There was a muffled thunder in the sky, and there would be such a big thunder on such a winter day, so that many people couldn't help but raise their heads and look at the top of their heads with confused eyes.

The clouds were thick, and it seemed that behind each large lead cloud was a huge storm and thunderstorm, and just waiting for the thunder and lightning to break through the clouds, a downpour would fall head-on.

An old man walked with some difficulty on the slightly steep cliff, and although the wind from the sea could blow him up or down the cliff at any moment, he still stubbornly staggered forward until he came to a very steep cliff.

The huge waves under the cliff kept lapping the pitch-black reef, and the waves smashed on the hard stones, and instantly shattered into countless white foam to cover the entire reef surface, and then there was a rapid leak along the gap between the reefs into the hollow that had been corroded and hollowed out by the sea water for thousands of years, and then surged and retreated into the sea.

The old man was dressed in a thick monastic robe, and he looked like a bat with its wings flapping on the cliff, and when he stood cautiously on the edge of the cliff and looked down, the hood on his head was blown off, revealing an old head like a shriveled orange that had been dehydrated for many years.

"That's it, poor Modillo is here to lose his life," the old man babbled, his hands shaking, but not only because he was too old, but also because his heart was not at all at peace, "God forgive me for my sins, I am old enough, I will soon go to God, Modillo, will you forgive me?" ”

The old man groped and tried to sit down, but when he touched the uneven stone on the ground, he suddenly withdrew his hand as if it had been burned by fire, and then took two steps back.

"That's right, that's it, that Kunto broke poor Modillo's head here, once, twice, three times, he's really ruthless."

The old man kept talking to himself, and then he finally sat down on crutches, looking at the undulating sea in the distance with a confused look.

Abbot St. Sebaaron no longer remembers how many times he had visited the cliff.

At first he was terrified of this place, because here he not only saw it with his own eyes, but also participated in a terrible murder.

So the cliff outside the back wall of the monastery became the abbot's greatest fear, and he was even reluctant to walk under the wall near the cliff for a while.

But gradually, this fear turned into an unforgettable torment, and every day he couldn't help but look at the wall, imagining what happened on the edge of the cliff outside the wall late that night.

Until one day he crept up to this cliff as if he could not resist some temptation, and looked at the craggy cliff and the undulating waters below, and the abbot felt that he had been tempted by the devil at that moment.

From then on, the abbot would come to the edge of the cliff alone from time to time, recalling the scene again and again, and even forcing himself to sit down and breathe in the salty and damp sea breeze with his throat, which he had little strength, as if trying to discern the strong smell of blood from it, which he would never finish.

Especially when the weather is like this, the abbot remembers what happened on the same cloudy winter day more than 20 years ago.

"You were sent to St. Sebaon on such an afternoon," said the abbot in a low voice to a raised reef, in fact, it was so dark that night and so panicked, he didn't remember if Giorgio Modillo had fallen on the edge of this reef, and he couldn't remember the large and small stones that he was so afraid of every time, which was the murder weapon that killed Modillo, "You were so little at that time," the abbot raised his hand and compared, and then pulled his robe tightly to keep himself warm. You looked like an angel at the time, and although I knew you were an illegitimate child, no one disliked you. ”

The dean laughed, his gray eyebrows trembled with his cheeks that were purple from the cold, he felt that he couldn't stand the cold, so he got up and began to run wildly around the reef, but he didn't run a few steps before he fell crooked on the rock, and then he immediately panicked and crawled away from the reef, and sat on the ground panting.

"You know it's not that I'm going to kill you," the dean's voice was slurred, and he stared at the reef and kept repeating his defense, "You know you're demon-possessed, you're a madman, no one likes a madman, and the person who sent you here wouldn't want to see a madman in more than 20 years, so it's good for everyone that you're dead." ”

The dean couldn't stop panting, he tried to stand up but fell down because of the weakness under his feet, but he finally stood up carefully, looking at the sea under the cliff not far away, the dean took a breath, and then carefully walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

Even in the daytime, the hideous reef that can be seen faintly disappearing with the undulations of the sea is faintly visible, and even if a living person falls from here, it is difficult to escape being smashed to pieces by those reef edges, let alone a person who has been stoned before.

"Are you dead?" The abbot muttered to himself, and after a moment he shook his head, "No, you're not dead, you followed that quinto to Palermo, so Giorre Mordillo is still alive, yes, you're still alive......"

The abbot kept moaning as if he were self-hypnotizing, and after a while he let out a strange laugh as if he was satisfied with himself, and then began to walk back slowly.

A loud wind blew from the sea, and the abbot was staggered by the wind, and the hood on his head covered his head and face, and after tearing off the hood indiscriminately, the abbot couldn't help but look back at the sea where the wind was blowing, and cursed in a low voice: "This is a hell of weather." ”

The clouds of the already gloomy distant sea, which were already dark, seemed to have finally completed their final rites, as lightning pierced through the clouds, and large torrential rains fell from the sky through the clouds, mixed with the same wind and waves that suddenly became more intense from far and near towards the shore.

And in the distance, a ship was swept up and down in the waves, rising and falling with the waves on the sea, the towering bow sometimes sinking and sometimes lofty, and the hull seemed to be subverting and sinking at any moment in the incessant swaying from side to side.

"Poor fellows, maybe they really need God to bless them." The abbot did not pray to God to help the people on the boat, as he usually did as a pious clergyman, but said it in a leisurely tone, and walked with great difficulty behind the cliff with crutches.

The ship on the sea was still struggling in the wind and waves, although it was very close to the shore, but this distance that seemed not far away was unreachable because of the sudden change of weather on the sea, although the sails were completely blown up by the sea breeze, but the huge wind blew the boat to the east and west, and even the bow of the ship was still twisting, as if it was being pulled far from the shore.

"Hold the tail sail!" Standing on the deck, an old sailor who tied himself to a handle with a rope kept yelling, "Don't be discouraged, we'll be able to rush out soon, and we'll be in front of us." ”

"This storm came so suddenly, maybe God doesn't want us to go ashore!"

A sailor staggered under his feet and shouted loudly, and he hit the old sailor headfirst, but before he could apologize, the veteran water grabbed the collar and pushed him away.

"Maybe God doesn't want you to go ashore, but he will let me go," the old sailor shouted, and then turned his head to look at the monastery on the high cliff in the distance, "because this is my home, have you ever heard that God will not let anyone return to his home?" ”

After saying that, the old sailor opened his hand and shouted loudly to the shore: "Calibo, I'm back!" Old Jonini is back! ”

The wind and waves continued to rage, but the ship remained stubbornly in the direction of the port of Calipo.

I don't know how long later, when the sudden storm finally rushed inland with a hurricane and a large amount of rain, the big ship that had escaped the entanglement of the wind and waves slowly sailed on the sea that had gradually calmed down, and slowly moved in the direction of Calibo Harbor.

"It's finally time to go ashore, and the only thing I want to do now is have a good drink after I get ashore." A sailor leaned wearily on the side of the boat and looked at the shore that was becoming clear in the distance.

"And I'll get a pretty woman to sleep with," said the other sailor, with a lewd smile on his dirty face, but as soon as he bared his yellow teeth, he sighed, and then looked at the shore and stood up straight and took off his hat, "God forgive me, there is a monastery." ”

"You actually said such obscene things near the holy monastery, hurry up and ask God for forgiveness, otherwise you may not want to sleep with a woman in this life." The companion next to him shouted sarcastic, causing the surrounding sailors to laugh.

"Jonini, what is this monastery called?" The sailor, who felt that he had caused trouble, asked a little weakly, "Maybe I should contribute a sum of money to buy an atonement charm to atone for my sins, right, tell me that there is an amulet for sale?" ”

Giannini did not answer immediately, he walked to the side of the boat, propped himself on his elbows, and his eyes were fixed on the very clear monastery on the shore, from which he could even faintly see the height and ruggedness of the top of the high stone wall of the monastery facing the sea.

"There's no amania, it's a real monastery, and the people in it follow the strictest Benedict rules."

Giannini's words made the sailor seem a little depressed, even a little afraid, that people who have lived at sea for a long time, in the face of terrible nature, often because of the fear of the power of heaven and earth comes from God or any mysterious power.

Looking at his companion's depressed look, Jonini smiled, then turned his head to look at the monastery of St. Sebarong on the shore.

"There's really no amulet there, but there's something more interesting." Jonini muttered under his mouth.

Just then, there was a sound of footsteps coming from the back deck.

With a shout, the sailors immediately gathered together.

A man walked onto the deck, although he had just experienced a small storm, but the clothes on this man's body still looked very neat and clean, as if he had not been affected by the storm before.

Hubert van Groningen walked steadily on the deck at his feet, and a smile of relief appeared on the faces of the Lowlanders at the sight of the distant shore and the harbor already looming as they skirted the bay.

Then he turned to look at a man who was following him.

It was a man with black hair and a black beard, and he was dressed strangely, with a very wide blouse with two fat trouser legs and a trouser with a wide belt, and a turban that was a whole circle larger than his head, and on the outside of this dress was a splendid Sabarian tun studded with gold thread.

It was a typical oriental dress, one worn by an Ottoman aristocrat from across the Mediterranean.

This can be seen in the emeralds he used to hold his turban, in the ornate patterns on the scabbard of the scimitar that hung from his belt, and in the rings of various jewels on the ten fingers of his hands.

"Europa," the Oriental man's slightly strange accent sounded rather peculiar, his hand never stopping to beat the scimitar hanging from his waist, but there was no fear or wariness on his face, but a certain obvious excitement and curiosity, "Many of my ancestors have been here. ”

"I know," Hubert van Groningen nodded, listening to the man's point, and then said quietly, "Many of my ancestors have also been to the East, and even my family has produced two nobles who have been knighted in the Holy Land. ”

The Ottoman's dark eyes flashed with a glint of light, but instead of being angry, he looked at Hubert van Groningen with interest.

"Then maybe our forefathers did business or fought on the battlefield," the Ottoman looked at Groganin, "but that's all in the past, and now we're in Europa, at least I'm in Sicily now." ”

Grogenin nodded silently, he couldn't help but admit that this Ottoman was right, now Europe is facing the threat of the Ottoman Empire, the originally wide Mediterranean can no longer effectively protect Europe, and the fall of the great capital city that has been called Istanbul indicates that the narrow Borphorus Strait is no longer regarded as a natural barrier separating the East and the West.

All this seems to be exactly as the Ottoman nobleman next to him said, although the two sides have fought against each other for centuries, and each other has won and lost, but now it is this Ottoman who has come to Europe with the attitude of a conqueror.

And he had seen with his own eyes the almost invincible army of the Ottomans and their terrible fleet, ready to cross the sea at any time.

"I hope you enjoy this trip, esteemed Ashulk," Grogenin bowed slightly, "and when we have repaired in this place called Kalibo, we will go to Rome, I only hope that you will bring real peace to the Sultan this time." ”