The years continued their stately, ordered pace, and the annual meetings of ‘the Arendish Council’ at the Great Fair gave me plenty of opportunity to head off assorted idiocies before they got completely out of hand.
I think it was after the council meeting in 2324 that I made one of my periodic surveys of the land of the Arends. It was not so much that I distrusted the information I was receiving, but it’s always a good idea to have a look for yourself in these matters, so Killane and I joined the party of Duke Corrolin of Mimbre and rode on down to the golden city on the banks of the River Arend.
I found nothing particularly alarming in Vo Mimbre, so after a week or so, Killane and I left to go on to Vo Mandor to look in on Mandorin and Asrana.
It was on the morning of our second day out when Killane and I had a conversation that was becoming increasingly necessary.
It wasn’t long after sunrise, and my seneschal and I had ridden up a fairly steep hill, and we stopped at the top to rest our horses in the golden morning sunlight.
‘Meanin’ no offense, Lady-O,’ Killane said a bit hesitantly, ‘but could we be after havin’ a bit of a chat?’
‘Of course. You look troubled, Killane. What’s bothering you?’
‘I’m not th’ cleverest man in all th’ world, me Lady,’ he said, ‘but a man would have t’ be an absolute dunce not t’ see that y’ ain’t exactly ordinary.’
‘Why, thank you, Killane.’ I smiled. ‘Go ahead and say it, my friend. I won’t be the least bit offended.’
‘They call y’ Polgara th’ Sorceress,’ he blurted. ‘Is that a true fact?’
‘The “Sorceress” part of it’s been blown all out of proportion,’ I replied, ‘but, yes, my name is Polgara, and I do have certain abilities that aren’t very common.’
‘An’ yer father’s name is Belgarath?’
I sighed. ‘I’m afraid so, yes.’
‘An’ yer quite a bit older than y’ look?’
‘I certainly hope that the years aren’t showing.’
‘Yer a thousand years old, aren’t y’?’ He blurted that out almost accusingly.
‘No, dear heart,’ I said patiently. Three hundred and twenty-four, actually.’
He swallowed very hard, and his eyes got sort of wild.
‘Does it really matter so much, Killane?’ I asked him. ‘Longevity’s really nothing more than a family trait. Some people live longer than others, that’s all. You’ve seen that yourself, I’m sure.’
‘Well, yes, I suppose so, but three hundred years’.’
‘I’ll say it again. Does it really matter? Our friendship’s what matters, isn’t it? You’re my true and faithful friend. That’s all that matters to me, and that’s all that should really matter to you. Don’t let something as silly as numbers destroy our friendship.’
‘I’d sooner cut off me right hand,’ he declared.
‘Well, stop worrying about it, then.’
‘Kin y’ really an’ truly perform magic?’ His tone was almost boyish, and his expression seemed filled with anticipation.
‘If that’s what you want to call it, yes.’
‘Do somethin’ magical,’ he urged me, his eyes alight.
‘Oh, dear,’ I sighed. ‘All right, Killane, but if I do a few tricks for you, can we drop this silly conversation?’
He nodded eagerly.
I translocated myself to a spot some distance behind him, and he sat on his horse, gaping at my suddenly empty saddle.
‘I’m over here, Killane,’ I advised him calmly.
He turned, his expression almost frightened.
I gestured at a nearby boulder, focusing my Will. Then I released it, and the boulder rose to hover about ten feet in the air.
Killane started visibly when I dropped it with a thud.
‘This has always been my favorite,’ I told him, and I rather slowly blurred into the form of the snowy white owl. I circled about him for a few moments, gently brushing his face with my soft wing-feathers. Then I resumed my own form and climbed back up on to my horse. ‘Satisfied?’ I asked my trembling friend.
‘More than satisfied, me Lady,’ he assured me. ‘ ‘Twas a wondrous thing t’ behold.’
‘I’m glad you liked it. Now, shall we go on to Vo Mandor? If we hurry right along, we should make it by suppertime.’
Chapter 18
Earl Mangaran died the following spring, and I rushed to Vo Astur to examine his newly entombed body. I wanted to be certain that Asrana’s simple solution to the problem of inconvenient people hadn’t also occurred to others. My examination of my friend’s body, however, revealed that he had died of natural causes.
Olburton, the wastrel who was Mangaran’s heir, had assumed authority in Vo Astur, but most of the rest of Asturia was under the control of Nerasin, Duke Oldoran’s nephew. The legalities of the situation were extremely murky. Oldoran had never actually been stripped of his crown, and Mangaran’s tenure in Vo Astur had been, from a strictly legal point of view, no more than a regency. The choice between Nerasin and Olburton wasn’t really much of a choice, so I kept my nose out of it. My job was to keep the three duchies at peace, and if the Asturians chose to embroil themselves in a generation or so of internal strife, that was their business, not mine.
I took some precautions, though. At my suggestion, Kathandrion and Corrolin met quietly at Vo Mandor to cement an alliance designed to keep the Asturian conflagration from spreading.
‘What is thine advice here, Lady Polgara?’ Kathandrion asked me once we’d all gathered in Mandorin’s blue-carpeted study. ‘Duke Corrolin and I could quite easily move into Asturia, dispose of both nephews and put someone to our liking on the throne in Vo Astur.’
‘That’s a very bad idea, Kathandrion. If the Asturians want to hate each other, that’s their affair. If you and Corrolin take a hand in things, all you’ll succeed in doing is uniting the Asturians, and they’ll come crashing out of their forest to re-ignite the civil war Ctuchik was trying so hard to keep burning. Just close the borders of Asturia and let them fight it out among themselves. Eventually, someone who’s strong enough is going to come along and re-unite them, and then I’ll go to Vo Astur and persuade that fellow that it’s in his best interests to go along with the idea that peace is better than war.’