Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

The Tombs of Atuan
The Tombs of Atuan
The Tombs of Atuan
Ebook199 pages3 hours

The Tombs of Atuan

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

()

Read preview

About this ebook

One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time

The Newbery Honor–winning second novel in the renowned Earthsea series from Ursula K. LeGuin.

In this second novel in the Earthsea series, Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, and everything is taken from her—home, family, possessions, even her name. She is now known only as Arha, the Eaten One, and guards the shadowy, labyrinthine Tombs of Atuan.

Then a wizard, Ged Sparrowhawk, comes to steal the Tombs’ greatest hidden treasure, the Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Tenar’s duty is to protect the Ring, but Ged possesses the light of magic and tales of a world that Tenar has never known. Will Tenar risk everything to escape from the darkness that has become her domain?

With millions of copies sold worldwide, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere, alongside the works of such beloved authors as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 26, 2009
ISBN9781442480841
Author

Ursula K. Le Guin

URSULA K. LE GUIN was born in Berkeley, California, in 1929, and passed away in Portland, Oregon, in 2018. She published over sixty books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, children’s literature, and translation. She was the recipient of a National Book Award, six Hugo and five Nebula awards, and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  

Read more from Ursula K. Le Guin

Related to The Tombs of Atuan

Titles in the series (3)

View More

Related ebooks

YA Fantasy For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Tombs of Atuan

Rating: 4.27891156462585 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

147 ratings65 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The 2nd part in the Earthsea Cycle, this book does not pick up where the previous left off. Instead, we meet a new character, Tenar, the reborn priestess of the Nameless Ones. Trained from a young age to resume her duties after the death of the previous priestess, her life is a lonely one, but the only one she knows. Unlike the previous book, we don't see any more of Earthsea, just this one lonely island where there are no wizards and no dragons. That all changes one day when the light-less labyrinth under the temple is invaded by a robber. This book had the same tone and excellent world building as the previous book, so despite the abrupt turn in the plot at the beginning, it fits right in with the previous. It is short in length and scope, but it really feels like part of the trilogy and as always, the writing is outstanding.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sequels are notoriously hard things to pull off; many authors struggle. Does one offer a second helping of the same ingredients on the grounds that readers seem to like more of the same, with just a few details changed for the sake of variety? Or does the writer go with something radically different and risk alienating fans of the original?The second of Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea novels goes with the second option, and certainly this is tough for some readers; but Le Guin is of that class of author who not only needs to challenge herself through her craft but to also avoid treading the same tracks as before. It's a measure of her talent as a writer that she rises magnificently to the challenge while being a doggedly resolute pathfinder. So it's entirely appropriate that much of The Tombs of Atuan involves the protagonists negotiating the complexities of a multicursal labyrinth with all its twisting passages and dead ends.Tenar is not just a priestess of a temple complex on the Earthsea island of Atuan, she is the reincarnation of the priestess of the Tombs, identified from birth and dedicated to the service of the Nameless Ones. Other high priestesses of the God King and the God Brothers are subservient to her, even though they are her teachers and therefore much older than her. Much time passes in an unchanging succession of rituals and customs, the years blending one into another, until she -- literally -- sees the light.While A Wizard of Earthsea journeys to and from the four compass points of the Earthsea archipelago, The Tombs of Atuan is much more circumscribed, and thus more claustrophobic in being confined with the walls of a sacred enclosure, the temenos called the Place. There is a limited cast of characters: the principal ones named are Tenar and high priestesses Kossil and Thar, the minor priestess Penthe and Tenar's personal servant the eunuch Manan.It is not until the arrival of an interloper -- one familiar to readers of A Wizard of Earthsea -- that circumstances alter and events move to startling conclusion. If wizard Ged is the catalyst, Tenar proves to be the matrix that allows the reaction to take place.It is Ged's wizard light that Tenar sees unexpectedly in the network of tunnels under the tombstones. After trapping the male violator in the labyrinth she has to decide what to do with him; ordinarily a man would be put to death, but Tenar hesitates. She finds herself curious, drawn to the stranger who seems to have an innate power about him at the same time as he remains helpless. The Tombs of Atuan thus turns into a fascinating portrait of a growing relationship between two people who appear to have nothing in common, and of Tenar's gradual alienation from the people she has otherwise known almost the whole of her life.This is a novel that works at many levels, as many great works of fiction do. As well as the psychological interest that resides in the relationship between captor and captive and between conflicting beliefs, Le Guin explores the nature of a particular polity. The dead hand of stultifying sameness and complacent certainty stifle freethinking and innovation in the Place. A system that requires compliance and obedience to the institution can only in time stagnate and collapse under its own reactionary weight: here the collapse that threatens the temple complex is not only metaphorical but physically very likely, especially where chthonic powers are involved.As is frequently the case with Le Guin she draws not just from anthropology but from the deep wells of mythology. While she makes clear that Ged's presence on the island is because he is on a quest, this is not the dominant motif of The Tombs of Atuan. However, it's almost impossible not to be aware of the parallels with the tale of Theseus' stand against the Cretan Minotaur. In considering the individual elements -- the voyage to the island; the mysterious labyrinth; the Ariadne-type figure (Tenar, whose sacred name is Arha, like her Greek counterpart uses a thread or clew in her early explorations of the maze); even the Minotaur (here it's the Nameless Ones who need to be confronted) -- one can't help noticing the similarities.When there is a sort of homecoming to Earthsea's Havnor we may be reminded of Theseus' return to Athens; we even witness Ged saying his duties may require Tenar to be left behind, but whether it is to be as with Ariadne on Naxos a permanent abandonment on Gont or merely temporary Le Guin -- for now -- leaves the reader in limbo.But the author's skill is in convincing us that these are flesh-and-blood individuals she's presenting, not mere mythic archetypes, that this is both a human and a humanising tale rather than a standard modern retelling of an ancient myth.If A Wizard of Earthsea was principally Ged's bildungsroman, is The Tombs of Atuan then about Tenar's own coming of age? This is to some extent true, especially as our our focus is entirely on her. But this doesn't explain everything. For me, in my third reading of the novel, what comes through strongest is a deeply honest portrait of a young woman caught in age-old conflicts: between duty and personal fulfilment, between blind obedience to authority and making one's own moral decisions, between conformity and spontaneity.They are choices we've all had to make at some time or other in our lives, experiences that make it possible to empathise with Tenar's dilemmas even as we realise we all are operating in the dark, in life's own maze.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very imaginative. I didn’t see the sequel coming from another person’s perspective and delve so deeply into a land that was only mentioned briefly in the first book. I just wish it was longer! I feel like so much more could be developed.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A little dull till Ged appears, interesting that the author does not give a physical form to her monsters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A little gem
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book couldn't be more different that book 1. In book 1 Ged travels all around Earthsea and lastly to the edge of the world. 95 % of the story in Atuan is told in a one temple, 75 % of that in the underground caverns and mazes. The heroine Tenar is taken as a child to the temple to become the temples high priestess, much like the Dalai Lama, the child is the reincarnated former high priestess. It's a story about choice or lack of, good vs evil.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Tombs of Atuan is the second book in Le Guin’s Earthsea series but can be read independently since it follows a different character. It’s a short but beautifully written book.From the back cover blurb: “When young Tenar is chosen as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth, everything is taken away – home, family, possessions, even her name. For she is now Arha, the Eaten One, guardian of the ominous Tombs of Atuan.”The Tombs of Atuan is the third book in the Earthsea series I’ve tried. While I liked it better than the other two, it will be the last time I attempt this series. For whatever reason, it just fails to connect to me emotionally. I just can’t get close to the characters, Arha or Ged. For the life of me, I don’t know why.I’m not saying other people won’t like it – this book is a classic with glowing reviews. There’s obviously something of appeal.Originally posted on The Illustrated Page.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    2019 reread: changed rating from 4 to 4.5*I was inspired to reread this series by watching the TV adaptation which was well done except for the fact that the plot didn't match my memory of the books. As it turned out, that discrepancy was due partly to the fact that the adaptation melded all 3 books of the original trilogy and partly because they changed the plot significantly!I listened to the audiobook edition narrated by Rob Inglis who did a good narration. I am pleased that rereading this book in my later life lived up to my memory of reading it as a teenager (not always the case). I remember being disappointed that Sparrowhawk didn't figure more prominently in this second book in the series when I first read it but this time around, I was fascinated by Arha (Tenar) and her gradual questioning of what she has been taught.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I remembered absolutely zero details from this book, so I was essentially reading it for the first time (which is cool, but also sad because I want to remember every book I read!)I enjoyed the change of pace in this book. I wasn’t expecting a detour from Ged’s life and at first, I was impatient to get back to him. But Arha and her temples soon caught my interest. I enjoyed a look at life on another island and their archaic ways. I also enjoyed that Ged’s story is a larger one and as readers, we only get bits and pieces of it. We don’t get to see every single step he takes and I’m ok with that.Ged and Arha’s lives intertwine and as the story progressed, I really wasn’t sure what direction it would go in. There is less magic in this book, but I’m thinking these books are more about personal journeys than fantastical acts of magic anyway.This series is a slow paced one, but I think the short length of the books keeps them from feeling like a slog. I didn’t mind the pacing, but something to be mindful of if you’re looking for more action. Another enjoyable read!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The premise: ganked from BN.com: They took away everything. Home, family possession. They gave her a name. Arha, the Eaten One. They dedicated her life as high priestess to the ancient and nameless Powers of the Earth. And set her down at the Place of the Tombs in the deserts of Atuan. Then, suddenly, a thief came to the dark, endless labyrinth of her kingdom, seeking the greatest treasure of the Tombs, the broken Ring of Erreth-Akbe. A young wizard, Ged . . .My RatingWorth the Cash: but I'm betting that if I ever re-read this book, I'll find I like it more the second time than I did the first. That's what happened with my two readings of A Wizard of Earthsea, so I suspect the same will be true with The Tombs of Atuan. But knowing I have that to look forward to is wonderful, because there is a lot to enjoy in this book: the female protagonist (probably a rarity at the time of publication) and her coming of age story (even more of a rarity), and while this wasn't written when Le Guin was in her feminist stage, I think you can easily look at this book through feminist eyes and think about what Le Guin might be saying, especially if you compare certain elements of the book to what was happening in feminism at the time of publication. All of it's interesting, but Le Guin also provides a good story with memorable characters and an excellent atmosphere. It's character-focused fantasy with no real quest involved, but it's still engaging. I plan on re-reading this one day, and I look forward to continuing the series. Review style: Obviously, I want to talk about the reasons I think this book is such a popular one in the series, as well as examine whether or not it deserves that praise. I also want to discuss the importance of a female protagonist and all of that implies, especially since this was written before Le Guin "discovered" feminism as such. There's a LOT to talk about from the female POV, so bear with me. We'll also discuss whether or not this book is meant to be a stand-alone or read in chronological order, as well as comparing the themes in this book to the themes found in the first. Spoilers are a definite, so if those bother you, skip the full review. Otherwise, click the link below to my LJ! As always, comments and discussion are most welcome! :)REVIEW: Ursula K. Le Guin's THE TOMBS OF ATUANHappy Reading!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The second Earthsea book eschews the travelogue approach of book one and sets much of the action in a labyrinth. Sparrowhawk/Ged is more the secondary character here with Arha/Tenar being the main focus. Darker than the first book and perhaps the most satisfying of the first three.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fascinating to have a new main character. Well told. I enjoyed the feeling of torn allegiance. I also had conflicting feeling at the end. Who was good? who was right?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I finished The Tombs of Atuan yesterday, literally racing through the last few chapters. I'm glad I picked this book up again, as I'd started on it just after finishing The Wizard of Earthsea last year, and being disappointed with the change of protagonist, gave up on it, thinking I'd try it again some other time. This book tells the tale of a young girl, supposedly the reincarnation of the high priestess of the Tombs of Atuan, a large warren of underground passages and a labyrinth where the "dark ones" reside; dark forces which are considered as the gods of old, who eat the souls of those who venture in their territory. The story takes a while to pick up, but then when a wizard becomes trapped in the tombs, things become very interesting, with our young high priestess suddenly choosing to keep him alive instead of executing him, as is the custom, and in the process opening up to possibilities she had never considered as existing for her before. The edition I read from includes a very interesting afterword by Le Guin, who explains she had not at all planned the Earthsea cycle to extend beyond the first book originally, as well as her reasons for treating her female heroine the way she did, in this case allowing her to have real power only when joined by that of a male protagonist.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A very convincing heroine and a fascinating and alien world
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I liked this one better than the first Earthsea book (A Wizard of Earthsea). Still doesn't live up to Tolkien, Lewis, or Jordan, but worth the lazy Sunday afternoon read. :-)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    (read originally in the 80's)

    Scope Review: Earthsea Trilogy.

    “Only in silence the word,
    Only in dark the light,
    Only in dying life:
    Bright the hawk’s flight
    On the empty sky”

    Yin & Yang?

    I honestly don't remember a time when I wasn't obsessed with reading and collecting books. I'd define childhood as a never-ending vacation. A weekend without a week following and reading-time everlasting. I still remember the never-ending days of my childhood. My first date. My first kiss. My first endless book infatuations. One of my favourite childhood memory was when I was twelve years old with my Grandmother Glória at home and me reading to her "O Feiticeiro de Terramar" ("A Wizard of Earthsea").

    The rest of this review can be found elsewhere.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of my favorite books of all time - I've probably read this one over two dozen times.
    It's a deceptively simple story, simple in the way that all truths are simple, allegorical in that it can be applied to all of our lives. it's a story of growing up, of claiming freedom and independence, and all the fear and pain and joy that can accompany that. But it's also just the story of Tenar, called Arha, priestess of the Nameless Ones and mistress of the Undertomb - a girl who believes herself hard, cold and powerful. And it is the story of Ged, the young wizard who finds himself at her mercy. It is a story of finding compassion, and how strength lies not in the dark and restricted ways, or in bringing death - but instead lies in having the courage to admit vulnerability, in daring to step outside all that is taught and to find ones way to the light.
    The writing is just beautiful - some of the descriptive passages here are unparallelled. A perfect book.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The characters lack depth and it was difficult to find any reason to care about either Arha or Ged.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I've heard the second and third book in the Earthsea trilogy were better than the first book, which I gave a three star. And in regards to the way the story is told, I do think I liked it better. However I did not like the character that this second book focused on and that killed it for me. Sometimes I dislike a character and then they start to grow on me, but Tenar never grew on me. Thus the low rating. I am determined to read the next book in the series as that will cross it off my list and these books aren't very long, and because the third book moves it's focus back to Ged, but this second middle book is a lost cause for me. Too bad.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I first read this book in a college course, separate from the rest of the Earthsea Trilogy and loved it. I decided to reread the whole trilogy just to see if this held up...and it has, moreso than the other books. The character of Tenar is unique in voice and growth and it turns out that Ged is much better as a secondary character than a primary one. I think this book is brilliant, and clearly the best of the series.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Tenar was chosen from birth to be the Priestess for the Nameless Ones. Only she may walk through the perpetually dark labyrinths that hold great treasure. But when she finds a wizard stumbling around in the dark, her very beliefs are tested.

    I didn't like this as much as the first book because I was expecting more of Ged. Tenar was an okay character, but we never really got to know her. Not really. The first half of the book was mostly just exposing us to Tenar and this part of the world. But it wasn't that interesting.... I kept waiting for some action or for some plot.

    Finally, after Ged appears things get a little more interesting. Their conversation and interaction revealed more about the world and showed us more about Ged and how he knows true names now.

    It was an okay book. Just... not much plot, y'know? I didn't really like the resolution with how Tenar dealt with the other priestess. It was not climactic enough.

    2.5 stars rounded up. It was decent, but not great. I would call this a sagging second book.
    Recommended only for those who already read the first book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Newbery Honor book. Second book in the critical acclaimed Earthsea Cycle. Author lives in Portland, Oregon.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Tombs of Atuan is the second book in Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy and is a quieter, bleaker book with no grand adventure. In fact, the connection between the two books only becomes obvious about halfway through.Tenar, a 6-year-old girl, is believed to be the reincarnation of Arha, priestess (The Eaten One) of the Nameless Ones, gods who are worshiped in the dark, and whose wishes are only dark.Arha learns the daily regimen and rituals required of the Priestess, and is eventually led into the dark black of the tombs themselves, and the Labyrinth. Night after night, in a place where no light is allowed, Arha learns her way around. From one place to another, she counts steps and turns and openings and delves deeper into the place only she is allowed.But one night, Arha turns the corner into a room where there is light and discovers all is not what she thought it was. She encounters her first stranger, clearly not of her world, and a man as well. After a few days of spying on him through spy holes above ground and giving him directions to one particular room, she goes back to see this man. It is this encounter which reveals the tie between Shadowhawk from Wizard of Earthsea and Arha of the Tombs of Atuan.Puzzled by the presence of this man, Arha returns to him taking bread and water along. He speaks to her softly and patiently, waiting for her to decide what to do with him. Finally, he reveals his true name of Ged to her and reminds her of her true name, Tenar.He also tells her of the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, half of which she has stolen from him, hanging on a chain around his neck. The other half is supposed to be hidden in the Tombs of Atuan, and when reunited, the ring will heal the rifts in his world of Earthsea.When Ged points out they are being spied upon, Arha moves into action and decides they must escape, because the spy, old Kossil, priestess of the Godking has been waiting for her chance at killing Arha and if they remain Kossil will kill them both.As they make their way through the underground labyrinth and tombs, the ground begins to shake in anger as the Nameless Ones realize their sacred space has been desecrated both by light, and by a male non-believer. Ged uses his power to keep the earthquake at bay, while he and Tenar make their escape. Stopping at the top of the hill to view the wreckage, they are witness to the total implosion and destruction of all the temples and buildings dedicated to the Nameless Ones.And so, Tenar begins her quest for self at Ged's side. They travel by foot and boat to the city of Havnor. Eventually Tenar will go to study with Ged's old teacher, Ogion.The Tombs of Atuan made little sense to me in terms in the world of Earthsea. Why was this little girl so important? And why did I suffer through many pages of dark tomb and labyrinth investigating? What was the point of all this? It just dragged.And then, around page 64, it began to come clear. Ged who fought his darkness in Wizard of Earthsea was sent to restore the Ring of Erreth-Akbe, but more importantly, to rescue Tenar from her dark life as Arha and lead her to a brighter place in which to discover herself.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I started this book a couple of months ago after completing The Wizard of Earthsea but got sidetracked. I picked it up again this week. I'm glad that I did.
    I love the language that LeGuin uses, both simple and complex. LeGuin is a master story teller.
    More than half the book passed before I finally got to see Ged, and I was so glad of it. I hadn't realized just how much I'd become attached to the character, and I suppose this may be part of why it was so easy for me to leave this story off when I first started. I recall feeling cheated when the tale began to unfold and there was no Ged. I was not disappointed when he did appear.
    Ged has grown and is now advising the young and foolhardy Arha.
    I'm moving on to the next in this series and I do not plan on stopping until I am done.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Loved it. Ursula Le Guin is a master writer and the book just flows of immersive experience.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The second book in Ursula Le Guin’s Wizard of Earthsea Cycle is a quieter book than the previous one. This is not a book of high adventure, of sailing out into the unknown and at first I do admit I was a little put off at not finding Ged off on another adventure. But thank heavens I was patient and allowed the story to develop because before I knew it, Ursula Le Guin had worked her magic and I was totally drawn into the story.In The Tombs of Atuan the main character is Tenar who through an elaborate ceremony has been chosen to be the priestess reborn called Arha and to serve the Nameless Ones in the Tomb of Atuan. Her life is rather bleak and all she knows is duty, but one day, while walking the labyrinth she discovers an intruder, a young wizard who calls himself Sparrowhawk. She imprisons him but through discussions with him and the magic that he shows her, she starts to question all that she has been taught.I listened to this book as read by Rob Inglis, and although he isn’t my favorite narrator, he did an adequate job. It was Ursula Le Guin’s descriptive writing and beautiful prose that made this book such a wonderful experience. This is a much slower moving book than the first, but the payoff comes with Le Guin’s elaborate world-building and character development. Her descriptions of the dark, underground maze painted a picture of a very creepy and claustrophobic place with a sense of evil lurking in the dark. The pace of the story does pick up once Ged makes his appearance and the ending not only brought closure to this story, but has perked my interest in finding out what happens in the third volume.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What a perfect little story! Like poetry. I wonder if she wrote it like this on the first try or if it takes great effort to pare away the unessential and leave the beautiful and powerful setting and symbolism through which the characters wander. Even though it is part of the Earthsea series, it could stand alone as well.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    very slow to get going but from about the middle I couldn't put it down until I was done
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Something about this book really fascinated me. I think it's the idea of being a secret-keeper, the one person who is privy to something remarkable and special. I found the resolution a little heartbreaking for this reason, though the deeper themes of the dangers of such secrecy are also very interesting.

Book preview

The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K. Le Guin

PROLOGUE

COME HOME, TENAR! COME HOME!

In the deep valley, in the twilight, the apple trees were on the eve of blossoming; here and there among the shadowed boughs one flower had opened early, rose and white, like a faint star. Down the orchard aisles, in the thick, new, wet grass, the little girl ran for the joy of running; hearing the call she did not come at once, but made a long circle before she turned her face toward home. The mother waiting in the doorway of the hut, with the firelight behind her, watched the tiny figure running and bobbing like a bit of thistledown blown over the darkening grass beneath the trees.

By the corner of the hut, scraping clean an earth-clotted hoe, the father said, Why do you let your heart hang on the child? They’re coming to take her away next month. For good. Might as well bury her and be done with it. What’s the good of clinging to one you’re bound to lose? She’s no good to us. If they’d pay for her when they took her, which would be something, but they won’t. They’ll take her and that’s an end of it.

The mother said nothing, watching the child who had stopped to look up through the trees. Over the high hills, above the orchards, the evening star shone piercing clear.

She isn’t ours, she never was since they came here and said she must be the Priestess at the Tombs. Why can’t you see that? The man’s voice was harsh with complaint and bitterness. You have four others. They’ll stay here, and this one won’t. So, don’t set your heart on her. Let her go!

When the time comes, the woman said, I will let her go. She bent to meet the child who came running on little, bare, white feet across the muddy ground, and gathered her up in her arms. As she turned to enter the hut she bent her head to kiss the child’s hair, which was black; but her own hair, in the flicker of firelight from the hearth, was fair.

The man stood outside, his own feet bare and cold on the ground, the clear sky of spring darkening above him. His face in the dusk was full of grief, a dull, heavy, angry grief that he would never find the words to say. At last he shrugged, and followed his wife into the firelit room that rang with children’s voices.

CHAPTER 1

THE EATEN ONE

ONE HIGH HORN SHRILLED AND ceased. The silence that followed was shaken only by the sound of many footsteps keeping time with a drum struck softly at a slow heart-pace. Through cracks in the roof of the Hall of the Throne, gaps between columns where a whole section of masonry and tile had collapsed, unsteady sunlight shone aslant. It was an hour after sunrise. The air was still and cold. Dead leaves of weeds that had forced up between marble pavement-tiles were outlined with frost, and crackled, catching on the long black robes of the priestesses.

They came, four by four, down the vast hall between double rows of columns. The drum beat dully. No voice spoke, no eye watched. Torches carried by black-clad girls burned reddish in the shafts of sunlight, brighter in the dusk between. Outside, on the steps of the Hall of the Throne, the men stood, guards, trumpeters, drummers; within the great doors only women had come, dark-robed and hooded, walking slowly four by four toward the empty throne.

Two came, tall women looming in their black, one of them thin and rigid, the other heavy, swaying with the planting of her feet. Between these two walked a child of about six. She wore a straight white shift. Her head and arms and legs were bare, and she was barefoot. She looked extremely small. At the foot of the steps leading up to the throne, where the others now waited in dark rows, the two tall women halted. They pushed the child forward a little.

The throne on its high platform seemed to be curtained on each side with great webs of blackness dropping from the gloom of the roof; whether these were curtains, or only denser shadows, the eye could not make certain. The throne itself was black, with a dull glimmer of precious stones or gold on the arms and back, and it was huge. A man sitting in it would have been dwarfed; it was not of human dimensions. It was empty. Nothing sat in it but shadows.

Alone, the child climbed up four of the seven steps of red-veined marble. They were so broad and high that she had to get both feet onto one step before attempting the next. On the middle step, directly in front of the throne, stood a large, rough block of wood, hollowed out on top. The child knelt on both knees and fitted her head into the hollow, turning it a little sideways. She knelt there without moving.

A figure in a belted gown of white wool stepped suddenly out of the shadows at the right of the throne and strode down the steps to the child. His face was masked with white. He held a sword of polished steel five feet long. Without word or hesitation he swung the sword, held in both hands, up over the little girl’s neck. The drum stopped beating.

As the blade swung to its highest point and poised, a figure in black darted out from the left side of the throne, leapt down the stairs, and stayed the sacrificer’s arms with slenderer arms. The sharp edge of the sword glittered in midair. So they balanced for a moment, the white figure and the black, both faceless, dancer-like above the motionless child whose white neck was bared by the parting of her black hair.

In silence each leapt aside and up the stairs again, vanishing in the darkness behind the enormous throne. A priestess came forward and poured out a bowl of some liquid on the steps beside the kneeling child. The stain looked black in the dimness of the hall.

The child got up and descended the four stairs laboriously. When she stood at the bottom, the two tall priestesses put on her a black robe and hood and mantle, and turned her around again to face the steps, the dark stain, the throne.

O let the Nameless Ones behold the girl given to them, who is verily the one born ever nameless. Let them accept her life and the years of her life until her death, which is also theirs. Let them find her acceptable. Let her be eaten!

Other voices, shrill and harsh as trumpets, replied: She is eaten! She is eaten!

The little girl stood looking from under her black cowl up at the throne. The jewels inset in the huge clawed arms and the back were glazed with dust, and on the carven back were cobwebs and whitish stains of owl droppings. The three highest steps directly before the throne, above the step on which she had knelt, had never been climbed by mortal feet. They were so thick with dust that they looked like one slant of grey soil, the planes of the red-veined marble wholly hidden by the unstirred, untrodden siftings of how many years, how many centuries.

She is eaten! She is eaten!

Now the drum, abrupt, began to sound again, beating a quicker pace.

Silent and shuffling, the procession formed and moved away from the throne, eastward toward the bright, distant square of the doorway. On either side, the thick double columns, like the calves of immense pale legs, went up to the dusk under the ceiling. Among the priestesses, and now all in black like them, the child walked, her small bare feet treading solemnly over the frozen weeds, the icy stones. When sunlight slanting through the ruined roof flashed across her way, she did not look up.

Guards held the great doors wide. The black procession came out into the thin, cold light and wind of early morning. The sun dazzled, swimming above the eastern vastness. Westward, the mountains caught its yellow light, as did the facade of the Hall of the Throne. The other buildings, lower on the hill, still lay in purplish shadow, except for the Temple of the God-Brothers across the way on a little knoll: its roof, newly gilt, flashed the day back in glory. The black line of priestesses, four by four, wound down the Hill of the Tombs, and as they went they began softly to chant. The tune was on three notes only, and the word that was repeated over and over was a word so old it had lost its meaning, like a signpost still standing when the road is gone. Over and over they chanted the empty word. All that day of the Remaking of the Priestess was filled with the low chanting of women’s voices, a dry unceasing drone.

The little girl was taken from room to room, from temple to temple. In one place salt was placed upon her tongue; in another she knelt facing west while her hair was cut short and washed with oil and scented vinegar; in another she lay facedown on a slab of black marble behind an altar while shrill voices sang a lament for the dead. Neither she nor any of the priestesses ate food or drank water all that day. As the evening star set, the little girl was put to bed, naked between sheepskin rugs, in a room she had never slept in before. It was in a house that had been locked for years, unlocked only that day. The room was higher than it was long, and had no windows. There was a dead smell in it, still and stale. The silent women left her there in the dark.

She held still, lying just as they had put her. Her eyes were wide open. She lay so for a long time.

She saw light shake on the high wall. Someone came quietly along the corridor, shielding a rushlight so it showed no more light than a firefly. A husky whisper: Ho, are you there, Tenar?

The child did not reply.

A head poked in the doorway, a strange head, hairless as a peeled potato, and of the same yellowish color. The eyes were like potato-eyes, brown and tiny. The nose was dwarfed by great, flat slabs of cheek, and the mouth was a lipless slit. The child stared unmoving at this face. Her eyes were large, dark, and fixed.

Ho, Tenar, my little honeycomb, there you are! The voice was husky, high as a woman’s voice but not a woman’s voice. I shouldn’t be here, I belong outside the door, on the porch, that’s where I go. But I had to see how my little Tenar is, after all the long day of it, eh, how’s my poor little honeycomb?

He moved toward her, noiseless and burly, and put out his hand as if to smooth back her hair.

I am not Tenar anymore, the child said, staring up at him. His hand stopped; he did not touch her.

No, he said, after a moment, whispering. I know. I know. Now you’re the little Eaten One. But I…

She said nothing.

It was a hard day for a little one, the man said, shuffling, the tiny light flickering in his big yellow hand.

You should not be in this House, Manan.

No. No. I know. I shouldn’t be in this House. Well, good night, little one…. Good night.

The child said nothing. Manan slowly turned around and went away. The glimmer died from the high cell walls.

The little girl, who had no name anymore but Arha, the Eaten One, lay on her back looking steadily at the dark.

CHAPTER 2

THE WALL AROUND THE PLACE

AS SHE GREW OLDER SHE lost all remembrance of her mother, without knowing she had lost it. She belonged here, at the Place of the Tombs; she had always belonged here. Only sometimes in the long evenings of July as she watched the western mountains, dry and lion-colored in the afterglow of sunset, she would think of a fire that had burned on a hearth, long ago, with the same clear yellow light. And with this came a memory of being held, which was strange, for here she was seldom even touched; and the memory of a pleasant smell, the fragrance of hair freshly washed and rinsed in sage-scented water, fair long hair, the color of sunset and firelight. That was all she had left.

She knew more than she remembered, of course, for she had been told the whole story. When she was seven or eight years old, and first beginning to wonder who indeed this person called Arha was, she had gone to her guardian, the Warden Manan, and said, Tell me how I was chosen, Manan.

Oh, you know all that, little one.

And indeed she did; the tall, dry-voiced priestess Thar had told her till she knew the words by heart, and she recited them: Yes, I know. At the death of the One Priestess of the Tombs of Atuan, the ceremonies of burial and purification are completed within one month by the moon’s calendar. After this certain of the Priestesses and Wardens of the Place of the Tombs go forth across the desert, among the towns and villages of Atuan, seeking and asking. They seek the girl-child who was born on the night of the Priestess’s death. When they find such a child, they wait and they watch. The child must be sound of body and of mind, and as it grows it must not suffer from rickets nor the smallpox nor any deformity, nor become blind. If it reaches the age of five years unblemished, then it is known that the body of the child is indeed the new body of the Priestess who died. And the child is made known to the Godking in Awabath, and brought here to her Temple and instructed for a year. And at the year’s end she is taken to the Hall of the Throne and her name is given back to those who are her Masters, the Nameless Ones: for she is the nameless one, the Priestess Ever Reborn.

This was all word for word as Thar had told her, and she had never dared ask for a word more. The thin priestess was not cruel, but she was very cold and lived by an iron law, and Arha was in awe of her. But she was not in awe of Manan, far from it, and she would command him, "Now tell me how I was chosen!" And he would tell her again.

We left here, going north and west, in the third day of the moon’s waxing; for Arha-that-was had died in the third day of the last moon. And first we went to Tenacbah, which is a great city, though those who’ve seen both say it’s no more to Awabath than a flea to a cow. But it’s big enough for me, there must be ten hundred houses in Tenacbah! And we went on to Gar. But nobody in those cities had a baby girl born to them on the third day of the moon a month before; there were some had boys, but boys won’t do…. So we went into the hill country north of Gar, to the towns and villages. That’s my own land. I was born in the hills there, where the rivers run, and the land is green. Not in this desert. Manan’s husky voice would get a strange sound when he said that, and his small eyes would be quite hidden in their folds;

Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1