At that time, everyone else was washing their hands and faces in the river, and they were preparing to eat and rest one after another.Three of the more skilled archers had gone deep into the hills north of the bay, and as expected, they had returned with a pair of wild goats, which they were now roasting on the fire.Caspian ordered a barrel of liquor to be brought ashore, a strong liquor produced in Achingland, which had to be mixed with water before drinking, so that it could be turned into more liquor, enough for everyone to drink.So far, everything has gone very well and it has been a very enjoyable meal.Only Edmund mentioned after eating the second serving, "Where did that annoying Eustace go?"
The valley is narrow and deep, and the cliffs that surround it are very steep, making it look like a huge pit or trench.The ground was strewn with rocks and weeds, and Eustace saw charred black patches everywhere, just as you would see on both sides of the railroad embankment on a dry summer.About fifteen yards from him was a pool of clear water, smooth and calm.At first, there was nothing in the valley, no animals, no birds, not even insects.The sun is shining down, and the steep peaks and summits of the mountains look down on the rim of the canyon.At this point, of course, Eustace realized that he had climbed down the other side of the ridge in that thick fog, so he immediately turned around to see how he could get back.However, when he looked closely, he couldn't help but shudder.It is evident that he had managed his way to the only way down, a long, narrow green passage, by astonishing good fortune.The passage is not only narrow, but also terrifyingly steep, with cliffs on both sides, and there is no other way back.Now that he has seen the real situation in front of him, can he still have the courage to climb up again, as long as he thinks of this, he immediately becomes dizzy.He turned away again, thinking to himself that it was best to have a good drink in the pond first, either way.But no sooner had he turned his head, and before he could lift his feet and walk towards the valley, he heard a voice behind him.It was a slight sound, but it sounded particularly intimidating in the silence of the valley.He froze in place for an instant, and it took a long time before he dared to turn his neck and turn his head to look over.At the bottom of the cliff, not far to his left, there was a low, dark cavern, which might have been the entrance to a cave.Two wisps of light smoke were coming out of it, and at the same time, the loose pile of stones under the black cavern was moving, which was the noise he had just heard, as if something was crawling in the darkness behind the stones.Sure enough, something was crawling.To make matters worse, the thing actually crawled outside.Whether it's Edmund, or Lucy, or you, you'll recognize it right away, but Eustace has never read a book that's right for him.The thing that had crawled out of the cave he had never even imagined had a lead-gray muzzle, dark red eyes, neither feathers nor fur, dragging a long, soft body on the ground, its elbows higher than its back, like the ferocious claws of a spider, and at the same time, its bat-like wings rattling against the stones, and its tail several yards long.The two puffs of smoke were pouring out of its nostrils.Eustace had never said the word "dragon" to himself, and even if he did, it wouldn't make things any better.But, perhaps, if he knew anything about dragons, he would have been slightly surprised by the way this dragon behaved.It didn't sit up and flap its wings, nor did it spew a ray of fire from its mouth.The smoke coming out of its nostrils was like fire smoke and didn't last long.It didn't seem to notice Eustace either, but crawled very slowly towards the pool, stopping every now and then.Eustace was still filled with fear, but he felt that he was an old and frail creature in a miserable situation.He wondered if he dared to take the risk and swoop uphill.But if he makes any noise, it's likely to look back, and maybe it's a threat to life.Maybe it's just faking illness.In any case, trying to escape from flying monsters is not an easy task.It crawled to the edge of the pool, slid its jaws with terrible scales, and lowered it to the gravel to drink, but before it could drink, it made a loud rattle, perhaps a sonorous crane chirping, and after a few convulsions and struggles, rolled on its side, and lay there silently, motionless.A claw reached into the air, and a little black blood poured out of its large mouth.The smoke from the nostrils turned black for a moment, and then drifted away.Immediately after that, there was no more movement.It could be the thing's trick, a trick to lure the traveler to his death.But one cannot wait indefinitely.Eustace took a step forward, took two more steps, and then paused.The dragon didn't move.He also noticed that the red flame had also disappeared from its eyes.Finally, he came to it.Now he was absolutely sure it was dead.He touched it and shivered, but nothing happened.Eustace was relieved, and he almost burst out laughing.He began to feel as if he had killed the dragon with his own hands after a battle, rather than just watching it die.He stepped over the dragon and walked to the pond to drink, for it was too hot to bear.He wasn't particularly surprised when he heard a rumbling thunder.Immediately, the sun disappeared, and before he could finish his drink, large drops of rain fell.The island's climate was so annoying that in less than a minute, Eustace was soaking wet.No one in Europe has ever seen such a heavy rain that it almost obstructs half of the people's view.If this heavy rain continues, trying to climb out of the canyon is simply impossible.Eustace rushed like a bolt towards the Dragon's Cave, the only shelter in sight.There he lay down, trying to breathe.Most of us will know what to find in a dragon's lair, but, as I said before, Eustace reads useless books about imports, exports, governments, consumption, and never talks about dragons.That's why he felt so confused as he lay there looking at the ground.Some places were too prickly to be stones, so hard they couldn't be thorns, and there looked like there were a lot of round, flat and stuff like that.As soon as he moved, everything began to tinkle.The hole was bright enough for him to take a closer look at the things.Of course, Eustace found a treasure that any of us could tell him in advance.There are many crowns that are precisely those piercing things, gold coins, rings, bracelets, gold ingots, cups, plates, and precious stones.Eustace didn't think the treasure was of much importance to most children, but he could see at once how useful it would be if he had inadvertently and foolishly fallen into the new world of the painting in Lucy's bedroom at home."
There are no taxes here," he said, "and you don't have to hand over your treasures to the government, just take some of them with you, and I can live here a decent life for a while, maybe in Calgate."
It sounds like the best of all countries.I was thinking, how much can I bring with me, now go get that bracelet, it should be all diamonds, I'm going to wear it on my own wrist.It's too big, but it won't feel too big if I push it up to my elbows.Next, it's much easier to fill my pocket with diamonds than gold.I'm curious to know when this odious rain will stop. ”He sat down on the large pile of treasures, and found a less uncomfortable place to sit and wait, which consisted mainly of coins.However, after a terrible scare, especially after walking a mountain trail, once you relax, you can feel deeply tired.So, Eustace fell asleep unconsciously.Just as he was snoring from his sleep, the others had finished their lunch and began to worry seriously about him.They shouted, "Eustace, Eustace, hey," until everyone's voices were hoarse, and Caspian blew his horn."
He must not be around here, or he will be able to hear it."
Lucy said with a pale face and an anxious expression."
Nasty fellow," said Edmund angrily, "what the hell is he doing by sneaking away like this," "but we have to do something for him," said Lucy uneasily, "and it is very likely that he has lost his way, or has fallen into the hole, or has been captured by the wildlings." ”"Or killed by a wild beast."
Drinin said on the side."
In my opinion, if only that were the case, I would finally get rid of him."
Rhines grumbled."
Mr.
Leynes," said Repechp sternly, "you have never uttered such a dishonorable word.This guy isn't my friend, but he's a relative of the Queen, and we're going to have to find him as long as he's our ship's companion.If he dies, we must avenge him, and it is a matter of honor for us. ”"Of course, we'll have to go to him if we can find him," said Caspian wearily, "and it's a real trouble."
That means we're going to organize a search team.The trouble is really endless, nasty Eustace" At the same time, Eustace slept and slept until his arm felt pain before waking up.The moonlight streamed in through the hole, and his treasure bed seemed to be much more comfortable.In fact, he didn't feel the slightest bit of comfort.At first, the pain in his arm made him feel inexplicable, and then he remembered that the bracelet he had just pushed to his elbow was surprisingly tight.His arm must have swollen while he was asleep, it was his left arm.He moved his right arm to touch it, but before he could move an inch, he stopped, biting his lip in fright.For just in front of him, a little to the right, the moonlight poured into the hole, illuminating the ground clearly, and he saw an ugly, terrible shape moving.He knew the shape: it was a dragon's claw.When he moved his hand, it moved, but when he stopped moving, it stopped."
Oh, I'm so stupid," Eustace thought to himself, "of course, that thing must have a companion lying next to me." ”For a few minutes, he didn't dare to move.He saw two thin plumes of smoke rising in front of his eyes, black in the moonlight, like smoke from the nose of the other dragon before he died.It was terrifying, so he quickly held his breath.The two pillars of smoke also disappeared.When he couldn't hold his breath any longer, he exhaled secretly.Immediately, two black smoke erupted again.But even then, he didn't know anything about the truth.Soon after, he decided to carefully lean over to his left and try to creep out of the cave.Maybe the guy was asleep, but anyway, it was his only chance.However, before he could slowly climb to the left, he glanced to the left, as a matter of course.Oh, it's scared to death, there's a dragon claw over there, too.If anyone had seen Eustace shed tears at this time, no one would have blamed him.He was taken aback when he saw that his tears had been splashed on the treasure in front of him.The tears also seemed to be surprisingly hot, and there was still steaming on them.But it was useless to cry, he had to find a way to crawl out between the two dragons.He began to stretch his right arm, and the dragon's forelimbs and claws to his right made the exact same movements.Next, he thought maybe he could try his left arm, but the dragon over there followed him as well.The two dragons, one on each side, imitated his every move and his mind collapsed, and he simply fled directly.As he rushed out of the hole, there was a clatter and cacophony of rubbing, the clanging of gold, the clatter of stones, which made him think that both dragons were following him.He didn't dare to look back, he rushed to the pond.The dead dragon lay in the moonlight, its twisted shape enough to scare anyone, but now he could barely detect it.He just wanted to get into the water quickly.However, just as he walked to the edge of the pond, two things happened.The first was like being struck by lightning to him, because he had been running with his hands and feet, how could he make such a strange move, and the second thing, when he poked his head out towards the river, for a moment he thought that there was a dragon in the pond staring up at him.However, it only took a moment for him to understand that the dragon face in the pool of truth was his own reflection.There is no doubt about this, when he moves, it moves, and when he opens and closes, it opens and closes.When he fell asleep, he turned into a dragon.Sleeping in the treasure trove of dragons with greedy and ferocious thoughts, he himself has become a dragon.That says it all.When he was in the cave, he didn't have two dragons by his side.The left and right claws turned out to be his own two paws.Two columnar wisps of light smoke came out of his own nostrils.As for the pain in his left arm, or it used to be his left arm, now he could tell what was going on even with his left eye slanted.The bracelet fits perfectly on a boy's upper arm, but it's pitifully small for the dragon's thick, thick forelimbs.It was so deep embedded in the scaly flesh that it throbbed and swelled on both sides, and he tore desperately at the spot with his dragon teeth, but couldn't take it off.Despite the pain, he first felt a sense of comfort, for there was nothing more to make him feel horrible.Now he is a terrible monster himself, and in this world, except for knights, and not all knights, dare not attack him.He could even go to trouble Caspian and Edmund now.But at this point, he realized that he wasn't going to do that at all.He wanted to be with his friends.He wants to go back to the human race, to talk and laugh and share with each other.He understands that he has become a monster and has severed ties with the entire human race.A terrible sense of loneliness gripped him, and he began to understand that the others were not demons at all.He began to wonder if he was a good person as he had long believed.He longed to hear their voices, and even a kind word from Repechip's mouth would make him grateful.At the thought of this, the poor dragon, who had been Eustace, began to cry out loud.The sight of a mighty dragon crying in a desolate valley in the moonlight is unimaginable.In the end, he decided to try to find his way back to the coast.Now he really understood that Caspian would never leave him and drive the ship away, and that he was sure that somehow, or rather, he would have a way of letting people know who he was.He drank as much as he could, and then ate almost all of the dead dragon.I know it sounds horrible, but you don't think so.He didn't realize what he was doing until he was halfway through eating, because, you see, although his mind was still Eustace's, his appetite and digestion were dragon's, and nothing made dragons like it more than fresh dragon meat, which is why it's so hard to find a second dragon in the same place.Next, he turned and crawled out of the valley.He began to climb and jump down, and the moment he jumped, he found himself flying.He had completely forgotten that he had wings, and it was a big surprise for him, he hadn't felt a surprise in a long time.He flew high into the air at once.In the moonlight, he saw countless mountains spread out below him.He saw a silver-plated bay where the Dawn Tread had anchored, and the campfire in the camp flickered in the woods beside the beach.He swooped down towards them with a single-wing glide from a fairly high spot.At this point, Lucy slept soundly, for she had waited a long time for the search party to bring back news about Eustace.The search party, led by Casbin himself, returned very late, and everyone was exhausted.The news they brought back was anxiety-free.They found no trace of Eustace, but they saw a dead dragon in a valley.They all did their best to do this, and each assured the others that there seemed to be no more dragons, and that the dead dragon had died around three o'clock that afternoon when they found it, and it was hard to tell that it had eaten a man just a few hours earlier."
Unless he eats this stinking child, and then dies: he can poison everything."
Rheins said, but he said it in a low voice, and no one heard him.Later that night, Lucy was woken up softly, and she found the whole boat gathered together to whisper something."
What's going on?"
asked Lucy."
We have to show great loyalty," Casbin said, "and a dragon has just flown over the treetops and landed on the beach."
That's right, I'm afraid it's right here between us and the ship.It is completely useless to use arrows against dragons, all dragons are not afraid of fire. ”"Your Majesty, please grant me," Repechipp began."
No, Repechip," said the king very firmly, "you must not fight it alone.Unless you promise to obey me in this matter, I will tie you up.We just have to keep an eye on it and wait until dawn before heading to the bay to fight it.I led the group, with King Edmund on my right and Lord Drinin on my left.There are no other arrangements.In another hour or two it will be dawn.Everyone had an hour to prepare the meal and bring the rest of the wine.Note that everything is done quietly. ”"Maybe it'll leave."
Lucy said."
If it did, it would have been much worse," Edmund said, "because then we wouldn't have known where it was."
If there's a wasp in the room, I want to see it as much as I can. ”The rest of the night felt terrible.When it was time to eat, everyone knew they should eat, but many people found that they had no appetite at all.The period before dawn seems to have passed extremely long.Eventually, the night thinned out, and the sky grew brighter, and the birds began to chirp, and the surroundings became more damp and cold than the whole night.At this moment, Caspian gave the order: "Friends, do it now" They stood up, all their swords unsheathed, and huddled tightly around Lucy, with Repechip on her shoulder.It's better than waiting, and everyone finds themselves liking other people more than usual.After a while, they set off.When they reached the edge of the woods, it was getting brighter.Lying on the sand over there was the dragon, which looked like a large lizard, or a pliable crocodile, or a large python with legs, and was huge, creepy, and as strong as a mountain peak.But when it saw them, instead of getting up and spewing fire and smoke at them, it chose to retreat, and you could say that it staggered back to the shallows of the bay."
What does it mean that its head is shaking so much?"
asked Edmund, puzzled."
And now it's nodding."
Caspian replied."
Something came out of its eyes."
Drinin said."
Oh, can't you see," said Lucy, "it's crying, it's tears." ”"Your Majesty, I don't believe it will cry.""
That's exactly what crocodiles do, to get you to let your guard down." ”"It's shaking its head when you say that," Edmund said, "as if it's saying no."
Look, it's shaking its head there again. ”"Do you think it understands what we're saying?"
asked Lucy.The dragon nodded desperately.Repechipe slipped off Lucy's shoulder and took a few steps forward."
Dragon," its shrill voice sounded, "can you understand us" The dragon nodded."
Can you speak," it asked again.It shook its head."
Well," said Repechip, "it's a vain to ask you anything.However, if you are willing to be friendly with us, lift your left front leg to your head. ”The dragon did as it was asked, but it was very clumsy, for the leg had a gold bracelet on it, and it was painful and swollen."
Oh, look," Lucy cried, "there's something wrong with its leg.This poor thing may be the reason why it cries.Maybe it came to us for healing, like in Andrew Chris's time, and the lion. ”"Be careful, Lucy," said Caspian, "this is a very clever dragon, but it may be a deceitful. ”Regardless, however, Lucy had already run forward, with Repechipe following close behind, two short legs following as quickly as possible.Immediately afterward, the boys and Drinin followed suit."
Show me your poor paw," said Lucy, "and perhaps I can cure it." ”The dragon, which had been Eustace, happily stretched out its painful, swollen left front leg, remembering how Lucy had zealously cured him of seasickness before he became a dragon.But he was disappointed that this magic potion could eliminate swelling and relieve pain, but there was no way to melt the gold bracelet.Now, as everyone gathered around as Lucy healed it, Caspian suddenly shouted, "Look at it," and his eyes widened as he stared at the gold bracelet.t1706231537: