HOW HELP CAME TO THE KING Bur his misery did not last long. Almost at once there came a bump, and then a second bump, and two children were standing before him. The wood in front of him had been quite empty a second before and he knew they had not come from behind his tree, for he would have heard them. They had in fact simply appeared from nowhere. He saw at a glance that they were wearing the same queer, dingy sort of clothes as the people in his
"Hurry up and get him untied," said the girl. "We can talk, afterwards." Then she added, turning to Tirian, "Im sorry weve been so long. We came the moment we could.”
"Now," said Tirian as they came to the head of a little valley which ran down before them among young birch trees, "we are out of danger of those villains for a space and may walk more easily." The sun hadrisen, dew-drops were twinkling on every branch, and birds were singing.
While she was speaking the Boy produced a knife from his pocket and was quickly cutting the Kings bonds: too quickly, in fact, for the King was so stiff and numb that when the last cord was cut he fell forward on his hands and knees. He couldnt get up again till he had brought some life back into his legs by a good rubbing.
"Not yet, comrade," said Tirian. He was determined that they should not be caught unarmed, and began searching the lockers, thankfully remembering that he had always been careful to have these garrison towers inspected once a year and to make sure that they were stocked with all things needful. The bow strings were there in their coverings of oiled silk, the swords and spears were greased against rust, and the armour was kept bright in its wrappings. But there was something even better. "Look you!" said Tirian as he drew out a long mail shirt of a curious pattern and flashed it before the childrens eyes.
Nothing but oil and ashes will make us white Narnians again. And now, sweet Jill, let us go see how this mail shirt becomes you. Tis something too long, yet not so much as I feared. Doubtless it belonged to a page in the train of one of their Tarkaans.”
Tirian was pleased to see that the two strangers had been well brought up. They both said not to mention it and that they were sure it would be very nice.
The next question was how to get here. You cant go just by wanting to. So we talked and talked and at last the Professor said the only way would be by the Magic Rings. It was by those Rings that he and Aunt Polly got here long, long ago when they were only kids, years before we younger ones were born. But the Rings had all been buried in the garden of a house in London (thats our big town, Sire) and the house had been sold. So then the problem was how to get at them. Youll never guess what we did in the end! Peter and Edmund - thats the High King Peter, the one who spoke to you - went up to London to get into the garden from the back, early in the morning before people were up. They were dressed like workmen so that if anyone did see them it would look as if theyd come to do something about the drains. I wish Id been with them: it must have been glorious fun.
"Yes, thats us," said Jill. "So hes King Rilian now, is he? Oh of course he would be. I forgot-”
"After this has hardened on us," he said, "we may wash in water and it will not change.
There was only one room in it and this roomwent right up to the stone roof: a wooden staircase in one corner led up to a trap door by which you could get out on the battlements. There were a few rude bunks to sleep in, and a great many lockers and bundles. There was also a hearth which looked as if nobody had lit a fire in it for a great many years.
"I say," said the girl. "It was you, wasnt it, who appeared to us that night when we were all at supper? Nearly a week ago.”
"A week, fair maid?" said Tirian. "My dream led me into your world scarce ten minutes since.”
"Look," said Tirian and pointed. Not many yards away grey battlements rose above the tree-tops, and after a minutesmore walking they came out in an open grassy space. A stream ran across it and on the far side of the stream stood a squat, square tower with very few and narrow windows and one heavy-looking door in the wall that faced them.
"What about some grub? - I mean for you, Sir, we two have had our breakfast," said the Boy.
Tirian got to his feet and led them rapidly down hill, Southward and away from the stable. He knew where he meant to go but his first aim was to get to rocky places where they would leave no trail, and his second to cross some water so that they would leave no scent. This took them about an hours scrambling and wading and while that was going on nobody had any breath to talk. But even so, Tirian kept on stealing glances at his companions. The wonder of walking beside the creatures from another world made him feel a little dizzy: but it also made all the old stories seem far more real than they had ever seemed before . . . anything might happen now.
"Yes," said Jill. "But we dont think he can use them. When the two other Pevensies - King Edmund and Queen Lucy - were last here, Aslan said they would never come to Narnia again. And he said something of the same sort to the High King, only longer ago.
"With a good will, damsel," said Tirian. "But we must keep on the march." So while they went on walking he told them who he was and all the things that had happened to him.
"And now," he said at the end, "I am going to a certain tower, one of three that were built in my grandsires time to guard Lantern Waste against certain perilous outlaws who dwelled there in his day. By Aslans good will I was not robbed of my keys. In that tower we shall find stores of weapons and mail and some victuals also, though no better than dry biscuit. There also we can lie safe while we make our plans. And now, prithee, tell me who you two are and all your story.”
"Im Eustace Scrubb and this is Jill Pole," said the Boy. "And we were here once before, ages and ages ago, more than a year ago by our time, and there was a chap called Prince Rilian, and they were keeping this chap underground, and Puddleglum put his foot in -”
After the mail shirts they put on Calormene helmets, which are little round ones fitting tight to the head and having a spike on top. Then Tirian took long rolls of some white stuff out of the locker and wound them over the helmets till they became turbans: but the little steel spike still stuck up in the middle. He and Eustace took curved Calormene swords and little round shields. There was no sword light enough for Jill, but he gave her a long, straight hunting knife which might do for a sword at a pinch.
"Of course," said the girl. "Its you weve come to help.”
"Welcome friends," said Tirian. "I fear this is the best palace that the King of Narnia can now offer to his guests.”
"Nay," said Tirian, "I am the seventh in descent from him. He has been dead over two hundred years.”
"Ha!" cried Tirian, "are you then that Eustace and that Jill who rescued King Rilian from his long enchantment?”
"Hast any skill with the bow, maiden?" said Tirian.
"Its the usual muddle about times, Pole," said the Boy.
"Or a tin of cocoa," said Eustace.
"She isnt really our aunt, you know," said Eustace. "Shes Miss Plummer, but we call her Aunt Polly. Well those two got us all together partly just for fun, so that we could all have a good jaw about Narnia (for of course theres no one else we can ever talk to about things like that) but partly because the Professor had a feeling that we were somehow wanted over here. Well then you came in like a ghost or goodness-knows-what and nearly frightened the lives out of us and vanished without saying a word. After that, we knew for certain there was something up.
As a matter of fact it was not particularly nice. It was rather dark and smelled very damp.
"Aye, lad," said Tirian. "No Narnian Dwarf smithied that. Tis mail of Calormen, outlandish gear. I have ever kept a few suits of it in readiness, for I never knew when I or
"Theyre the two who came into Narnia at the very beginning, the day all the animals learned to talk.”
From the dawn of the world! And still in your place? The wonder and the glory of it! But tell me, tell me.”
my friends might have reason to walk unseen in The Tisrocs land. And look on this stone bottle. In this there is a juice which, when we have rubbed it on our hands and faces, will make us brown as Calormenes.”
Jill made a face. "Ugh!" she said. "Thats the horrid part about coming back to Narnia.”
"So you never used the Rings?" said Tirian.
"Thats funny-looking mail, Sire," said Eustace.
"Gosh!" said the boy, "that took ones breath away! I thought -”
"And now," said the girl as she tossed her wet hair back from her forehead, "arent you going to tell us who you are and why you were tied up and what its all about?”
Tirian showed them how to pour out a little of the juice into the palms of their hands and then rub it well over their faces and necks, right down to the shoulders, and then on their hands, right up to the elbows. He did the same himself.
Then Tirian gave Jill a bow and a quiver full of arrows. The next business was to light a fire, for inside that tower it still felt more like a cave than like anything indoors and set one shivering. But they got warm gathering wood - the sun was now at its highest - and once the blaze was roaring up the chimney the place began to look cheerful. Dinner was, however, a dull meal, for the best they could do was to pound up some of the hard biscuit which they found in a locker and pour it into boiling water, with salt, so as to make a kind of porridge. And of course there was nothing to drink but water.
"I know not these names, Eustace," said Tirian.
Tirian looked sharply this way and that to make sure that no enemies were in sight. Then he walked up to the tower and stood still for a moment fishing up his bunch of keys which he wore inside his hunting-dress on a narrow silver chain that went round his neck.
You may be sure hell come like a shot if hes allowed.”
"But the High King Peter has them," said Tirian.
"Oh hurrah!" said Jill. "Disguise! I love disguises.”
But Eustace went on.
"A firkin or so of good wine in each of these towers would not have been amiss," said Tirian.
It was a nice bunch of keys that he brought out, for two were golden and many were richly ornamented: you could see at once that they were keys made for opening solemn and secret rooms in palaces, or chests and caskets of sweet-smelling wood that contained royal treasures. But the key which he now put into the lock of the door was big and plain and more rudely made. The lock was stiff and for a moment Tirian began to be afraid that he would not be able to turn it: but at last he did and the door swung open with a sullen creak.
"I remember now," said Tirian. "That too comes in all the old tales. The time of your strange land is different from ours. But if we speak of Time, tis time to be gone from here: for my enemies are close at hand. Will you come with me?”
And they must have succeeded for next day Peter sent us a wire - thats a sort of message, Sire, Ill explain about it some other time - to say hed got the Rings. And the day after that was the day Poleand I had to go back to school - were the only two who are still at school and were at the same one. So Peter and Edmund were to meet us at a place on the way down to school and hand over the Rings. It had to be us two who were to go to Narnia, you see, because the older ones couldnt come again. So we got into the train thats a kind of thing people travel in in our world: a lot of wagons chained together - and the Professor and Aunt Polly and Lucy came with us. We wanted to keep together as long as we could. Well there we were in the train. And we were just getting to the station where the others were to meet us, and I was looking out of the window to see if I could see them when suddenly there came a most frightful jerk and a noise: and there we were in Narnia and there was your Majesty tied up to the tree.”
"Wed better go out and gather some firewood first thing, hadnt we?" said Jill.
"No," said Eustace. "Never even saw them. Aslan did it all for us in his own way without any Rings.”
"Dont you believe her, Sire," said Eustace. "Weve both been practising archery ever since we got back from Narnia last time, and shes about as good as me now. Not that either of us is much.”
"Well now you know who we are, Sire," he said. "And it was like this. The Professor and Aunt Polly had got all us friends of Narnia together -”
"Nothing worth talking of," said Jill, blushing. "Scrubbs not bad.”
dream; and he saw, at a second glance, that they were the youngest boy and girl out of that party of seven.
"By the Lions Mane," cried Tirian. "Those two! The Lord Digory and the Lady Polly!
"Gosh!" said Eustace. "Its getting hot in this sun. Are we nearly there, Sire?”
"I wish wed brought a packet of tea," said Jill.
Tirian wondered very much what he meant by "grub", but when the Boy opened a bulgy satchel which he was carrying and pulled out a rather greasy and squashy packet, he understood. He was ravenously hungry, though he hadnt thought about it till that moment. There were two hard-boiled egg sandwiches, and two cheese sandwiches, and two with some kind of paste in them. If he hadnt been so hungry he wouldnt have thought much of the paste, for that is a sort of food nobody eats in Narnia. By the time he had eaten all six sandwiches they had come to the bottom of the valley and there they found a mossy cliff with a little fountain bubbling out of it. All three stopped and drank and splashed their hot faces.
