was narrow,

00:05:00and there were hardly any windows in the walls on each side. It was much more crowded than

00:05:05Shasta had expected—crowded partly by the peasants on their way to market who had come

00:05:09in with them, but also with water-sellers, sweetmeat-sellers, porters, soldiers, beggars,

00:05:15ragged children, hens, stray dogs, and barefooted slaves. What you would chiefly have noticed,

00:05:21if you had been there, were the smells which came from unwashed people, unwashed dogs,

00:05:27scent, garlic, onions, and the piles of refuse which lay everywhere.

00:05:33Shasta was pretending to lead, but it was really Brie, who knew the way and kept guiding

00:05:38him by little nudges with his nose. They soon turned to the left, and began going up a steep

00:05:43hill. It was much fresher and pleasanter, for the road was bordered by trees, and there

00:05:48were houses only on the right side. On the other, they looked out over the roofs of houses

00:05:53in the lower town, and could see some way up the river. Then they went round a hairpin bend to

00:05:59their right, and continued rising. They were zigzagging up to the centre of Tashban.

00:06:06Soon they came to finer streets. Great statues of the gods and heroes of Kalomen,

00:06:12who were mostly impressive rather than agreeable to look at, rose on shining pedestals.

00:06:18Palm trees and pillared arcades cast shadows over the burning pavements,

00:06:23and through the arched gateways of many a palace, Shasta caught sight of green branches,

00:06:28cool fountains, and smooth lawns. It must be nice inside, he thought.

00:06:35At every turn Shasta hoped they were getting out of the crowd, but they never did. This

00:06:39made their progress very slow, and every now and then they had to stop altogether.

00:06:44This usually happened because a loud voice shouted out,

00:06:47Way, way, way for the Tarkhan, or for the Tarkina, or for the fifteenth Vizier,

00:06:53or for the Ambassador, and everyone in the crowd would crush back against the walls.

00:06:59And above their heads Shasta would sometimes see the great lord or lady for whom all the fuss was

00:07:04being made, lolling upon a litter which four or even six gigantic slaves carried on their bare

00:07:10shoulders. For in Tashban there is only one traffic regulation, which is that everyone who

00:07:16is less important has to get out of the way for everyone who is more important, unless you want

00:07:21a cut from a whip or a punch from the butt-end of a spear. It was in a splendid street very near the

00:07:28top of the city—the Tisrok's palace was the only thing above it—that the most disastrous of these

00:07:33stoppages occurred. Way, way, way, came the voice, way for the white barbarian king, the guest of the

00:07:41Tisrok may he live for ever, way for the Narnian lords. Shasta tried to get out of the way and to

00:07:48make Bree go back, but no horse, not even a talking horse from Narnia, backs easily. And a woman with

00:07:55a very edgy basket in her hands, who was just behind Shasta, pushed the basket hard against

00:08:00his shoulders, and said, Now then, who are you shoving? And then someone else jostled him from

00:08:05the side, and in the confusion of the moment he lost hold of Bree, and then the whole crowd behind

00:08:10him became so stiffened and packed tight that he couldn't move at all. So he found himself,

00:08:16unintentionally, in the first row, and had a fine sight of the party that was coming down the street.

00:08:22It was quite unlike any other party they had seen that day. The crier who went before it,

00:08:27shouting, Way, way, was the only Kalomin in it. And there was no litter, everyone was on foot.

00:08:35There were about half a dozen men, and Shasta had never seen anyone like them before.

00:08:41For one thing, they were all as fair-skinned as himself, and most of them had fair hair.

00:08:47And they were not dressed like men of Kalomin. Most of them had legs bare to the knee,

00:08:53their tunics were of fine, bright, hardy colours, woodland green, or gay yellow, or fresh blue.

00:08:59Instead of turbans they wore steel or silver caps, some of them set with jewels, and one with little

00:09:05wings on each side. A few were bare-headed. The swords at their sides were long and straight,

00:09:11not curved like Kalomin scimitars. And instead of being grave and mysterious like most Kalomins,

00:09:18they walked with a swing, and let their arms and shoulders go free, and chatted and laughed.

00:09:23One was whistling. You could see that they were ready to be friends with anyone who was friendly,

00:09:28and didn't give a fig for anyone who wasn't. Shasta thought he had never seen anything so lovely in

00:09:34his life. But there was no time to enjoy it, for at once a really dreadful thing happened.

00:09:41The leader of the fair-haired men suddenly pointed at Shasta, cried out,

00:09:45There he is! There's our runaway! and seized him by the shoulder.

00:09:51Next moment he gave Shasta a smack, not a cruel one to make you cry, but a sharp one to let you

00:09:56know you were in disgrace, and added, shaking, Shame on you, my lord! Fie for shame! Queen

00:10:02Susan's eyes are red with weeping because of you! What! Truant for a whole night! Where have you

00:10:07been? Shasta would have darted under Bree's body and tried to make himself scarce in the crowd,

00:10:13if he had had the least chance. But the fair-haired men were all round him by now,

00:10:18and he was held firm. Of course his first impulse was to say that he was only poor Ashish,

00:10:24the fisherman's son, and that the foreign lord must have mistaken him for someone else.

00:10:28But then the very last thing he wanted to do in that crowded place was to start explaining who

00:10:33he was and what he was doing. If he started on that, he would soon be asked where he had got

00:10:37his horse from and who Atavis was, and then goodbye to any chance of getting through Tashban.

00:10:44His next impulse was to look at Bree for help, but Bree had no intention of letting all the

00:10:49crowd know that he could talk, and stood looking just as stupid as a horse can.

00:10:54As for Atavis, Shasta did not even dare to look at her for fear of drawing attention,

00:10:59and there was no time to think, for the leader of the Narnians said at once,

00:11:04Take one of his little lordship's hands, Peridan, of your courtesy, and I'll take the other,

00:11:08and now on. Our royal sister's mind will be greatly eased when she sees our young

00:11:13scapegrace safe in our lodging. And so, before they were half-way through Tashban,

00:11:18all their plans were ruined, and without even a chance to say goodbye to the others,

00:11:23Shasta found himself being marched off among strangers, and quite unable to guess what might

00:11:28be going to happen next. The Narnian king, for Shasta began to see, by the way the rest spoke

00:11:33to him, that he must be a king, kept on asking him questions, where he had been, how he had got out,

00:11:39what he had done with his clothes, and didn't he know that he had been very naughty?

00:11:43Only the king called it naught instead of naughty. And Shasta said nothing in answer,

00:11:50because he couldn't think of anything to say that would not be dangerous.

00:11:54What? All mum? asked the king. I must plainly tell you, prince, that this hang-dog's silence

00:12:00becomes one of your blood even less than the scape itself. To run away might pass for a

00:12:04boy's frolic with some spirit in it, but the king's son of Arkenland should avouch his deed,

00:12:10not hang his head like a Calormene slave. This was very unpleasant, for Shasta felt all the

00:12:16time that this young king was the very nicest kind of grown-up, and would have liked to have

00:12:20made a good impression on him. The strangers led him, held tightly by both hands, along a narrow

00:12:27street and down a flight of shallow stairs, and then up another to a wide doorway in a white wall

00:12:32with two tall dark cypress trees, one on each side of it. Once through the arch, Shasta found

00:12:39himself in a courtyard which was also a garden. A marble basin of clear water in the centre was

00:12:44kept continually rippling by the fountain that fell into it. Orange trees grew rounded out of

00:12:50smooth grass, and the four white walls which surrounded the lawn were covered with climbing

00:12:54roses. The noise and dust and crowding of the streets seemed suddenly far away. He was led

00:13:02rapidly across the garden, and then into a dark doorway. The crier remained outside.

00:13:08After that they took him along a corridor, where the stone floor felt beautifully cool to his hot

00:13:13feet, and up some stairs. A moment later he found himself blinking in the light of a big airy room

00:13:19with wide open windows, all looking north, so that no sun came in. There was a carpet on the

00:13:25floor more wonderfully coloured than anything he had ever seen, and his feet sank down into it as

00:13:31if he were treading in thick moss. All round the walls there were low sofas with rich cushions on

00:13:37them, and the rooms seemed to be full of people, very queer people some of them, thought Shasta.

00:13:43But he had no time to think of that before the most beautiful lady he had ever seen rose from

00:13:47her place, and threw her arms round him, and kissed him, saying,—

00:13:51"'O Corrin! Corrin, how could you? And thou and I such close friends ever since thy mother died!

00:13:59And what should I have said to thy royal father if I came home without thee? Would have been a

00:14:04cause almost of war between Arkenland and Narnia, which are friends time out of mind. It was nought,

00:14:11playmate, very nought of thee to use us so.'

00:14:14"'Apparently,' thought Shasta to himself,

00:14:17"'I'm being mistaken for a prince of Arkenland, wherever that is. And these must be the Narnians.

00:14:24I wonder where the real Corrin is?'

00:14:26But these thoughts did not help him say anything out loud.

00:14:30"'Where hast been, Corrin?' said the lady, her hands still on Shasta's shoulders.

00:14:36"'I—I don't know,' stammered Shasta.

00:14:39"'There it is, Susan,' said the king.

00:14:41"'I could get no tale out of him, true or false.'

00:14:45"'Your Majesties! Queen Susan! King Edmund!' said a voice.

00:14:50And when Shasta turned to look at the speaker, he nearly jumped out of his skin with surprise.

00:14:55For this was one of those queer people whom he had noticed out of the corner of his eye

00:14:59when he first came into the room. He was about the same height as Shasta himself.

00:15:04From the waist upward he was like a man, but his legs were hairy like a goat's,

00:15:10and shaped like a goat's, and he had goat's hoofs and a tail.

00:15:15His skin was rather red, and he had curly hair and a short pointed beard and two little horns.

00:15:21He was, in fact, a faun, which is a creature Shasta had never seen a picture of or even heard

00:15:26of. And if you read a book called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, you may like to know that

00:15:32this was the very same faun, Tumnus by name, whom Queen Susan's sister, Lucy, had met on the very

00:15:39first day when she found her way into Narnia. But he was a good deal older now, for by this time

00:15:45Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy had been kings and queens of Narnia for several years.

00:15:51"'Your Majesties!' he was saying.

00:15:53"'His Little Highness has had a touch of the sun.

00:15:56Look at him! He is dazed. He does not know where he is.'

00:16:00Then, of course, everyone stopped scolding Shasta and asking him questions, and he was made much of

00:16:05and laid on a sofa and cushions were put under his head, and he was given iced sherbet in a golden

00:16:10cup to drink, and told to keep very quiet. Nothing like this had ever happened to Shasta in his life

00:16:17before. He had never even imagined lying on anything so comfortable as that sofa, or drinking

00:16:22anything so delicious as that sherbet. He was still wondering what had happened to the others,

00:16:28and how on earth he was going to escape and meet them at the tombs, and what would happen when the

00:16:33real Corrin turned up again. But none of these worries seemed so pressing, now that he was

00:16:37comfortable, and perhaps, later on, there would be nice things to eat.

00:16:44Meanwhile, the people in that cool airy room were very interesting. Besides the faun, there were

00:16:49two dwarfs, a kind of creature he had never seen before, and a very large raven. The rest were all

00:16:56humans, grown-ups, but young, and all of them, both men and women, had nicer faces and voices than

00:17:02most Kalormenes. And soon Shasta found himself taking an interest in the conversation.

00:17:09"'Now, madam,' the king was saying to Queen Susan, the lady who had kissed Shasta,

00:17:14"'what think you? We have been in this city fully three weeks. Have you yet settled in your mind

00:17:19whether you will marry this dark-faced lover of yours, this Prince Rabadash, or no?' The lady

00:17:24shook her head. "'No, brother,' she said, "'not for all the jewels in Tashban.' "'Hello,' thought

00:17:32Shasta, "'although they're king and queen, they're brother and sister, not married to one another.'

00:17:38"'Truly, sister,' said the king, "'I should have loved you the less if you had taken him. And I

00:17:43tell you that at the first coming of the Tisrock's ambassadors into Narnia to treat of this marriage,

00:17:48and later when the prince was our guest at Caer Paravell, it was a wonder to me that ever you

00:17:52could find it in your heart to show him so much favour.' "'That was my folly, Edmund,' said Queen

00:17:58Susan, "'of which I cry you mercy. Yet, when he was with us in Narnia, truly this prince bore

00:18:04himself in another fashion than he does now in Tashban. For I take you all to witness what

00:18:09marvellous feats he did in that great tournament and hastilude which our brother the High King

00:18:13made for him, and how meekly and courteously he consorted with us the space of seven days.

00:18:20But here, in his own city, he has shown another face.'

00:18:24"'Ah,' croaked the raven, "'it is an old saying,

00:18:28see the bear in his own den before you judge of his conditions.'

00:18:33"'That's very true, Sallopad,' said one of the dwarfs,

00:18:37"'and another is, come live with me and you'll know me.'

00:18:41"'Yes,' said the king, "'we have now seen him for what he is.

00:18:45That is a most proud, bloody, luxurious, cruel, and self-pleasing tyrant.'

00:18:51"'Then, in the name of Aslan,' said Susan, "'let us leave Tashban this very day.'

00:18:57"'There's the rob, sister,' said Edmund, ''for now I must open to you all that has been growing

00:19:01in my mind these last two days and more. Peridan, of your courtesy, look to the door and see that

00:19:07there is no spy upon us.' "'Oh, well, so, for now we must be secret.'

00:19:14Everyone had begun to look very serious. Queen Susan jumped up and ran to her brother.

00:19:20"'Oh, Edmund,' she cried, "'what is it? There is something dreadful in your face.'"

00:19:28Chapter 5 Prince Corrin

00:19:30"'My dear sister, and very good lady,' said King Edmund,

00:19:36"'you must now show your courage, for I tell you plainly, we are in no small danger.'

00:19:43"'What is it, Edmund?' asked the queen. "'It is this,' said Edmund,

00:19:49"'I do not think we shall find it easy to leave Tashban. While the prince had hope that you would

00:19:54take him, we were honoured guests. But by the lion's mane, I think that as soon as he has your

00:19:59flat denial, we shall be no better than prisoners.' One of the dwarfs gave a low whistle.

00:20:06"'I warned you, your majesties, I warned you,' said Salopad the raven.

00:20:11"'Easily in, but not easily out, as the lobster said in the lobster-pot.'

00:20:16"'I have been with the prince this morning,' continued Edmund.

00:20:20"'He is little used, mores the pity, to having his will crossed.

00:20:24He is very chafed at your long delays and doubtful answers. This morning he pressed

00:20:29very hard to know your mind. I put it aside—meaning at the same time to diminish his

00:20:33hopes—with some light common jests about women's fancies, and hinted that his suit

00:20:38was likely to be cold. He grew angry and dangerous. There was a sort of threatening,

00:20:44though still veiled, under a show of courtesy in every word he spoke.'

00:20:49"'Yes,' said Tumnus, "'and when I sup with the grand-vizier last night, it was the same.

00:20:55He asked me how I liked Tashban, and I, for I could not tell him I hated every stone of it,

00:21:00and I would not lie, told him that now, when high summer was coming on, my heart turned to

00:21:04the cool woods and dewy slopes of Narnia. He gave a smile that meant no good, and said,

00:21:10"'There is nothing to hinder you from dancing there again, little Goatfoot,

00:21:14always provided you leave us, in exchange, a bride for our prince.'

00:21:18"'Do you mean he would make me his wife by force?' exclaimed Susan.

00:21:25"'That's my fear, Susan,' said Edmund, "'wife or slave, which is worse.'

00:21:32"'But how can he? Does the Tisrock think our brother the High King would suffer such an outrage?'

00:21:38"'Sire,' said Pered Ant the King, 'they would not be so mad!

00:21:43Do they think there are no swords and spears in Narnia?'

00:21:46"'Alas!' said Edmund, "'my guess is that the Tisrock has very small fear of Narnia.

00:21:52"'We are a little land, and little lands on the borders of a great empire were always

00:21:57hateful to the lords of the great empire. He longs to blot them out, gobble them up.

00:22:03When first he suffered the prince to come to Caer Paravell as your lover, sister,

00:22:07it may be that he was only seeking an occasion against us.

00:22:10Most likely he hopes to make one mouthful of Narnia and Arkenland both.'

00:22:15"'Let him try,' said the second dwarf.

00:22:18"'At sea we are as big as he is, and if he assaults us by land, he has the desert to cross.'

00:22:24"'True, friend,' said Edmund, "'but is the desert a sure defence? What does Salopad say?'

00:22:31"'I know that desert well,' said the raven,

00:22:34"'for I have flown above it far and wide in my younger days.'

00:22:38You may be sure that Shasta pricked up his ears at this point.

00:22:41"'And this is certain, that if the Tisrock goes by the great oasis, he can never lead a great

00:22:46army across it into Arkenland, for though they could reach the oasis by the end of their first

00:22:51day's march, yet the springs there would be too little for the thirst of all those

00:22:55soldiers and their beasts. But there is another way.' Shasta listened more attentively still.

00:23:02"'He that would find that way,' said the raven,

00:23:06"'must start from the tombs of the ancient kings, and ride north-west,

00:23:11so that the double peak of Mount Pyre is always straight ahead of him.

00:23:15"'And so, in a day's riding or a little more, he shall come to the head of a stony valley,

00:23:20which is so narrow that a man might be within a furlong of it a thousand times and never know

00:23:24that it was there. And looking down this valley, he will see neither grass nor water nor anything

00:23:30else good. But if he rides on down it, he will come to a river, and can ride by the water all

00:23:35the way into Arkenland.' "'And do the Calormenes know of this

00:23:40western way?' asked the queen. "'Friends, friends,' said Edmund,

00:23:45"'what is the use of all this discourse? We are not asking whether Narnia or Calormen would win

00:23:51if war arose between them. We are asking how to save the honour of the queen, and our own

00:23:55lives, out of this devilish city. For though my brother Peter, the high king, defeated the

00:24:01Tisrock a dozen times over, yet long before that day our throats would be cut, and the queen's

00:24:06grace would be the wife, or more likely the slave, of this prince.'

00:24:10"'We have our weapons, king,' said the first dwarf,

00:24:14"'and this is a reasonably defensible house.' "'As to that,' said the king,

00:24:18"'I do not doubt that every one of us would sell our lives dearly at the gate,

00:24:22and they would not come at the queen but over our dead bodies. Yet we should be merely rats

00:24:26fighting in a trap when all said—' "'Very true,' croaked the raven.

00:24:32"'These last hands in a house make good stories, but nothing ever came of them.

00:24:37After their first few repulses the enemy always set the house on fire.'

00:24:42"'I am the cause of all this,' said Susan, bursting into tears.

00:24:47"'Oh, if only I had never left, dear Paravel! Our last happy day was before those ambassadors

00:24:52came from Calormen. The moles were planting an orchard for us. Oh, oh!'

00:24:59And she buried her face in her hands, and sobbed.

00:25:03"'Courage, Sue, courage,' said Edmund. "'Remember. But what is the matter with you,

00:25:09Master Tumnus?' For the faun was holding both his horns with his hands, as if he were trying

00:25:14to keep his head on by them, and writhing to and fro as if he had a pain in his inside.

00:25:20"'Don't speak to me, don't speak to me,' said Tumnus.

00:25:24"'I'm thinking, I'm thinking so that I can hardly breathe. Wait, wait, do wait.'

00:25:31There was a moment's puzzled silence, and then the faun looked up,

00:25:35drew a long breath, mopped his forehead, and said,

00:25:39"'The only difficulty is how to get down to our ship.

00:25:42With some stores, too, without being seen and stopped.'

00:25:47"'Yes,' said a dwarf, dryly.

00:25:49"'Just as the beggar's only difficulty about riding is that he has no horse.'

00:25:53"'Wait, wait,' said Mr. Tumnus, impatiently.

00:25:57"'All we need is some pretext for going down to our ship to-day, and taking stuff on board.'

00:26:03"'Yes,' said King Edmund, doubtfully.

00:26:06"'Well, then,' said the faun,

00:26:08"'how would it be if your majesties bade the prince to a great banquet to be held on board

00:26:12our own galleon, the Splendour Higher Line, to-morrow night, and let the message be worded

00:26:17as graciously as the queen can contrive without pledging her honour, so as to give the prince

00:26:21a hope that she is weakening?'

00:26:23"'That is very good counsel, sire,' croaked the raven.

00:26:27"'And then,' continued Tumnus, excitedly,

00:26:30"'everyone will expect us to be going down to the ship all day, making preparations for

00:26:34our guests, and let some of us go to the bazaars, and spend every minimum we have at

00:26:38the fruit-tourers, and the sweetmeat-sellers, and the wine-merchants, just as we would if

00:26:42we were really giving a feast, and let us order magicians, and jugglers, and dancing-girls,

00:26:47and flute-players, all to be on board to-morrow night.'

00:26:50"'I see, I see,' said King Edmund, rubbing his hands.

00:26:55"'And then,' said Tumnus,

00:26:57"'we'll all be on board to-night, and as soon as it is quite dark, up sails and out oars,'

00:27:03said the King.

00:27:04"'And so to sea!' cried Tumnus, leaping up and beginning to dance.

00:27:08"'And our nose northward,' said the first dwarf.

00:27:12"'Running for home!

00:27:13Hurrah for Narnia and the North!' said the other.

00:27:16"'And the Prince waking the next morning and finding his birds flown!'

00:27:20said Peridon, clapping his hands.

00:27:22"'O Master Tumnus!

00:27:24Dear Master Tumnus!' said the Queen,

00:27:26catching his hands and swinging with him as he danced.

00:27:29"'You have saved us all!'

00:27:30"'The Prince will chase us,' said another Lord,

00:27:34whose name Shasta had not heard.

00:27:36"'That's the least of my fears,' said Edmund.

00:27:39"'I've seen all the shipping in the river,

00:27:40and there's no tall ship of war nor swift galley there.

00:27:44"'I wish he may chase us, for the Splendour High Line

00:27:46could sink anything he has to send after her, if we were overtaken at all.'

00:27:52"'Sire,' said the Raven,

00:27:53"'you shall hear no better plot than the fawns,

00:27:56though we sat in council for seven days,

00:27:58and now, as we birds say, nests before eggs,

00:28:02which is as much as to say,

00:28:03let us all take our food and then at once be about our business.'

00:28:08Everyone arose at this, and the doors were opened,

00:28:11and the Lords and the creatures stood aside

00:28:12for the King and Queen to go out first.

00:28:15Shasta wondered what he ought to do,

00:28:17but Mr. Tumnus said,

00:28:19"'Lie there, Your Highness, and I will bring you up

00:28:21a little feast to yourself in a few minutes.

00:28:23There is no need for you to move until we are all ready to embark.'

00:28:27Shasta laid his head down again on the pillows,

00:28:30and soon he was alone in the room.

00:28:33"'This is perfectly dreadful,' thought Shasta.

00:28:36"'It never came into his head to tell these Narnians

00:28:39the whole truth and ask for their help.

00:28:41Having been brought up by a hard, close-fisted man like Archish,

00:28:45he had a fixed habit of never telling grown-ups anything if he could help it.

00:28:49He thought they would always spoil or stop

00:28:51whatever you were trying to do.

00:28:53And he thought that even if the Narnian King

00:28:55might be friendly to the two horses,

00:28:56because they were talking beasts of Narnia,

00:28:59he would hate Aravis, because she was a Colomene,

00:29:02and either sell her for a slave or send her back to her father.

00:29:06As for himself—'

00:29:08"'I simply daren't tell them I'm not Prince Corrin now,'

00:29:11thought Shasta.

00:29:12"'I've heard all their plans.

00:29:14If they knew I wasn't one of themselves,

00:29:16they'd never let me out of this house alive.

00:29:18They'd be afraid I'd betray them to the Tisrock.

00:29:20They'd kill me.

00:29:22And if the real Corrin turns up,

00:29:24it'll all come out, and they will!'

00:29:26He had, you see, no idea of how noble and free-born people behave.

00:29:30"'What am I to do?

00:29:32What am I to do?'

00:29:33he kept saying to himself.

00:29:35"'What—oh, hello!

00:29:37Here comes that goaty little creature again!'

00:29:40The fawn trotted in,

00:29:41half dancing with a tray in its hands

00:29:43which was nearly as large as itself.

00:29:45This he set on an inlaid table beside Shasta's sofa,

00:29:49and sat down himself on the carpeted floor,

00:29:51with his goaty legs crossed.

00:29:54"'Now, princeling,' he said,

00:29:55"'make a good dinner.

00:29:57It will be your last meal in Tashpan.'

00:30:00It was a fine meal, after the Kalomene fashion.

00:30:03I don't know whether you would have liked it or not,

00:30:05but Shasta did.

00:30:07There were lobsters and salad,

00:30:09and snipe stuffed with almonds and truffles,

00:30:11and a complicated dish made of chicken livers

00:30:13and rice and raisins and nuts,

00:30:16and there were cool melons and gooseberry fools

00:30:18and mulberry fools,

00:30:20and every kind of nice thing that could be made with ice.

00:30:23There was also a little flagon of the sort of wine

00:30:25that is called white,

00:30:26though it is really yellow.

00:30:29While Shasta was eating,

00:30:30the good little fawn,

00:30:31who thought he was still dazed with sunstroke,

00:30:34kept talking to him about the fine times

00:30:36he would have when they all got home,

00:30:38about his good old father,

00:30:39King Loon of Arkenland,

00:30:41and the little castle where he lived

00:30:42on the sudden slopes of the pass.

00:30:44"'And don't forget,' said Mr. Tumnus,

00:30:47"'that you are promised your first suit of armour

00:30:49"'and your first war-horse on your next birthday,

00:30:51"'and then your Highness will begin to learn

00:30:53"'how to tilt and joust.

00:30:55"'And in a few years, if all goes well,

00:30:57"'King Peter has promised your royal father

00:30:59"'that he himself will make you knight at Caer Paravell.

00:31:02"'And in the meantime,

00:31:03"'there will be plenty of comings and goings

00:31:05"'between Narnia and Arkenland

00:31:06"'across the neck of the mountains.

00:31:08"'And of course you remember

00:31:09"'you have promised to come for a whole week

00:31:10"'to stay with me for the summer festival,

00:31:13"'and there'll be bonfires and all-night dances

00:31:15"'of fawns and dryads in the heart of the woods,

00:31:17"'and who knows,

00:31:19"'we might see Aslan himself.'"

00:31:22When the meal was over,

00:31:23the fawn told Shasta to stay quietly where he was.

00:31:26"'And it wouldn't do you any harm

00:31:27"'to have a little sleep,' he added.

00:31:29"'I'll call you in plenty of time to get on board,

00:31:32"'and then home, Narnia and the North.'"

00:31:37Shasta had so enjoyed his dinner,

00:31:39and all the things Tumnus had been telling him,

00:31:41that when he was left alone

00:31:42his thoughts took a different turn.

00:31:44He only hoped now that the real Prince Corrin

00:31:46would not turn up until it was too late,

00:31:48and that he would be taken away to Narnia by ship.

00:31:51I'm afraid he did not think at all

00:31:53of what might happen to the real Corrin

00:31:55when he was left behind in Tashban.

00:31:57He was a little worried about Aravis and Bree

00:32:00waiting for him at the tombs,

00:32:01but then he said to himself,

00:32:03"'Well, how can I help it?'

00:32:05"'And, anyway, that Aravis thinks

00:32:07"'she's too good to go about with me,

00:32:09"'so she can jolly well go alone.'

00:32:11"'And at the same time he couldn't help feeling

00:32:13"'that it would be much nicer going to Narnia by sea

00:32:16"'than toiling across the desert.'

00:32:18"'When he had thought all this,

00:32:20"'he did what I expect you would have done

00:32:22"'if you had been up very early

00:32:23"'and had a long walk and a great deal of excitement,

00:32:26"'and then a very good meal,

00:32:27"'and were lying on a sofa in a cool room

00:32:29"'with no noise in it,

00:32:30"'except when a bee came buzzing in

00:32:32"'through the wide-open windows.

00:32:34"'He fell asleep.

00:32:36"'What woke him was a loud crash.

00:32:38"'He jumped up off the sofa, staring.

00:32:41"'He saw at once, from the mere look of the room,

00:32:44"'the lights and shadows all looked different,

00:32:46"'that he must have slept for several hours,

00:32:49"'he saw also what had made the crash.

00:32:50"'A costly porcelain vase,

00:32:53"'which had been standing on the windowsill,

00:32:55"'lay on the floor broken into about thirty pieces.

00:32:58"'But he hardly noticed all these things.

00:33:00"'What he did notice was two hands

00:33:03"'gripping the windowsill from outside.

00:33:05"'They gripped harder and harder,

00:33:07"'getting white at the knuckles,

00:33:09"'and then came up a head and a pair of shoulders.

00:33:12"'A moment later there was a boy of Shasta's own age,

00:33:15"'sitting astride the sill,

00:33:17"'with one leg hanging down inside the room.

00:33:19"'Shasta had never seen his own face in a looking-glass.

00:33:24"'Even if he had, he might not have realised

00:33:26"'that the other boy was, at ordinary times,

00:33:29"'almost exactly like himself.

00:33:31"'At the moment this boy was not particularly like anyone,

00:33:35"'for he had the finest black eye you ever saw,

00:33:37"'and a tooth missing,

00:33:39"'and his clothes,

00:33:40"'which must have been splendid ones when he put them on,

00:33:42"'were torn and dirty,

00:33:44"'and there was both blood and mud on his face.'

00:33:48"'Who are you?' said the boy, in a whisper.

00:33:52"'Are you Prince Corrin?' said Shasta.

00:33:55"'Yes, of course,' said the other.

00:33:57"'But who are you?'

00:33:59"'I'm nobody.

00:34:01"'Nobody in particular, I mean,' said Shasta.

00:34:04"'King Edmund caught me in the street

00:34:06"'and mistook me for you.

00:34:08"'I suppose we must look like one another.

00:34:10"'Can I get out the way you've got in?'

00:34:12"'Yes, if you're any good at climbing,' said Corrin.

00:34:17"'But why are you in such a hurry?

00:34:19"'I say, we ought to be able to get some fun

00:34:21"'out of this being mistaken for one another.

00:34:24"'No, no,' said Shasta.

00:34:26"'We must change places at once.

00:34:28"'It'll be simply frightful if Mr. Tumnus

00:34:29"'comes back and finds us both here.

00:34:31"'I've had to pretend to be you.

00:34:34"'And you're starting to-night, secretly.

00:34:37"'And where were you all this time?'

00:34:39"'A boy in the street made a beastly joke

00:34:41"'about Queen Susan,' said Prince Corrin.

00:34:44"'So I knocked him down.

00:34:46"'He ran howling into a house

00:34:47"'and his big brother came out.

00:34:49"'So I knocked the big brother down.

00:34:50"'Then they all followed me

00:34:51"'until we ran into three old men with spears

00:34:53"'who were called the Watch.

00:34:54"'So I fought the Watch, and they knocked me down.

00:34:57"'It was getting dark by now.

00:34:59"'Then the Watch took me along to lock me up somewhere.

00:35:01"'So I asked them if they'd like a stoop of wine,

00:35:03"'and they said they didn't mind if they did.

00:35:05"'Then I took them to a wine-shop and got them some,

00:35:08"'and they all sat down and drank till they fell asleep.

00:35:11"'I thought it was time for me to be off,

00:35:12"'so I came out quietly,

00:35:13"'and then I found the first boy,

00:35:15"'the one who had started all the trouble,

00:35:16"'still hanging about.

00:35:18"'So I knocked him down again.

00:35:19"'After that I climbed up a pipe

00:35:21"'onto the roof of a house

00:35:22"'and lay quiet till it began to get light this morning.

00:35:25"'Ever since that I've been finding my way back.

00:35:27"'I say, is there anything to drink?'

00:35:30"'No, I drank it,' said Chester.

00:35:33"'And now show me how you got in.

00:35:35"'There's not a minute to lose.

00:35:37"'You'd better lie down on the sofa and pretend.

00:35:40"'But I forgot.

00:35:41"'It'll be no good with all those bruises and black eye.

00:35:44"'You'll just have to tell them the truth

00:35:45"'once I'm safely away.'

00:35:48"'What else did you think I'd be telling them?'

00:35:50asked the Prince, with a rather angry look.

00:35:52"'And who are you?'

00:35:53"'There's no time,' said Chester, in a frantic whisper.

00:35:57"'I'm a Narnian, I believe,

00:35:59"'something Northern, anyway.

00:36:01"'But I've been brought up all my life in Cullorman,

00:36:04"'and I'm escaping,

00:36:05"'across the desert with a talking horse called Brie,

00:36:08"'and now quick!

00:36:09"'How do I get away?'

00:36:11"'Look,' said Corrin,

00:36:12"'drop from this window onto the roof of the veranda,

00:36:15"'but you must do it lightly, on your toes,

00:36:17"'or someone will hear you.

00:36:18"'Then along to your left,

00:36:19"'and you can get up to the top of that wall,

00:36:21"'if you're any good at all as a climber.

00:36:23"'Then along the wall to the corner.

00:36:24"'Drop on to the rubbish-heap,

00:36:26"'you will find outside,

00:36:27"'and there you are.'

00:36:29"'Thanks,' said Chester,

00:36:30"'who was already sitting on the sill.

00:36:32"'The two boys were looking into each other's faces.

00:36:35"'And suddenly found that they were friends.

00:36:38"'Good-bye,' said Corrin,

00:36:40"'and good luck.

00:36:41"'I do hope you get safe away.'

00:36:44"'Good-bye,' said Chester.

00:36:46"'I say, you have been having some adventures.

00:36:49"'Nothing to yours,' said the Prince.

00:36:51"'Now drop, lightly, I say,' he added, as Chester dropped.

00:36:56"'I hope we meet in Arkenland.

00:36:59"'Go to my father, King Loon,

00:37:01"'and tell him you're a friend of mine.

00:37:03"'Look out!

00:37:04"'I hear someone coming!''

00:37:08Chapter 6 Chester Among the Tombs

00:37:13Chester ran lightly along the roof on tiptoes.

00:37:16It felt hot to his bare feet.

00:37:19He was only a few seconds scrambling up the wall at the far end,

00:37:22and when he got to the corner,

00:37:23he found himself looking down into a narrow, smelly street,

00:37:27and there was a rubbish-heap against the outside of the wall,

00:37:29just as Corrin had told him.

00:37:31Before jumping down, he took a rapid glance round him to get his bearings.

00:37:36Apparently he had now come over the crown of the island hill

00:37:38on which Tash Barn is built.

00:37:40Everything sloped away before him,

00:37:42flat roofs below flat roofs,

00:37:45down to the towers and battlements of the city's northern wall.

00:37:49Beyond that was the river,

00:37:50and beyond the river a short slope covered with gardens.

00:37:54But beyond that again there was something he had never seen the like of,

00:37:58a great yellowish-grey thing,

00:38:00flat as a calm sea,

00:38:01and stretching for miles.

00:38:04On the far side of it were huge blue things,

00:38:07lumpy but with jagged edges,

00:38:09and some of them with white tops.

00:38:12Desert!

00:38:13The mountains!

00:38:15thought Chester.

00:38:17He jumped down onto the rubbish,

00:38:18and began trotting along downhill as fast as he could in the narrow lane,

00:38:22which soon brought him into a wider street where there were more people.

00:38:26No one bothered to look at a little ragged boy running along on bare feet.

00:38:30Still, he was anxious and uneasy,

00:38:32till he turned a corner,

00:38:34and there saw the city gate in front of him.

00:38:37Here he was pressed and jostled a bit,

00:38:39for a good many other people were also going out,

00:38:41and on the bridge beyond the gate the crowd became quite a slow procession,

00:38:45more like a queue than a crowd.

00:38:48Out there, with clear running water on each side,

00:38:51it was deliciously fresh after the smell and heat and noise of Tash Barn.

00:38:57When once Chester had reached the far end of the bridge,

00:38:59he found the crowd melting away.

00:39:02Everyone seemed to be going either to the left or right along the riverbank.

00:39:06He went straight ahead,

00:39:07up a road that did not appear to be much used,

00:39:09between gardens.

00:39:11In a few paces he was alone,

00:39:13and a few more brought him to the top of the slope.

00:39:16There he stood and stared.

00:39:18It was like coming to the end of the world,

00:39:21for all the grass stopped quite suddenly a few feet before him,

00:39:24and the sand began.

00:39:26Endless level sand, like on a seashore,

00:39:29but a bit rougher because it was never wet.

00:39:31The mountains, which now looked further off than before,

00:39:34loomed ahead.

00:39:36Greatly to his relief,

00:39:37he saw, about five minutes' walk away on his left,

00:39:40what must certainly be the tombs,

00:39:42just as Bree had described them.

00:39:44Great masses of mouldering stone,

00:39:46shaped like gigantic beehives,

00:39:48but a little narrower.

00:39:50They looked very black and grim,

00:39:52for the sun was now setting right behind them.

00:39:55He turned his face west,

00:39:56and trotted toward the tombs.

00:39:59He could not help looking out very hard

00:40:00for any sign of his friends,

00:40:02though the setting sun shone in his face,

00:40:04so that he could see hardly anything.

00:40:06And anyway, he thought,

00:40:08of course they'll be round on the far side of the farthest tomb.

00:40:11Not this cyber anyone might see them from the city.

00:40:14There were about twelve tombs,

00:40:17each with a low-arched doorway

00:40:18that opened into absolute blackness.

00:40:21They were dotted about in no kind of order,

00:40:23so that it took a long time,

00:40:25going round this one and going round that one,

00:40:27before you could be sure

00:40:28that you had looked round every side of every tomb.

00:40:31This was what Shasta had to do.

00:40:33There was nobody there.

00:40:36It was very quiet here out on the edge of the desert,

00:40:39and now the sun had really set.

00:40:42Suddenly, from somewhere behind him,

00:40:44there came a terrible sound.

00:40:46Shasta's heart gave a great jump,

00:40:48and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from screaming.

00:40:51Next moment he realised what it was.

00:40:54The horns of Tashban blowing for the closing of the gates.

00:40:58Don't be a silly little coward, said Shasta to himself.

00:41:02Why, it's only the same noise you heard this morning.

00:41:05But there is a great difference

00:41:06between a noise heard letting you in with your friends in the morning,

00:41:09and a noise heard alone at nightfall shutting you out.

00:41:13And now that the gates were shut,

00:41:15he knew there was no chance of the others joining him that evening.

00:41:19Either they're shut up in Tashban for the night, thought Shasta,

00:41:22or else they've gone on without me.

00:41:25It's just the sort of thing that Aravis would do.

00:41:27But Bree wouldn't.

00:41:29Oh, he wouldn't.

00:41:31Now would he?

00:41:33In this idea about Aravis, Shasta was once more quite wrong.

00:41:38She was proud and could be hard enough,

00:41:40but she was as true as steel

00:41:42and would never have deserted a companion,

00:41:44whether she liked him or not.

00:41:45And now that Shasta knew he would have to spend the night alone,

00:41:49it was getting darker every minute,

00:41:51he began to like the look of the place less and less.

00:41:54There was something very uncomfortable

00:41:56about those great silent shapes of stone.

00:41:59He had been trying his hardest for a long time not to think of ghouls,

00:42:03but he couldn't keep it up any longer.

00:42:06Ow! Ow! Help!

00:42:09he shouted suddenly,

00:42:10for at that very moment he felt something touch his leg.

00:42:14I don't think anyone can be blamed for shouting

00:42:16if something comes up from behind and touches him,

00:42:19not in such a place and at such a time,

00:42:21when he is frightened already.

00:42:23Shasta, at any rate, was too frightened to run.

00:42:26Anything would be better than being chased round and round

00:42:29the burial places of the ancient kings

00:42:30with something he dared not look at behind him.

00:42:33Instead, he did what was really the most sensible thing he could do.

00:42:37He looked round, and his heart almost burst with relief.

00:42:41What had touched him was only a cat.

00:42:45The light was too bad now for Shasta to see much of the cat,

00:42:48except that it was big and very solemn.

00:42:51It looked as if it might have lived for long, long years

00:42:54among the tombs, alone.

00:42:56Its eyes made you think it knew secrets it would not tell.

00:43:00"'Puss! Puss!" said Shasta.

00:43:03"'I suppose you're not a talking cat?'

00:43:06The cat stared at him harder than ever.

00:43:09Then it started walking away.

00:43:11And of course Shasta followed it.

00:43:13It led him right through the tombs and out on the desert side of them.

00:43:17There it sat down bolt upright, with its tail curled round its feet,

00:43:21and its face set toward the desert and toward Narnia in the north,

00:43:25as still as if it were watching for some enemy.

00:43:28Shasta lay down beside it, with his back against the cat,

00:43:31and his face toward the tombs, because if one is nervous,

00:43:35there's nothing like having your face toward the danger

00:43:37and having something warm and solid at your back.

00:43:40The sand wouldn't have seemed very comfortable to you.

00:43:43But Shasta had been sleeping on the ground for weeks,

00:43:46and hardly noticed it.

00:43:48Very soon he fell asleep, though even in his dreams

00:43:51he went on wondering what had happened to Bree and Aravis and Hwin.

00:43:55He was wakened suddenly by a noise he had never heard before.

00:43:59"'Perhaps it was only a nightmare,' said Shasta to himself.

00:44:03At the same moment he noticed that the cat had gone from his back,

00:44:07and he wished it hadn't.

00:44:09But he lay quite still without even opening his eyes,

00:44:12because he felt sure he would be more frightened if he sat up

00:44:15and looked round at the tombs and the loneliness,

00:44:17just as your eye might lie still with bedclothes over our heads.

00:44:22But then the noise came again,

00:44:24a harsh, piercing cry from behind him out of the desert.

00:44:27Then, of course, he had to open his eyes and sit up.

00:44:31The moon was shining brightly.

00:44:33The tombs, far bigger and nearer than he had thought they would be,

00:44:37looked grey in the moonlight.

00:44:40In fact, they looked horribly like huge people,

00:44:42draped in grey robes that cover their heads and faces.

00:44:46They were not at all nice things to have near you

00:44:48when spending a night alone in a strange place.

00:44:51But the noise had come from the opposite side, from the desert.

00:44:56Shasta had to turn his back on the tombs—he didn't like that much—

00:44:59and stare out across the level sand.

00:45:02The wild cry rang out again.

00:45:05I hope it's not more lions, thought Shasta.

00:45:09It was, in fact, not very like the lion's roars he had heard

00:45:12on the night when they met Hwin and Aravis,

00:45:14and was really the cry of a jackal.

00:45:17But, of course, Shasta did not know this.

00:45:19Even if he had known, he would not have wanted very much to meet a jackal.

00:45:24The cries rang out again and again.

00:45:27There's more than one of them, whatever they are, thought Shasta,

00:45:31and they're coming nearer.

00:45:32I suppose that if he had been an entirely sensible boy,

00:45:36he would have gone back through the tombs nearer to the river,

00:45:38where there were houses, and wild beasts would be less likely to come.

00:45:42But then there were—or he thought there were—the ghouls.

00:45:46To go back through the tombs would mean going past those dark openings in the tombs,

00:45:51and what might come out of them.

00:45:53It may have been silly, but Shasta felt he would rather risk the wild beasts.

00:45:58Then, as the cries came nearer and nearer,

00:46:01he began to change his mind.

00:46:04He was just going to run for it, when suddenly, between him and the desert,

00:46:07a huge animal bounded into view.

00:46:10As the moon was behind it, it looked quite black,

00:46:14and Shasta did not know what it was,

00:46:16except that it had a very big, shaggy head and went on four legs.

00:46:20It did not seem to have noticed Shasta, for it suddenly stopped,

00:46:24turned its head toward the desert,

00:46:26and let out a roar which re-echoed through the tombs

00:46:29and seemed to shake the sand under Shasta's feet.

00:46:33The cries of the other creatures suddenly stopped,

00:46:35and he thought he could hear feet scampering away.

00:46:39Then the great beast turned to examine Shasta.

00:46:43It's a lion!

00:46:45I know it's a lion!

00:46:46thought Shasta.

00:46:48I'm done!

00:46:50I wonder, will it hurt much?

00:46:52I wish it was over!

00:46:54I wonder, does anything happen to people after they're dead?

00:46:57Oh, oh, oh, here it comes!

00:47:01And he shut his eyes and teeth tight.

00:47:04But instead of teeth and claws,

00:47:06he only felt something warm lying down at his feet.

00:47:10And when he opened his eyes, he said,

00:47:13Why, it's not nearly as big as I thought.

00:47:16It's only half the size.

00:47:18No, it isn't even quarter the size.

00:47:21I do declare it's only the cat.

00:47:24I must have dreamed all that about it being as big as a horse.

00:47:27And whether he really had been dreaming or not,

00:47:30what was now lying at his feet,

00:47:32and staring him out of countenance with its big, green, unwinking eyes,

00:47:37was the cat,

00:47:38though certainly one of the largest cats he had ever seen.

00:47:42Oh, Puss! gasped Shasta.

00:47:45I'm so glad to see you again!

00:47:47I've been having such horrible dreams!

00:47:50And he at once lay down again,

00:47:52back to back with the cat as they had been at the beginning of the night.

00:47:55The warmth from it spread all over him.

00:47:59I'll never do anything nasty to a cat again as long as I live,

00:48:02said Shasta, half to the cat and half to himself.

00:48:05I did once, you know.

00:48:07I threw stones at a half-starved mangy old strait.

00:48:10Hey, stop that!

00:48:12For the cat had turned round and given him a scratch.

00:48:15None of that, said Shasta.

00:48:17It isn't as if you could understand what I'm saying.

00:48:20Then he dozed off.

00:48:21Next morning, when he woke, the cat was gone.

00:48:24The sun was already up, and the sand hot.

00:48:28Shasta, very thirsty, sat up and rubbed his eyes.

00:48:32The desert was blindingly white,

00:48:34and though there was a murmur of noises from the city behind him,

00:48:37where he sat, everything was perfectly still.

00:48:40When he looked a little left and west, so that the sun was not in his eyes,

00:48:44he could see the mountains on the far side of the desert,

00:48:47so sharp and clear that they looked only a stone's throw away.

00:48:51He particularly noticed one blue height that divided into two peaks at the top,

00:48:56and decided that it must be Mount Pyre.

00:48:59That's our direction, judging by what the raven said, he thought.

00:49:03So we'll just make sure of it, so as not to waste any time when the others show up.

00:49:07So he made a good, deep, straight furrow with his foot,

00:49:10pointing exactly to Mount Pyre.

00:49:14The next job, clearly, was to get something to eat and drink.

00:49:18Shasta trotted back through the tombs.

00:49:19They looked quite ordinary now,

00:49:21and he wondered how he could ever have been afraid of them,

00:49:23and down into the cultivated land by the riverside.

00:49:27There were a few people about, but not very many,

00:49:30for the city gates had been open several hours,

00:49:32and the early morning crowds had already gone in.

00:49:34So he had no difficulty in doing a little raiding, as Brie called it.

00:49:39It involved a climb over a garden wall,

00:49:41and the results were three oranges, a melon, a fig or two, and a pomegranate.

00:49:46After that, he went down to the riverbank, but not too near the bridge, and had a drink.

00:49:52The water was so nice that he took off his hot, dirty clothes and had a dip,

00:49:57for, of course, Shasta, having lived on the shore all his life,

00:49:59had learned to swim almost as soon as he had learned to walk.

00:50:03When he came out, he lay on the grass, looking across the water at Tashban,

00:50:07all the splendour and strength and glory of it.

00:50:11But that made him remember the dangers of it, too.

00:50:13But that made him remember the dangers of it, too.

00:50:16He suddenly realized that the others might have reached the tombs while he was bathing,

00:50:20gone on without me as likely as not, so he dressed in a fright,

00:50:23and tore back at such a speed that he was all hot and thirsty when he arrived,

00:50:27and so the good of his bathe was gone.

00:50:29Like most days when you are alone and waiting for something,

00:50:33this day seemed about a hundred hours long.

00:50:36He had plenty to think of, of course, but sitting alone, just thinking, is pretty slow.

00:50:43He thought a good deal about the Narnians, and especially about Corrin.

00:50:47He wondered what had happened when they discovered that the boy who had been lying on the sofa,

00:50:50and hearing all their secret plans, wasn't really Corrin at all.

00:50:54It was very unpleasant to think of all those nice people imagining him a traitor.

00:50:59But as the sun slowly, slowly climbed up to the top of the sky,

00:51:03and then slowly, slowly began going downward to the west,

00:51:06and no one came, and nothing at all happened, he began to get more and more anxious.

00:51:11And of course he now realised that when they arranged to wait for one another at the tombs,

00:51:16no one had said anything about how long.

00:51:19He couldn't wait here for the rest of his life, and soon it would be dark again,

00:51:23and he would have another night, just like last night.

00:51:27A dozen different plans went through his head, all wretched ones,

00:51:30and at last he fixed on the worst plan of all.

00:51:34He decided to wait till it was dark, and then go back to the river,

00:51:37and steal as many melons as he could carry, and set out for Mount Pyre alone,

00:51:41trusting for his direction to the line he had drawn that morning in the sand.

00:51:45It was a crazy idea, and if he had read as many books as you have about journeys over deserts,

00:51:50he would never have dreamed of it.

00:51:52But Shasta had read no books at all.

00:51:56Before the sun set, something did happen.

00:51:59Shasta was sitting in the shadow of one of the tombs,

00:52:02when he looked up and saw two horses coming toward him.

00:52:05Then his heart gave a great leap, for he recognised them as Bree and Hwin.

00:52:10But the next moment his heart went down into his toes again.

00:52:14There was no sign of Aravis.

00:52:16The horses were being led by a strange man,

00:52:19an armed man, pretty handsomely dressed, like an upper slave in a great family.

00:52:23Bree and Hwin were no longer got up like pack-horses, but saddled and bridled.

00:52:28And what could it all mean?

00:52:31It's a trap, thought Shasta.

00:52:33Somebody has caught Aravis, and perhaps they've tortured her,

00:52:35and she's given the whole thing away.

00:52:37They want me to jump out and run up and speak to Bree, and then I'll be caught too.

00:52:41And yet if I don't, I may be losing my only chance to meet the others.

00:52:46I do wish I knew what had happened.

00:52:48And he skulked behind the tomb, looking out every few minutes,

00:52:52and wondering which was the least dangerous thing to do.

00:52:58Chapter 7 Aravis in Tashban

00:53:03What had really happened was this.

00:53:07When Aravis saw Shasta hurried away by the Narnians,

00:53:09and found herself alone with two horses who, very wisely, wouldn't say a word,

00:53:14she never lost her head even for a moment.

00:53:16She grabbed Bree's halter and stood still, holding both the horses.

00:53:21And though her heart was beating as hard as a hammer, she did nothing to show it.

00:53:25As soon as the Narnian lords had passed, she tried to move on again.

00:53:29But before she could take a step, another crier,

00:53:32"'Bother all these people!' thought Aravis, was heard shouting out,

00:53:36"'Way, way, way, way for the Tarkina Lazareline!'

00:53:42And immediately following the crier came four armed slaves, and then four bearers,

00:53:47carrying a litter which was all a flutter with silken curtains,

00:53:50and all a jingle with silver bells,

00:53:52and which scented the whole street with perfumes and flowers.

00:53:56After the litter, female slaves in beautiful clothes,

00:53:59and then a few grooms, runners, pages, and the like.

00:54:03And now Aravis made her first mistake.

00:54:06She knew Lazareline quite well, almost as if they had been at school together,

00:54:11because they had often stayed in the same houses and been to the same parties.

00:54:15And Aravis couldn't help looking up to see what Lazareline looked like,

00:54:19now that she was married and a very great person indeed.

00:54:22It was fatal.

00:54:24The eyes of the two girls met, and immediately Lazareline sat up in the litter,

00:54:29and burst out at the top of her voice,

00:54:31"'Aravis, what on earth are you doing here?

00:54:34Your father!'

00:54:35There was not a moment to lose.

00:54:37Without a second's delay, Aravis let go the horses,

00:54:40caught the edge of the litter, swung herself up beside Lazareline,

00:54:43and whispered furiously in her ear,

00:54:45"'Shut up!

00:54:46Do you hear?

00:54:47Shut up!

00:54:47You must hide me!

00:54:49Tell your people—'

00:54:49"'But darling!'

00:54:51began Lazareline in the same loud voice.

00:54:54She didn't in the least mind making people stare.

00:54:57In fact, she rather liked it.

00:54:59"'Do what I tell you, or I'll never speak to you again!'

00:55:01hissed Aravis.

00:55:02"'Please, please be quick, Laz.

00:55:04It's frightfully important.

00:55:06Tell your people to bring those two horses along.

00:55:08Pull all the curtains of the litter, and get away somewhere where I can't be found.

00:55:12And do hurry!'

00:55:13"'All right, darling,' said Lazareline in her lazy voice.

00:55:17"'Here, two of you take the Turquino's horses.'

00:55:21This was to the slaves.

00:55:22"'And now home!'

00:55:24"'I say, darling, do you think we really want the curtains drawn on a day like this?

00:55:29I mean to say—'

00:55:31But Aravis had already drawn the curtains,

00:55:33enclosing Lazareline and herself in a rich and scented but rather stuffy kind of tent.

00:55:38"'I mustn't be seen,' she said.

00:55:40"'My father doesn't know I'm here.

00:55:42I'm running away.

00:55:43"'My dear, how perfectly thrilling!'

00:55:47said Lazareline.

00:55:48"'I'm dying to hear all about it.

00:55:50Oh, darling, you're sitting on my dress.

00:55:52Do you mind?

00:55:53That's better.

00:55:54It is a new one.

00:55:55Do you like it?

00:55:56I got it at—'

00:55:57"'Alas!

00:55:58Do be serious!'

00:55:59said Aravis.

00:56:01"'Where is my father?'

00:56:02"'Didn't you know?'

00:56:03said Lazareline.

00:56:05"'He's here, of course.

00:56:06He came to town yesterday, and is asking about you everywhere.

00:56:10And to think of you and me being here together,

00:56:13and his not knowing anything about it!

00:56:15It's the funniest thing I've ever heard!'

00:56:17And she went off into giggles.

00:56:19She always had been a terrible giggler, as Aravis now remembered.

00:56:23"'It isn't funny at all,' she said.

00:56:25"'It's dreadfully serious.

00:56:28Where can you hide me?'

00:56:29"'No difficulty at all, my dear girl,' said Lazareline.

00:56:33"'I'll take you home.

00:56:34My husband's away, and no one will see you.

00:56:37"'Phew!

00:56:38It's not much fun with the curtains drawn.

00:56:40I want to see people.

00:56:42There's no point in having a new dress on, if one's to go about shut up like this.'

00:56:46"'I hope no one heard you when you shouted out to me like that,' said Aravis.

00:56:50"'No, no, of course, darling,' said Lazareline, absentmindedly.

00:56:54"'But you haven't even told me yet what you think of the dress.'

00:56:57"'Another thing,' said Aravis.

00:56:59"'You must tell your people to treat those two horses very respectfully.

00:57:02That's part of the secret.

00:57:04They're really talking-horses from Narnia.'

00:57:07"'Fancy!' said Lazareline.

00:57:09"'How exciting!

00:57:11And, oh, darling, have you seen the barbarian queen from Narnia?

00:57:14She's staying in Tashban at present.

00:57:16They say Prince Rabadash is madly in love with her.

00:57:19There have been the most wonderful parties and hunts and things all this last fortnight.

00:57:24I can't see that she's so very pretty myself, but some of the Narnia men are lovely.

00:57:29I was taken out on a river-party the day before yesterday, and I was wearing my

00:57:33How shall we prevent your people telling everyone that you've got a visitor dressed

00:57:36like a beggar's brat in your house?

00:57:38It might so easily get round to my father.

00:57:41Now don't keep on fussing.

00:57:42There's a dear,' said Lazareline.

00:57:45"'We'll get you some proper clothes in a moment.

00:57:48And here we are!'

00:57:50The bearers had stopped, and the litter was being lowered.

00:57:53When the curtains had been drawn, Aravis found that she was in a courtyard garden,

00:57:57very like the one that Shasta had been taken to a few minutes earlier in another part of

00:58:01the city.

00:58:03Lazareline would have gone indoors at once, but Aravis reminded her in a frantic whisper

00:58:07to say something to the slaves about not telling anyone of their mistress's strange visitor.

00:58:12"'Oh, sorry, darling.

00:58:13It had gone right out of my head,' said Lazareline.

00:58:17"'Here, all of you.

00:58:18And you, doorkeeper.

00:58:20No one is to be let out of the house today, and anyone I catch talking about this young

00:58:24lady will be first beaten to death and then burned alive, and after that be kept on bread

00:58:28and water for six weeks.

00:58:29There!'

00:58:30Although Lazareline had said she was dying to hear Aravis's story, she showed no sign

00:58:35of really wanting to hear it at all.

00:58:38She was, in fact, much better at talking than at listening.

00:58:42She insisted on Aravis having a long and luxurious bath—Calomene baths are famous—and then

00:58:48dressing her up in the finest clothes before she would let her explain anything.

00:58:53The fuss she made about choosing the dresses nearly drove Aravis mad.

00:58:57She remembered now that Lazareline had always been like that, interested in clothes and

00:59:02parties and gossip.

00:59:04Aravis had always been more interested in bows and arrows and horses and dogs and swimming.

00:59:09You will guess that each thought the other silly.

00:59:12But when at last they were both seated after a meal—it was chiefly of the whipped cream

00:59:17and jelly and fruit and ice sort—in a beautiful pillared room, which Aravis would have liked

00:59:22better if Lazareline's spoilt pet monkey hadn't been climbing about it all the time,

00:59:26Lazareline at last asked her why she was running away from home.

00:59:31When Aravis had finished telling her story, Lazareline said,

00:59:36"'But, darling, why don't you marry Ahos de Tocan?

00:59:39Everyone's crazy about him.

00:59:41My husband says he's beginning to be one of the greatest men in Calomene.

00:59:45He has just been made Grand Vizier, now old Aksatha has died.

00:59:49Didn't you know?'

00:59:51"'I don't care.

00:59:52I can't stand the sight of him,' said Aravis.

00:59:55"'Oh, but, darling, only think!

00:59:57Three palaces, and one of them, that beautiful one, down on the lake at Ilkine.

01:00:02Positively ropes of pearls, I am told.

01:00:05Baths of ass's milk.

01:00:06And you'd see such a lot of me.'

01:00:09"'He can keep his pearls and palaces as far as I'm concerned,' said Aravis.

01:00:14"'You always were a queer girl, Aravis,' said Lazareline.

01:00:18"'What more do you want?'

01:00:20In the end, however, Aravis managed to make her friend believe that she was in earnest,

01:00:25and even to discuss plans.

01:00:28There would be no difficulty now about getting the two horses out of the north gate,

01:00:31and then on to the tombs.

01:00:33No one would stop or question a groom in fine clothes,

01:00:36leading a war-horse and a lady's saddle-horse down to the river,

01:00:39and Lazareline had plenty of grooms to send.

01:00:42It wasn't so easy to decide what to do about Aravis herself.

01:00:46She suggested that she could be carried out in the litter with the curtains drawn.

01:00:50But Lazareline told her that litters were only used in the city,

01:00:53and the sight of one going out through the gate would be certain to lead to questions.

01:00:58When they had talked for a long time,

01:01:00and it was all the longer because Aravis found it hard to keep her friend to the point,

01:01:04at last Lazareline clapped her hands and said,

01:01:06"'Oh, I have an idea.

01:01:08There is one way of getting out of the city without using the gates.

01:01:11The Tisrock's garden, may he live forever,

01:01:14runs right down to the water, and there is a little water-door.

01:01:17Only for the palace people, of course.

01:01:19But then you know, dear—'

01:01:21Here she tittered a little.

01:01:23"'We almost are palace people.

01:01:26I say it is lucky for you that you came to me.

01:01:29The dear Tisrock, may he live forever, is so kind.

01:01:32We are asked to the palace almost every day, and it is like a second home.

01:01:36I love all the dear princes and princesses, and I positively adore Prince Rabadash.

01:01:42I might run in and see any of the palace ladies at any hour of the day or night.

01:01:46Why shouldn't I sleep in with you, after dark,

01:01:48and let you out by the water-door?

01:01:50There are always a few puns and things tied up outside it.

01:01:54And even if we were caught—'

01:01:56"'All would be lost,' said Aravis.

01:01:58"'Oh, darling, don't get so excited,' said Lazareline.

01:02:02"'I was going to say, even if we were caught,

01:02:04everyone would only say it was one of my mad jokes.

01:02:07I am getting quite well known for them.

01:02:09Only the other day—'

01:02:10"'Do listen, dear, this is frightfully funny.

01:02:12"'I meant all would be lost for me,' said Aravis, a little sharply.

01:02:17"'Oh, ah, yes, I do see what you mean, darling.'

01:02:21"'Well, can you think of any better plan?'

01:02:23Aravis couldn't, and answered,

01:02:26"'No, we'll have to risk it.

01:02:28When can we start?'

01:02:29"'Oh, not to-night,' said Lazareline.

01:02:32"'Of course not to-night.

01:02:33There's a great feast on to-night.

01:02:35I must start getting my hair done for it in a few minutes,

01:02:38and the whole place will be ablaze of lights, and such a crowd, too.

01:02:42It would have to be to-morrow night.'

01:02:44This was bad news for Aravis, but she had to make the best of it.

01:02:49The afternoon passed very slowly, and it was a relief when Lazareline went out to the banquet,

01:02:55for Aravis was very tired of her giggling and her talk about dresses and parties,

01:02:59weddings and engagements and scandals.

01:03:02She went to bed early, and that part she did enjoy.

01:03:05It was so nice to have pillows and sheets again.

01:03:09But the next day passed very slowly.

01:03:12Lazareline wanted to go back on the whole arrangement,

01:03:14and kept on telling Aravis that Narnia was a country of perpetual snow and ice,

01:03:18inhabited by demons and sorcerers, and she was mad to think of going there.

01:03:23"'And with a peasant boy, too,' said Lazareline.

01:03:26"'Darling, think of it.

01:03:28It's not nice.'

01:03:30Aravis had thought of it a good deal, but she was so tired of Lazareline's silliness by now,

01:03:36that for the first time she began to think that travelling with Shasta

01:03:40was really rather more fun than fashionable life in Tashban.

01:03:43So she only replied,

01:03:45"'You forget that I'll be nobody, just like him, when we get to Narnia.

01:03:50And anyway, I promised.'

01:03:53"'And to think,' said Lazareline, almost crying,

01:03:57"'that if only you had sense, you could be the wife of a grand vizier!'

01:04:01Aravis went away to have a private word with the horses.

01:04:06"'You must go with a groom a little before sunset, down to the tombs,'

01:04:09she said.

01:04:10"'No more of those packs.

01:04:12You'll be saddled and bridled again.

01:04:14But there'll have to be food in Hwen's saddlebags, and a full water-skin behind yours, Brie.

01:04:19The man has orders to let you both have a good long drink at the far side of the bridge.'

01:04:24"'And then Narnia and the North,' whispered Brie.

01:04:29"'But what if Shasta is not at the tombs?'

01:04:32"'Wait for him, of course,' said Aravis.

01:04:35"'I hope you've been quite comfortable.'

01:04:37"'Never better stabled in my life,' said Brie.

01:04:40"'But if the husband of that tittering Tarkina friend of yours is paying his

01:04:44headgroom to get the best oats, then I think the headgroom is cheating him.'

01:04:49Aravis and Lazareline had supper in the pillared room.

01:04:53About two hours later they were ready to start.

01:04:56Aravis was dressed to look like a superior slave-girl in a great house,

01:05:00and wore a veil over her face.

01:05:02They had agreed that if any questions were asked,

01:05:05Lazareline would pretend that Aravis was a slave she was taking as a present to one of the princesses.

01:05:10The two girls went out on foot.

01:05:12A very few minutes brought them to the palace gates.

01:05:15Here there were, of course, soldiers on guard, but the officer knew Lazareline quite well,

01:05:20and called his men to attention and saluted.

01:05:23They passed at once into the hall of black marble.

01:05:26A fair number of courtiers, slaves, and others were still moving about here,

01:05:30but this only made the two girls less conspicuous.

01:05:33They passed on into the hall of pillars, and then into the hall of statues,

01:05:37and down the colonnade, passing the great beaten copper doors of the throne-room.

01:05:42It was all magnificent beyond description,

01:05:46what they could see of it in the dim light of the lamps.

01:05:49Presently they came out into the garden court, which sloped downhill in a number of terraces.

01:05:55On the far side of that they came to the old palace.

01:05:58It had already grown almost quite dark,

01:06:00and they now found themselves in a maze of corridors,

01:06:02lit only by occasional torches fixed in brackets to the walls.

01:06:07Lazareline halted at a place where you had to go either left or right.

01:06:11Go on, do go on, whispered Aravis, whose heart was beating terribly,

01:06:17and who still felt that her father might run into them at any corner.

01:06:21I'm just wondering, said Lazareline, I'm not absolutely sure which way we go from here.

01:06:28I think it's the left.

01:06:30Yes, I'm almost sure it's the left.

01:06:33Oh, what fun this is!

01:06:35They took the left-hand way, and found themselves in a passage that was hardly lit at all,

01:06:40and which soon began going down steps.

01:06:43It's all right, said Lazareline, I'm sure we're right now.

01:06:46I remember these steps.

01:06:49But at that moment a moving light appeared ahead.

01:06:52A second later there appeared from round a distant corner

01:06:55the dark shapes of two men walking backward and carrying tall candles,

01:07:01and of course it is only before royalties that people walk backward.

01:07:05Aravis felt Lazareline grip her arm, that sort of sudden grip which is almost a pinch,

01:07:11and which means that the person who is gripping you is very frightened indeed.

01:07:15Aravis thought it odd that Lazareline should be so afraid of the Tisrock

01:07:18if he were really such a friend of hers, but there was no time to go on thinking.

01:07:23Lazareline was hurrying her back to the top of the steps,

01:07:26on tiptoes and groping wildly along the wall.

01:07:29Here's the door, she whispered, quick!

01:07:32They went in, drew the door very softly behind them,

01:07:35and found themselves in pitch darkness.

01:07:38Aravis could hear by Lazareline's breathing that she was terrified.

01:07:42Tosprousavus, whispered Lazareline.

01:07:45What shall we do if he comes in here?

01:07:48Can we hide?

01:07:49There was a soft carpet under their feet.

01:07:52They groped forward into the room and blundered onto a sofa.

01:07:55Let's lie down behind it, whimpered Lazareline, or I do wish we hadn't come.

01:08:02There was just room between the sofa and the curtained wall,

01:08:05and the two girls got down.

01:08:07Lazareline managed to get the better position and was completely covered.

01:08:11The upper part of Aravis's face stuck out beyond the sofa,

01:08:14so that if anyone came into that room with a light

01:08:17and happened to look in exactly the right place, they would see her.

01:08:20But of course, because she was wearing a veil,

01:08:23what they saw would not at once look like a forehead and a pair of eyes.

01:08:27Aravis shoved desperately to try to make Lazareline give her a little more room,

01:08:31but Lazareline, now quite selfish in her panic, fought back and pinched her feet.

01:08:36They gave it up and lay still, panting a little.

01:08:40Their own breath seemed dreadfully noisy, but there was no other noise.

01:08:44Is it safe? said Aravis at last, in the tiniest possible whisper.

01:08:51I think so, began Lazareline, but my poor nerves!

01:08:57And then came the most terrible noise they could have heard at that moment,

01:09:01the noise of the door opening.

01:09:04And then came light, and because Aravis couldn't get her head any further in behind the sofa,

01:09:09she saw everything.

01:09:11First came the two slaves, deaf and dumb, as Aravis rightly guessed,

01:09:15and therefore used at the most secret counsels,

01:09:17walking backward and carrying the candles.

01:09:20They took up their stand, one at each end of the sofa.

01:09:24This was a good thing, for of course it was now harder for anyone to see Aravis

01:09:28once a slave was in front of her, and she was looking between his heels.

01:09:32Then came an old man, very fat, wearing a curious pointed cap,

01:09:37by which she immediately knew that he was the Tisrock.

01:09:43The least of the jewels with which he was covered

01:09:45was worth more than all the clothes and weapons of the Narnian lords put together.

01:09:49But he was so fat, and such a mass of frills, and pleats, and bobbles,

01:09:53and buttons, and tassels, and talismans,

01:09:56that Aravis couldn't help thinking the Narnian fashions, at any rate for men, looked nicer.

01:10:02After him came a tall young man, with a feathered and jewelled turban on his head,

01:10:06and an ivory-sheathed scimitar at his side.

01:10:09He seemed very excited, and his eyes and teeth flashed fiercely in the candlelight.

01:10:15Last of all came a little, hump-backed, wizened old man,

01:10:18in whom she recognised with a shudder the new Grand Vizier,

01:10:22and her own betrothed husband, Ahoshta Takhan himself.

01:10:28As soon as all three had entered the room, and the door was shut,

01:10:31the Tisrock seated himself on the divan with a sigh of contentment.

01:10:35The young man took his place, standing before him,

01:10:38and the Grand Vizier got down on his knees and elbows,

01:10:41and laid his face flat on the carpet.

Narnia: The Horse and His Boy - Audiobook - Pt 2/4

Category

Transcript

Recommended