《魔法師的外甥》第21期:滅絕咒(3)
Low down and near the horizon hung a great, red sun, far bigger than our sun. Digory felt at once that it was also older than ours: a sun near the end of its life, weary of looking down upon that world. To the left of the sun, and higher up, there was a single star, big and bright. Those were the only two things to be seen in the dark sky; they made a dismal group. And on the earth, in every direction, as far as the eye could reach, there spread a vast city in which there was no living thing to be seen. And all the temples, towers, palaces, pyramids, and bridges cast long, disastrous-looking shadows in the light of that withered sun. Once a great river had flowed through the city, but the water had long since vanished, and it was now only a wide ditch of grey dust.
"Look well on that which no eyes will ever see again," said the Queen. "Such was Charn, that great city, the city of the King of Kings, the wonder of the world, perhaps of all worlds. Does your uncle rule any city as great as this, boy?"
"No," said Digory. He was going to explain that Uncle Andrew didn't rule any cities, but the Queen went on:
"It is silent now. But I have stood here when the whole air was full of the noises of Charn; the trampling of feet, the creaking of wheels, the cracking of the whips and the groaning of slaves, the thunder of chariots, and the sacrificial drums beating in the temples. I have stood here (but that was near the end) when the roar of battle went up from every street and the river of Charn ran red." She paused and added, "All in one moment one woman blotted it out for ever."
"Who?" said Digory in a faint voice; but he had already guessed the answer.
"I," said the Queen. "I, Jadis the last Queen, but the Queen of the World."
The two children stood silent, shivering in the cold wind.
"It was my sister's fault," said the Queen. "She drove me to it. May the curse of all the Powers rest upon her forever! At any moment I was ready to make peace - yes and to spare her life too, if only she would yield me the throne. But she would not. Her pride has destroyed the whole world. Even after the war had begun, there was a solemn promise that neither side would use Magic. But when she broke her promise, what could I do? Fool! As if she did not know that I had more Magic than she! She even knew that I had the secret of the Deplorable Word. Did she think - she was always a weakling - that I would not use it?"
"What was it?" said Digory.
"That was the secret of secrets," said the Queen Jadis. "It had long been known to the great kings of our race that there was a word which, if spoken with the proper ceremonies, would destroy all living things except the one who spoke it. But the ancient kings were weak and softhearted and bound themselves and all who should come after them with great oaths never even to seek after the knowledge of that word. But I learned it in a secret place and paid a terrible price to learn it. I did not use it until she forced me to it. I fought to overcome her by every other means. I poured out the blood of my armies like water "
“好好看，以後再也看不到了。”女王說，“這就是恰恩，偉大的城市，王中王之都，是這個世界，也許是所有世界的奇蹟。孩子．你的舅舅是否統治着跟恰恩一樣偉大的城市？”
”沒有。”迪格雷說。他想解釋安德魯舅舅並沒有統治任何城市。但女王接着說：
“現在很安靜。但是當空中充斥着恰恩的各種聲音那會兒，我曾站在這裏。腳步聲、車輪聲、鞭子的抽打聲和奴隸的呻吟，還有馬車的轟響以及寺廟裏獻祭的鼓聲。當戰鬥開始，每條街道上殺聲四起，恰恩河水被鮮血染紅的時候，我也曾站在這兒（但那時一切都快完了）。”停了一下，她又說，“一個女人頃刻間便將這一切永遠地抹去了。”
“誰，”迪格雷低聲問道，但他已經猜到了答案。
“我，”女王說，“我，簡蒂絲，最後的女王，但也就是世界女王。”
兩個孩子靜靜地站着，在寒風中瑟瑟發抖。
“是我姐姐的錯，”女王說，“她逼我乾的。讓所有的神都永遠地詛咒她吧！那時，我隨時都準備講和——是的，只要她讓位給我，我就饒她不死。但她不幹，她的傲慢毀了整個世界。甚至在戰爭開始以後，雙方都鄭重地保證不使用魔法，但她不守信用，我怎麼辦呢？傻瓜：好像她不知道我的魔法比她的大似的。她還知道我握了滅絕咒的祕密。她以爲——她始終是個弱者——她以爲我不會使用這個祕咒嗎？”
“這祕咒是什麼呢？”迪格雷問。
“那是祕密中的祕密，”簡蒂絲女王說，“很久以來，我們這個民族的高貴的國王們就知道這個只有一個字的祕咒，只要在恰當的儀式中說出這個字，除了說話人自己外，所有的活物都會滅絕。但是，古代的國王們心腸太軟，自己約束自己，而且，還約束他們的後人，讓他們宣誓永遠不探究那個字的祕密。然而，我在一個祕密的地方付出沉重的代價才學到手。她逼得我走投無路我才用了。爲了征服她，我想盡其他一切辦法與她作戰。我的將士血流成河……”
