Belgarath the Sorcerer (33 page)

‘Not exactly. Have you ever gotten around to learning Old Angarak?'

‘I don't waste my time on dead languages, Belgarath.'

‘It's not entirely dead. The people at Cthol Mishrak spoke a corrupted version of it. Anyway, the word “Murgo” meant nobleman or warrior in Old Angarak. Evidently these Murgos are the people who were the aristocrats in Cthol Mishrak.'

‘What does “Thull” mean?'

‘Serf - or maybe peasant. The distinction's a little vague in Angarak society. You should know that, Beldin. You've spent more time in Mallorea than I have.'

‘I wasn't there to socialize. The second wave of Angaraks settled to the north of the Murgos. They call themselves Thulls, and they're supplying the Murgos with food. The third wave's moving into what used to be eastern Aloria -
that big forest up there. They've been calling themselves Nadraks.'

‘Townsmen,' I translated for him, ‘the merchant class. Are the Alorns doing anything about this?'

‘Not really. You spread them a little thin. Bull-neck
talks
about expeditions in the east, but he doesn't have the manpower. Algar probably couldn't do very much about it, because the eastern escarpment blocks his access to that part of the continent.'

‘We'd better see if we can make contact with the Master when we get back to the Vale. This migration's got a very specific reason behind it. As long as the Angaraks stayed in Mallorea, they weren't any problem. They're establishing a presence on this side of the Sea of the East so that they can bring in the Grolims. We might want to chase those Murgos, Nadraks, and Thulls back to where they came from.'

‘Another war?'

‘If we have to. I don't think we want Grolims on this continent if we can prevent it.'

‘Astonishing,' he said.

‘What is?'

‘Your mind still works. I thought that maybe you'd broken it during the course of the last dozen years.'

‘I came close. Another few years in Camaar probably would have turned the trick. I was drinking everything in sight.'

‘So I heard. What finally persuaded you to dry out?'

‘The Master paid me a call. I sobered up in a hurry after that and left Camaar. I went down through Arendia and Tolnedra - you know about all that if you've been trailing me. Did the Dryads cause you any problems when you went through their woods?'

‘I didn't see a one of them.'

‘Maybe it's the wrong time of year. They
definitely
interrupted my trip.'

‘Oh?'

‘It was during their breeding season.'

‘That must have been exciting.'

‘Did you talk with Salmissra at all when you went through Sthiss Tor?'

‘Briefly. There was a lot of turmoil in Sthiss Tor when I passed through there. Somebody'd just butchered all the high-level palace eunuchs.'

I laughed delightedly. ‘Good girl!' I said.

‘What are you talking about, Belgarath?'

‘This particular Salmissra's actually got a mind. She made the mistake of letting the palace eunuchs find out about it, though. They were planning to assassinate her, and I suggested a way for her to remove that particular danger. Did she get them all?'

‘From what I heard, she did.'

‘That's probably why it took her so long. She's a very thorough young lady, now. What's Torak doing at Ashaba? Salmissra told me that he'd gone there.'

‘From what I hear, he's having religious experiences. He's been caught up in a kind of ecstasy for the past ten years or so. He's babbling all sorts of obscure pronouncements. Urvon's got a team of Grolims at Ashaba taking down every word. They're calling those ravings “the Ashabine Oracles”. In fact, there's been an outbreak of lunacy lately. Bull-neck's got a crazy man chained to a post a few miles to the west of Boktor, with scribes copying down the poor fellow's every word.'

‘Good. I told him to do that. Just before the Master left, he told me that we were going to be getting our instructions from prophecy now instead of receiving them directly. This is the Age of Prophecy.'

‘You sound like a Dal when you talk about ages that way.'

‘Evidently the Dals know something we don't. I think we'll need a copy of that transcription Dras is having set down, and we'd better pass the word to the other kingdoms to start paying attention to crazy people.' I paused. ‘How
are the girls?' I asked, trying to make it sound casual.

‘Older. You've been gone for quite a while.'

‘They must be about ten years old by now.'

‘Thirteen, actually. Their birthday was just this past winter.'

‘It'll be good to see them again.'

‘Don't get your heart set on a warm reunion, Belgarath. Beldaran might be happy to see you, but you're
not
one of Polgara's favorite people.'

That turned out to be a gross understatement.

Beldin and I traveled out of Maragor and crossed the Tolnedran mountains to the Vale. We didn't particularly hurry. My grotesque little brother's observations about Polgara had made me slightly apprehensive about meeting her - fully justified, as it turned out.

I'd missed the serenity of the Vale during those vagabond years, and a profound sense of peace came over me as we came down out of the mountains and looked once more upon our home. The painful memories were still there, of course, but the passage of time had muted and softened them, although every so often I'd see something that twisted inside me like a knife.

My daughters had moved in with the twins during Beldin's absence. The promise Beldaran had exhibited when she was a baby had been more than fulfilled. Though she was only thirteen, she was breathtakingly beautiful. Her hair was the color of flax, and it was full and very long. Her face could quite literally stop your heart, and she was as graceful as a gazelle.

‘Father!' she exclaimed when I reached the top of the stairs. Her voice was rich and vibrant, the kind of voice that makes you hold your breath to listen. She flew across the floor and threw herself into my arms. I cursed that wasted twelve years when she did that, and all of my love for her came back, almost overwhelming me. We stood locked in an embrace with tears streaming down our faces.

‘Well, old wolf,' another voice said acidly, ‘I see you've
finally decided to come back to the scene of the crime.'

I winced. Then I sighed, took my arms from around Beldaran's slender shoulders, and turned to face Polgara.

Beldaran was probably the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, but Polgara, to put it kindly, was no prize. Her dark hair was a tangled wreck with twigs and leaves snarled in it. She was tall and skinny and quite nearly as dirty as Beldin. She had knobby knees - usually skinned up - and her dirty fingernails were ragged and chewed off close. It took her years to train herself not to bite her nails. The white lock at her brow was scarcely visible, since her hair was absolutely filthy. I got the strong impression that it was all quite deliberate. Polgara's got very good eyes, and I'm certain that she could see that she was no match for her sister when it came to sheer physical beauty. For some obscure reason, she seemed to be going out of her way to make herself as ugly as she possibly could. She was succeeding admirably.

 

Yes, I know. We'll get to her transformation all in good time. Don't rush me.

 

It wasn't her physical appearance that made our reunion so unpleasant, though. Beldin had raised Polgara and Beldaran. Somehow my younger daughter had avoided picking up his speech-patterns, but Polgara hadn't. She had them all - with bells on.

‘It's good to see you again, Polgara,' I greeted her, trying to sound as if I meant it.

‘Really? Why don't we see if we can fix that? Did they stop making beer in Camaar? Is that why you left?'

I sighed. This promised to be moderately ugly. ‘Do you
suppose we should kiss each other before we get into all that?' I suggested.

‘It's not going to pay you to get that close to me, old man. I didn't like you when I first saw you, and you haven't done anything lately to change my opinion.'

‘That's all over now.'

‘Of
course
it is - right up until the moment you get a sniff of beer or see a passing skirt.'

‘Have you been telling tales?' I asked Beldin.

‘Not me,' he replied. ‘Pol has her own ways to keep track of what you've been up to.'

‘Shut up, uncle,' she snapped at him. ‘This drunken fool doesn't need to know about that.'

‘You're wrong, Pol,' I told her. ‘This drunken fool
does
need to know about it. If you're gifted, you're going to need training.'

‘Not from you, father. I don't need
anything
from you. Why don't you go back to Camaar? Or the Wood of the Dryads? It's almost mating season there again. Beldaran and I'd just
adore
having a horde of half-human baby sisters.'

‘Watch your mouth, Pol.'

‘Why? We're father and daughter, old man. We should always be completely open with each other. I wouldn't want you to have any misconceptions about my opinion of you. Have you dallied with a Troll yet? Or an Eldrak? That would
really
be exciting, wouldn't it?'

I gave up and sat down in a chair. ‘Go ahead, Pol,' I told her. ‘Enjoy yourself.'

I'm sure she did. She'd spent years polishing some of those cutting remarks, and she delivered them with a certain flair. Leaving the girls in Beldin's custody may have been a mistake, because Polgara at least had been a very apt pupil. Some of the names she called me were truly hair-raising. Oddly, Beldaran didn't seem to be the slightest bit offended by her sister's choice of language. I'm sure she knew what the words meant, but they didn't seem to bother
her. For all I knew, she may have shared Pol's views, but she forgave me. Polgara obviously didn't.

I sat there looking out the window at the sunset while my daughter continued her diatribe. After an hour or so, she started to repeat herself. There are only so many insults in any language. She
did
lapse into Ulgo once or twice, but her accent wasn't very good. I corrected her, of course. Correcting the children is a father's first responsibility. Pol didn't take correction very graciously.

Finally I stood up. ‘This isn't really getting us anywhere,' I told her. ‘I think I'll go home now. As soon as I get things straightened up in the tower, you girls can move in with me.'

‘You're not serious!'

‘Oh, yes I am, Pol. Start packing. Like it or not we
are
going to be a family.' I smiled at her. ‘Sleep well, Polgara.' Then I left.

I could still hear her screaming when I got to my tower.

The girls moved in the following week. Beldaran was an obedient child, and she accepted my decision without question. That, of course, forced Pol to obey as well, since she loved her sister so much that she couldn't bear to be separated from her. We didn't see very much of her, but at least her things were in my tower.

She spent most of her time for the rest of that summer in the branches of the tree in the center of the Vale. At first I assumed that eventually hunger would bring her down out of the tree and back to my tower, but I'd overlooked the twins' habit of feeding things. They saw to it that Polgara didn't go hungry.

I decided to wait her out. If nothing else, winter would bring her inside. Beldaran, however, started moping. That must have been a very difficult time for my blonde daughter. She loved us both, and our dislike for each other obviously caused her a great deal of distress. She begged me to try to make peace with her sister. I knew it was a mistake, but I couldn't refuse Beldaran anything she asked of me,
so I sighed and went down the Vale to give it one more try.

It was a warm, sunny morning in late summer, and it seemed to me that there were an unusual number of birds flying around as I walked through the tall grass toward the tree.

There were even more of them about when I got there. The air around the tree was alive with them - and it wasn't just one variety. There were robins and bluebirds and sparrows and finches and larks, and the sound of all that chirping and singing was almost deafening.

Polgara was lounging in the fork of a huge branch about twenty feet up with birds all around her, and she watched my approach with cold, unfriendly eyes. ‘What is it, father?' She demanded when I reached the foot of the tree.

‘Don't you think this has gone on long enough?' I asked her.

‘This what?'

‘You're being childish, Pol.'

‘I'm entitled to be childish. I'm only thirteen. We'll have a
lot
more fun when I grow up.'

‘You're breaking Beldaran's heart with this foolishness, you know. She misses you very much.'

‘She's stronger than she looks. She can endure almost as much as I can.' She absently shooed a warbling lark off her shoulder. The birds around her were singing their hearts out in a kind of ecstatic adoration.

I decided to try another tack. ‘You're missing a splendid opportunity, Pol,' I told her.

‘Oh?'

‘I'm sure you've spent the summer composing new speeches. You can't very well try them out on me when you're perched on a limb sharpening your beak.'

‘We'll get to that later, father. Right now the sight of you makes me nauseous. Give me a few dozen years to get used to you.' She smiled at me, a smile with all the warmth of
an iceberg. ‘Then we'll talk. I have many, many things to say to you. Now go away.'

To this day I don't know how she did it. I didn't hear or feel a thing, but the sounds those thousands of birds were making suddenly became angry, threatening, and they descended on me like a cloud, stabbing at me with their beaks and flogging me with their wings. I tried to beat them off with my hands, but you can't really drive off that many birds. About all the song-birds could do was peck at me and pull out tufts of my hair and beard, but the hawks were a whole different matter. I left in a hurry with Polgara's mocking laughter following me.

I was more than a little grumpy when I reached Beldin's tower. ‘How far has she gone?' I demanded of him.

‘How far has who gone with what?'

‘Polgara. Just how much is she capable of?'

‘How should I know? She's a female, Belgarath. They don't think the way we do, so they do things differently. What did she do to you?'

‘She turned every bird in the Vale loose on me.'

‘You
do
look a bit mussed. What did you do to irritate her so much?'

‘I went down to the tree and told her to come home.'

‘I take it she refused the invitation?'

‘And then some. How long has she been doing this sort of thing?'

‘Oh, I don't know - a couple of years, I guess. That'd be consistent.'

‘I didn't follow that.'

He gave me a surprised look. ‘Do you mean you don't
know?
Haven't you ever been the least bit curious about the nature of our gift?'

‘I had other things on my mind.'

He rolled his eyes upward. ‘Have you ever seen a child who could do the sort of things we do?'

‘I hadn't thought about it, but now that you mention it -'

‘How've you managed to live this long with your head
turned off? The talent doesn't show up until we reach a certain age. Usually girls pick it up a little sooner than boys.'

‘Oh?'

‘It's related to puberty, you dunce!'

‘What's puberty got to do with it?'

He shrugged. ‘Who knows? Maybe the gift is glandular.'

‘That doesn't make any sense, Beldin. What have glands got to do with the Will and the Word?'

‘Maybe it's a built-in safety precaution. A gifted two-year old might be a little dangerous. The gift has to be controlled, and that implies a certain maturity. You should be glad that it works that way. Polgara's not very fond of you, and if she'd had the gift when she was a toddler, she might have turned you into a toad.'

I started to swear.

‘What's the trouble?'

‘I'm going to have to get her down out of that tree. She's going to need training.'

‘Leave her alone. She's not going to hurt herself. The twins and I explained the limitations to her. She isn't experimenting. About all she does is talk to birds.'

‘Yes. I noticed that.'

‘You might think about rolling around in the creek before you go home.'

‘Why would I want to do that?'

‘You've got bird droppings all over you, and Beldaran might find you just a bit offensive.'

The Master paid me a visit that night, and he gave me some very peculiar instructions.
He
seemed to think they were important, but they didn't make very much sense to me.

As Poledra had pointed out, I'm not really very good with tools, and the task my Master set me involved some very tiny, meticulous work. Fortunately, I had a fair number of Tolnedran silver imperials in my purse, so I didn't have to go up into the mountains in search of ore
deposits. Free gold isn't too hard to find, but refining silver is a lot of work.

The sculpture itself wasn't too hard - once I got used to using those tiny little tools - but making the chains was very tedious.

It was autumn by the time I finished, and then one evening I completed the last clasp. ‘Beldaran,' I called my blonde daughter.

‘Yes, father?' she replied, looking up from her sewing. I'd taught her to read, of course, but she preferred sewing.

‘I have something for you.'

She came over eagerly. ‘What is it?'

‘Here.' I held out the silver amulet I'd made for her.

‘Oh, father! It's lovely!'

‘Try it on.'

She draped it around her neck, fastened the clasp, and flew to the mirror. ‘Oh,' she said, ‘that's exquisite!' She peered at the reflection a little more closely. ‘It's Polgara's tree, isn't it?'

‘That's what it's supposed to be.'

‘It means something, doesn't it?'

‘Probably. I'm not sure exactly what, though. The Master told me to make them, but he didn't bother to explain.'

‘Shouldn't this one be for Pol? It's
her
tree, after all.'

‘The tree was there a long time before Polgara was, Beldaran.' I held up another of the amulets. ‘This one's hers.'

She looked at it. ‘An owl? What a peculiar thing to give to Pol.'

‘It wasn't my idea.' I'd suffered a great deal sculpting that owl. It raised a lot of memories.

 

Yes, Durnik, I know I could have cast them, but the Master told me to sculpt them instead.

 

I knew what
my
amulet meant, and it was easy. I'd taken the form of a wolf so often that I could have carved that
one with my eyes closed. I put it on, sighed, and snapped the clasp.

‘Ah - father?' Beldaran said, her hands at the back of her neck.

‘Yes, dear?'

‘Something's wrong with the clasp. It won't come undone.'

‘It isn't supposed to, Beldaran. You're not supposed to take it off.'

‘Not
ever
?'

‘Not ever. The Master wants us to wear them always.'

‘That might be a little awkward sometimes.'

‘Oh, I think we can manage. We're a family, Beldaran. The amulets are supposed to remind us of that - among other things.'

‘Does Polgara's amulet lock, too?'

‘I hope so. I built it to lock.'

She giggled.

‘What's so funny?'

‘I don't think she's going to like that, father. If you lock something around her neck, she's probably going to be
very
unhappy about it.'

I winked at her. ‘Maybe we'd better wait to tell her until
after
she's got it locked in place, then.'

‘Why don't we?' she said, rolling her eyes roguishly. Then she giggled again, threw her arms around my neck, and kissed me.

Beldaran and I went down to the tree the next morning to give Polgara her amulet.

‘What am I supposed to do with this?' she demanded.

‘You're supposed to wear it,' I told her.