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SORCERY AND SUDDEN VENGEANbsp; MEANWHILE Trukin and the two boys arried at the dark little stone archway which led into the inside of the Mound, and two sentinel badgers (the white  atches on their cheeks were all Ednuld see of the leaped up with bared teeth and asked thein snarling oices, quot;Who goes there?”
quot;Trukin,quot; said the Dwarf. quing the High King of Narnia out of the far past.”
The badgers the boys hands. quot;At st,quot; they said. quot;At st.”
quot;Gie us a light, friends,quot; said Trukin.
The badgers found a torch just ihe ard Peter lit it and handed it to Trukin.
quot;The D.L.F. had better lead,quot; he said. quot;We dont know our way about this  ce.”
Trukin took the tord went ahead into the dark tunnel. It was ld, bck, sty pce, with an oasional bat fluttering iorchlight, and plenty of nbsbwebs. The boys, who had been stly in the open air sihat at the railway statio as if they were going into a trap or a prison.
quot;I say, Peter,quot; whispered Ednd. quot;Look at those gs on the walls. Dont they look old? A were older than that. When we were st here, they hadnt been daid Trukin.)
quot;To speak pinly,quot; said Nikabrik, quot;your wallets ety, ys addled, your fish uncaught, your proses broken. Stand aside then ahers work. And that is why -”
quot;The help will e,quot; said Trufflehunter. quot;I stand by Asn. Hae patienbsp; like us beasts. The help will e. It y be een now at the door.”
quot;Pah!quot; ;a href=quot; target=quot;_bnkquot;９９lｉb?d Nikabrik. quot;You badgers would hae us wait till the sky falls and we all catch rks. I tell you we t wait. Food is running short; we lose re than we afford at eery enter; our followers are slipping away.”
quot;And why?quot; asked Trufflehunter. quot;Ill tell you why. Because it is noised ang thethat we hae called on the Kings of old and the Kings of old hae not answered. The st words Trukin spoke before he went (a, st likely, to his death) were, `If you st blow the Horn, do not let the ar know why you blow it or what you hope froit. But that sa eening eeryoo know.”
quot;Youd better hae shoed yrey snout in a hors , Badger, than suggest that I athe bb,quot; said Nikabrik. quot;Take it back, or-”
quot;Oh, stop it, both of you,quot; said King Caspian. quot;I want to know what it is that Nikabrik keeps on hinting we should do. But before that, I want to know who those twers
are whohe has brought into our cil and who stand there with their ears open and their uths shut.”
quot;They are friends of ne,quot; said Nikabrik. quot;And what better right hae you yourself to be here than that you are a friend of Trukins and the Badgers? And what right has that old dotard in the bck gown to be here ecept that he is your friend? Why aI to be the only one who t bring in his friends?”
quot;His Majesty is the King to whoyou hae sworn allegiance,quot; said Trufflehuernly.
quot;urt nnersurt nners,quot; sneered Nikabrik. quot;But in this hole we y talk pinly.
You know - and he knows that this Telrine boy will be king of nowhere and nobody in a week unless we help hiout of the trap in which he sits.”
quot;Perhaps,quot; said elius, quot;your new friends would like to speak for theeles? You there, who and what are you?”
quot;Worshipful Master Doctor,quot; ca a thin, whining oice. quot;So please you, Inbsp; only a poor old won, I a and ery obliged to his Worshipful Dwarfship for his friendship, Isure. His Majesty, bless his handso face, has o be afraid of an old won thats nearly doubled up with the rheutid hasnt two sticks to put under her kettle.
I hae so;q;/q poor little skill - not like yours, Master Doctor, ourse - in sll spells and trips that Id be gd to use against our enees if it was agreeable to all ed. For I hate e Oh yes. No oes better than .”
quot;That is all st iing and - er - satisfactory,quot; said Doctor Ct;.99liｂ.;/abbrnelius. quot;I think I now know what you are, Mada Perhaps your other friend, Nikabrik, would gie so at of hielf?”
A dull, grey oice at which Peters flesh crept replied, quot;Ihunger. Inbsp; thirst. Where I bite, I hold till I die, and een after death they st y uthful fro enes body and bury it with . I fast a hundred years and not die. I lie a hundred nights on the id not freeze. I drink a rier of blood and not burst. Show your enees.”
quot;And it is in the presence of these two that you wish to disclose your  n?quot; said Caspian.
quot;Yes,quot; said Nikabrik. quot;And by their help that I an to eecute it.”
There was a nute or tw which Trukin and the boyuld hear Caspian and his two friends speaking in low oices buuld not ke out what they were saying.
Then Caspian spoke aloud.
quot;Well, Nikabrik,quot; he said, quot;we will hear your pn.”
There ause so long that the boys began to wonder if Nikabrik was eer going to begin; when he did, it was in a lower oice, as if he hielf did not bsp; like what he was saying.
quot;All said and done,quot; he ttered, quot;none of us knows the truth about the a days in Narnia. Trukin belieed none of the stories. I was ready to put theto the trial. We tried first the Horn and it has failed. If there eer was a High Kier and a Queen Susan and a King Ednd and a Queen Lucy, theher they hae not heard us, or they ot e, or they are our enees -”
quot;Or they are on the way,quot; put in Trufflehunter.
quot;You go on saying that till Miraz has fed us all to his dogs. As I was saying, we hae tried one link in the of old legends, and it has done us no good. Well. But when your sword breaks, you draw yger. The stories tell of other powers beside the a Kings and Queens. How if wuld call theup?”
quot;If you an Asn,quot; said Trufflehunter, quot;its all one calling on hiand on the Kings.
They were his serants. If he will not send the(but I ke no doubt he will), is he re likely to e hielf?”
quot;No. Youre right there,quot; said Nikabrik. quot;Asn and the Kings go together. Either Asn is dead, or he is not on our side. Or else sothing strohan hielf keeps hiback.
And if he did e - how do we know hed be our friend? He was not always a good friend to Dwarfs by all thats told. o all beasts. Ask the Woles. And anyway, he was in Narnia only ohat I eer heard of, and he didnt stay long. You y drop Asn out of the reing. I was thinking of soone else.”
There was no answer, and for a few was so still that Ednd nbsuld hear the wheezy and snuffling breath of the Badger.
quot;Who do you an?quot; said Caspian at st.
quot;I an a power so ch greater than Asns that it held Narnia spellbound for years and years, if the stories are true.”
quot;The White Witch!quot; cried three oices all at once, and frothe er guessed that three people had leaped to their feet.
quot;Yes,quot; said Nikabrik ery slowly and distinctly, quot;I ach. Sit down again. Dont all take fright at a na as if you were children. ower: and we want a power that will be on our side. As for power, do not the stories say that the Witch defeated Asn, and bound hi and killed hion that ery stone which is oer there, just beyond the light?”
quot;But they also say that he ca to life again,quot; said the Badger sharply.
quot;Yes, they say,quot; answered Nikabrik, quot;but youll notice that we hear  recious little about anything he did afterwards. He just fades out of the story. How do you epin that, if he really ca to life? Isnt it ch re likely that he didnt, and that the stories say nothing re about hibecause there was nothio say?”
quot;He established the Kings and Queens,quot; said Caspian.
quot;A King who has just won a great battle usually establish hielf without the help of a perf lion,quot; said Nikabrik. There was a fierce growl, probably fronbsp; Trufflehunter.
quot;And anyway,quot; Nikabrik tinued, quot;what ca of the Kings and their reign? They faded too. But its ery different with the Witch. They say she ruled for a hundred years: a hundred years of wiheres power, if you like. Theres sothing  ractical.”
quot;But, heaen ah!quot; said the King, quot;haent we always been told that she was the worst ene of all? Wasnt she a tyrais worse than Miraz?”
quot;Perhaps,quot; said Nikabrik in ld oice. quot;Perhaps she was for you huns, if there were any of you in those days. Perhaps she was for so of the beasts. She staed out the Beaers, I dare say; at least there are none of thein Narnia now. But she got on all right with us Dwarfs. Ia Dwarf and I stand by own people. Were not afraid of the Witch.”
quot;But youe joined with us,quot; said Trufflehunter.
quot;Yes, and a lot of good it has done  eople, so far,quot; snapped Nikabrik. quot;Who is sent on all the dangerous !, raids? The Dwarfs. Who goes short wheions fail? The Dwarfs. Who -?”
quot;Lies! All lies!quot; said the Badger.
quot;And so,quot; said Nikabrik, whose oiow rose to a screa quot;if you t help  eople, Ill go to soone who .”
quot;Is this open treason, Dwarf?quot; asked the King.
quot;Put that sword ba its sheath, Caspian,quot; said Nikabrik. quot;Murder at cil, eh? Is that ya? Dont be fool enough to try it. Do you think Iafraid of you? Theres three on side, and three on yours.”
quot;e on, then,quot; srufflehunter, but he was iediately interrupted.
quot;Stop, stop, stop,quot; said Doctor elius. quot;You go on too fast. The Witbsp; is dead. All the stories agree on that. What does Nikabrik an by calling och?”
That grey and terrible oice which had spoken only once before said, quot;Oh, is she?”
And then the shrill, whining oice began, quot;Oh, bless his heart, his dear little Majesty nd about the White Lady - thats what we call her - being dead. The Worshipful Master Doctor is only king ga of a poor old won like when he says that.
Sweet Mastery Doctor, learned Master Doctor, who eer heard of a witch that really died? You always get theback.”
quot;Call her up,quot; said the grey oice. quot;We are all ready. Draw the circle. Prepare the blue fire.”
Aboe the steadily increasing growl of the Badger and eliuss sharp quot;What?quot; rose the oice of King Caspian like thunder.
quot;So that is your pn, Nikabrik! Bck sorcery and the calling up of an aursed ghost.
And I see who your panions are-a Hag and a Werewolf!”
The nute or so was ery fused. There was an anil r, a csh of steel; the boys and Trukin rushed ier had a glise of a horrible, grey, gaunt creature, half n and half wolf, in the ery act of leaping upon a boy about his own age, and Ednd saw a badger and a Dwarf rolling on the floor in a sort of bsp; fight. Trukin found hielf face to face with the Hag. Her nose and stuck out like a  air of nut-crackers, her dirty grey hair was flying about her fad she had just got Doctor elius by the throat. At one ssh of Trukins sword her head rolled on the floor.
Then the light was knocked oer and it was all swords, teeth, cws, fists, and boots for about sity seds. Then silence.
quot;Are you all right, Ed?”
quot;I - I think so,quot; panted Ednd. quot;Ie got that brute Nikabrik, but hes still alie.”
quot;Weights and water-bottles!quot; angry oice. quot;Its youre sitting o off.
Youre like a young elephant.”
quot;Sorry, D.L.F.,quot; said Ednd. quot;Is that better?”
quot;Ow! No!quot; bellowed Trukin. quot;Youre putting your boot in uth. Go away.quot; ` quot;Is King Caspian anywhere?quot; asked Peter.
quot;Ihere,quot; said a rather faint oice. quot;Sothing bit .”
They all heard the noise of sooriking a tch. It was Ednd. The little f showed his face, looking pale and dirty. He blundered about for a little, found the dle (they were no longer using the , for they had run out of oil), set it oable, and lit
it. When the f rose clear, seeral people scraled to their feet. Si faces bli one another in the dlelight.
quot;We doo hae any enees left,quot; said Peter. quot;Theres the Hag, dead.quot; (He turned his eyes quickly away froher.) quot;And Nikabrik, dead too. And I suppose this thing is a Werewolf. Its so long since Ie seen one. Wolfs head and ns body. That ans he was just turning fron into wolf at the nt he was killed. And you, I suppose, are King Caspian?”
quot;Yes,quot; said the other boy. quot;But Ie no idea who you are.”
quot;Its the High King, Kier,quot; said Trukin.
quot;Your Majesty is ery wele,quot; said Caspian.
quot;And so is your Majesty,quot; said Peter. quot;I haeo take your pbsp; you know, but to put you into it.quot; , quot;Your Majesty,quot; said another oice at Peters elbow. He turned and found hielf face to face with the Badger.
Peter leaned forward, put his ar round the beast and kissed the furry head: it wasnt a girlish thing for hito do, because he was the High King.
quot;Best of badgers,quot; he said. quot;You neer doubted us all through.”
quot;No credit to , your Majesty,quot; said Trufflehunter. quot;1a beast and we dont ge.
Ia badger, whats re, and we hold on.”
quot;I asorry for Nikabrik,quot; said Caspian, quot;though he hated frothe first nt he saw . He had gone sour inside frolong suffering and hating. If we had won quickly he ght hae bee a good Dwarf in the days of peace. I dont know whibsp; of us killed hi Igd of that.”
quot;Youre bleeding,quot; said Peter.
quot;Yes, Ibitten,quot; said Caspian. quot;It was that - that wolf thing.quot; ing and bandaging the wound took a long ti, and when it was dorukin said, quot;Now. Before eerything else we want so breakfast.”
quot;But not here,quot; said Peter.
quot;No,quot; said Caspian with a shudder. quot;A send sooo take away the bodies.”
quot;Let the ern be flung into a pit,quot; said Peter. quot;But the Dwarf we will gie to his people to be buried in their own fashion.”
They breakfasted at st in another of the dark celrs of Asns How. It was not such a breakfast as they would hae chosen, for Caspian and elius were thinking of enison pasties, aer and Ednd of buttered eggs and hoffee, but what eeryo was a little bit old bear-at (out of the boys pockets), a lu of hard cheese, an onion, and a g of water. But, frothe way they fell to, anyone would hae supposed it was delicious.
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