Enchanters' End Game

by Eddings, David

  ‘Is this all the farther you’ve managed to come?’ he demanded harshly of Belgarath. ‘What have you been doing – stopping at every tavern along the way?’

  ‘We ran into a small delay,’ Belgarath replied calmly.

  Beldin grunted with a sour look. ‘If you keep dawdling along like this, it will take you the rest of the year to get to Cthol Mishrak.’

  ‘We’ll get there, Beldin. You worry too much.’

  ‘Somebody has to. You’re being followed, you know.’

  ‘How far back are they?’

  ‘Five leagues or so.’

  Belgarath shrugged. ‘That’s far enough. They’ll give up when we get to Morindland.’

  ‘What if they don’t?’

  ‘Have you been spending time with Polgara lately?’ Belgarath asked dryly. ‘I thought I’d gotten away from all the “what-ifs.”’

  Beldin shrugged, a gesture made grotesque by the hump on his back. ‘I saw her last week,’ he reported. ‘She has some interesting plans for you, you know.’

  ‘She came to the Vale?’ Belgarath sounded surprised.

  ‘Passed through. She was with the red-haired girl’s army.’

  Garion threw off his blanket. ‘With whose army?’ he demanded.

  ‘What’s going on down there?’ Belgarath asked sharply.

  Beldin scratched at his tangled hair. ‘I never really got the straight of it,’ he admitted. ‘All I know is that the Alorns are following that little redheaded Tolnedran. She calls herself the Rivan Queen – whatever that means.’

  ‘Ce’Nedra?’ Garion was incredulous, though, for some reason, he knew that he shouldn’t be.

  ‘I guess she went through Arendia like a pestilence,’ Beldin continued. ‘After she passed, there wasn’t an able-bodied man left in the kingdom. Then she went on down into Tolnedra and goaded her father into convulsions – I didn’t know that he was subject to fits.’

  ‘It crops up in the Borune line once in a while,’ Belgarath said. ‘It’s nothing all that serious, but they try to keep it quiet.’

  ‘Anyway,’ the hunchback went on, ‘while Ran Borune was still frothing at the mouth, his daughter stole his legions. She’s persuaded about half the world to take up arms and follow her.’ He gave Garion a quizzical look. ‘You’re supposed to marry her, aren’t you?’

  Garion nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

  Beldin grinned suddenly. ‘You might want to give some thought to running away.’

  ‘Ce’Nedra?’ Garion blurted again.

  ‘His wits seem a bit scrambled,’ Beldin observed.

  ‘He’s been under a strain, and his nerves aren’t too good just now,’ Belgarath replied. ‘Are you going back to the Vale?’

  Beldin nodded. ‘The twins and I are going to join Polgara when the campaign starts. She might need some help if the Grolims come at her in force.’

  ‘Campaign?’ Belgarath exclaimed. ‘What campaign? I told them just to march up and down and make a lot of noise. I specifically told them not to invade.’

  ‘They ignored you, it seems. Alorns aren’t noted for restraint in such matters. Apparently they got together and decided to take steps. The fat one seems fairly intelligent. He wants to get a Cherek fleet into the Sea of the East to commit a few constructive atrocities on Mallorean shipping. The rest of it seems to be pretty much diversionary.’

  Belgarath started to swear. ‘You can’t let them out of your sight for a single instant,’ he raged. ‘How could Polgara lend herself to this idiocy?’

  ‘The plan does have a certain merit, Belgarath. The more Malloreans they drown now, the fewer we have to fight later.’

  ‘We never planned to fight them, Beldin. The Angaraks won’t unite unless Torak comes back to weld them together again – or unless they’re faced with a common enemy. We just talked with Drosta lek Thun, the Nadrak King, and he’s so sure that the Murgos and the Malloreans are about to go to war with each other that he wants to ally himself with the west just to get clear of it. When you get back, see if you can talk some sense into Rhodar and Anheg. I’ve got enough problems already.’

  ‘Your problems are only starting, Belgarath. The twins had a visitation a couple days ago.’

  ‘A what?’

  Beldin shrugged. ‘What else would you call it? They were working on something – quite unrelated to all this – and the pair of them suddenly went into a trance and began to babble at me. At first they were just repeating that gibberish from the Mrin Codex – you know the place – where the Mrin Prophet’s mind broke down and he degenerated into animal noises for a while. Anyway, they went back over that part – only this time it came out coherently.’

  ‘What did they say?’ Belgarath demanded, his eyes burning.

  ‘Are you sure you want to know?’

  ‘Of course I want to know.’

  ‘All right. It went like this: “Behold, the heart of the stone shall relent, and the beauty that was destroyed shall be restored, and the eye that is not shall be made whole again.”’

  Belgarath stared at him. ‘That’s it?’ he asked.

  ‘That’s it,’ Beldin told him.

  ‘But what does it mean?’ Garion asked.

  ‘Just what it says, Belgarion,’ Beldin replied. ‘For some reason the Orb is going to restore Torak.’

  Garion began to tremble as the full impact of Beldin’s words struck him. ‘Torak’s going to win, then,’ he said numbly.

  ‘It didn’t say anything about winning or losing, Belgarion,’ Beldin corrected him. ‘All it said was that the Orb is going to undo what it did to Torak when he used it to crack the world. It doesn’t say anything about why.’

  ‘That’s always been the trouble with the Prophecy,’ Belgarath observed. ‘It can mean any one of a dozen different things.’

  ‘Or all of them,’ Beldin added. ‘That’s what makes it so difficult to understand sometimes. We tend to concentrate on just one thing, but Prophecy includes everything at the same time. I’ll work on it and see if I can wring some sense out of it. If I come up with anything, I’ll let you know. I’d better be getting back.’ He leaned slightly forward and curled his arms out in a vaguely winglike gesture. ‘Watch out for the Morindim,’ he told Belgarath. ‘You’re a fair sorcerer, but magic’s altogether different, and sometimes it gets away from you.’

  ‘I think I can handle it if I have to,’ Belgarath replied tartly.

  ‘Maybe,’ Beldin said. ‘If you can manage to stay sober.’ He shimmered back into the form of the hawk, beat his wings twice, and spiraled up out of the clearing and into the sky. Garion watched him until he was only a circling speck.

  ‘That was a strange visit,’ Silk said, rolling out of his blankets. ‘It looks as if quite a bit’s been going on since we left.’

  ‘And none of it very good,’ Belgarath added sourly. ‘Let’s get moving. We’re really going to have to hurry now. If Anheg gets his fleet into the Sea of the East and starts sinking Mallorean troop ships, ’Zakath might decide to march north and come across the land bridge. If we don’t get there first, it could get very crowded up there.’ The old man scowled darkly. ‘I’d like to put my hands on your uncle just about now,’ he added. ‘I’d sweat a few pounds off him.’

  They quickly saddled their horses and rode back along the edge of the sunlit forest toward the road leading north.

  Despite the rather lame assurances of the two sorcerers, Garion rode slumped in despair. They were going to lose, and Torak was going to kill him.

  ‘Stop feeling so sorry for yourself,’ the inner voice told him finally.

  ‘Why did you get me into this?’ Garion demanded bitterly.

  ‘We’ve discussed that before.’

  ‘He’s going to kill me.’

  ‘What gives you that idea?’

  ‘That’s what the Prophecy said.’ Garion stopped abruptly as a thought occurred to him. ‘You said it yourself. You’re the Prophecy, aren’t you?’

  ‘It’s a misle
ading term – and I didn’t say anything about winning or losing.’

  ‘Isn’t that what it means?’

  ‘No. It means exactly what it says.’

  ‘What else could it mean?’

  ‘You’re getting more stubborn every day. Stop worrying so much about meanings and just do what you have to do. You almost had it right, back there.’

  ‘If all you’re going to do is talk in riddles, why bother with it at all? Why go to all the trouble of saying things that nobody’s able to understand?’

  ‘Because it’s necessary to say it. The word determines the event. The word puts limits on the event and shapes it. Without the word, the event is merely a random happening. That’s the whole purpose of what you call prophecy – to separate the significant from the random.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘I didn’t think you would, but you asked, after all. Now stop worrying about it. It has nothing to do with you.’

  Garion wanted to protest, but the voice was gone. The conversation, however, had made him feel a little better – not much, but a little. To take his mind off it, he pulled his horse in beside Belgarath’s as they reentered the forest on the far side of the burn. ‘Exactly who are the Morindim, Grandfather?’ he asked. ‘Everybody keeps talking about them as if they were terribly dangerous.’

  ‘They are,’ Belgarath replied, ‘but you can get through their country if you’re careful.’

  ‘Are they on Torak’s side?’

  ‘The Morindim aren’t on anybody’s side. They don’t even live in the same world with us.’

  ‘I don’t follow that.’

  ‘The Morindim are like the Ulgos used to be – before UL accepted them. There were several groups of Godless Ones. They all wandered off in various directions. The Ulgos went to the west, the Morindim went north. Other groups went south or east and disappeared.’

  ‘Why didn’t they just stay where they were?’

  ‘They couldn’t. There’s a kind of compulsion involved in the decisions of the Gods. Anyway, the Ulgos finally found themselves a God. The Morindim didn’t. The compulsion to remain separated from other people is still there. They live in that treeless emptiness up there beyond the north range – small nomadic bands, mostly.’

  ‘What did you mean when you said that they don’t live in the same world with us?’

  ‘The world is a pretty terrible place for a Morind – a demon-haunted place. They worship devils and they live more in dreams than they do in reality. Their society is dominated by the dreamers and the magicians.’

  ‘There aren’t really any devils, are there?’ Garion asked skeptically.

  ‘Oh, yes. The devils are very real.’

  ‘Where do they come from?’

  Belgarath shrugged. ‘I haven’t any idea. They do exist, though, and they’re completely evil. The Morindim control them by the use of magic.’

  ‘Magic? Is that different from what we do?’

  ‘Quite a bit. We’re sorcerers – at least that’s what we’re called. What we do involves the Will and the Word, but that’s not the only way to do things.’

  ‘I don’t quite follow.’

  ‘It’s not really all that complicated, Garion. There are several ways to tamper with the normal order of things. Vordai’s a witch. What she does involves the use of spirits – usually benign, mischievous sometimes – but not actually wicked. A magician uses devils – evil spirits.’

  ‘Isn’t that sort of dangerous?’

  Belgarath nodded. ‘Very dangerous,’ he replied. ‘The magician tries to control the demon with spells – formulas, incantations, symbols, mystic diagrams – that sort of thing. As long as he doesn’t make any mistakes, the demon is his absolute slave and has to do what he tells it to do. The demon doesn’t want to be a slave, so it keeps looking for a way to break the spell.’

  ‘What happens if it does?’

  ‘It generally devours the magician on the spot. That happens rather frequently. If you lose your concentration or summon a demon too strong for you, you’re in trouble.’

  ‘What did Beldin mean when he said that you weren’t very good at magic?’ Silk asked.

  ‘I’ve never spent that much time trying to learn about it,’ the old sorcerer replied. ‘I have alternatives, after all, and magic is dangerous and not very dependable.’

  ‘Don’t use it then,’ Silk suggested.

  ‘I hadn’t really planned to. Usually the threat of magic is enough to keep the Morindim at a distance. Actual confrontations are rather rare.’

  ‘I can see why.’

  ‘After we get through the north range, we’ll disguise ourselves. There are a number of markings and symbols that will make the Morindim avoid us.’

  ‘That sounds promising.’

  ‘Of course we have to get there first,’ the old man pointed out. ‘Let’s pick up the pace a bit. We’ve still got a long way to go.’ And he pushed his horse into a gallop.

  Chapter Seven

  They rode hard for the better part of a week, moving steadily northward and avoiding the scattered settlements which dotted the Nadrak forest. Garion noticed that the nights grew steadily shorter; by the time they reached the foothills of the north range, darkness had virtually disappeared. Evening and morning merged into a few hours of luminous twilight as the sun dipped briefly below the horizon before bursting into view once more.

  The north range marked the upper edge of the Nadrak forest. It was not so much a mountainous region as it was a string of peaks, a long finger of upthrusting terrain reaching out toward the east from the broad ranges that formed the spine of the continent. As they rode up a scarcely defined trail toward a saddle that stretched between two snowy peaks, the trees around them grew more stunted and finally disappeared entirely. Beyond that point, there would be no more trees. Belgarath stopped at the edge of one of these last groves and cut a half-dozen long saplings.

  The wind that came down off the peaks had a bitter chill to it and the arid smell of perpetual winter. When they reached the boulder-strewn summit, Garion looked out for the first time at the immense plain stretching below. The plain, unmarked by trees, was covered with tall grass that bent before the vagrant wind in long, undulating waves. Rivers wandered aimlessly across that emptiness, and a thousand shallow lakes and ponds scattered, blue and glistening under a northern sun, toward the horizon.

  ‘How far does it reach?’ Garion asked quietly.

  ‘From here to the polar ice,’ Belgarath replied. ‘Several hundred leagues.’

  ‘And no-one lives out there but the Morindim?’

  ‘Nobody wants to. For most of the year, it’s buried in snow and darkness. You can go for six months up here without ever seeing the sun.’

  They rode down the rocky slope toward the plain and found a low-roofed, shallow cave at the base of the granite cliff that seemed to be the demarcation line between the mountains and the foothills. ‘We’ll stop here for a while,’ Belgarath told them, reining in his tired mount. ‘We’ve got some preparations to make, and the horses need some rest.’

  They were all kept quite busy for the next several days while Belgarath radically altered their appearances. Silk set crude traps among the maze of rabbit runs twisting through the tall grass, and Garion roamed the foothills in search of certain tuberous roots and a peculiar-smelling white flower. Belgarath sat at the mouth of the cave, fashioning various implements from his saplings. The roots Garion had gathered yielded a dark brown stain, and Belgarath carefully applied it to their skins. ‘The Morindim are dark-skinned,’ he explained as he sat painting Silk’s arms and back with the stain. ‘Somewhat darker than Tolnedrans or Nyissans. This will wear off after a few weeks, but it will last long enough to get us through.’

  After he had stained all their skins into swarthiness, he crushed the odd-smelling flowers to produce a jet black ink. ‘Silk’s hair is the right color already,’ he said, ‘and mine will get by, but Garion’s just won’t do.’ He dilute
d some of the ink with water and dyed Garion’s sandy hair black. ‘That’s better,’ he grunted when he had finished, ‘and there’s enough left for the tattoos.’

  ‘Tattoos?’ Garion asked, startled at the thought.

  ‘The Morindim decorate themselves extensively.’

  ‘Will it hurt?’

  ‘We’re not really going to tattoo ourselves, Garion,’ Belgarath told him with a pained look. ‘They take too long to heal. Besides, I’m afraid your Aunt would go into hysterics if I took you back to her with designs engraved all over you. This ink will last long enough for us to get through Morindland. It will wear off – eventually.’

  Silk was sitting cross-legged in front of the cave, looking for all the world like a tailor as he sewed fresh rabbit pelts to their clothing.

  ‘Won’t they start to smell after a few days?’ Garion asked, wrinkling his nose.

  ‘Probably,’ Silk admitted, ‘but I don’t have time to cure the pelts.’

  Later, as Belgarath was carefully drawing the tattoos on their faces, he explained the guise they were going to assume. ‘Garion will be the quester,’ he said.

  ‘What’s that?’ Garion asked.

  ‘Don’t move your face,’ Belgarath told him, frowning as he drew lines under Garion’s eyes with a raven-feather quill. ‘The quest is a Morind ritual. It’s customary for a young Morind of a certain rank to undertake a quest before he assumes a position of authority in his clan. You’ll wear a white fur headband and carry that red spear I fixed up for you. It’s ceremonial,’ he cautioned, ‘so don’t try to stab anybody with it. That’s very bad form.’

  ‘I’ll remember that.’

  ‘We’ll disguise your sword to look like some sort of relic or something. A magician might see past the Orb’s suggestion that it’s not there – depending on how good he is. One other thing – the quester is absolutely forbidden to speak under any circumstances, so keep your mouth shut. Silk will be your dreamer. He’ll wear a white fur band on his left arm. Dreamers speak in riddles and gibberish for the most part, and they tend to fall into trances and have fits.’ He glanced over at Silk. ‘Do you think you can handle that?’