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.