Chapter 26 The final chapter

"You should have stayed in the forest," said Aballister, pacing up and down his small room in the Wall of Trinity. Dorigen wisely locked her gaze on him.Unlike Ba Jin's death, this setback made the leader of the Trinity Walled City sober up, and he really began to fear that his conquest plan might not be achieved so easily.He still has more than three thousand soldiers under his command, and there will be more to call upon when the various tribes return to their mountain homes.But Simista was still out of his hands, at least so far, and the new King of the Elves was determined and brave.Dorigen relayed to Aballister what she had heard about the great Aberes in the Forest War.

"You should have stayed!" growled the older magician again, this time more agitated. "I have broken fingers so I wouldn't be in a dangerous mob," Dorigen replied, holding up her bandaged hand. "Do you really believe I'll be safe among the goblins and orcs?" Aballister could not dispute the truth of her words.He had seen with his own eyes what a savage goblin could do to a woman. "Without you there to lead, Ragnor's army is just a rabble," he reasoned, "an easy target for organized elves and their beloved king. It will take us months to recover from the damage."

"The goblins will elect a new leader," Dorigen replied. "But loyal to us?" Aballister asked skeptically. "Before winter comes, we still have time to go back and straighten Simista to our advantage!" Dorigen quickly retorted, not giving in at all to her decision to leave there. "There are not many elves, no matter how well-organized they are and how good their leaders are. Judging from their current progress, it is still too early to free Simista from the dark disaster that the Trinity Wall has cast upon them!" "You should have stayed."

"And you should be careful with your son!" Dorigen retorted before reason could stop her.Druzil, perched on Aballister's table, groaned and wrapped himself in leather wings, certain that his master was about to blow Dorigen to pieces. Nothing happened.After a few minutes of silence, Dorigen, also terrified, realized that she had hit a sensitive spot, the weakness of Aballister, the great Aballister. "Cadderly," said the magician vaguely, "he got in my way twice—I thought I'd gotten rid of the kid. Though, I can forget the inconvenience the first time caused. I don't Too sure about Barjin conquering the Library," the wizard admitted, "but this time! No, Cadderly is an intolerable threat."

"How do you get rid of this threat?" Dorigen asked boldly.She could hardly believe the grim look on Aballister's face when he mentioned his long-lost son. "Little Bog Reese has some useful connections with Simon," Aballister replied, his thin lips curved into an evil smile. Dorigen flinched, wondering what the magician was thinking. "Have you ever heard of the Mask of the Night?" Aballister asked. Mentioning this assassination group made Duo Ruizhen cringe again.Of course she's heard of them—everyone from Long River Bay has heard of them—she nodded, with a look on her face that showed she was surprised that Aballister was evil enough to hire such an assassination ring to kill his own son.

Aballister laughed at the disbelief. "Let's put it this way," he said, "Cadderly will hear about them soon, too." Dorigen listened to the news with mixed feelings.She was really angry with Cadderly, for what he had done to her.But she couldn't ignore the fact that the young scholar could have easily killed her.She shrugged the thought away and reminded herself that it was none of her business.What was happening now was somewhere between Aballister, Little Pogue, and Cadderly. and the Mask of the Night. ※※※ "Those goblins will be dancing in the trees tonight when they hear you're dead," Ivan said, parrying a simple slash with his big axe.

"They'd be singing for joy at the death of a dwarf," Abereth retorted, easily dodging a lazy swipe.He lunged forward with a slash, looking for a gap, but Ivan was on the defensive before the elf could get close. "What's Abereth?" Ivan mocked, white teeth gleaming behind a yellow beard. "I'll put those words on your epitaph!" the elf roared, and he feinted and stabbed in a blinding web of swords before the point sank into the armor on Ivan's chest. Ivan fell back, blinking dully. "Oh." Pikel moaned nearby, and Xuelin, Tintage, many elves around, and even Abereth himself felt similarly.

"You killed me, elf." Ivan forced the words from the back of his throat, his breathing becoming labored.He stumbled backwards and couldn't keep his feet. Abeles lowered his sword and rushed forward, terrified by what he had done.When he was two steps away from Ivan, leaning over to inspect the wound, he noticed that Ivan's lips curled into a smile, and he knew he had been tricked. "Hee hee hee." A familiar chuckle came from beside him. Ivan turned the ax to its side and slammed Abeles hard on the forehead, causing Abereth to stumble back a few steps.The elf let the weight of its body carry it in a circle, then straightened up a short distance away.He watched curiously as the two images of Ivan Stoneshoulders approached, becoming one.

"You think that damn thin sword can pierce my dwarf-made armor?" he gasped. "Stupid elf." So they tangled up again, this time with Ivan on the offensive.Abereth learned his lesson wisely, using his extraordinary speed and agility to parry Ivan's attacks and stay out of the dwarf's short attack range.Every time the elf found a gap, he struck Ivan's head quickly with the flat side of the sword. He might as well hit a stone. Minutes passed, and the only serious injury was when Ivan tripped and accidentally hit Abereth's toe with the heavy ax handle. Laughter, shouts from all around - almost all the elves in the camp ran to see - became the same.

"Hee hee hee." ※※※ Cadderly looked out the open window, over the highest point of Caladon, to Lake Impesque.But his thoughts fell on the forest a few miles away.He has been away from there for four weeks.The morning mist rose from the still water, and in the distance a loon uttered a mournful cry. Where is Danica at the moment?Cadderly guessed.What about Ivan and Pikel?The young scholar misses his friend dearly, and he associates this feeling of emptiness with the void he discovered when he learned that the Moezhi Library had never been his home. He had left Simista with Dean Alfred, Zirkan Rufo, and about twenty priests, and returned to the library.Avery had begged him to stay and continue his research, but Cadderly was unwilling and unable to do so.Everything in this place is no longer familiar to this young scholar.He couldn't help seeing the library as a lie, a semblance of peace in an already mad world.

"There are too many questions," Cadderly said to the headmaster, "and I'm afraid I won't find many answers here." So young Cadderly picked up his pouch and walking stick, and Some other things that I thought were worth taking away left the library.He felt that he should never come back. A light knock on the door interrupted the young scholar's thoughts.He crossed the narrow room, opened the door a crack, and picked up the tray of breakfast that had been left at his door. When he was done, he put the plate back outside the door and tipped a silver coin to the helpful Brennan, the son of the innkeeper named Dragon's Fig Leaf.Cadderly asked not to be disturbed, and the boss obediently complied, leaving him alone except for his three meals. It wasn't long before cries of call began to appear in the streets, just as Cadderly had expected.Carraton was busy preparing for battle, and an army was soon assembled to organize the defense of the town.At first, the content of the call was to recruit soldiers to support the elves in their crusade to defend Simista.But the latest news is that Simista seems to be safe, because most of the goblins are routed and scattered. However, the number of troops in Cala Raton continued to increase, and restrictions - including a curfew order - were imposed in the town. Cadderly didn't like the growing sense of unease, but he thought it wise for the town to prepare.Cadderly knew that the evil that had caused Barjin to attack the Moezhi Library and Ragnor to attack Simista hadn't been entirely defeated, and it would undoubtedly descend on Caladon soon. Cadderly did not shut the windows to silence the calls.The wind from the lake was cool and pleasant, and at least it kept him somewhat in touch with the outside world.Respectfully, the young scholar took out his most valuable possession: the Book of Universal Harmony.He opened the book on the small desk and sat down to read. His heart was full of too many doubts.