"You're a strangely gentle man, Belgarion. I think I respect you more for that than I do for your invincible courage."
"I'd hardly say invincible. I was terrified the whole time -and so was Torak, I think. Was there something you really wanted to talk about?"
Zakath leaned back in his chair, tapping thoughtfully at his pursed lips. "You know that eventually you and I will have to confront each other, don't you?"
"No," Garion disagreed. "That's not absolutely certain."
"There can only be one King of the World."
Garion's look grew pained. "I've got enough trouble trying to rule one small island. I've never wanted to be King of the World."
"But I have -and do."
Garion sighed. "Then we probably will fight at that sooner or later. I don't think the world was intended to be ruled by one man. If you try to do that, I'll have to stop you."
"I am unstoppable, Belgarion."
"So was Torak -or at least he thought so."
"That's blunt enough."
"It helps to avoid a lot of misunderstandings later on. I'd say that you've got enough trouble at home without trying to invade my kingdom -or those of my friends. That's not to mention the stalemate here in Cthol Murgos."
"You're well informed."
"Queen Porenn is a close personal friend. She keeps information me advised, and Silk picks up a great deal of information during the course of his business dealings."
"Silk?"
"Excuse me. Prince Kheldar, I mean. Silk's a nickname of sorts."
Zakath looked at him steadily. "In some ways we're very much alike, Belgarion, and in other ways very different, but we still do what necessity compels us to do. Frequently, we're at the mercy of events over which we have no control."
"I suppose you're talking about the two Prophecies?"
Zakath laughed shortly. "I don't believe in prophecy. I only believe in power. It's curious, though, that we've both been faced with similar problems of late. You recently had to put down an uprising in Aloria -a group of religious fanatics, I believe. I have something of much the same nature going on in Darshiva. Religion is a constant thorn in the side of any ruler, wouldn't you say?"
"I've been able to work around it-most of the time."
"You've been very lucky then. Torak was neither a good nor kindly God, and his Grolim priesthood is vile.
If I weren't busy here in Cthol Murgos, I think I might endear myself to the next thousand or so generations by obliterating every Grolim on the face of the earth."
Garion grinned at him. "What would you say to an alliance with that in mind?" he suggested.
Zakath laughed briefly, and then his face grew somber again. "Does the name Zandramas mean anything to you?" he asked.
Garion edged around that cautiously, not knowing how much information Zakath had about their real reason for being in Cthol Murgos. "I've heard some rumors," he said.
"How about Cthrag Sardius?"
"I've heard of it."
"You're being evasive, Belgarion." Zakath gave him a steady look, then passed his hand wearily across his eyes.
"I think you need some sleep," Garion told him.
"Time for that soon enough -when my work is done."
"That's up to you, I guess."
"How much do you know about Mallorea, Belgarion?"
"I get reports -a little disjointed sometimes, but fairly current."
"No. I mean our past."
"Not too much, I'm afraid. Western historians tried very hard to ignore the fact that Mallorea was even there."
Zakath smiled wryly. "The University of Melcene has the same shortsightedness regarding the West," he noted. "Anyway, over the past several centuries -since the disaster at Vo Mimbre- Mallorean society has become almost completely secular. Torak was bound in sleep, Ctuchik was practicing his perversions here in Cthol Murgos, and Zedar was wandering around the world like a rootless vagabond -what ever happened to him, by the way? I thought he was at Cthol Mishrak."
"He was."
"We didn't find his body."
"He isn't dead."
"He's not?" Zakath looked stunned. "Where is he, then?"
"Beneath the city. Belgarath opened the earth and sealed him up in solid rock under the ruin."
"Alive?" Zakath's exclamation came out in a choked gasp .
"There was a certain amount of justification for it.
Go on with your story." Zakath shuddered and then recovered. "With the rest of them out of the way, the only religious figure left in Mallorea was Urvon, and he devoted himself almost exclusively to trying to make his palace at Mal Yaska more opulent than the imperial one at Mal Zeth. Every so often he'd preach a sermon filled with mumbo jumbo and nonsense, but most of the time he seemed to have forgotten Torak entirely. With the Dragon God and his disciples no longer around, the real power of the Grolim Church was gone -oh, the priests babbled about the return of Torak and they all paid lip service to the notion that one day the sleeping God would awaken, but the memory of him grew dimmer and dimmer. The power of the Church grew less and less, while that of the army -which is to say the imperial throne- grew more and more."
"Mallorean politics seem to be very murky," Garion observed.
Zakath nodded. "It's part of our nature, I suppose. At any rate, our society was functioning and moving out of the dark ages -slowly, perhaps, but moving. Then you appeared out of nowhere and awakened Torak -and just as suddenly put him permanently back to sleep again. That's when all our problems started."
"Shouldn't it have ended them? That's sort of what I had in mind."
"I don't think you grasp the nature of the religious mind, Belgarion. So long as Torak was there -even though he slept- the Grolims and the other hysterics in the empire were fairly placid, secure and comfortable in the belief that one day he would awaken, punish all their enemies, and reassert the absolute authority of the unwashed and stinking priesthood. But when you killed Torak, you destroyed their comfortable. sense of security. They were forced to face the fact that without Torak they were nothing. Some of them were so chagrined that they went mad. Others fell into absolute despair. A few, how ever, began to hammer together a new mythology -something to replace what you had destroyed with a single stroke of that sword over there."
"It wasn't entirely my idea," Garion told him.
"It's results that matter, Belgarion, not intentions. Anyway, Urvon was forced to tear himself away from his quest for opulence and his wallowing in the adoration of the sycophants who surrounded him and get back to business. For a time he was in an absolute frenzy of activity. He resurrected all the moth-eaten old prophecies and twisted and wrenched at them until they seemed to say what he wanted them to say."