The Dark Crystal Read Online Free PDF Page B

the smashed pots remained where the coat had been.

    “Be one, Jen,” urZah told him, “and make one. Now you must go, as the Master told you.”

    “Go?” Jen asked. “Go where?” What must I do?”

    For years he had learned to leave the valley. The urRu had raised him with loving care: at the appointed times they had cut his hair, taught him to swim, to tie knots, to sharpen a knife; had initiated him into the mysteries of music and the principles of geometry; had tested him by tasks and isolation – but never had they allowed him to explore outside the valley. And now that he was bidden to leave, he wished to remain, to say he was not yet ready. The truth, he realized, was that he did not want to abandon what was familiar and customary. Besides, it was one thing to wish to explore. It was quite another to be expelled.

    “You must go where the Master showed you,” urZah told him. “To the high hill, to the dome of Aughra, who watches the heavens and keeps her secrets.”

    “UrSu showed me such an image in a bowl. But I don’t know where the place is. How do I get there? What am I supposed to do there? How do I know I can do it? And who is Aughra?”

    UrZah replied, in his slow voice, “Your need is to go with questions, not with answers, as the cave needs the mountain.”

    Jen controlled a rising feeling of panic. “But, urZah, you can see the future, can’t you? Please at least tell me what will happen.”

    UrZah paused. The urRu continued their chanting as the sun rose above the rim of the horizon.

    “The future is many futures,” urZah told him. “We see them all. Which one will be yours is for you to seek.” He pointed at a carving on the Standing Stone near them. It pictured three concentric circles inside a triangle. “This I will tell you,” urZah went on. “Very soon the three made one will look down. Great vibrations will be-felt by all who touch rock. Unless by then you have found the future you must seek, and made what was broken whole, what was dark light, then nothing can be whole, and dark will be the fate of all creatures on Thra.”

    “But I am frightened of what is dark, urZah.”

    “With reason,” the urRu replied. “Darkness imprisons the light. Darkness destroys all beings, covets all energy. It is evil.”

    “What is evil?” Jen asked.

    “Evil does not exist,” urZah answered. “Evil is disharmony between existences. Now go, Gelfling, with your questions.”

    UrZah turned away, faced the sun, and joined the chanting of the urRu.

    Jen took his first steps up the spiral path leading out of the valley. When he reached the cave where he had lived with urSu, he paused and looked down into the thalweg. Rising up to him came the deep, nine-toned chant of the urRu. He saw that they were all staring up at him. Whether it was their gaze or their chant or the seed of courage he had experienced at urSu’s death, he did not know, but a force propelled him past the mouth of the cave and on up the spiral path.

    At the shoulder of the valley, higher than he had ever been on his own, he glanced back once more. The waterfalls were tiny, sparkling jewels in the early sunlight. He took a deep breath. For the reassurance of a familiar object in a strange world, he put his hand up to touch his flute, which he carried on a leather neck-string.

    Near him was another line of Standing Stones. They were tall and narrow, shooting up from the ground like needles. Seen from the valley below, they had always marked the boundary of his world. On them he saw carvings similar to those on the stones that formed the triangle down below, where the chanting of the urRu continued, still surprisingly distinct even from where Jen stood. Perhaps, Jen thought, the carvings might offer him some indication of the direction he was supposed to take.

    He approached the nearest stone to examine it. It had a black patina on it, like soot. He reached out to rub it off but withdrew his hand sharply. The