Ged sat atop the cliff, the wind whipping his cloak about behind him as he contemplated the horizon. His namesake, Sparrowhawk, now known after his death by his true name, Ged - had sat here many times before in the years before his death. This Ged, had chosen his use-name to honour the great archmage of Earthsea, whom he was inspired by through the songs of his heroic deeds. Ged knew all the songs of Sparrowhawk's adventures, from when he sought out the lost half of the ring of Erreth-Akbe, and returned with Tenar - the Lady of the Ring to the crowning of the new king in Havnor. This Ged did not aspire to such heights as those, but did wish to explore, and to gain some moderate skill in the magic arts. He sat, wondering where his friends had gone. They who had ventured out across the sea in a fleet of ships, sailing beyond the farthest shores of the west reaches, way beyond Dragons' Run, hoping to find more than just water. They had been gone for a little over a year now, yet Ged had not given up hope that they might return, or at least that they lived in safety on some far, long forgotten isle. His eyes gazed at some imaginary shoreline, just beyond the horizon, though in truth he could not even see the lands bounding the Innermost Sea, and almost imagined that he could see where his friends might have landed. This feeling was so strong that he stood up, still gazing out into the distance, and suddenly resolved himself to sail out after them. The next morning, Ged awoke bright and early, wrote a short note in Hardic, to his parents, who could not read, but would most likely get the village witch to read it for them. It was not that he did not love them, but that they knew there would come a time when he would leave the small isle of Gont for farther shores, be it for Roke, to enrol at the magery school, or off to work as a fisherman, or shepherd in a more profitable locale. He knew that they would understand. He rolled up the note, and took off his favourite ring, sliding it carefully over the vellum scroll, and left it on the bed as a parting gift for his parents. The ring would either serve as a sentimental gift, or to feed them for the next year, as it would surely fetch a couple of ivory pieces at the market. He took his yew staff and a few items from the kitchen, some cheese, bread, a spare wineskin for water and a hook and thread, which he could use to fish along the journey. The small boat, which he had named "Lookfar" after Sparrowhawks famous boat, sat idly rocking at the jetty, causing it to look like some lumbering creature, waiting to be fed outside its master's door. He climbed in and opened the hold, placing the freshly filled wineskin and food into it, wrapping it around with a waxed leather sheet to protect it from the seawater. The weather was too calm to sail out from the cove, so Ged started rowing towards the mouth of the bay. Having only a limited repertoire of words from the old speech, the language of the Making, he could cast few spells, such as those for protection, and some minor weatherworking, so he spoke the magewind into the boats sail, which whisked her along rapidly once they had reached a safe expanse of sea. He did not particularly wish to risk losing control of the spell, which had to be regularly maintained, and crashing into another boat whilst distracted. He sailed for many days, fishing as food supplies became low. He sailed through the seas between The Teeth, northeast of Enlad, and weste of the Andrades, the land where his cousin Myrex hailed from. Days later he sailed north of Osskil, even longer still, he sailed, passing between Narveduen and Paln, then veering on a more northerly course to avoid the Dragons run, sailing south of Selidor, which in itself was a perilous journey, for the dragons swirling in the distance, like leaves blown on an autum wind, threatened to fly closer and down his meagre vessel. It seemed like months he had sailed, his lips were dry and cracked, his throat parched. He tried to save his water as much as he could, and knew but few spells to remove the brine from seawater, what little use his spells were now. There had always been stories of magic going awry in the far reaches, as though it was the lands themselves that gave the power to the spells of the making. This was the first time he had experienced it firsthand, and it scared him greatly. With the last ounce of strength, he made the magewind stronger, imbuing it with as much power as he had ever laid into a spell. The boat blasted through the water, threatening to tear the boards from its hull, sending spray high into the air, drenching its occupant as it went. Ged curled up, pulling the waxed leather sheet out of the hold over himself and attempted sleep. He hoped that he would wake to find himself on a new shore - any shore. Ged awoke, a hot feeling on his back from where the sun had been scorching the leather cover he had pulled over himself. He did not stir immediately, but lay listening to the sounds. He heard gulls overhead - that was a good sign, because it meant he was near land. Trying not to raise his hopes too much, he peered out from under the cover, over the side of the boat. The water was calm, and the boat lay bobbing, close to a harbour. He tried to take it in, could not believe that he had finally hit land, weeks after leaving the safety of Gont. He tried to speak the magewind into the sails to take the boat further in to the harbour, for he had not the strength to row, but to no avail. He was too weak to command it. He decided not to explore this new land immediately, but preferred to hang a line over the side of the boat to fish for a while. After he had caught several, he wrapped them in the waxen leather skin, and placed them in his pack. He rowed the boat closer to the harbour, and noticed that the buildings seemed to be on discreet islands, connected by bridges. The whole town seemed to be a harbour! He rowed to the nearest dock, and tethered the boat to a mooring post. A man on the dock spoke to him - seemingly greeting him, in a most peculiar accent which Ged could not quite understand, so he simply nodded back. The man waved dismissively, seemingly understanding that he was a foreigner and went about his business. Ged took his staff and cloak from the boat, and decided to walk into the town. People carried on their daily lives, seeming to not notice him - either that or they were being very polite. After he had explored the area near the dock to his satisfaction, he headed towards the centre of the town, where there seemed to be many people stood outside a long, L-shaped building. He assumed this to be some centre of commerce, for there were people shouting, advertising their wares. Ged listened for a while and decided that these people might be able to understand his accent, so he attempted to ask one of the locals the name of the town. The reply "Vesper" came, and the woman pointed him in the direction of the nearest inn, for she must have noticed the bad shape he was in. Ged thanked the woman, and entered the tavern, where they seemed to understand his situation, and allowed him lodgings for the night in exchange for a little help in the kitchen. That night, Ged slept well. His last thought before drifting into sleep was of his friends who must live in this new land somewhere... ------------- Part 2 Ged awoke, bright and refreshed the next day. The sun streamed in through the glazed windows of his room in the Ironwood Inn, warming the bedsheets with its golden hue. He sat up, resting his back against the pillow propped up behind him and gazed out of the window, which faced the woodlands. The trees swayed lazily in the early morning breeze, the birds chirped, and the faint sound of traders chatting whilst setting up their stalls could be heard. A book rested on the small table next to the bed, upon its cover was a star enclosed in a circle, with three smaller circles entwined, a mystical looking symbol, Ged thought. He opened the cover and attempted to read it. The language was not all that different from that spoken in the Archipelagos, the script was runic, in a similar style to his native hardic, so it was not terribly difficult to read. Skimming briefly through the book, Ged was able to get the gist of it - it seemed to be some sort of code by which the townsfolk should live. It seemed that rather than having gods to worship as some cultures did, these people paid homage to eight principles, which they knew as the virtues. It all seemed like simple common sense to Ged, so thankfully he did not have to twist his way of thinking or speaking and thus inadvertantly offend someone's religious beliefs. Of course, he could not help but notice that this world too, had its "anti-virtue" which constantly sought to destroy their influence. Similar, Ged pondered, to the unnamed ones, always seeking to disrupt the balance, yet always keeping it in check too. Ged was startled by a sudden knock at the door. The innkeeper shouted to him through the closed door, "I am sorry, but I will have to turf you out in a short while. We need the room for our paying guests, and we are getting rather full." "Thankyou," Ged replied, "the room was most comfortable. If I may, can I ask if there is any work you would like me to do in exchange for some breakfast and provisions?" The innkeeper sound delighted by his tone, "of course, my good man!" She laughed. "Plenty o' work to be done in the shed. We have a cart with a broken wheel that could be seen to, if you have some skill with a hammer and chisel." Ged said that he knew little, but would try his best, after all, the prospects for work in a new land for a stranger might were a little slim. The innkeeper prepared him a hearty breakfast whilst he fixed the broken wheel on the cart. A few of the spokes had worked free from the hub of the wheel and broken, so some spares had to be whittled down to size and refitted. He did this with relative ease, but had trouble getting the wheel to spin freely once it was fixed. He checked to see that nobody could see him in the barn, leaned his staff towards the wheel, and spoke a few short words in the Old Speech. It was a simple mending and binding spell, somewhat akin to the ones that the village witches used for mending kettles - yet it did its job. The wheel seemed to stretch into shape, once again forming a perfect circle, fixing the spokes firmly into their place. He smiled, and returned to the inn for breakfast. Clearly he had not totally lost his touch. The innkeeper had clearly been very grateful for the mending of her cart, for she had packed his satchel almost to the brim with food. She had also been kind enough to fill his wineskin with some of her best stock. Not quite as flavoured as his favourite Andradean blends, but the mulled wine from the Ironwood inn's casks were flavoured with cinnamon and other fragrant spices, making them warm the throat in a most pleanant manner. He thanked her profusely for her kindness and understanding, then took his leave... Only one road seemed to lead out of Vesper, leading to the west, where it branched off to the southwest and north. Ged was not entirely sure as to which direction he should be heading, after all, it had been a year that his friends would have lived in this land, and there was nothing to say that they had arrived at exactly the same port as himself. However, he decided to follow the road to the southwest as it seemed to head more inland than the other route. He gathered up his staff and pack, and began to stroll at a leisurely pace along the track. The track ran along the base of a long train of mountains, about half a mile from their base, Ged guessed. He walked for about an hour, the narrow road keeping on course with the foot of the mountain range which lay to the north, until it reached the western end of the range, where it veered off to the west, in line with the direction of the mountain range. He continued along this path, stopping occasionally when he thought that he had heard something rustling in the bushes to either side of the track, each time he had paused to listen, the sound had moved away - yet Ged knew that someone, some... thing... was following him. He quickened the pace, yet that seemed to only make his tracker follow him closer. The night was drawing in now, and the trees were already becoming dark, waving silhouettes against the purpling sky. He paused for a second, whirling around, hoping to catch his shadow unawares, but nothing was there. He then realised that in this low light, he probably would not see anything until it was too late, so he spoke a few gentle words to the tip of his staff, from which a soft light grew. The werelight bobbed around the end of his staff like a dandelion seed, caught in the thread of a spiderweb. The light was gentle, but strong enough to show the path a few feet ahead and behind - this was enough to give Ged some security, but did not shake the fear that his tracker was still out there, somewhere behind him. He took a few steps further down the path and suddenly froze. The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he knew then, that the one who had been shadowing him had revealed himself. He spun on his heel to confront the miscreant. In the centre of the road stood a dark shape. It was roughly two thirds of Ged's height, but it was wide. Ged whispered, and the werelight that clung to his staff brightened momentarily, showing the outline of the creature. It was wide, because it had wings. Black, leathery wings like those of a bat. A sneering face, which would maybe have been cute on a childs doll, glared back at him - its huge mouth opened into a grimace, showing rows of sharp teeth. A long tail whipped about behind the beast, and it looked almost prehensile, as though it could carry things with it. The creature stood on two short legs, and had two, rather long arms, which suddenly stretched out in front of the monstrosity as it proceeded to pounce at Ged. The creature looked formidable, and emitted a high pitched squawk of rage as it flew at him. He barely dove aside in time, and caught the creatures claw across his arm, tearing the sleeve of his tunic, drawing blood. He spun around, holding his staff in a defensive position. The monkey-bat creature lunged at him a second time, but this time Ged was able to swing his staff down as he stepped aside, catching the wing of the creature, breaking a few of the fragile batwing finger-bones in the process. The creature howled with a sickening chitter from the pain, bared its teeth, and began flailing around with its arms. Ged stepped back from the crazed beast, but caught his foot under a root. He fell back onto the ground with a thump, his staff tumbling away from his hand. The creature stood over him, screaming in that ear piercing tone, about to strike. Ged looked around frantically, then suddenly spied a small, fist sized rock a few feet away. "TOLK!" Ged shouted at the rock, pointing, then brought his pointing finger to bear on the monkey-bat's head. The rock obeyed at the sound of its name and whipped through the air, as surely as Ged had picked it up and thrown it himself. It hit home, causing a spurt of blood to shoot from the creatures temple, and stain Ged's shirt. The monkey-bat tumbled to one side, and then ran off, further down the path. Ged began to get up to chase after the beast, which seemed gravely wounded now, but as he did so, he noticed a faint glimmer of light in the distance. The werelight had gone out on his staff, so he peered towards the light, then realising it was a building, started to stumble towards it. He approached the building, and was about to knock, when all of a sudden, the wounded creature leaped out of a bush nearby. Ged did not see the creature, but instead hearded a loud, wet slap, and turned around to see the grinning-doll-faced head roll past him. He turned his head to follow the trail of blood along, back to the body, and jumped when he saw an armoured woman carrying a halberd, standing over the creatures inert body. She grinned at him, glad that she had at last seen some action outside the Compassion Desert guardpost. He smiled back weakly, and then the world went black as he proceeded to collapse with exhaustion. Ged awoke once again, to the sun streaming in through a window onto a strange bed. He only vaguely remembered what had happened the night before -the fight with the monkey-bat-thing that had attacked him, the guard who had so deftly decapitated the creature, and then, passing out. The woman brought him a mug of water, which he gulped down hastily, spilling some on his shirt and leather tunic which, he realised, was spattered with blood. He asked her what the creature that had attacked him was called. She explained that they were called "Mongbats" and were more of a pestilence than anything else - you just had to know where to hit them, apparently. ------------- Part 3 Ged's arm ached from the wound that the Mongbat had inflicted the night before. Helena, the guard, had bandaged it as best she could using some of the healers supplies. She had given him a small pouch containing herbs with which to make a poultice for the wound when the dressing needed changing. It was not a very large wound, more of a scratch, but she had urged him to take the herbs in case of infection. She was doubly insistent when she learned that Ged intended to follow the road along its southwestern course to coincide with the coast. Of course, Ged did not tell her why - the reason being that he intended to call his boat from the docks, so that it might follow him some way along his journey in case he needed a quick seaward escape. The southwestern road did indeed pass through a swamp, as Helena had forewarned. The smell from the decaying matter, and putrid water made him nauseous, but he did not bring down a light breeze from above the tree canopy, for a mage using his power unsparingly would upset the balance. He was further discouraged from weatherworking here because he did not know all the names in this new land, bringing some lack of control into many spells cast, so he trudged along through the swamp, covering his mouth with his sleeve in a vain attempt to block the smell. After several minutes of traipsing along in the stench, he decided to look in the herb-pouch, and to his joy he found a small bundle of lemonbalm leaves, which he crushed up in his hand and rubbed into his sleeve, causing the fragrant citrus odour to mask the bog-smell. Helena had warned him that the swamps were full of many dangerous creatures - alligators, mongbats, snakes and some form of jelly-like creature known as slimes. Lizardmen were also known to frequent the areas on their hunts. They did not sound like anything that Ged would wish to bump into in such an opressive place as this. Ged heeded the advice that Helena had given, and he tried to walk through the swamp with light footsteps, being careful not to stumble on the many submerged rocks. He could hear alligators hissing in the undergrowth, but thankfully his light footsteps did not attract their unwanted attention. It was hard to make progress through the swamp without the werelight from his staff to guide him. He dared not to summon it as it was made from an ethereal marsh gas, that would, no doubt cause any gases present in the swamp to ignite with disasterous consequences. Ged tried to follow the foot of a ridge of mountains through the swamp, such was his only guide as to his direction of travel, the sun completely obscured by the hanging vines and decaying leaves of the many dead trees overhead. He began to near what must be the edge of the swamp, for he could see a glimmer of light not too far off in the distance, so he upped his walking pace, still being careful to not trip over rocks and roots. He stepped up out of the boggiest parts and onto a drier patch of tangled vines and branches, the only indication that he was at least moving out of the worst part of the swamp. He stopped, thinking that he heard something ahead, and paused to listen carefully. He heard nothing further, other than the chirruping of crickets in the distance, and the lazy buzz of swampflies. He took a tentative step forward, which gave a disgusting squish as he planted his foot on the floor. He looked down, wondering what he had stepped in. A green slime covered the sole of his leather shoe, and went up the side, almost to his ankles. He thought nothing of it for a moment, and continued to walk. Then he realised that he could feel the sludge moving up past his ankles, on up his leg, slowly covering the outside of his hose. He looked down and noticed it convulsing up woolen legs of his hose, thinking for a moment that he was glad he was wearing a one-piece pair, rather than the split hose. Ugh, what a thought, a slime in one's underwear! The slime began to burn his legs. "Oh dear." He mumbled as he tried to scrape it off his legs using the end of his staff, to no avail. It crept on. He hurriedly undid his belt, and slipped the fastening loops of the hose over the ends so that he could take them off. He quickly tore off the trousers and threw them onto the floor, but the slime only seemed more agitated and started towards him. There was only one thing to do. Ged lowered his staff towards the ground, and muttered the words that would bring the werelight into being. The light sputtered on the end of the staff for a moment, then an almighty "whump!" was heard as the low-lying gases of the swamp were ignited in the surrounding area. The flames danced and bobbed around just above the surface of the marshwater, but caught on the woolen hose, and took them up in a blaze of fire, crisping the slithering blob with it! Ged ran out of the swamp, the brambles scratching his now exposed legs. He stumbled blindly along, turning south from the mountain ridge, and presently came across a road. Ged breathed a sigh of relief and began to follow it southwest, towards a small wooden tower that appeared to stand proud of the surrounding tree canopy. After a few minutes of stumbling, and bleeding profusely from his scraped legs, he approached the tower, another guard outpost - this time deserted. He climbed up the rickety ladder, into a bamboo shelter mounted atop a wooden platform. There was a pallet to one side, onto which Ged slumped, exhausted. He covered his naked, bleeding legs with his cloak and curled up to sleep. Ged did not sleep well, or for long. The pain in his legs was too great for him to be able to rest at all. He opened the herb pouch, and took out a mixture of herbs. He then began to search around the small hut for some clean cloth to use as bandages. Luckily, there must have been a healer here in the past, for he found a small box containing several potions and two rolls of linen. Ged tore the linen into thin strips, applied the herbs and wound the strips around the one leg that was the most badly injured. Once he had finished, he stood up and looked out of the door to the west. To his surprise, he could see the lights of a large city. This put hope in his heart once again, so he clambered down the ladder and set off towards the town. The first order of business in this new city was to find a tailor - one does not attract the fondest of glances wandering around in exposed braies, bereft of any leg covering! ------------- Part 4 Britain was a bustling city. Merchants sold their wares on every street corner, whilst the clientele often haggled over prices that were either too high, or the craftmanship too shoddy to warrant the prices they asked. Thieves bumped into unsuspecting shoppers, helping them to pick up their bags, more often helping themselves. Ged wondered why the city guards didn't notice the pilferings going on under their noses - perhaps they had no satisfaction from their jobs, or their pay was too low. Either way, it was not good enough for Ged to stand by and watch as the innocent citizens were ripped off left, right and centre. He strolled down a street, intentionally bumping into someone he had seen steal from a beggar. The thief dropped a sack that was slung over his arm, causing silverware, and jewel encrusted goblets to spill out across the cobbles. As the thief bent down, scrabbling to collect the spoils of the days work - Ged muttered a word in the Old Speech - "Ennem!" The word for opening. The sacks opening widened, like that of a greedy chick, pouring its contents all over the street. Ged grinned inwardly at the thiefs embarrassment, then spoke another word, this time of binding, directed at the thief, who suddenly stumbled as his hands were firmly affixed to his ankles! He strolled down the street, leaving the clamour of the guards apprehending the now totally immobile larcenist. As he walked through the city that morning, Ged was surprised to find that everyone spoke to everyone else using their true name - their names were as plain to Ged as if they had them tattooed on their foreheads, yet nobody took such use of true-names as important, or sacred. Of course, this might explain the reason why people got away with so much, and why chaos was rife in the packed streets. In Earthsea, Ged's home, people usually had their child-names, given to them by their parents, then reaching the age of about 16, the local mage or sorcerer would give them their true name, which has great meaning. A person would have a use name, sometimes the same name as their child-name, sometimes of their own choosing. Nobody ever told anyone else their true name, unless they felt that they trusted the person totally. To learn someone's true name was to have control over them, so they only gave their true names to those close to them, or as a show of trust - indeed some people did not even tell their husbands or wives! Yet here! Here, these people roamed around brazenly giving their names to everyone with an ear to hear it or mouth to speak it! Ged realised the reason for the virtues - people needed something to guide themselves when they could not keep themselves in line... Deeming true names to be of no value, how could anyone value the life of another? After all, what was the world but a place of names? The very foundation of magic, or at least the magic of Earthsea, was in the naming of things. Little wonder that his magic had much direct control over the people and animals here - they either did not heed their true names, or did not know them. The thief had been bound with weeds from between the cobbles, the bag opened using the name for the motion of opening. The mongbat, killed by the guard Helena, had been wounded by the rock he threw by magic. Of course the rock knew its name, rocks were everywhere, but the people here had individual names, and the creatures were unknown to him. Ged sat on the dock, eating a small loaf of bread, and some cheese that he had bought from the market. The past few days had been profitable, he had found work in the healers, grinding up potions for them to use in the curing of the sick, laying on hands in some of the minor cases that were brought in. The taverns as usual, needed hands, for their work is never done. He even found an hours work for the blacksmith, the tiring work of pumping the bellows commanded enough of a price to afford a good sack of provisions that would last a week. Ged lay back on the dock, his legs hanging over the jetty - almost touching the water. He stared up at the sky from his horizontal position, watching the clouds glide overhead. He could name them, easily - their names drifted into his mind as smoothly as they crossed the sky. He then remembered that he had forgotten about the boat, so he called out to her "Lookfar.." He whispered, and she came. An hour later, the boat was bobbing in the bay like a puppy anticipating a treat. "I'll take you out for some excercise, my girl," he said to the boat, patting the keel and then unfurled the sail. The winds carried them out of the port swiftly to the east with Ged rowing when the winds calmed, and tacking when the crosswinds became too strong. He had no idea as to where he was sailing, but all he knew was that it was towards adventure.