Chapter 10 CHAPTER 10

I walked towards the lighthouse, and followed the stone steps to the west to the high gate.The door is wide and thick and waterproof.The door is locked.About three hundred yards behind me was a little jetty, to which were moored two small boats, a rowboat and a sailboat with a cabin.The boat rocked gently on the water.The sun shone down on the sea, and behind the boat, the mica on the bottom of the sea shone constantly.I stopped and watched for a while.After a long period of blindness, they seem so unreal.I swallowed a choked sob into my stomach. I turned around and knocked on the door. The wait seemed so long that I knocked again.

At last I heard a movement in the room, and then, with the creak of three dark leaflets, the door swung open. Joepin, the lighthouse keeper, looked at me with bloodshot eyes, and his breath smelled of whiskey.The guy was about five-and-a-half feet tall, hunched so badly that I couldn't help but think of Tolkien.His beard was as long as mine, and it made it look longer on him.The beard was almost all smoke-gray, except for a few yellow patches under the dry lips.His skin is like the pitted orange peel, because of the sea breeze blowing all the year round, his skin color has become very dark, like old furniture with good texture.His dark eyes slanted and then focused on me.Like many people with bad ears, he spoke in a rough voice.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Apparently, my thinness and beard prevented him from recognizing me, so I decided to play tricks and hide my identity. "I'm a traveler from the South, and I've been wrecked," I said. "I've been floating on the sea for days holding onto a plank, and I've been pushed here by the waves. I've been sleeping on the beach this morning. Not long ago, I regained some strength, so I came here." He came over and grabbed my arm and put his other hand on my shoulder. "Come in, come in," he said, "Lean on me, relax, come this way."

He took me into a bedroom which was startlingly messy, with old books, charts, maps, and nautical instruments strewn about.He wasn't very steady himself, so instead of putting all my weight on him, I leaned on him carefully, just to maintain the impression that I was weak.Before entering the door, I leaned against the door frame and pretended to be weak. He advised me to lie down on the sofa bed, then turned to close the door and said he would get me something to eat. I took off my boots, but my feet were so dirty I had to put them back on.If I had been at sea for so long, I couldn't possibly be dirty.I didn't want to give away my identity, so I wrapped myself in a blanket on the sofa bed, and the rest really began.

Qiaoping will be back soon.He brought in a square wooden tray with a can of water, a can of beer, a good hunk of beef, and a whole half loaf of bread.There was a small table in the room, and he swept the contents of the table to the floor, and then kicked the table to the side of the sofa.He put down the tray and offered me to eat and drink as I wished. I ate.I stuffed food into my mouth so hard that my belly swelled.I cleared everything off the table, even the water and the beer. Then I felt so tired.Qiao Ping saw it, he nodded and asked me to sleep for a while.I fell asleep before I realized sleep had come.

It was late at night when I woke up feeling stronger than I had been in weeks.I stood up and walked out of the lighthouse the way I came in.It was cold outside, and the night sky was so pure that it seemed like a million stars could be seen.Behind me, the lens at the top of the lighthouse flickered on and off, on and off, on and off again.The sea is cold, but I must wash off.I took a shower, then washed and wrung out my clothes.This took me about an hour.When this was done, I went back to the lighthouse, hung my clothes on an old chair to dry, and then got under my blanket again and fell asleep.

The next morning, Qiaoping got up before me.He prepared me a big breakfast and I swept it down the way I did last night.After dinner, I borrowed a razor, a mirror, and a pair of scissors, cut off my beard, and trimmed my hair.Then I took another shower.My clothes were dry, smelled of sea salt, and stiff.Wearing them, I feel like a human being again. When I came back from the beach, Jopin stared at me and said, "You look familiar, man." I just shrugged. "Tell me about your shipwreck." I told my story.Completely fabricated.I have painted a catastrophe with such vividness that I have not missed such a detail as the breaking of the mainmast.He patted me on the shoulder, poured me a glass of wine, and helped me light the cigar he had given me.

"Just rest here," he told me. "I'll take you ashore when you're ready. I can signal for you if a ship you know passes by." I accepted his hospitality.Life is at stake, and I can't say no.I ate his food, drank his wine, and accepted a clean shirt from him.The shirt belonged to a drowned friend of Jopin's and was too big for him. I stayed with him for three months, and gradually recovered my strength.I started helping him with chores, tending the lighthouse on nights when he wanted to drink, cleaning all the rooms (even helped him paint two of them and replaced five broken window panes), scraping Watch with him on stormy nights.

I found him to have no interest in politics.He didn't care who was running Amber.As far as he was concerned, all of us goddamn stinkers were equally stinky.His only hobbies were looking after the lighthouse, eating well, drinking well, and quietly fiddling with his own charts, and other than that, he didn't care what the people on the shore were doing.I like him a lot.I know chart maps, and many nights we would revise his drawings together.Many years ago, I sailed far to the North, and I drew him a new map from memory.This picture, together with my description of the sea, seemed to please him immensely.

"Corey (that's my name now)," he said, "hope to sail with you one day. I didn't know you were a captain and had your own boat." "You've been a captain yourself before," I told him, "haven't you?" "How did you know?" Actually, I remember it, but I waved my hand around in response. "Look at what you've collected," I said, "and you're so fond of charts. Besides, you have the air of a man who's used to giving orders." He smiled. "Yes," he told me, "you're right. I've commanded ships for over a hundred years. That was a long time ago... Let's have another drink."

I took a sip of my wine and didn't drink much.In the few months I've been here, I've put on about forty pounds.Now, at any moment, he could recognize me as a royal.He might hand me over to Eric, maybe he wouldn't.Our friendship is already very good, I think he might not do this, but I don't want to take the risk. While tending the lighthouse, I sometimes wonder: how long should I be here? While adding oil to the rotating bearing, I made up my mind: I can't stay longer.The time has come when I should hit the road again, into the shadows. One day, I felt a rush of pressure.It is a very gentle inquiry.I'm not sure who that was. I immediately stood still, closed my eyes, and let my heart go blank.It took a full five minutes for the force of inquiry to wear off. I started to think about it as I walked around.I laughed at the sudden realization that I was always walking up and down a small area—inadvertently, I was pacing again as if in Amber's Dungeon. Someone just tried to contact me through my card.Is it Eric?Did he finally find out that I was missing and decided to use this method to find me?I'm not sure.I think he should not dare to make spiritual contact with me again.So, will it be Julian, or Gerrard, Kane?Whoever it was, I knew I shut him out completely.I absolutely cannot accept any such contact.I might miss important information, or something that might help me, but I can't take that chance.Even though I had cut off the connection, the attempt and the effort I had just expended gave me a chill.I trembled.I thought about it all day and finally decided I really should go.I'm still weak and it's too dangerous to stay so close to Amber.Now that I have the ability to walk into the shadow, if I really want to get Amber, I must enter the shadow and find the place I need in the shadow.With the help of old Qiaoping, I gradually paralyzed myself and almost felt a trace of peace.After these months of dating, I started to like this old guy, and I would definitely feel bad about leaving him.That night, after we played a game of chess, I told him my plan. He poured two glasses of wine, raised his own and said, "Good luck, Corwin. Hope we see each other again." I didn't ask him when he found out who I was, but he knew I noticed his address and grinned at me. "You've been good to me, Jopin," I told him. "If I ever succeed, I won't forget your help." He shook his head. "I don't want anything," he said. "I'm where I want to be, and I'm doing what I love, and I'm having a good time. I love taking care of this damn lighthouse. That's all I have in life. What you're about to do, if it works out—oh no, don't tell me about it! I don't want to know—I just want you to play chess again sometime." "I will." I assured him. "You can drive the Butterfly away tomorrow morning, if you like." "thanks." Butterfly was his sailing ship. "Before you go," he said, "I suggest that you take my spyglass and climb up to the top of the tower and look over the valley of Ganas." "What's there to see there?" He shrugged. "You'll know when you see it." I nod. "Okay, I'll go." Then we drank happily, and we both went to bed very drunk.I will miss Jopin.Besides Ryan, he was the only friend I found when I got back.I vaguely thought of Ganas Valley.The last time I passed it was a sea of ​​flames, so what's so special about it four years later? I dreamed of a meeting of werewolves and witches.Outside, a full moon illuminated the earth. As soon as it was daylight, I got up.Qiaopin was still asleep, which was fine, I didn't really want to say good-bye to him face to face, and besides, I had a strange feeling that we'd never see each other again. I took my spyglass and climbed to the top of the lighthouse.I went to the window facing the shore, and examined the valley carefully. A gray mist hung over the woods, cold and wet looking, clinging to the crowns of the young trees.The trees were dark in color, their branches twisted and twisted like hands in an arm-wrestling hand.Something dark was flying around in the bushes.Judging by the way they fly, they cannot be birds.Probably bats.I smelled evil in that ancient forest, and then I recognized it.That's me. It was my curse that did it.It was I who turned the peaceful Ganas Valley into what it is now.It represents my hatred.I hate Eric, I hate the people who let him do what he wants and let him blind me when he came to power.I don't like the way the forest looks.I stared at it and saw how my hatred had materialized.I know because it's part of who I am. I created a gateway to reality.Ganus is now a tunnel, and on the other side of the tunnel are some of the darkest and most hideous shadows.Only dangerous and evil creatures will come here through this door.That's the root of those things that Ryan mentioned, the trouble that was bothering Eric.In a sense, that's fine -- if it keeps Erik at his wits end.Yet as I turned the binoculars to look around, I felt a lingering unease that I might have really screwed things up.I didn't think I'd be able to see bright skies again, but now, as I witness it, I realize that it will take a huge effort to undo the damage I've done.Just now, too, I could see something strangely shaped moving inside.In Auberon's day, no one has done anything like this: I created a road to Amber, and on the other side of the road is the worst shadow world.Someday the King of Amber - whoever he may be - will have to figure out a way to close this dreadful passage.I know this.I look at it and understand that it is a product of my pain, anger and hatred.If one day I win Amber, I must undo what I have done.This kind of thing is always troublesome.I put down the binoculars and let out a sigh. Forget it, I decided not to think about it for now.In the meantime, at least it kept Eric from sleeping well. I found something to eat at random, and got ready to go to sea as soon as possible.I hoist a few sails, weigh anchor, and set sail.At this time, Qiao Ping would have already woken up, but he probably didn't like to say goodbye either. I drove it out to sea, knowing where I was going, but not how.I'll go through shadows and strange waters, but it's better than land, and I don't want to run into things I've made. My destination is a continent almost as dazzling as Amber, a place close to eternity.It doesn't really exist, at least not now.Many years ago, it had disappeared into the chaos.But its shadow must still exist somewhere.All I have to do is find it, recognize it, and it will be mine again, as it was in those long-gone days.Next, I'll gather the troops and do another thing Amber has never seen.I don't know how to do it yet, but I promise myself that the day I return to Amber, the flashes of the cannon will shine over the Eternal City. I drove into the shadows and created a white bird that flew over and landed on my right shoulder.I wrote a note, tied it to its leg, and let it deliver it for me.The note read: "Here I am." Below it was my signature. Vengeance and throne - I will not rest until I have them.Anyone who tries to get in the way receives my sweet greeting. To my left, the sun hangs low in the distance, and the sea breeze fills the sails and propels me forward.I cursed, then laughed out loud. I am free.I'm on the run, but I've come this far and now I have the opportunity I've always wanted. I created a black bird that came and landed on my left shoulder.I wrote another note, tied it to its leg, and sent it westward. It read: "Eric, I'll be back." Signed: "Korwin, King of Amber." A strong wind pushed the boat toward the east of the sun.