When Gede was unconscious, the little Outaker hid above the rafters in the house, just as the stranger came. He stayed there until the rain beat against the walls, and the fire was silent, and the night was silent, and the old woman was slumping by the hearth, and then he climbed down and crawled to the side of Gede, who was motionless and lying stiff in bed, and stretched out his dry tongue like a dead leaf, and began to slam his hands and wrists patiently, and then crouched beside his head and licked his temples and scarred cheeks, and then licked his tight eyes. Under its gentle touch, Gede slowly moved. When he woke up, he didn't know where he had been, where he was now, or the glimmer of light in the dim sky. Outak snuggled over his shoulder as usual, and then fell asleep.

Afterwards, when Gede looked back on that night, he realized that when he was lying unconscious, if nothing had touched him and nothing had called him back, he might never have returned. Thanks to the beast's silent, instinctive wisdom, it soothed its wounded companion by licking and touching him. However, in that wisdom, Ged saw something similar to his inner strength, something as profound as witchcraft. From that moment on, Ged believed that a wise person would never be separated from other beings, whether that life had a language or not. In the years that followed, he tried his best to learn what he could from the silence, from the eyes of animals, from the flight of birds and beasts, and from the slow swaying of trees.

It was the first time he had crossed the dead city and returned unscathed, something that only a wizard could have done while he was conscious, and even the greatest mages would have to take risks. However, although he returned safely, he was not without sorrow and fear. Grief is to grieve for his friend Pei Weirui, and fear is to fear for himself. He now understands why the ** master is afraid of him leaving, and he also understands what shadow the ** master is under when he foresees Gede's future. Because what awaits him is the darkness itself, the nameless thing, which does not belong to the human world, and is also the dark shadow that he has released or created. It waited for him for a long time on the spiritual boundary that separates life and death. Now it possesses the thread of Ged, and is waiting for an opportunity to approach him, trying to take his strength, devour his life, and wrap itself in Ged's flesh.

Soon after, Ged dreamed of that thing, like a big bear with no head and no face. In the dream, it seems to be searching the outside of the house along the wall, looking for the door. It was the first time Gerd had dreamed of it since he had been healed from the scratch on it. When he woke up, he felt weak and cold, and the scars on his face and shoulders throbbed tightly.

The bad times began. Every time he dreamed of the dark shadow, or even thought of it, he felt the same cold fear. Because of fear, his senses and strength gradually lost, and he became dull and unclear. He was angry at his cowardice, but anger was useless. He wanted to seek protection, but there was no barrier. It is not flesh and blood, it is not alive, it is not a soul, it has no name, it does not exist, it exists with God. It was a terrible power, not controlled by the sun-drenched human law. It was driven by him to exercise its own will through him and become his creation. That's all Ged knows about it. However, it still has no real form of its own, so he doesn't know what form it will take, how it will come, or when.

Ged set up magical barriers around his residence and around the island. This direction had to be constantly renewed, and he soon understood that if he spent all his strength on these defenses, he would be of little use to the islanders. What if a dragon flew over the island of Pando and he was caught between two fierce rivals? He dreamed again, but this time the shadow was in the room, by the door, approaching him through the darkness, whispering something he didn't understand. Ge woke up in terror and conjured up a false light that illuminated every corner of the room until there was no darkness anywhere. Then he added wood to the fire pit, and sat by the firelight and listened to the autumn wind blowing through the thatched huts and whirring among the bare branches. He sat and pondered for a long time, and an old anger awakened in his heart; He stopped waiting helplessly like this, and he didn't want to sit on the island like this, reciting useless locking and defense techniques. However, he could not escape the confinement of the confinement in one fell swoop, for to do so would not only undermine his own credibility, but also make the islanders defenseless against the dragon. There is only one way to go.

Early the next morning, he went down the hill to the main head of the lower tonin, found the representative of the islanders, and said to him." I have to get out of this place. For the danger I face will bring you into danger as well. I have to go, so I ask you for leave to eradicate the dragons, and then even if my mission to you is completed, I can leave freely. If I fail, so will I fail when the dragons come here, so it's better to know later than to know sooner. ”

The representatives of the islanders were so surprised that they opened their mouths and looked at Gede. "Sparrowhawk," he said, "there are nine dragons over there!" ”

"Eight are said to be small."

"But the old ......"

"I'm telling you, I have to get out of here. Therefore I ask you for leave to remove the danger of the dragon for you, if I can do it. ”

"Sir, do as you wish." The representative of the island said gloomily. Everyone present who heard Ged's plan thought that their young wizard was purely brave. Otsuka watched him leave with a calm face, thinking that he would not be able to come back once he went. Some people implied that the wizard meant to travel to the Inner Pole Sea via Housk, leaving them at the mercy of Lower Tonin. Others think that Gede is crazy and will kill himself, and Peviri is one of them.

For four generations, all the ships avoided passing through the coast of Pando, and no mage ever went there to fight the dragon, partly because the island was located on a sea route that no one passed, and partly because the owner of Pando Island had always been pirates, slave traders, and warfighters, and was deeply resented by the people who lived in the southwestern part of the earthly sea. Therefore, when the old dragon suddenly flew from the west, breathed fire from its mouth, suffocated to death the owner of Pando Island and the islanders who were feasting in the tower, and drove all the islanders who were screaming and wailing into the sea, no one on the neighboring islands wanted to seek revenge on the dragon. Since there is no one to seek revenge, of course, Pando Island has become a world of dragons, and the corpses, towers, stolen jewels, etc. on the island are all handed over to the old dragon. The island's jewels were stolen from the shores of Paan and Housk, and the stolen princes and nobles were long dead.

All of this was clear, not to mention, since he came to Lower Tonin, he had thought about all the dragons he had learned about in his heart. He sailed westward in his boat, not rowing, nor with the sailing skills that Pelveri had taught him, but with sorcery, with the spell wind propping the sails, and with spells to settling the dragon's spine and bow to keep the ship on the right track—he looked out to sea, waiting for the dead island to emerge at the edge of the sea. He wanted to be quick, so he used his spells, because what was behind him dreaded him more than what was in front of him. But as the day passed, his impatience had changed from fear to intense relief, at least he had come out of his own free hand to face the danger, and the closer he came to the island of Beaudo, the more certain he became, though it may have been the moment before he died, but at least he was free. The black shadow didn't dare to follow him into the dragon's mouth. The gray sea, the white waves are surging, and the north wind carries gray clouds across the sky. He was heading west in the swift wind of spells, and by this time he could see the rocks of Pandar Island, the silent streets of the town, and the ruined and crumbling towers.

The harbor of Pando Island is a shallow, half-moon-shaped bay, and Gede disables the wind control at the entrance, calming the boat and lying quietly on the waves. Then he summoned the dragon, "Whoever has taken over the island of Pando, come out and defend your private treasure!" ”

The waves crashed against the gray-white rocky shore, shattering Gerd's shouts. However, dragons are hearing creatures, so Ged soon sees a dragon flying out of the ruins of a harbor with a ruined roof. It resembles a giant bat, with thin wings and stabbing back, and flies straight towards Gede in the north wind. Seeing with his own eyes the animals that his people had always regarded as a whisper, Ge felt his heart swell, and he laughed and shouted: "You little worm in the wind, go and call that old dragon out!" ”

This baby dragon was born to a female dragon that flew from the west many years ago. It is said that the mother dragon hatched in the sunlit tower room, clutched a few leather-like giant eggs with her claws, and then flew away, leaving the old dragon to look after the young dragons that had just broken their shells and crawled like poisonous lizards.

The young dragon did not reply. It was not very large, only about a forty-oar-long boat. When the film-like black wings are opened, they are as thin as insect wings. It seems that this dragon is not fully developed, and its voice is small, and it does not have the cunning of a dragon. With its long, toothy jaws shut, it aimed at the rocking boat on which Ged was riding, and swooped down from the air like an arrow. All it took was a spell to bind its wings and stiffen its companions, and it was enough to make it fall vertically into the sea like a rockfall, drowning in the dusty water.

The other two dragons flew out of the tower like the first, and flew straight into Gord's boat like the first, and Gord bound them and subdued them into drowning, and he didn't even raise his wand.

After a while, three more dragons flew towards him from the island. One of them was large, with a roaring flame from its mouth. Two flew straight at him, but the larger one flew around from behind, and it was very fast, spewing fire to burn Gede and the ship. Binding cannot subdue three dragons at once, as two come from the north and one from the south. As soon as Gede figured it out, he immediately cast the "Transfiguration Technique", and in an instant, a dragon leaped out of his small boat.

The dragon spread its wings and claws, and first dealt with the two oncoming dragons, burning them with flames, and then turned to deal with the third dragon, which was larger than him and could breathe fire. Above the gray waves, two dragons flipped in the wind, leaping, attacking, and dashing, spitting fire and spraying all around. Suddenly, the dragon flew upwards, and the enemy dragon chased closely below. Halfway through, Gedron pauses with its wings raised, then swoops down like an eagle, its claws stretched out, attacking the neck and flank of the enemy dragon below. I saw that the black wings of the dragon who had been hit shrank in panic, and the thick black dragon blood dripped on the surface of the sea. The dragon broke free from the attack and flew to the island without strength, hiding in some dry well or cave in the ruins.

Gede immediately returned to the ship and changed back to his original form, as maintaining the dragon's form longer than the condition needed was the most dangerous. His hands were blackened by the swirling dragon's blood, and his head was burned by the fire, but now, it was all right. When he waited for his breath to subside, he shouted, "It is said that there are nine dragons, and I saw six, and killed five, and the rest of the worms, come out!" ”

For a long time, there was no movement of creatures on the island, and no sound was heard, only the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. Then, Ged noticed that the tallest tower on the island was slowly changing shape, one side of it slowly protruding as if it had an arm. He was afraid of the dragon's magic, because the old dragon had conjured up spells, which were comparable to man's magic skills, and were not only powerful but also cunning. However, after a while, it was not a dragon trick that he confessed, but that he had been fooled by his own eyes. It turned out that he thought it was the outward protrusion of the tower, but it was actually the shoulder of the old dragon of Panduo, which was straightening up and slowly standing up.

When it fully lifted its scaly and armored dragon's head, leaned on its crest of tassels, and stretched out its tongue, it was taller than a broken tower. The clawed front hooves rested on the rubble of the ruins, and the gray-black scale armor reflected the sunlight and looked like a cracked stone. It was as thin as a hound, and as large as a hill. Gede gazed at it in awe, searching through all the poems and stories in his memory, but none of them could be used to describe the scene. He almost stared into the dragon's eyes and was caught, because no one could look into the dragon's eyes. He looked away from the shiny green gaze that stared at him, and held his staff high in front of him, which now looked like a broken log, a thin branch.

"Little wizard, I have eight sons." The dragon's hoarse voice shouted, "Five sons are dead, and one son is dying." Enough is enough, don't kill them to get my treasure. ”

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