Chapter 4 third quarter

At noon, the sun was getting stronger and stronger, the two entered the house, and the host set out bread, cheese, and a little dried meat.While the two were eating, Chi Yang looked around.Though it consisted of only one long room with a west-facing alcove, it was spacious, shady, and solidly constructed, with wide planks and beams, gleaming floors, and deep stone fireplaces. "This is a noble house," Alder said. "It's an old house. It's called the 'Old Master's House'. It doesn't refer to me, nor my master Aihar who once lived here, but his master Helei. The two of them stopped a big earthquake together. This It's a nice house."

The alders slept under the trees for a while longer, and the sun shone on them through the swaying leaves.The master also rested for a while, but when the alder woke up, there was a large basket of golden plums under the tree, and the sparrowhawk was repairing the fence at the edge of the pasture.Alder went to help, but the work was done, but the goat was long gone. "No milk," grumbled Sparrowhawk when they were back in the house. "Sheep have nothing to do but find new ways to get out of the fence. Sheep are asking for trouble... the first one I learned The spell is to call back the wandering sheep. My aunt taught it. Now the spell is as useless to me as singing a love song to the sheep. I'd better see if I run off to the widower's garden. Your witch The technique can't fascinate the sheep, can it?"

Two yellow ewes were indeed infesting a cabbage field on the outskirts of the village.Alder repeated the Sparrowhawk mantra: Nahan Moman, Homerham! The sheep stared at the alder with wary disdain, and moved away slightly.Shouting and sticking the goat out of the cabbage field and onto the trail, while the sparrowhawk waited, pulling a few plums from his pocket.Relying on promises, gifts, and persuasion, he slowly brought these fugitives back to the pasture. "A strange animal," said the Sparrowhawk, closing the gate. "You never know what to do with a goat." Chi Yang was thinking that he would never know how to face his master, but he didn't say it.

They sat again in the shadow, and Sparrowhawk said, "Master Xingyi is not from the North, he is from the Kargs. Like my wife. He is a warrior of Karigol, the only one I know from that continent. To the people of Roke. The Kargs have no wizards, they don't believe in any witchcraft, but they have retained more knowledge of the great ancient land than us. When Azifu, the master of shape and meaning, was young, he heard that some and felt that there must be the center of all the power of the earth. So he left his gods and his mother tongue, and came to Roke. Standing at the gate of Roke, he said, "Teach me how to live in the forest! "And we started teaching him until he started teaching us... so he became a master of form and meaning. He's not a gentle man, but he's trustworthy."

"I will never be afraid of him," said Alder. "I am at ease with him. He will take me deep into the forest." Both were silent, thinking of the meadows in the forest, the rows of trees, the sun and stars among the leaves. "That is the heart of the world." Chi Yang said. Sparrowhawk looked eastward, at the wooded and dark slopes of Mount Gont. "When autumn comes, I will go there and go for a walk in the forest." After a while, Sparrowhawk continued, "Tell me what advice Master Xingyi gave you, and why he sent you to find me." "The master said, my lord, you know... the Drylands better than anyone in the world. So perhaps you will understand what it means for the spirits there to come to me and beg me to set you free."

"Has the master ever said how he thinks it happened?" "Yes. He said, maybe my wife and I don't know how to separate, but how to join, so it's not my work alone, maybe it's our two, because we are attracted to each other, like quicksilver. But the Master Summoner I disagree, saying that only great mana can violate the supreme law of the world, because my past master gannet also crossed the wall and touched me, and the summoner said, maybe the gannet hides or disguises the mana it possesses when it is alive, but Now it's fully exposed." Sparrowhawk pondered for a moment. "When I lived in Roke, I might have the same opinion as the Summoner. At that time, I never saw any power that could be stronger than what we call spells. I thought at the time that even the ancient force of the earth could not surpass... If the Summoner you meet is The man I'm thinking of came to Roke when he was still a child. My old friend, Feige of Yifeixu Island, sent him to study at the Academy, and he never left the Academy. This is the difference between him and Azifu, the Xingyi master. Azifu grew up from the son of a warrior to a warrior, and has always lived between men and women, living a rich life. He once understood the world separated by the walls of the college with flesh and blood. He knows that men and women fall in love, have sex, and get married... I have lived outside the academy's walls for fifteen years, so I think Azifor's interpretation may be better. The bond between you and your wife is stronger than the separation between life and death."

Alder hesitated for a moment. "I thought that might be the case, but thinking about it this way seems... shameless. We love each other more than words, but is our love stronger than the previous ones? Love deeper?" "Perhaps they are similar." "how is this possible?" Sparrowhawk looked at Alder with an expression of respect, and he was honored by the carefulness in answering. "Well..." Sparrowhawk said slowly, "Some passions reach their peak spring in the midst of doom or death, and because they end at the most beautiful moment, musicians sing and poets sing, a love that escapes the passing of time. That Even the love between the young king and Ye Furuan is also your love. Hari, although it is not greater than Morid's love, does his surpass yours?"

Chi Yang didn't say a word, just pondering. "In absolutes, there is no greatness or littleness," said the Sparrowhawk. "All or nothing, so say the true lover, and this is what is true. The lover says, my love is eternal, the lover makes an eternal promise .Exactly. How can it be possible to die when love itself is life? How can we experience eternity except in the fleeting glimpse we see while accepting the bond?" Sparrowhawk's tone was soft but full of heat and strength, then he leaned back and said with a slight smile after a while: "Every fool on every farm can sing it, every young girl who dreams of love knows it, but this Not something Master Roke knows. Master Xingyi may have known it when he was young, and I learned it late. Very late, but not too late." He looked at Alder, still sparkling in his eyes, and challenged: " You had."

"Yes." Alder took a deep breath.Finally, he said: "Perhaps the two finally meet again on that dark land, Morid and Ye Furuan." "No." Sparrowhawk said with grim certainty. "But if the bond is so sincere, what can break it?" "There are no lovers there." "And what and what are they doing in that land? You've been there, you've crossed that wall, you've walked and talked with them. Tell me!" "I will." But Sparrowhawk did not speak for a long time. "I don't like to think about all that." He rubbed his head and frowned. "You see...you see the stars, the little, mean stars, that never move. No moon, no sunrise...if you go Going down the hill, there are roads. Roads and cities. There are weeds on the top of the hills, dead weeds, but further down there are only dust and rocks. No grass grows. Dark cities. Countless dead people standing in the streets, or walking aimlessly On the road. They don't talk, they don't touch. They never touch." Sparrowhawk's tone was low and dry, "There, Morad would pass Yephruan without looking back, and Yephruan would also Not to look at Morad... There is no reunion, Harriet, there is no bond. There, the mother does not embrace the child."

"But my wife came to me," said Alder, "called my name, and kissed my lips!" "Yes, and since your love is no greater than any mortal's love, and since neither you nor Lily are great wizards with powers that cannot change the laws of life and death, there must be other factors in this whole thing. Something It's happening, it's changing. It's happening through you and affecting you, but you're the prop, not the cause." Sparrowhawk got to his feet and strode down the cliffside path, then back to Alder again.His whole body was full of tense energy, almost trembling, like a falcon about to swoop down on its prey.

"When you called your wife by her real name, didn't she tell you that it was no longer my real name...?" "Yes." Alder replied in a low voice. "But how could this be? Everyone has a real name and will keep it until they die. It is the common name that is forgotten... I can tell you that it is a mystery to the wise, but as far as we can understand, the real name comes from the true language. , only a gifted person can know and give a child the real name, and the real name will bind that person... life or death. The summoning skill is based on this... But when the master summoned your wife by the real name, she did not appear In front of the master; you called by the common name Lily, but she appeared. Is it because you are the one who really knows her that she just appeared?" Sparrowhawk stared sharply at Alder, as if he was seeing more than the man beside him.After a while, he continued: "My wife was with the master Ahar when he died, and before he died, he said, everything has changed. He looked at the other side of the wall. I don't know from which end. "Since then, there has indeed been a change...the King sits on Morad's throne, and there is no Archmage Roke. But there is more to it than that. I saw a child call Kailashin, the Longest One , and Kelasim came to her and called her a daughter, like me. What does this mean? What does it mean that dragons were seen appearing over the western isles? The king sent a ship to the port of Gont, and came to us , asked the little girl Tehanu to discuss the matter of the dragon. The people are afraid that the ancient agreement has been broken, and the dragon will come to burn the fields and towns just like before the battle between Eriyaba and Om Amba, but now at the border of life and death, a soul refuses Real name bondage...I don't understand. All I know is, change, everything is changing." There was no fear in Sparrowhawk's tone, only intense ecstasy. Alder did not feel the same way.He had lost too much, and was drained from fighting forces he could not control or understand.But his heart was lifted by the valor of the Sparrowhawk. "May it be a good change, my lord." Chi Yang said. "I hope," said the old man, "but change cannot be avoided." As the heat faded from the day, Sparrowhawk said he must go to the village.He was carrying a basket of plums stuffed with eggs. Alder walked beside Sparrowhawk, and the two talked.Alder knew that sparrowhawks had to exchange barley flour and wheat flour with fruits, eggs and other crops produced on small farms. The firewood burning in the house was collected patiently from the forest, and the lack of milk from the goats meant that last year's stored cheese had to be frugal. He was very surprised: How could the great mage of Earthsea work so hard for his life?Don't the people respect him? Alder Yang accompanied Sparrowhawk into the village, and saw the woman close the door when she saw the old man coming, and the market peddler who was collecting eggs and fruit was recording on the wooden board without saying a word, with a gloomy expression and downcast eyes.Sparrowhawk happily said to the peddler, "Yidi, I hope you have a good day." But there was no response. "My lord," Alder asked as the two walked home, "do they know who you are?" "Don't know," said the ex-archmage with a mocking sideways glance, "I know too." "But..." Chi Yang didn't know how to express his anger. "They know I have no magic powers, but I have certain oddities. They know I live with a foreigner, a Karg woman. They know that the child we call my daughter is a bit of a witch, but worse, because her The face and hands were burned off by the flames, and she burned the lord of Reyabai herself, or pushed the lord off the cliff, killed the lord with the evil eye... The story varies. But they honored the house we lived in because that It was the house of Ahar and Herre. The wizards who died were good wizards... Alder, you are a city man, from the islands of the kingdom of Mored. The village on Gont is another matter. " "But why do you stay here, my lord? The king will definitely give you the same honor..." "I don't want glory." The old man said, with a tone of violence that completely silenced Chi Yang. The two moved on.When they came to the house built on the edge of the cliff, Sparrowhawk said again: "This is my eagle's nest." At dinner, the two drank a glass of red wine and another while sitting outside watching the sun go down.The two didn't talk much.The fear of the night, the fear of dreams, is creeping into the alder. "I'm not a healer," said the homeowner, "but maybe I can imitate the way the herb master puts you to sleep." Alder's eyes were questioning. "I've been thinking...and I think maybe it's not a spell that's keeping you off the hillside, it's just a living, physical touch. We can try it if we want." Alder protested, but Sparrowhawk said, "I'm usually awake most of the night anyway." That night, the guest lay on a low bed in the corner of the big room, and the host sat beside him, dozing off by the firelight. The master looked at Alder too, saw him fall asleep at last, and soon after, saw him startle and tremble in his sleep.The master stretched out his hand and put it on the shoulder of Alder, who was half turned and turned his back.The sleeping man moved slightly, sighed, relaxed his body, and continued to sleep deeply. Sparrowhawk was satisfied to find that he could at least make it this far.As good as a wizard, he said to himself with some sarcasm. Sparrowhawk didn't feel sleepy, and the tension still remained in his body.He thought about everything Alder had said, and what the two of them had talked about that afternoon.He saw Alder standing in the cauliflower-field path, chanting spells that summoned the goats, who were proud and dismissive of the powerless words.He remembered how he had said the true names of Sparrowhawk, Marshhawk, Greyhawk, and summoned them from the sky, a mass of flying feathers, grasping his arm with iron claws, staring, with angry, golden eyes ...he can no longer do so.He may boast and call his house the Eagle's Nest, but he has no wings. And Tehanu did.She can fly on the wings of a dragon. The fire went out.Sparrowhawk pulled the sheepskin tighter and leaned his head back against the wall, still resting his hand on Alder's warm, motionless shoulder.He liked the man and sympathized with what happened to him. Remember to ask Alder to repair the green kettle tomorrow. The grass by the wall was short, hard, and dry.Not a breath of wind made it sway or rustle. Sparrowhawk woke up in shock, and half stood up from the chair. After a moment of confusion, he put his hand back on Alder's shoulder, grasped it slightly, and said in a low voice, "Ha Rui! Leave, Hari!" Alder trembled, relaxed, and once again Sighing, he turned around and lay on his stomach, but there was no movement. Sparrowhawk sat upright, with his hand on the sleeper's arm.How do I get to the stone wall?I no longer have the strength to go forward, and I can't find my way.Like the night before, Alder's dream or phantasm, Alder's traveling soul, led him to the borders of the Darklands. Sparrowhawk was wide awake now, sitting, looking out the west-facing window, all gray and starry. The grass under the wall... didn't grow down the hillside to the dark dry soil.He said to Alder, there is only dust, only rocks.He saw black dust, black rocks, dead riverbeds where no river had ever flowed.No living things, no birds, no hiding voles, no gnats shining and buzzing, none of those creatures under the sun.Only the dead, empty eyes and silent faces. But don't birds die? Rats, gnats, sheep...a ​​brown-white goat with smart horned hooves, big yellow eyes, and no shame. Sippy, who was once Tehanu's pet, died at a very old age last winter...Where did Sipi go? Not in dry lands, not in dark places.Sippy is dead, but not there, but where he belongs, in the earth, in the sun, in the wind, the leap of the river from the rock, the golden eye of the sun. Then why, then why...