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CHAPTER TWELVE

SORCERY AND SUDDEN VENGEANCE

MEANWHILE Trumpkin and the two boys arrived at the dark little stone archhich led into the inside of the Mound, and two sentinel badgers (the white patches on their cheeks were all Edmund could see of the voices, "Who goes there?"

"Tru of Narnia out of the far past"

The badgers nosed at the boys&039; hands "At last," they said "At last"

"Give us a light, friends," said Truers found a torch just inside the arch and Peter lit it and handed it to Trumpkin "The DLF had better lead," he said "We don&039;t know our way about this place"

Trumpkin took the torch and went ahead into the dark tunnel It was a cold, black, ht, and plenty of cobwebs The boys, who had beenat the railway station, felt as if they were going into a trap or a prison

"I say, Peter," whispered Eds on the walls Don&039;t they look old? And yet we&039;re older than that When ere last here, they hadn&039;t been made"

"Yes," said Peter "That makes one think"

The Dent on ahead and then turned to the right, and then to the left, and then down soain Then at last they saw a light ahead - light from under a door And now for the first time they heard voices, for they had come to the door of the central cha so loudly that the approach of the boys and the Dwarf had not been heard

"Don&039;t like the sound of that," whispered Trumpkin to Peter "Let&039;s listen for a moment" All three stood perfectly still on the outside of the door

"You knoell enough," said a voice ("That&039;s the King," whispered Tru Have you forgotten that Miraz fell upon us al for our lives for the space of three hours andspace"

"I&039;ry voice, "when my Dwarfs bore the brunt of the attack and one in five of them fell" ("That&039;s Nikabrik," whispered Trumpkin)

"For shame, Dwarf," came a thick voice ("Trufflehunter&039;s," said Trumpkin) "We all did as "

"Tell that tale your oay for all I care," answered Nikabrik "But whether it was that the Horn was blown too late, or whether there was no reat clerk, youour hopes on Aslan and King Peter and all the rest of it?"

"I must confess - I cannot deny it - that I am deeply disappointed in the result of the operation," came the answer ("That&039;ll be Doctor Cornelius," said Trumpkin)

"To speak plainly," said Nikabrik, "your wallet&039;s eht, your promises broken Stand aside then and let others work And that is why - "

"The help will come," said Trufflehunter "I stand by Aslan Have patience, like us beasts The help will come It may be even now at the door"

"Pah!" snarled Nikabrik "You badgers would have us wait till the sky falls and we can all catch larks I tell you we can&039;t wait Food is running short; we lose more than we can afford at every encounter; our followers are slipping away"

"And why?" asked Trufflehunter "I&039;ll tell you why Because it is noised as of old have not answered The last words Trumpkin spoke before he went (and went, most likely, to his death) were, `If you must blow the Horn, do not let the army knohy you blow it or what you hope fro everyone seemed to know"

"You&039;d better have shoved your grey snout in a hornets&039; nest, Badger, than suggest that I am the blab," said Nikabrik "Take it back, or - "

"Oh, stop it, both of you," said King Caspian "I want to knohat it is that Nikabrik keeps on hinting we should do But before that, I want to knoho those two strangers are whoht into our council and who stand there with their ears open and their mouths shut"

"They are friends of ht have you yourself to be here than that you are a friend of Truht has that old dotard in the black gown to be here except that he is your friend? Why a in his friends?"

"His Majesty is the King to whoiance," said Trufflehunter sternly

"Court manners, court manners," sneered Nikabrik "But in this hole we may talk plainly You know - and he knows that this Tel of nowhere and nobody in a week unless we can help him out of the trap in which he sits"

"Perhaps," said Cornelius, "your new friends would like to speak for themselves? You there, who and what are you?"

"Worshipful Master Doctor," ca voice "So please you, I&039;ed to his Worshipful Dwarfship for his friendship, I&039;m sure His Majesty, bless his handsome face, has no need to be afraid of an old woman that&039;s nearly doubled up with the rheumatics and hasn&039;t two sticks to put under her kettle I have some poor little skill - not like yours, Master Doctor, of course - in sainst our enereeable to all concerned For I hate &039;em Oh yes No one hates better thanand - er - satisfactory," said Doctor Cornelius "I think I nohat you are, Madaive sorey voice at which Peter&039;s flesh crept replied, "I&039;er I&039;m thirst Where I bite, I hold till I die, and even after death they must cut out my mouthful from my enemy&039;s body and bury it with me I can fast a hundred years and not die I can lie a hundred nights on the ice and not freeze I can drink a river of blood and not burst Show me your enemies"

"And it is in the presence of these two that you wish to disclose your plan?" said Caspian

"Yes," said Nikabrik "And by their help that I mean to execute it"

There was awhich Trumpkin and the boys could hear Caspian and his two friends speaking in low voices but could notThen Caspian spoke aloud

"Well, Nikabrik," he said, "ill hear your plan"

There was a pause so long that the boys began to wonder if Nikabrik was ever going to begin; when he did, it was in a lower voice, as if he hi

"All said and done," he muttered, "none of us knows the truth about the ancient days in Narnia Trumpkin believed none of the stories I was ready to put them to the trial We tried first the Horn and it has failed If there ever was a High King Peter and a Queen Susan and a King Edmund and a Queen Lucy, then either they have not heard us, or they cannot come, or they are our enemies - "

"Or they are on the way," put in Trufflehunter

"You can go on saying that till Miraz has fed us all to his dogs As I was saying, we have tried one link in the chain of old legends, and it has done us no good Well But when your sword breaks, you draw your dagger The stories tell of other powers beside the ancient Kings and Queens Hoe could call them up?"

"If youon his They were his servants If he will not send them (but I make no doubt he will), is he more likely to coht there," said Nikabrik "Aslan and the Kings go together Either Aslan is dead, or he is not on our side Or else soer than himself keeps him back And if he did come - hoe know he&039;d be our friend? He was not always a good friend to Dwarfs by all that&039;s told Not even to all beasts Ask the Wolves And anyway, he was in Narnia only once that I ever heard of, and he didn&039;t stay long Youof someone else"

There was no answer, and for a few minutes it was so still that Eder

"Who do you mean?" said Caspian at last

"I reater than Aslan&039;s that it held Narnia spellbound for years and years, if the stories are true"

"The White Witch!" cried three voices all at once, and frouessed that three people had leaped to their feet