《最後一戰》第59期:小矮人的拒絕(2)

"It was much the same for us in the railway carriage," said the Lord Digory, wiping the last traces of the fruit from his golden beard. "Only I think you and I, Polly, chiefly felt that we'd been unstiffened. You youngsters won't understand. But we stopped feeling old."

"Youngsters, indeed!" said Jill. "I don't believe you two really are much older than we are here."

"Well if we aren't, we have been," said the Lady Polly.

"And what has been happening since you got here?" asked Eustace.

"Well," said Peter, "for a long time (at least I suppose it was a long time) nothing happened. Then the door opened -"

"The door?" said Tirian.

"Yes," said Peter. "The door you came in - or came out - by. Have you forgotten?"

"But where is it?"

"Look," said Peter and pointed.

Tirian looked and saw the queerest and most ridiculous thing you can imagine. Only a few yards away, clear to be seen in the sunlight, there stood up a rough wooden door and, round it, the framework of the doorway: nothing else, no walls, no roof. He walked towards it, bewildered, and the others followed, watching to see what he would do. He walked round to the other side of the door. But it looked just the same from the other side: he was still in the open air, on a summer morning. The door was simply standing up by itself as if it had grown there like a tree.

"Fair Sir," said Tirian to the High King, "this is a great marvel."

"It is the door you came through with that Calormene five minutes ago," said Peter smiling.

"But did I not come in out of the wood into the stable? Whereas this seems to be a door leading from nowhere to nowhere."

"It looks like that if you walk round it," said Peter. "But put your eye to that place where there is a crack between two of the planks and look through."

Tirian put his eye to the hole. At first he could see nothing but blackness. Then, at his eyes grew used to it, he saw the dull red glow of a bonfire that was nearly going out, and above that, in a black sky, stars. Then he could see dark figures moving about or standing between him and the fire: he could hear them talking and their voices were like those of Calormenes. So he knew that he was looking out through the stable door into the darkness of Lantern Waste where he had fought his last battle. The men were discussing whether to go in and look for Rishda Tarkaan (but none of them wanted to do that) or to set fire to the stable.

He looked round again and could hardly believe his eyes. There was the blue sky overhead, and grassy country spreading as far as he could see in every direction, and his new friends all round him laughing.

“這跟我們在火車車廂裏的情況極爲相像。”迪格雷勳爵說道，把金色鬍鬚上滯留的水果痕跡擦掉，“不過我想，波莉，你和我，主要感到自己的身體和四肢由僵硬變成柔軟了。你們年輕人不會明白的。我們可停止感到衰老了。”

“說我們是年輕人，真是的！”吉爾說，“我可不相信你們兩位在這兒究竟確實比我們老多少。”

“如果我們現在不老，以前我們確是老過的。”波莉夫人說。

“那麼，你們到了這兒發生過什麼事情？”尤斯塔斯問道。

“哦，”彼得說，“好久(至少我覺得時間很長)沒有發生什麼事情。然後，門打開了——”

“門嗎？”蒂蓮說。

“是的，”彼得道，“你進來的門——或者是出去的門。你忘記了嗎？”

“門在哪兒？”

“瞧。”彼得說，而且用手指了一指。

蒂蓮瞧瞧，他看見了你能想像得到的最古怪最可笑的東西。只不過是幾碼之外，陽光下看得清清楚楚的，矗立着一個粗糙的木門，木門的周圍，是門口的一個框架：沒有其他東西，沒有牆，沒有屋頂。他向門走去，給弄糊塗了，其他的人跟着他，瞧他會做出什麼舉動來。他繞到門的那一邊去。但從那一邊看起來，還是一模一樣：他仍舊是在戶外野地裏，時間仍是夏天的早晨。門是簡單明瞭地兀自矗立着，彷彿一棵樹木似的生長在那兒。

“公正的閣下，”蒂蓮對至尊王說，“這是一大奇蹟。”

“這就是你五分鐘以前跟那卡樂門軍人一同踏進去的那個門啊。”彼得微笑着說道。

“然而，難道我不是從樹林出來後進入馬廄的嗎？而這個門彷彿是個不知從哪兒通哪兒的門。”

“看來你是繞這門走了一圈，”彼得說，“但，你且把眼睛湊在兩塊木板之間有條縫的地方，透過裂縫望出去看看吧。

蒂蓮把眼睛湊在裂縫上。起初他什麼也看不見，只看見一片黑暗。稍後他的眼睛習慣了，就看見了即將熄滅的篝火的暗紅色的火光，篝火上方黑暗天空裏的繁星。接着他看見了在篝火和他之間往來走動或站着的黑色形體：他聽得見他們在說話，他們的聲音就跟那些卡樂門士兵的聲音一個樣兒。所以他就知道他正透過馬廄的門往外望到了他剛打過最後一仗的燈柱野林上的一片黑暗。士兵們正討論着是否要進去找找“泰坎”利什達(但沒有人肯去辦這事)或者乾脆放火燒掉馬廄。

他重新環顧四周，他簡直沒法兒相信自己的眼睛。頭上是蔚藍的天空，芳草萋萋的鄉村朝着四面八方連綿延伸，直至他看得見的遠方，而他的新朋友都在他的周圍哈哈大笑。