Right through the middle of that ancient forest.that forest where the trees of gold and of silver had once grown and where a child from our world had once planted the Tree of Protection.a broad lane had already been opened. It was a hideous lane like a raw gash in the land, full of muddy ruts where felled trees had been dragged down to the river. There was a great crowd of people at work, and a cracking of whips, and horses tugging and straining as they dragged at the logs. The first thing that struck the King and the Unicorn was that about half the people in the crowd were not Talking Beasts but Men. The next thing was that these men were not the fair.haired men of Narnia: they were dark, bearded men from Calormen, that great and cruelountry that lies beyond Archenland across the desert to he south.
There was no reason, of course, why one should not meet a alormene or two in Narnia.a merchant or an ambassador. r there was peace between Narnia and Calormen in those ays. But Tirian could not understand why there were so any of them: nor why they were cutting down a Narnianorest. He grasped his sword tighter and rolled his cloak ound his left arm. They came quickly down among the en.