the belgariad pawn of prophecy 2

Three leagues to the north, Belgarath heard the wailing from the city

and knew that Torak had awakened. "Now will he come after us," he said,

"and only the power of the Orb can save us. When the hosts are upon us,

Iron-grip, take the Orb and hold it so they may see it."

The hosts of Angarak came, with Torak himself in the forefront, but

Riva held forth the Orb so that the maimed God and his hosts might

behold it. The Orb knew its enemy. Its hatred flamed anew, and the sky

became alight with its fury. Torak cried out and turned away. The front

ranks of the Angarak hosts were consumed by fire, and the rest fled in

terror.

Thus Belgarath and his companions escaped from Mallorea and passed

again through the marches of the north, bearing the Orb of Aldur once

more into the Kingdoms of the West.

Now the Gods, knowing all that had passed, held council, and Aldur

advised them, "If we raise war again upon our brother Torak, our strife

will destroy the world. Thus we must absent ourselves from the world so

that our brother may not find us. No longer in flesh, but in spirit only

may we remain to guide and protect our people. For the world's sake it

must be so. In the day that we war again, the world will be unmade."

The Gods wept that they must depart. But Chaldan, Bull-God of the

Arends, asked, "In our absence, shall not Torak have dominion?"

"Not so," Aldur replied. "So long as the Orb remains with the line of Riva Iron-grip, Torak shall not prevail."

So it was that the Gods departed, and only Torak remained. But the

knowledge that the Orb in the hand of Riva denied him dominion cankered

his soul.

Then Belgarath spoke with Cherek and his sons. "Here we must part, to

guard the Orb and to prepare against the coming of Torak. Let each turn

aside as I have instructed and make preparations."

"We will, Belgarath," vowed Cherek Bear-shoulders. "From this day,

Aloria is no more, but the Alorns will deny dominion to Torak as long as

one Alorn remains."

Belgarath raised his face. "Hear me, Torak One-eye," he cried. "The

living Orb is secure against thee, and thou shalt not prevail against

it. In the day that thou comest against us, I shall raise war against

thee. I will maintain watch upon thee by day and by night and will abide

against thy coming, even to the end of days."

In the wastelands of Mallorea, Kal-Torak heard the voice of Belgarath

and smote about him in fury, for he knew that the living Orb was

forever beyond his reach.

Then Cherek embraced his sons and turned away, to see them no more.

Dras went north and dwelt in the lands drained by River Mrin. He built a

city at Boktor and called his lands Drasnia. And he and his descendants

stood athwart the northern marches and denied them to the enemy. Algar

went south with his people and found horses on the broad plains drained

by Aldur River. The horses they tamed and learned to ride for the first

time in the history of man, mounted warriors appeared. Their country

they called Algaria, and they became nomads, following their herds.

Cherek returned sadly to Val Alorn and renamed his kingdom Cherek, for

now he was alone and without sons. Grimly he built tall ships of war to

patrol the seas and deny them to the enemy.

Upon the bearer of the Orb, however, fell the burden of the longest

journey. Taking his people, Riva went to the west coast of Sendaria.

There he built ships, and he and his people crossed to the Isle of the

Winds. They burned their ships and built a fortress and a walled city

around it. The city they called Riva and the fortress the Hall of the

Rivan King. Then Belar, God of the Alorns, caused two iron stars to fall

from the sky. Riva took up the stars and forged a blade from one and a

hilt from the other, setting the Orb upon it as a pommel-stone. So large

was the sword that none but Riva could wield it. In the wasteland of

Mallorea, Kal-Torak felt in his soul the forging of the sword and he

tasted fear for the first time.

The sword was set against the black rock that stood at the back of

Riva's throne, with the Orb at the highest point, and the sword joined

to the rock so that none but Riva could remove it. The Orb burned with

cold fire when Riva sat upon the throne. And when he took down his sword

and raised it, it became a great tongue of cold fire.

The greatest wonder of all was the marking of Riva's heir. In each

generation, one child in the line of Riva bore upon the palm of his

right hand the mark of the Orb. The child so marked was taken to the

throne chamber, and his hand was placed upon the Orb, so that it might

know him. With each infant touch, the Orb waxed in brilliance, and the

bond between the living Orb and the line of Riva became stronger with

each joining.

After Belgarath had parted from his companions, he hastened to the

Vale of Aldur. But there he found that Poledra, his wife, had borne twin

daughters and then had died. In sorrow he named the elder Polgara. Her

hair was dark as the raven's wing. In the fashion of sorcerers, he

stretched forth his hand to lay it upon her brow, and a single lock at

her forehead turned frost-white at his touch. Then he was troubled, for

the white lock was the mark of the sorcerers, and Polgara was the first

female child to be so marked.

His second daughter, fair-skinned and golden-haired, was unmarked. He

called her Beldaran, and he and her dark-haired sister loved her beyond

all else and contended with each other for her affection.

Now when Polgara and Beldaran had reached their sixteenth year, the

Spirit of Aldur came to Belgarath in a dream, saying, "My beloved

disciple, I would join thy house with the house of the guardian of the

Orb. Choose, therefore, which of thy daughters thou wilt give to the

Rivan King to be his wife and the mother of his line, for in that line

lies the hope of the world, against which the dark power of Torak may

not prevail."

In the deep silence of his soul, Belgarath was tempted to choose

Polgara. But, knowing the burden which lay upon the Rivan King, he sent

Beldaran instead, and wept when she was gone. Polgara wept also, long

and bitterly, knowing that her sister must fade and die. In time,

however, they comforted each other and came at last to know each other.

They joined their powers to keep watch over Torak. And some men say

that they abide still, keeping their vigil through all the uncounted

centuries.

PART ONE - SENDARIA

Chapter One

THE FIRST THING the boy Garion remebered was the kitchen at Faldor's

farm. For all the rest of his life he had a special warm feeling for

kitchens and those peculiar sounds and smells that seemed somehow to

combine into a bustling seriousness that had to do with love and food

and comfort and security and, above all, home. No matter how high Garion

rose in life, he never forgot that all his memories began in that

kitchen.The kitchen at Faldor's farm was a large, low-beamed room filled

with ovens and kettles and great spits that turned slowly in cavernlike

arched fireplaces. There were long, heavy worktables where bread was

kneaded into loaves and chickens were cut up and carrots and celery were

diced with quick, crisp rocking movements of long, curved knives. When

Garion was very small, he played under those tables and soon learned to

keep his fingers and toes out from under the feet of the kitchen helpers

who worked around them. And sometimes in the late afternoon when he

grew tired, he would lie in a corner and stare into one of the

flickering fires that gleamed and reflected back from the hundred

polished pots and knives and long-handled spoons that hung from pegs

along the whitewashed walls and, all bemused, he would drift off into

sleep in perfect peace and harmony with all the world around him.