Earthsea belongs to Ursula Le Guin, not me. Although I do wish it did!
And now our story starts to come to a close…
The Dragonlord
A small brush fire burned merrily, and Ged sat comfortably beside it, watching Orm Embar. The dragon had just finished telling him about the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, and how one of the halves had been lost long ago.
Ged remained quite silent, remembering the old woman on the island, her frightened grey-bearded brother, and a tiny dress encrusted with seed- pearls. To think that the greatest gift in this age had been given to him by a lady in uncured sealskins on a miserable spit of land!
"So the other half is hidden in the Tombs of Atuan?" he murmured pensively. Orm Embar had said that the great lords and Mages of the Archipelago had given up sending out men to find the Ring of Erreth-Akbe many hundreds of years ago.
"Thou wearest on thy breast the lost half," Orm Embar rumbled, "And the other lieth on the Eastern side of the world."
Ged peered at the dragon. In the evening gloom he was an iron-grey, all golden tints having set with the sun. On an impulse the wizard got up and walked around the sputtering fire to kneel before the Lord of Selidor. "You have told me a great truth," he said fervently. "If by my power I may repay you, seek for me."
Orm Embar got to his feet, shaking sand from his scales. "Thy power is budding quick, and soon will surpass my own," he thundered gently. "If ever I needeth thee, I shall find thee." The dragon said this out of courtesy, but he and Ged both knew how unlikely it would be for the mightiest of dragons to ever ask help of a man.
Orm Embar broke the respectful silence that followed. "When goest thou from my land?"
"In the morning," Ged answered readily. He placed extra branches on the fire, mulling over everything that the dragon had told him over the course of the day.
Orm Embar had not only spoken of Erreth-Akbe; he had told of how the world had been centuries before, how heroes from ages past had carried out famous deeds, how dragons had roamed as far inland as they wished, how old lands had sunk beneath the waters and new ones had emerged from the depths of the seas. Dragons, despite their shadowy double-meanings and twisted phrases, were worth talking to.
"Humans are very amusing," Orm Embar uttered suddenly, and Ged turned his head quickly to look at him. "What do you mean?"
The dragon smiled, a rather frightening image. "Take thyself. Thou hast held the greatest treasure of Earthsea, and thou hadst not known it for what it was." Ged grinned wryly, a quick flash of teeth, and sat back down to study the talisman by the flickering firelight.
"I will go to seek the Bond-Rune, the sign of dominion, and return it to the Archipelago."
The dragon half-unfurled his wings at this pronouncement, arching his back exquisitely with the sinister grace that Ged had come to associate with dragons. "I see much in thy future," he grated, a tiny wisp of flame flickering from between his golden lips.
Ged shook his head, unable to believe that such a magnificent creature would make that pronouncement. "I am naught but a young fool," he said, half to himself.
Orm Embar gave a tiny snort of laughter, steam and sparks swirling from his nostrils and up to the sky. What the dragon said next has been recorded in writing, sung in the Western isles, passed down through generations, and eventually lost from memory:
"Thou art a young fool who outwitted Yevaud of Pendor, tamed dark Miril, and defeated Nortari the serpent.
"Thou art a young fool who hath a courteous tongue, a sharp mind, and a gift for the Old Speech.
"Thou art a young fool who holds half of a ring, the world's greatest treasure, and dares to seek its counterpart.
"Thou art a young fool who unleashed a nameless terror upon all of Earthsea and saw it destroyed."
Ged looked up quickly at these last words, hand twitching unconsciously up to his face to brush his scars. Orm Embar turned his head to gaze straight at the young mage, who lowered his eyes.
"Thou art all of these things," the great dragon declared. "And thou art now a Dragonlord."
Ged's pretty much set on his path now. If you've read this far, you have my deep admiration, and I hope your efforts were rewarded. Only the Prologue left…