We followed the River of the Serpent up to the rapids near the headwaters and then veered north to cross the mountains to haunted Maragor’s southern frontier. We saw several of the rude mining camps that lined Maragor’s southern frontier. I clinically noted that there weren’t any camps north of that border. The gold-hunters were obsessed men, but not that obsessed.
The seething rain made it difficult for us to see the rolling basin that had been Maragor, but father knew the way, so I simply followed him to Mar Amon. When we were just outside the ruins, he dipped his falcon wings a couple of times, and we descended to a grove of winter-stripped beech trees that overlooked the ruin and resumed our own forms. ‘This isn’t going to be pleasant, Pol,’ father said glumly. ‘Mara’s even crazier than Torak, and he’s filled Maragor from end to end with phantoms he’s dredged up out of his own insanity. You’re going to see some fairly gruesome things, I’m afraid.’
‘I’ve heard all the stories, father.’
‘Stories are one thing, Pol. Actually seeing and hearing these apparitions is a little more hair-raising.’
‘I can deal with it, Old Wolf.’
‘Don’t get over-confident, Pol. Crazy or not, Mara’s still a God, and the sense of his presence is. still overwhelming. The Master’s presence is fairly gentle, but Mara tends to bowl people over just by putting in an appearance. Did you happen to come across Chaldan while you were in Arendia?’
‘No. Chaldan only talks to his priests – at least that’s what the priests say.’
He nodded. ‘Priests are pretty much the same the world over. They seem to feel that their exclusive contact with God gives them a certain job security. If just any old peasant can talk with God, the priests are redundant, and they might have to go out and get honest work.’
‘You’re in a cynical humor today.’
‘Blame it on the weather. Anyway, brace yourself. Our meeting with Mara’s likely to be moderately unpleasant. Gods hold grudges for a long time, and Mara still blames all of us for not coming to the aid of the Marags when the Tolnedrans invaded Maragor. I’ve met him several times, and he knows who I am – unless he’s forgotten me. I may have to lie to him just a bit here. We haven’t been specifically ordered to come here, so we’re sort of doing what we think the Master wants us to do. Just to be on the safe side, I’d better tell Mara that we’re acting on instructions. Mara’s not crazy enough to go up against the Master, so he won’t automatically obliterate us. But be careful here, Pol. Don’t drop your guard, and whatever you do, don’t let any random chunks of gold lying about distract you. If you even so much as think about gold, Mara will erase your mind.’
‘I’m not really that greedy, father.’
‘Really? Where did you get all the money you keep pulling out of your sleeve when you want to buy something, then?’
‘Prudent investments, father. If you cultivate money – prune it, water it, and fertilize it – it’ll grow for you the same as roses or radishes will. Don’t worry, Old Wolf. I’m not really interested in random gold.’
‘Good. Let’s go on into the city and see if I can talk some sense into Mara.’
Mar Amon is a very disturbing sort of place, not only because of the multitude of mutilated ghosts infesting it, but also because it’s part reality and part illusion. Mara has in effect rebuilt the city, replacing destroyed buildings with images of what they were before the Tolnedrans came. The buildings are insubstantial, but you can’t tell that by looking at them. As father and I followed that spiraling street that wound its way toward the central temple, we saw horrors enough to last a lifetime. The Tolnedran legionnaires are normally paid in brass coins, so they seldom see gold. The ground of Maragor was littered with it, and all semblance of discipline collapsed. The legions became nothing more than a greedy, mindless mob, and mobs commit atrocities. Mara almost lovingly recreated the victims of those atrocities and unleashed them to forever keep Maragor inviolate. I heartily approve of the chastisement Nedra imposed on his more rampantly greedy worshipers after the invasion of Maragor. A merchant prince from Tol Honeth can’t help thinking about gold when it’s lying all about him, and greed is an open door to insanity in Maragor. The monastery at Mar Terrin sounds like a very nice idea, but it is, in fact, the most hideous prison on the face of the earth. The inmates of that prison are condemned – not to death, but to perpetual insanity.
‘BELGARATH!’ Mara’s howl was more than thunder. ‘WHY HAST THOU INTRUDED THYSELF UPON MY GRIEF?’ The weeping God was immense, and in his arms he held the body of a slaughtered child.
‘It is in obedience to our Master’s command that my daughter Polgara and I have sought thee out, Lord Mara.’ father lied smoothly. ‘Thy brother Torak hath mounted an invasion of the west, Lord. Aldur, our Master, hath instructed us to advise thee of the Dragon-God’s coming.’
‘LET HIM COME,’ Mara replied, still weeping. ‘HIS ANGARAKS ARE NO MORE IMMUNE TO MADNESS THAN ARE THE MURDERING CHILDREN OF NEDRA.’
Father bowed. ‘As thou seest it, Lord Mara,’ he said. ‘Thus my daughter and I have fulfilled the task lain upon us by our Master. Now will we depart and trouble thee no more.’
‘That was quick,’ I muttered to him as we retraced our steps through the illusion called Mar Amon.
Father shrugged. ‘Actually, it turned out even better than I’d hoped.’
‘I didn’t exactly follow that,’ I admitted.
‘Maragor’s sort of a back door to Tolnedra,’ he explained. ‘Urvon might be planning to come through northern Cthol Murgos and invade Tolnedra from this direction instead of coming up through Nyissa. Now Mara knows he’s coming, so we’ve closed that door. Urvon’s army might be sane when they come into Maragor, but they’ll be raving madmen when they go out.’ He looked rather pleased with himself. ‘I might have hoped for a little more commitment from Mara, but he’ll cover this front for us, and I’ll settle for that. Let’s go have a talk with the Gorim. We might as well advise everybody about what’s happening at the same time. Then we won’t have to make this trip again.’
‘Are we going to enlist the Ulgos, then?’
‘I don’t think they’d care to attend, but let’s not insult them by neglecting their invitation.’