Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven: Keledo Island

When Arren awoke in the morning, he saw the dark and low shore of the Cheledon lying across the blue western sky ahead of the ship. Many ancient maps drawn during the royal era are stored in the Berilla Palace.During the map-making period, merchants and explorers often sailed from the inner ring islands, so people at that time had a better understanding of the border area than later generations.In the main hall of the royal palace, there is a large map of the north and the west, which is made of mosaic technology on the two walls. The position of Yinglad Island is just above the throne, presented in gold and gray.When Arren was a boy, he had looked at the map a thousand times with his own eyes, so it was still in his heart.To the north of Yinglad Island is Ossko Island, to the west is Ebosco Island, and to the south of Ebosco Island is Kaimei Island and Pahn Island. So far, it is the boundary of the inner ring islands.The vast sea beyond is nothing but a faint blue-green mosaic, and some very small dolphins or whales are scattered here and there.Finally, in the corner where the north wall meets the west wall of the temple, the island of Navidun can be found, and beyond that there are three smaller islands.Then there is an area without land, extending to the edge of the wall, that is, the edge of the map, where you can find the island of Keledo.Beyond the Keledo Island, there is nothing left.

He could clearly recall that the island of Celedon on the map had a curved shape, and the center of the curved shape formed a large bay with a narrow opening facing east.They Enlads had never sailed that far.But now, they were sailing towards a small deep bay at the southernmost tip of Keledo Island.They arrived while the sun was still low in the morning mist. The voyage from Bale Chundingze to this western island is over. They stopped "Zhanyuan" and set foot on the long-lost solid land.The silence around them felt strange to them. Ged climbed a low knoll, covered with grass, with a crest that sloped over the steep slope, and strong grass roots tangled like cornices along the sides.After he climbed to the top of the hill, he stood there looking west and north.

Arren stood by the side of the boat, putting on the shoes he hadn't worn in days, and took out his short sword from the engine box, and hung it up.This time, he didn't have any doubts about "should I take it or not?"Then he also climbed up the low hill, and stood by Ged's side, and together they looked at the land. The sand dunes in this area are low and grassy, ​​and extend about half a mile inland.Beyond the sand dunes is a lagoon, densely covered with squirrel grass and salty reeds.Beyond the lagoon are low mountains, which are just a yellow-brown area.The island of Keledo is beautiful but desolate, and there is not a single human footprint, cultivated land, or dwelling place to be found.Not even a single animal can be seen, and there are no seagulls, wild geese or any birds on the reeds filling the lake.They climbed down the dunes on the inland side.

The slope on this side of the sand dune blocks the noise of the waves crashing and the sea breeze, making the surroundings quiet.There is a small valley between the outermost edge of this dune and the next dune. The sand there is very clean, and the warm sun is shining on its west slope, so the bottom of the valley is shady. "Lebannin," the mage now began to call him by his real name, "I couldn't sleep last night, and now I must sleep. You stay here with me and help keep watch." He lay down in the daylight, but the shade of the valley was cool. .He covered his eyes with his arms, breathed a sigh of relief, and fell asleep.Arren sat beside him.Here, the eyes can only see the white slopes of the valley, the green grass on the top of the hills, against the blue sky and the yellow sun.All I could hear was the muffled sound of waves rolling over the tops of sand dunes, and the occasional sound of fine sand blown by a gust of wind.

Arren saw soaring high above a bird that might have been an eagle, but it turned out that it was not an eagle.It flew down in a circle, with a thunderous swishing sound as it spread its golden wings.It stretched out its huge claws and landed on the top of the sand dune.The sun was behind it, so that its great face appeared to be black, but with fiery flashes. The dragon crawled down a few paces from the top of the hill, and said, "Agnes Lebanon." Arren, standing between the dragon and Ged, answered, "Om Ambar," the drawn short sword in his hand. The sword doesn't feel heavy now, and the smooth and old hilt feels comfortable in his hand.The blade was light and urgent when it was drawn; its strength, its age, sustained him—for he now knew how to use it.This is his sword.

The dragon spoke again, and Arren could not understand him, and he looked back at his sleeping companion, not awakened at all by the brief noise and rumble.Then Arren said to the dragon, "My Master is weary, and he is sleeping." Hearing this, Om Amba climbed down the sand dune and curled up lumberingly at the bottom of the valley.He wasn't quite as lithe and lithe on the ground as he was in flight, but he put down his clawed feet and pointed, curved tail with a sort of diabolical grace.After descending to the bottom of the valley, he gathered his feet under his body, raised the giant, and remained still, like a dragon carved on a warrior's helmet.From less than ten feet away, Arren noticed the yellow eyes, and also noticed a faint burning smell all around--not putrefaction this time, but the smell of burnt metal, which was similar to sea water and salt sand. The scents of the two are mixed together to form a clean and fresh smell.

The sun rose high and hit Orm Ambar's flanks, making him glisten like a metal dragon made of iron and gold. Ged was still asleep and relaxed, paying no attention to the dragon's presence, as a farmer takes his hounds for granted. An hour passed, and Arren was startled to find that the mage was already sitting beside him. "Are you so used to dragons? How can you sleep between their paws?" Ged laughed, yawned, and then stood up and spoke to Orm Ambar in the language of dragons. Before Aum Anba answered, he also yawned—maybe because he was also sleepy, or maybe it was an even match.However, the yawning of the giant dragon is rare in the world: two rows of yellow and white teeth, pointed and long like swords; a forked red tongue, twice the height of a human being; a throat like a huge smoking cave.

When Orm Ambar had finished speaking, and Ged was about to answer, they both turned to look at Arren.In the silence all around, they all clearly heard the clang of the steel sword hitting the scabbard.They saw Arren looking up at the mouth of the dune behind the mage's head, the short sword drawn in his hand. A man stood at the mouth of the dune, the sun was shining brightly on him, the breeze was blowing his clothes, he stood still like a statue, only the hem of the light cloak and the hood were slightly fluttering.His hair was long and curly black, and he was a strong, square-shouldered man.He smiled and seemed to look over their heads to the sea.

"Om Amba I know," the man said. "You, I know you too, but you've aged a lot since I saw you, Sparrowhawk. They tell me you're Archmage now. See Come on, you not only grow old, but also become important. And there is a young servant following, needless to say, probably a wizard apprentice, learning wisdom in that island of wise men. The two stay away from Roke Academy, bid farewell to those invulnerable, protect all masters from What is the reason for the damaged high wall to come here for thousands of miles?" "Because there is a hole in the wall, which is more important than those high walls," said Ged, holding his wand tightly in both hands, and looking up at the man. "But you don't show up for a moment with us, so we can pay tribute to the one we've been looking for?"

"Showing yourself?" the man said, smiling again. "Could it be that the flesh and blood, the flesh and bones of the beasts are necessary for the relationship between the majestic mages to be reliable? No, let us meet with our hearts, archmage." "I don't think we can meet by heart. Child, put away your sword. It's just a 'patch', a 'appearance', not a real person. Using a sword against it is like cutting the wind with a sword. In Hever Nuoshi, your hair is white, and people call you Kabu, but that is just a common name. When we meet you, how should we address you?"

"You will call me 'Prince'." said the tall figure on the edge of the sand dune. "Oh, what else?" "Wang Zun." After hearing this, Aum Anba made a terrible loud noise to express his dissatisfaction, and his big eyes were shining brightly.But he didn't go first, didn't look at the person, and crawled on the spot, as if he couldn't move. "Where should we meet you, and when?" "Meet in my territory, when - as I please." "Very well," said Ged, and held out his wand a little towards the man--and at once the man was snuffed out like a candle. Arren stared.Long Jinjian got up and stood with four twisted feet; his armor clattered, his mouth bared, showing his innermost sharp teeth. The mage still leaned on his wand. "It's just a messenger. It's the image or image of that person. It can speak and hear, but it has no power, so it saves us from wasting effort to deal with it. In fact, even the likeness is not real—unless the messenger Hopefully it's true. So I guess we haven't seen what he actually looks like now." "Do you think he's around here?" "Peter does not cross the water, so he must be on the Isle of Celedon, but it is a large island, wider than Roke or Gont, and nearly as long as Enlad. Find He will take a long time." Then the dragon spoke.When Ged heard this, he turned to Arren: "This 'Lord of the Keledo' says, 'I have returned to my land, and I will not leave. I will find this 'Destroyer,' and lead you there.If you cooperate with me, you may be able to destroy him. 』Didn’t I say that whatever a dragon is looking for, it will definitely find it? " As soon as he finished speaking, Ged knelt down on one knee in front of the giant beast, just as a subject kneels to a king, and thanked the dragon with dragon words.Because the distance was so close, Ged, who lowered his eyebrows and nodded, could feel the scorching breath of the dragon. Orm Amba dragged his scaled and armored huge weight up the sand dunes again, then spread his wings and took off. Ged brushed the sand off his clothes and said to Arren, "You have seen me kneel just now, and you may see me kneel a second time before the end." Arren did not ask what the words meant.According to the long time of getting along with each other, he has realized that the mage speaks with restraint and has his own reasons.But this time, he seemed to feel that this sentence had another ominous sign. They climbed over the dunes to return to the beach, checking that their boats were anchored against tides or storms, and taking overnight blankets and leftover food.Ged paused for a moment on the narrow prow of the ship, a place that had carried him across strange seas for so long and so far.He put his hand on the bow of the boat, but did not cast or cast a spell.Then they turned inland and headed again towards the northern peaks. After walking all day, he spent the night by a stream.The stream meanders to lagoons and swamps packed with reeds.Although it was midsummer, the evening wind was slightly cold, blowing from the vast frontier region of the open sea to the west.The sky was so foggy that no stars could be seen shining above the peaks, and the peaks here must have never had firelights from windows or glowing furnaces. Arren awoke in darkness, their little fire dead, and the moon, which was sinking in the west, shed silver and gray light over the land.A large group of people stood on the valley and the surrounding peaks.They stood still, their faces turned to Ged and Arren, and the moonlight was not in their eyes. Arren dared not speak, but reached out to touch Ged's arm.Shaken awake, the mage sat up and asked, "What is it?" He followed Arren's gaze and saw the silent crowd. Both men and women in that group wore dark clothes.The moonlight made it impossible to see their faces clearly, but Arren had a vague feeling that those who stood nearest, on the other side of the brook, he knew some of whom he could not name. Ged stood up and the blanket fell to the ground.His face, hair, and jacket all emitted a pale silver light, as if the moonlight was concentrated on him.He stretched out one arm broadly and said in a loud voice: "Oh, you who have lived, free! I have released you from the chains that bound you: Anvasa Mana Hawu Benodaser!" The silent crowd stood still for a while, then slowly turned and left, as if they disappeared out of thin air one by one into the darkness. Ged sat down, breathed a sigh of relief, looked at Arren, and put a hand on the boy's shoulder, warm and firm to his touch. "Don't be afraid, Lebannin," he said, kindly and sarcastically, "they are only ghosts." Arren nodded, but his teeth chattered, and he felt the cold. "How could they—" He tried to speak, but his jaw and lips wouldn't work. Ged understood what he meant: "They came at his summons. Here is his promise: eternal life. One word from him and they may return; one word from him and they must be on these 'hills of life' walk, but not a single leaf interferes." "So—then, he died too?" Ged shook his head thoughtfully. "The revenant has no ability to summon the dead back to the world. No, he has power over the living...but he deceives those who follow him. He keeps his power for his own use; he acts as the 'lord of the dead' character... but it's not just the dead souls that are being manipulated... they're just shadows, though." "I don't know why I am afraid of them," said Arren shamefully. "You are afraid of them because you are afraid of death, which is normal. Because death is terrifying, you must be afraid." The mage said, putting a new log on the fire, and fanning the smaller logs under the ashes.The gathered sticks blazed brighter, and the flames grew brighter, a light that Arren was grateful for. "Yet life is also a terrible thing," said Ged: "it must be feared and admired." Both cringed and pulled the blanket tight, and there was a moment of silence.Ged said gravely again: "Lebanin, I don't know how long he'll play us here with the messenger and the shadow. But you know where he's going at last, don't you?" "Enter the realm of darkness." "Well, just go to them." "Since I have seen them. I will go with you." "Is it your faith in me that drives you? You may believe in my love, but not in my strength. Because I guess this time... I'm a match." "I will definitely go with you." "However, in case of defeat, if I exhaust my strength or my life, there is no way to bring you back. And you can't come back alone." "I'll be back with you." Ged heard this, and said, "You have entered manhood from the gates of death." Then he said very slowly, in the same word—or name—that the Dragon had spoken twice to Arren: "Agni — Agnes Lebanon." After that, neither of them spoke again.Soon, drowsiness came, and the two lay down beside the small fire that could not last. The next morning, the two continued to head northwest.That was Arren's decision, not Ged's, for Ged said, "Let you choose, my boy, the way we shall go, for to me it is all the same." They had no aim, I was just waiting for the news from Aom Amba, so I didn’t hurry, and only walked along the outermost and shortest hills of the peaks. Most of the time, I could still see the sea.The weeds in the mountains are dry and low due to being blown by the sea wind for many years.To their right the taller peaks rose majestically, lonely but with golden sunlight; to their left were the salt marshes and the west coast sea.They once saw swans flying in the far south, but other than that, they didn't see any other breathing creatures all day.The fear in his heart, and the mood of waiting for the worst, made Arren feel tired all day, and he couldn't help feeling impatient and sulking.After several hours of silence, he said: "This land is as dead as the realm of death!" "Don't say that," the mage said sharply.After striding for a while, he changed his tone and said, "Look at this place, look around, it is your kingdom, it is the kingdom of life, and it is eternal. Look at these peaks, these mortal peaks, are they not Eternal and everlasting. These peaks are covered with living grass, and the streams and rivers flow among them... In the whole world, in the whole universe, in the eons of time, there will never be a small island like this island. The creek gushes out of the ground visible to the naked eye, flows through the place where the sun shines, and flows through the dark area, and enters the sea. The source of existence is very deep, deeper than life and death..." He stopped, looking at Arren, at the sun-mountain eyes, with a love unspeakable, great and sad.Arren saw that love, and saw that "love" looking at him—for the first time, Arren saw him exactly as he was. "I can't express what I mean," said Ged unhappy. However, this reminded Arren of the time when they first met in the Fountain Court, and of the man kneeling by the fountain's flowing water.In an instant, a joy as clear as the flowing spring in his memory overflowed in his heart.So he looked at his companion, and said: "Is it not the kingdom that you speak of, that my love is given to what is worthy of love, and is this not the unfailing fountain?" "Ah, boy," replied Ged, mildly but bitterly. They walked on in silence.But now Arren looked at the world with the eyes of his companion, and found that the lonely and desolate land was full of living radiance, as if cast by some overriding spell.Brilliant brilliance covers every weed, every shadow, every pebble blown by the sea wind.The odds and zeros are always as one sees the last time one stands in a place one loves and cherishes before setting off on a journey of no return, complete, real, dear, as if one has never seen it before and never will goodbye. In the evening, the clouds in the western sky are dense, and there is a strong wind blowing from the sea. The sun that is about to sink is even more red and hot.Arren was gathering sticks for the fire in the valley, and when he looked up from the reddish light, he saw a man standing less than ten feet away. The man's face was blurred and strange, but Arren recognized him—it was Lobar Nari's silk dyer, Sapley, is dead. There were others standing behind him, all with mournful expressions and staring blankly.They seemed to be talking, but Arren could not make out what they said, only a sound like a whisper, blown away by the west wind.Someone was walking towards him slowly. Arren stood watching them, then at Sapley, then turned and stooped to gather sticks—but his hands were shaking.He put the firewood branches he picked up, picked up another branch, and then picked up another branch, then he straightened his waist, and looked back, there was no one in the valley, only the red light shone fiercely on the weeds.He went back to Ged, put down the sticks, and said nothing of what he had just seen. That whole night, in this gloomy land that was misty but not half alive, Arren fell asleep and woke up, hearing the whispers of undead around him.He stabilized his will, did not listen carefully, and fell asleep again. Both he and Ged woke up late.When I woke up, the sun, which had already exposed the hand-width of the top of the mountain, finally broke through the thick fog and illuminated the earth.While they were having a simple breakfast, the dragon came and whirled above their heads.Flames shot from between his jaws, smoke and sparks from his red nostrils, and his teeth gleamed like ivory blades in the harsh morning light.But though Ged saluted him, and cried in his language, "Om Ambar, have you found him?" he said nothing. The dragon shook its head and twisted grotesquely, razor-like claws skimming Morrowind, and then began to fly west, looking back as it flew. Ged struck the ground with his wand. "He can't talk," he said, "he can't talk! His 'language of creation' has been taken away, and he's reduced to a hognose snake, a tongueless worm. His intellect is blunted. Fortunately, he can still lead the way, and we can still follow!" They threw light and simple luggage on their backs, followed the flight direction of Aum Amba, and strode westward over the peaks. The two walked about eight miles or more.Go fast from the start, don't let up and slow down.At this time, the sea is on both sides, and the road is downhill with a narrow and long ridge, the end of which passes through dry reeds and curved stream beds, leading to an ivory-colored sandy beach that protrudes outward.Here is the end, the westernmost headland of all the islands. Aum Amba lay on the ivory-colored sandy beach, his giant hanging down, like an angry cat, and the breath he exhaled was bursts of flames.A little way ahead of him—between him and the long, flat waves of the ocean—was a white thing that looked like a hut or shed, built like years-washed driftwood.But on this coast, which is not adjacent to any land, there is not even a single piece of driftwood.As they drew nearer, Arren saw that the crumbling walls were made of great bones.At first he thought it was a whale bone, but when he saw the white triangles with knife-like corners, he knew it was a keel. They go there.The sunlight on the sea penetrates the gaps between the bones. The lintel of the hut is a giant dragon's thigh bone longer than a person's body. Above the lintel is a skeleton with empty eye sockets staring at the peaks of Keledo. They stopped in front of the house, looking up at the skeleton, when a man stepped out of the doorway under the lintel.His armor was of an ancient pattern of gold and copper, cracked as if struck by a small axe, and the jeweled scabbard was empty.He has a serious face, black eyebrows, narrow nose, dark eyes, sharp but sad.He had cuts to his arms, throat and side, bloodless but fatal.He stood very still, watching them. Ged stepped forward and came face to face with the man.The two look a bit similar. "You worship Eriah," said Ged. The other party stared at Ged, nodded, but said nothing. "Even you—even you have to be driven by him." Ged's voice could not contain his indignation. "O my Master--the bravest and best of my generation, rest in honor and death!" Ged held up his hands, saying what he had said to the undead, and dropped them.In the air where he raised his hand just now, there was a wide trace of light that stopped for a moment.When the trail of light disappeared, so did the man in the armor, leaving only sunlight shining on the sand where he stood. Ged struck the keel house with his wand, and it collapsed and vanished in an instant, leaving only a large rib protruding from the sand. He turned to Orm Ambar. "Aum Anba, is this here? Is this the place?" The dragon opened its mouth and let out a loud hiss. "Very well! Right on this coast at the very edge of the world!" After speaking, Ged held the black yew wand in his left hand, spread his arms, and opened his mouth to speak.Though he spoke the "Talk of Creation," Arren understood at last—as all who hear the spell must, for it is a spell beyond all power: "Here and now, I call you— —my enemy—appeared before my eyes in the flesh. I will bind you with the words "No one will speak until the end of time". Come out!" However, in this spell, where the name of the object should be spoken, Ged only said: My enemy. Silence ensued—it seemed that even the sound of the waves was silenced.The sun was still high in the clear sky, but it seemed to Arren that it was dimming too.The sky over the beach is so dark, it's like a person looking through heavy glass.It became very dark directly opposite Ged, and it was difficult to see what appeared there.And it's as if there's nothing at all: a kind of formlessness, where there's nothing at all for light to perch. Suddenly, a man emerged from it, the same as the figure they had seen on the top of the sand dune earlier, with black hair and long arms, tall and vigorous.But this time he held something in his hand, probably a rod or steel bar, carved with runes from top to bottom, and he stabbed it at Ged in front of him.But this time, his eyes were a little strange, as if he was dazzled by the sun, unable to see. "Here I come," he said, "by my own choice, in my own way. You cannot summon me, Archmage. I am not a shadow, I am alive, and only I am alive! Do you think You are alive, but you are dying, dying. Do you know what I am holding? It is the staff of the "Grey Mage", which made Nireig unable to speak. The Gray Mage is the master who taught me the art of witchcraft, But now I am the Master, and I have many games to play with you." And suddenly he reached out the rod and touched Ged.Ged stood motionless, unable to speak.Arren stood farther back, trying to move, but could not, not even reaching for his sword, and his voice was stuck in his throat. But the giant dragon leaped vigorously, turned its huge body over from above the heads of Ged and Arren, and swooped down on the man from top to bottom with all its strength, so that the steel rod full of spells pierced the dragon. A belly, and the man fell, flattened, and charred under the weight of the dragon. Orm Amba got up from the sand, twisted his back, flapped his wings, spit out a few mouthfuls of flames, and howled loudly.He wanted to fly, but couldn't.A metal bar was pierced coldly and deadly in his heart, and he crouched, black hot poisonous blood pouring out of his mouth, and his nostrils, whose flames had been extinguished, turned into a cave of ashes.His giant lies across the sand. In this way, Om Anba died at the place where his ancestor Omron died, and died at the place where Omron was buried. Where he had struck down his foe lay something hideous and shriveled, much like the withered husk of a giant spider in its own web.It was scorched by the dragon's breath and crushed by the dragon's clawed feet.Still, it writhed as Arren watched, and then crawled a little away from the dragon. It raised its face to see them.The original beauty of that face was gone, only a ruined face, which was even uglier than the ugliness of all the old people.The mouth is shriveled, the eye sockets are hollow—and have been for a long time.Now Ged and Arren saw at last the face of their enemy. The face turned away, the scorched arms stretched out, and a darkness gathered in it—the same invisible darkness that had just dimmed the sun.Between the arms of the Destroyer was like an arcade or a door, only outlineless and dark.Instead of light-coloured sand or sea, it ran through the gate, but a long slope that descended into blackness. The squashed figure was crawling towards there. As soon as it entered the darkness, it seemed to stand up suddenly, shake quickly, and then disappeared. "Come, Lebannen," said Ged, with his right hand on the boy's arm, and together they went forward into the parched land.