Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress: 2-Book Collection. David Eddings

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      ‘I have to do what?’

      He explained it to me – at some length.

      It’s my story, and I’ll tell it the way I want to. If you don’t like the way I’m telling it, tell it yourself.

      After he’d given me my instructions, the old man fed his horse and then drove his cart off toward the south, leaving me with only the snoring Alorns for company. I didn’t bother to wake them, and they slept straight on through until the following morning.

      ‘Where’s your friend?’ Cherek asked when they finally woke up.

      ‘He had something to attend to,’ I replied.

      ‘Well, it’s all over then, isn’t it?’ Dras said. ‘It’ll be good to get back to Val Alorn.’

      ‘You aren’t going to Val Alorn, Dras,’ I told him.

      ‘What?’

      ‘You’re going back up to those moors we just came across.’

      ‘Why would I want to do that?’

      ‘Because I’m telling you to do it.’ I was a little blunt about it. I wasn’t in a very good humor that morning. I looked at Bear-shoulders. ‘I’m sorry, Cherek,’ I told him, ‘but I’m going to have to split up your kingdom. The Angaraks aren’t just going to let this slide, so we’re going to have to get ready for them. Riva’s guarding the Orb, so the rest of you are going to have to guard him. I’m going to spread you out so that Torak’s people can’t slip up on Riva and steal back the Orb.’

      ‘How long’s that likely to take?’ Cherek asked me. ‘How long until I can put my kingdom back together again?’

      ‘You’re not going to be able to do that, I’m afraid. The division of Aloria’s going to be permanent.’

      ‘Belgarath!’ He said it plaintively, almost like a child protesting the removal of his favorite toy.

      ‘It’s out of my hands, Cherek. You’re the one who came up with the idea of stealing the Orb. Now you’re going to have to live with the consequences. Dras has to establish his own kingdom on the north moors. Algar’s going to have his down here on these grasslands. You’re going back to Val Alorn. Your kingdom’s going to be that peninsula.’

      ‘Kingdom?’ he exploded. ‘That’s hardly bigger than a clothes-closet!’

      ‘Don’t worry about it. Your kingdom’s the ocean now. Call your ship-builders together. Those scows they’ve been building aren’t good enough. I’ll draw up some plans for you. The King of the Ocean’s going to need war-boats, not floating bathtubs.’

      His eyes narrowed speculatively. ‘The King of the Ocean,’ he mused. ‘That’s got a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Can you really make war with boats, though?’

      ‘Oh, yes,’ I assured him. ‘And the nice part of it is that you don’t have to walk to get to the battlefield.’

      ‘Where do you want me to go, Belgarath?’ Riva asked me.

      ‘I’ll show you myself. I’m supposed to go with you to help you get set up.’

      ‘Thanks, but where are we going?’

      ‘To the Isle of the Winds.’

      ‘That’s nothing but a rock out in the middle of the Great Western Sea!’ he objected.

      ‘I know, but it’s your rock. You’re going to take a sizeable number of Alorns and go there. You volunteered to pick up the Orb. Now it’s your responsibility. When we get to the Isle, you’re going to build a fortress, and you and your people are going to spend the rest of your lives guarding the Orb. Then, you’re going to turn the responsibility for guarding the Orb over to your children, and then they’ll take over.’

      ‘How long’s this going to last?’

      ‘I haven’t got the faintest idea – centuries, probably, maybe even eons. Your father’s going to build war-boats, and he’s not going to let anybody near the Isle of the Winds.’

      ‘This isn’t what I had in mind when we started, Belgarath,’ Cherek complained.

      ‘Life’s just filled with these little disappointments, isn’t it? Play-time’s over, gentlemen. It’s time to grow up. We’ve got work to do.’

      I probably didn’t really have to run roughshod over them like that, but my Master hadn’t been very gentle with me, and the sniveling of Cherek and his boys was making me tired. They’d set off on the most important mission in the history of their race as if it had been some kind of lark. Now that the consequences of their little romp in the snow were coming home to roost, all they could do was stand around and complain about it.

      Alorns are such babies at times.

      I hammered the details of the division into them with that same callousness. I didn’t give them time to get all weepy and sentimental. I told Cherek in precise terms just how many warriors he was going to send to each of his sons to help with the founding of the new kingdoms. His expression grew mournful when he realized that I was usurping over half of his subjects. Every time he started to protest, I reminded him pointedly that the retrieval of the Orb had been his idea in the first place. I hadn’t wanted to leave my pregnant wife at the time, so I didn’t have much sympathy for them now.

      ‘All right,’ I concluded that evening, ‘that’s the way we’re going to do it. Any questions?’

      ‘What are we supposed to do when we get set up?’ Dras asked sullenly, ‘just stand around and wait for the Angaraks?’

      ‘You’ll get further instructions from Belar,’ I told him. ‘The Gods are involved in this, too, you know.’

      ‘Belar doesn’t like me,’ Dras said. ‘I beat him at dice most of the time.’

      ‘Don’t play dice with him, then. Try to stay on the good side of him.’

      ‘This is awfully open country around here,’ Algar said, looking out at the vast grassland. ‘I’m going to have to do a lot of walking.’

      ‘There are wild horses out there. Chase them down and ride.’

      ‘My feet drag on the ground when I try to sit on a horse.’

      ‘Chase down a bigger one, then.’

      ‘There aren’t any bigger ones.’

      ‘Breed some.’

      ‘The weather on the Isle of the Winds is really miserable,’ Riva complained.

      ‘Build houses with thick walls and stout roofs.’

      ‘The wind’ll blow thatch roofs right off the houses.’

      ‘Make your roof out of slate, then, and nail it down.’

      Cherek СКАЧАТЬ