Chapter 6 Chapter 5 The Light in the Mountains

When the year cycle was approaching winter again, Saar passed away.During the summer, she contracted a debilitating disease.She, who was originally thin, became only skin and bones; she, who was originally gloomy, became silent at all.She only spoke to Arha, but that was only occasionally when they happened to be alone together.Later, she didn't even speak to Arha; when it was over, she just went to the nether world silently.After she died, Arha missed her very much.It would be fair to describe Saar as harsh, but she was never cruel.What she taught Arha was self-respect, not fear. Now only Ke Xiu is left.

The new High Priestess of the Two Temples was expected to be sent by Avabas the following spring.Before that, Arha and Ke Xiu were both administrators of the mausoleum.Ke Xiu calls Arha the "mistress" and obeys orders, but Arha has long since learned not to order Ke Xiu.She has the power to order her, but she has no strength.Ke Xiu is jealous of people with higher status than her, and also resents anyone and everything she can't control. It may take a lot of effort to fight her jealousy and resentment. From the gentle Pan Si, Arha knew that there are people who do not believe in God in the world. Although this frightened her, she still accepted it as a fact of life; therefore, she was able to adopt a more practical view of Ke Xiu, Then get to know her.Ke Xiu has no real sincerity in worshiping the unknown person or God.Apart from power, nothing is sacred in her eyes.The current holder of power is the king of the Karg Empire, so as far as she is concerned, this king is really the "God King", and she will serve him wholeheartedly.But she saw the temples as mere displays, the tombstones as rocks, and the tombs of Atuan as subterranean cavities—horrible, but empty.If she could, she would end the worship of the Empty Throne; if she dared, she would abolish the First Priestess.

Even the last fact, Arha can face it quite practically.Although Sar never said anything explicitly, she may have helped Arha understand this.At the beginning of Sar's illness, when she was not completely silent, she asked Arha to come to the sick bed every few days to talk. She told Arha the many deeds of the current god king and his ancestors, as well as the actions of Avabas. Methods, etc., are all things that a high-ranking priestess should know, but the content is often not about praise.Sar also talked about his own life, and described the appearance and deeds of Arha in his previous life, and sometimes mentioned the difficulties and dangers that Arha might encounter in this life, although not very frequently.She never mentioned Ke Xiu's name once, but Alhad had been Sar's disciple for eleven years, and she could fully understand and keep it in her heart as long as there was a hint or tone of voice.

Once the gloomy and busy funeral was over, Arha tried to avoid Ke Xiu as much as possible.When a long day's work and ceremonies were done, she retired to her solitude; whenever she had time, day or night, she went to the room behind the throne, and opened the trap door into the dark underground, which was the same after all. black.She began a systematic exploration of her field.Owing to the high and sacred value of the tombs, entry is completely forbidden to all but the First Priestess, the High Priestesses, and their most trusted eunuchs.If others are willing to take the risk and trespass, men and women will be beaten to death by the wrath of the unknown one for many lifetimes.But as far as she knew, in all the regulations, there was no word about who was forbidden to enter the Great Labyrinth.There is no need for such regulations, since the Great Labyrinth can only be accessed through the tomb; and after all, do the flies need regulations to keep them from throwing themselves into the web?

Therefore, Arha often took Manan into the outer area of ​​the Great Labyrinth, so that he could also recognize the passage.Manan wasn't too keen on going there, but as usual, he obeyed Arha's wishes.She also wanted Keshun's two eunuchs, Dubi and Uto, to know the way to the Chain Room and the way out of the tomb, but that's all, she never took them both into the Great Labyrinth.All she wanted was for the absolutely loyal Manan to know about the secret passages, because they were hers, and hers alone forever.In fact, she began to fully explore the Great Labyrinth long ago.She spent many days all autumn coming and going in those endless passages, but there were still some areas she never walked.Tracing these long and meaningless networks of passages on foot, counting the turns and passages passed and not passed, is undoubtedly a very tiring business, tiring not only for the feet but also for the mind.But in those underground passages that resemble the streets of a big city, it's nice to lie flat on the firm, rocky ground.The purpose of building these underground passages at first was to tire and confuse those who entered them, but in the end, even the priestess who guarded the tomb must have felt that these passages were nothing more than a big trap.

So, as the days approached deep winter, she turned the object of her comprehensive exploration to the throne room itself, such as the altar, the wall pets behind and under the altar, the coffer room, the contents of the coffer, the passage and the attic, and under the cupola. The dirty space where hundreds of bats nest, the basement and ground floor of the building as the front room of the dark corridor... In the course of her explorations, sometimes her hands and sleeves would be stained with the dry, sweet scent of thyme, which had been dropped on an iron chest some eight hundred years ago, and all turned into powder; and sometimes she would kneel for a whole hour beside the beautiful cedar box, battered by time, and study the carvings on it—a gift from some king to the unnamed in the tomb, and the box was exquisitely carved. The bas-relief must have been the work of an ancient artisan, but he has been reduced to dust for hundreds of years.Reliefs depict the king, with his oversized nose and stiff body; also the flat vaults and colonnades of the throne room.Also engraved is the first priestess, who is inhaling the vapor of the herb from the bronze dish and offering prophecy or advice to the king.In this carving, the king's nose is broken, and the face of the priestess is too small to make out the facial features; but Arha imagined that the priestess's face was her own face now.She wondered what the priestess was saying to the Nosed King, and was the King grateful?

There are several places in the Throne Hall that she prefers, just like sitting alone in a sunny house, there are also places she prefers.There were dressing rooms at the end of the building, one of which had a small loft on top, where she used to go.The ancient robes were stored in the attic for the royals, nobles and other dignitaries to change into when they came to worship at the Etuan Mausoleum; when these people came to worship, it was tantamount to admitting that there was a realm greater than their own or that of any mortal.Sometimes their princess daughters would dance with the mausoleum priestesses in gowns of fine white silk embroidered with topaz and sunmarks of dark purple water.Among the treasures in the attic are several small painted ivory tables, and the patterns painted on the tabletops are dancing scenes.While they danced, the king or lord waited outside the temple, showing that then, as now, men were forbidden to set foot in the tomb grounds.The maids, however, can come in and dance with the priestesses, and these maids are dressed in white silk robes.But the priestess herself is the same as now, only wearing a thick black robe made of home textiles, which is the same from ancient to modern.Arha likes to come here and touch the silk robes with his fingers. Although they are slightly damaged due to age, the pleasant soft touch is still there.The jewels on the gown do not disappear, and some have fallen off due to their own weight.These wardrobes have a fragrance that is different from the musk or incense in the temple where they are located. It is fresher, lighter, and more tender.

In these treasure rooms, she often spent the whole night examining a single chest, seeing everything in its entirety: jewels, rusted armor, broken tiller feathers, belt buckles, pins, brooches, Bronze, silver-plated, pure gold... The owl ignored her and sat on the rafters, its yellow eyes opening and closing.A little starlight penetrates through the gaps in the roof tiles, and snowflakes will also fall, delicate and cold, just like those ancient silk robes, which have not been rubbed and feel nothing. One night in the middle of winter, because it was too cold in the hall, she walked to the trap door, lifted the trap door, turned around and climbed down the steps, and then closed the trap door.She quietly stepped into the well-known passage to the tomb.Of course, she never went to the tomb with a lamp. Sometimes even if she took a lantern to enter the Great Labyrinth, or walked on the ground at night, as long as she was near the tomb, she would definitely put out the candle.So, she had never seen that place, not even in the generations past when she was a priestess.Now entering this corridor, she blew out the candles in the lantern she was holding as usual, and then proceeded in the dark according to the original pace, but she was as relaxed as a small fish in black water.It is never hot or cold here, no matter whether it is winter or summer, it always has the same coolness and constant slight humidity.On the surface above, the cold winter wind swept the snow across the desert; here: no wind, no season, closed, quiet, safe.

She was going to the painting room.She liked to go there occasionally to study the strange murals on the walls by dim candlelight.Although the murals are subterranean and dark, they still stand out. The paintings are full of men with big eyes who have grown wings, some are serene, some are gloomy.No one could tell her who those people were.There were no such drawings anywhere else in the location, but she thought she knew them: they were the ghosts of the damned who were not reborn.Since the Painted Room was in the Great Labyrinth, she had to go through the Great Tomb at the bottom of the Tombstone area first; this time, as she descended through the inclined passage, she saw a faint gray, a faint gleam, a reflection of a distant light Reflect again.

She thought it was the eyes, which were often deceiving in total darkness.She closed her eyes, and the shimmer disappeared, and when she opened her eyes again, the shimmer reappeared. By this time she had stopped and stood still.It's gray, not black.The faint gray at the edge is also clearly visible, and this place should have been invisible, it should have been completely black. She took a few steps forward, stretched out her hand to touch the corner of the tunnel wall, and found that she could faintly see the movement of her hand. She moves on.In this dark and deep tomb, there is a faint light floating in this place where there was no light. It is really unimaginable and strange, and it has surpassed the point of being frightening.She was barefoot and dressed in black, moving forward silently.At the last turning, she stopped, and then slowly took one last step, staring, watching.

Before her was a sight she had never seen before.Although she had lived thousands of times, she had never seen this scene: this huge circular vaulted cavity under the tombstones that was not hewn by hands but hollowed out by the force of the earth, covered with white pointed columns of crystal and limestone.This is where the underground clear water has worked for many years since ancient times.The roof and walls gleamed, in great splendor, in intricate intricacies, transforming the tomb into a palace of diamonds, a house of amethyst and clear crystal.They drive away the darkness of ages in glory and splendor. Although the light that operates this spectacle is not bright, it still dazzles eyes accustomed to darkness.It was a soft thin light, like the light of swamp gas, which moved slowly across the cavern, polishing the pearly roof into a thousand silver flowers, and casting a thousand fantastic shadows on the stone walls of the cavern. That light radiated from the end of a wooden stick, and it didn't smoke, and it didn't burn.The staff is held in a mortal hand.Arha saw the face next to the light, that dark face was that of a man. She stood still. The man walked up and down the great tomb for a long time.He carefully looked behind the banded water pattern on the rock, and carefully observed several tunnels leading out from the tomb, but he did not enter those tunnels.He acted like he was looking for something.The mausoleum priestess remained motionless, waiting in a dark corner of the passage. Perhaps the hardest thing for her to figure out: She's watching a stranger.She has rarely seen strangers.She then guessed that this person must be one of the administrators.No, it should be the man on the other side of the wall, probably a shepherd, or a guard or slave in the place.He came here to explore the secrets of the unknown, perhaps trying to steal something from the mausoleum... Come to steal something, come to steal dark power. The words "blasphemy" slowly entered Arha's mind.He is a man, and the soles of a man's feet shall never tread upon the sacred ground of the tomb.But he was already in the heart of this empty mausoleum, he had already entered.He has made light where it was forbidden, as never before in the beginning of heaven and earth.Why didn't the Nameless One knock him down? The man stood now, looking down at the rocky floor where it had been cut and moved.It can be seen that the ground has been pried open and then covered back. It should be that the barren acidic soil was dug up for the grave, but it was not carefully filled. Her past mistresses had eaten up those three prisoners, why didn't they eat this one?What are they waiting for? Waiting for their hands to move, waiting for their tongues to speak... "Go away! Go away! Go away!" suddenly, she let go of her voice and screamed.Great echoes rumbled around the whole of the tomb, as if to obscure the frightened dark face which had just turned towards her and had seen her through the flickering light of the cavern.Immediately afterwards, the light disappeared.All glory fades away.Darkness, and then silence. Now she could think again, she was free of that light spell. He must have come in through the Red Rock Gate, also known as the "Prisoner's Gate", so he will try to escape through that door.Like an owl with light wings, Arha ran lightly and silently across the half-circle of the cave, and came to the lower part of the top of the tunnel: only there was access to the door that could only be opened inwards.She stops at the tunnel entrance.There was no draft coming from the outside, so it could be seen that he did not leave the one-way door open after he entered.The door is closed, if he is still in the tunnel, it is obviously impossible to advance or retreat at this moment. But he wasn't in the tunnel, she was pretty sure of that.In this narrow space, at such a close distance, if he is still there, she must be able to hear his breath and feel the warmth and pulse of his life.The tunnel was empty, so she stood up and listened.Where did he go? The darkness pressed like a bandage on her eyes.Seeing the mausoleum vaults made her feel terrified and confused.The mausoleum she knew in the past was only a limited range that she could hear, touch, and perceive through the cool air in the darkness. That range was huge and a mystery that no one could see.Now she sees, and the mystery is not replaced by fear, but by beauty.Beauty, a mystery deeper than dark mysteries. At this moment she moved forward slowly, with some hesitation.She touched left and walked to the second passage, which was the passage leading to the Great Labyrinth.She pauses to listen. Her ears could tell her as little as her eyes.However, just when she put one hand on the side of the rock archway, she felt that the rock seemed to vibrate slightly, and there seemed to be a trace of aroma that did not belong to this place in the cool, stagnant air: a smell of wild sage leaves, and this Plants grow on the desert hills overhead, multiplying under the vast sky. Following her sense of smell, she walked down the tunnel slowly and silently. After about a hundred paces, she heard him.He was almost as silent as she was, but his footsteps in the dark were not as sure as hers, and she heard the brief jerk of small footsteps, as if she stumbled on the uneven ground, but then steadied herself.Then, there was a dead silence.She waited for a moment, then continued to raise her legs and slowly advance, her right fingertips lightly touching the stone wall.Finally, the fingers touched a round metal rod.She stopped there, and continued to touch the iron bar until she reached the highest position she could reach, and she felt a raised rough iron handle.Then, suddenly, she pulled the handle down with all her strength. There was a horrible rattling and crashing sound, and blue sparks flew down.The echoes faded slowly, complaining to the passage behind her.She reached out to feel, just inches from her face, the slightly pockmarked surface of an iron door. She let out a long breath. Then she walked slowly uphill through the tunnel back to the tomb, and again, keeping the wall to the right, walked back to the trapdoor in the throne room.Although there was no need to be silent, she did not rush, but moved slowly without making a sound.She had caught her thief anyway: the door he had passed through was the only way into and out of the Great Labyrinth, and it could only be opened from the outside. Now, he is in the great labyrinth, trapped in that dark underground, and he will never come out. Straightening herself, she walked slowly past the throne and into the pillared hall.In this temple there is a bronze bowl, placed on a high tripod, filled with fiery red charcoal.She walked around the bronze bowl and walked up the seven steps that ascended to the throne. She knelt down on the bottom step, her forehead touching the ground.The stone steps are not only cold and dusty, but also scattered some mouse bones that owls hunted and discarded. "Forgive me for seeing your darkness violated," she whispered. "Forgive me for seeing your tombs desecrated. I will avenge you, my mistresses, and death will deliver him to you You, he will never be born again!" Although she prayed, what she saw in her heart was the flickering brilliance of the cave with light, the life in the underworld.Besides, she felt no fear of sacrilege, no wrath at the thief; all she could think of was: how strange, how strange that cave was... "What should I tell Ke Xiu?" she asked herself as she stepped out of the hall into the fierce winter wind, drawing her cloak tighter. "Say nothing. Don't tell her yet. I am Mistress of the Great Labyrinth Well, it's none of the God King's business. Tell her when the thief is dead. How should I kill him? I should call Ke Xiu to see him executed, she likes death. What is he looking for? He must be crazy. How did he get in? Only Ke Xiu and I have the key to the red rock door and the trapdoor. He must have entered through the red rock door, and only a warlock could possibly open that door. Warlock—” She stopped abruptly, though the strong wind nearly blew her feet off the ground. "He is a sorcerer, a wizard from the Inner Isles, seeking the Amulet of Eriabah." This conclusion actually implied a strange magic power, which made her gradually feel warm all over her body even though she was exposed to the icy winter wind, and laughed out loud.She is surrounded by the location, and the location is surrounded by a dark and dead desert; the winter wind is biting, and the big house under the hillside has no light.Invisible thin snow blows in the wind. "If he can open the Red Rock Gate with witchcraft, he can also open other doors and escape." This thought immediately sent chills down her spine, but she immediately denied it.It was the nameless man who let him in.Why not?He can't do any harm anyway: what damage can a thief who can't leave the scene of a theft do?He must have possessed spells and evil powers to make it this far, and must have been powerful spells and powers, but he couldn't go any further.It is impossible for the magic of mortals to triumph over the will of the Nameless, or the ghosts in the catacombs, or the kings whose thrones are empty. To help herself confirm this thought, she walked briskly down the hill to the hut.Manan slept on the porch, wrapped in the cloak and the ragged blanket that was his winter bed.She quietly walked into the house without turning on the light, lest she wake Manan up.She opened a small locked room. She said it was a small room, but it was actually just a large cabinet at the end of the house.She struck the flint and steel, and the spark lasted just long enough for her to find the part of the floor she was looking for.She knelt down and removed a brick, revealing a small piece of dirty thick cloth, only a few inches square, she pulled the thick cloth away noiselessly, but jumped away in surprise: a light shot up, just shining on her face. After a while, she carefully looked in through the opening in the ground.She had forgotten: the man's wooden stick would emit a strange light.She had only expected to hear him moving in the darkness below, and had forgotten the light.Now, he was where she expected him to be: directly under the spyhole, next to the iron door that prevented him from escaping the Great Labyrinth. He stood there with one hand on his waist, and the other slantingly holding the wooden staff that was at the same height as him.There is a weak phosphorous fire attached to the top of the stick.From a height of about six feet, his head is slightly to one side.This person wears the usual winter traveler's or pilgrim's attire: a heavy short cloak, a leather jacket, woolen leggings, and lace-up straw sandals; Sheath dagger.He stood there like a statue, relaxed and thoughtful. He slowly raised the wooden stick from the ground, and extended the glowing end towards the iron gate—Arha couldn't see the iron gate through the spy hole.But I saw that the light had changed, becoming smaller but brighter, and it was a dense light group.He spoke loudly, and Arha couldn't understand the strange language, but what was even stranger than the language was the man's deep and sonorous voice. The light at the tip of the stick brightened, flickered, dimmed, and nearly disappeared for a moment, preventing her from seeing him. When the lavender swamp light returned and glowed steadily, she saw him turn away from the iron door, his spell to open it failing: the lock on that door was stronger than any spell he possessed. He looked around as if thinking.What are you going to do? The tunnel or passageway in which he stood was about five feet wide, and the ceiling was about twelve to fifteen feet above the rough, uneven rock floor. It is almost impossible to insert the tip of a knife between the gaps.The wall shrinks inward as it goes up, forming a circular arched vault. Nothing else. He started to walk forward, and one big step took him out of Arha's sight.The light faded, and just as she was about to put the thick cloth and bricks back in place, the gleam of the floor in front of her intensified again.He returned to the iron gate; perhaps he figured out that once he left the iron gate and entered the tunnel network, it was unlikely that he would find the iron gate again. When he spoke, he only said two words in a low voice: "Yimen", and then he said it again with a slightly louder voice: "Yimen".The iron door rattled inside the door frame, and the low echo rumbled like thunder in the arched tunnel, and Arha felt as if the floor was shaking under his feet. But the iron gate is still strong. He laughed then, one of those short laughs a man makes when he thinks, "Look at me!"He looked carefully at the surrounding walls again, and when he glanced up, Arha saw a smile remaining on his dark face.After checking, he sat down, loosened his backpack and took out a piece of dry bread to chew.He opened the leather jug ​​and shook it. It looked very light, as if it was almost empty; he didn't drink, and put the lid back on.He put the knapsack behind him as a pillow, pulled his cloak around him and lay down, his staff still in his right hand.As he lay down, a small ball or ball of light floated up from the stick and hung dimly behind his head, just a few feet off the ground.His left hand rests on his chest, holding something that hangs from a heavy necklace.He lay there with his legs folded over his ankles, quite comfortably.His eyes drifted over the peephole, and then he sighed and closed his eyes.The light faded.he has slept. The hand that was clasped on his chest loosened and slid to the side, and the onlookers above saw the amulet on his necklace: it looked like a small piece of thick metal, in the shape of a half moon. The gleam of witchcraft faded, and he lay in silence and darkness. Arha put back the thick cloth, covered the bricks as before, stood up carefully, and slipped back into the room.The winter wind was howling outside the house, and she lay still unable to sleep for a long time. The flashing crystal light in the Nether Palace, the fire that did not smoke, the rocky rocks on the tunnel wall, and the peaceful and peaceful scene when the man fell asleep kept reappearing in front of her eyes. face.