‘At some length, Master.’
‘And art thou also familiar with the truth which was revealed to me at Ashaba?’
‘Yea, Master.’
‘Didst thou not perceive that the two do not precisely coincide? Both spake of the battle which shall begin here before Vo Mimbre a few hours hence.’
‘Yes, I did so understand.’
‘But the account from Mrin doth not agree with that from Ashaba. Mrin doth hang the fate of the world on the third day of the forthcoming battle.’
‘I did perceive as much, Master.’
‘Ashaba, however, doth not. Ashaba’s concentration doth lie upon the second day, or upon the fourth.’
‘I had not fully recognized that, Master,’ Zedar confessed. ‘What thinkest thou might be the import of this discrepancy?’
‘The import, methinks, doth rest upon him who shall confront me at the battle’s height. Should the Godslayer and I meet on the second day – or upon the fourth, I shall easily overthrow him. Should we meet upon that fatal third day, then shall the spirit of the Purpose infuse him, and I shall surely perish.’ He suddenly broke off, muttering incoherently, his voice distorted by the hollow echoes inside his steel mask. ‘Accursed rain!’ he burst out suddenly, ‘and accursed be the rivers which have delayed mine advance! We have come hither too late, Zedar! Had we arrived but two days – one day – earlier, the world would have been mine. Now is the outcome cast into the lap of chance, and I am unquiet about this, for chance hath never been my friend. I left Ashaba in the sure and certain knowledge that I should arrive here at the proper time, and gladly have I sacrificed Angarak lives uncounted to achieve that goal, and still have I reached this place but one single day too late. Will I or nil I, I must face the Overlord of the West on that fatal third day, should fickle chance so decree. I am mightily discontented, Zedar, discontented beyond measure!’
‘He thinks it’s Gelane!’ I gasped inside our enclosed awareness.
‘What?’ Mother’s thought was as stunned as mine.
‘He actually believes that it’s Gelane who’s going to challenge him!’
‘How did you arrive at that?’
‘The terms “Godslayer” and “Overlord of the West” refer to the Rivan King. Somehow, Torak thinks that Gelane’s returned to Riva and taken up the sword. He doesn’t even know that Brand’s the one who’s going to challenge him.’
Mother considered that. ‘You could be right, Pol,’ she agreed. ‘Torak’s information comes from Ctuchik and Ctuchik relies on Chamdar. Your father’s been distracting Chamdar for several centuries with all those clever games in Sendaria. Torak doesn’t really know anything at all about the heir to the throne of Riva. He could very well believe that it’s the heir he’ll be facing on that third day.’
‘I’m sure of it, mother. That would explain why you were told to take the Orb off the pommel of Iron-grip’s sword and put it in the shield instead. Brand’s weapon isn’t going to be a sword; it’s going to be that shield.’
Torak was still talking, so mother and I set our private discussion aside to listen.
Thou must take the city on the morrow, Zedar,’ Torak instructed. ‘My meeting with the descendant of Iron-grip must take place on the following day. Sacrifice the whole of Angarak if need be, but Vo Mimbre must be mine ere the sun doth seek his bed.’
‘It shall be as my Master commands,’ Zedar promised. ‘E’en now are mine engines of war being moved into place. I pledge to thee, Lord, that Vo Mimbre will fall on this day, for I shall hurl all of Angarak ‘gainst those golden walls.’ Clearly, Zedar’s eight-year siege of the Algarian Stronghold hadn’t taught him the folly of making rash promises.
Then Torak launched himself into a rambling monologue that didn’t really make too much sense. History hadn’t treated Torak very well, and his resentment towered like a mountain. So many things he’d believed should be his had been denied him that his sanity had slipped away. Under different circumstances, I might have pitied him.
‘I think we’ve heard enough, Pol,’ mother said at that point. ‘We’re not accomplishing anything by sitting here listening while he feels sorry for himself.’
‘Whatever you say, mother,’ I agreed.
Our owl squeezed its way back out through the embrasure and flew on silent wings back toward Vo Mimbre. The weather had cleared after that blizzard down in Ashaba, and the stars were out. I’d missed the stars. People with abnormally long life spans always seem to grow fond of the stars. There’s a sense of permanence about them that’s comforting when all else around us is falling away.
Although Torak hadn’t done it entirely by himself, he had cracked the world apart back during the War of the Gods, so I’m sure he could have dismantled the walls of Vo Mimbre with a single thought Clearly, however, he was not permitted to do that. The exquisitely convoluted rules of the eternal game between the two contending Destinies forbade the exercise of Divine Will during these EVENTS. The consequences of breaking those rules were quite severe – as Ctuchik was to discover at Rak Cthol. Torak could act only through human agency – right up until the moment when he faced Brand, and even that EVENT would be tightly controlled by rules.
‘The rest of us are under similar constraints, Pol,’ mother’s voice replied to my unspoken thought. ‘Warn your father. Tell him that this isn’t a good time for experiments. Suggest that dropping a comet on the Angaraks at this point wouldn’t be a good idea.’
‘He wouldn’t do that, mother.’
‘Oh, really? You’ve never seen the kinds of silly things he does when he gets irritated, Pol. I saw him throw a hammer away after he’d smashed his thumb with it once.’
‘Everybody does that once in a while, mother.’
‘He threw it at the sky, Polgara. That was several thousand years ago, and as far as I know, it’s still going – at least I hope it is. Sometimes it only takes a very small thing to explode a star in the wrong place at the wrong time. That happened once already. We don’t want it to happen again, do we?’
‘Not really,’ I agreed. ‘We’ve got enough to worry about as it is. Are we really sure that nobody’s going to be able to use the Will and the Word during this battle?’
‘I don’t think we can say for sure. Watch Zedar very closely. If he can get away with doing something without dissolving on the spot, we should be able to do similar things. Let Zedar take the risks.’