The King's Tale
In a time of War
The age of unrest
The mage Ged did sail forth
On a sworn quest
For he had been told
By the Dragon, Orm Embar
That the Broken Half lay
In the Kargad lands, far
The mage sailed from Selidor
For a year and a day
To rejoin the two halves
Of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe
In Atuan he landed
To seek the lost Rune
He traveled disguised
By the light of the moon
Through a desert he traveled
So it's told in the Lore
By his magic did he enter
Through the Red Rock Door
Into the very home
Of the Old Powers of Death
The Darkness seemed to live
Almost to draw breath
In the Tombs he discovered
A girl named Tenar
The priestess, Arha
She locked the iron bar
In the Labyrinth he wandered
For a week and a day
Then lay like one dead
So the songs say
Arha brought him to a secret room
To imprison him, she said
The girl Tenar felt differently
She did not wish him dead
She led him to the Treasury
The ring's last resting place
The sanctuary of the Powers
That had tracked and scarred Ged's face
He clothed her in illusion
Gowned her in the colors of sunlight
She did not belong here, he said
Her soul was far too bright
Tenar did not believe the mage
Her hopes were far too dim
But as she wished to let him go
The priestess came with him
The Nameless Ones were angry
To see their Arha go
They caused a mighty earthquake
To crush her in the rock-flow
Ged stilled the op'ning of the Earth
Long enough to let them flee
He led the priestess through Atuan
From the desert to the sea
To the sands he took Tenar
They boarded the boat Look-Far
Through days as blue as a sapphire
And nights as black as tar
The girl wished to be left alone
Abandoned on a desert isle
To never see the towers of Havnor
Or the wonders of Roke Isle
But again they sailed on
For a month and a day
To present to the world
The rejoined Ring of Erreth-Akbe
A/N: I happened to find out about this lay in Dragonfly in Tales from Earthsea (NOT to be confused with the Sci-Fi travesty Tales of Earthsea), and thought it might be fun to write. Tell me what you think, and if you must criticize, don't flayme or flame. Thank you.
