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both parties to mediate the dispute between Emperor
Varana and the Vordues. I'm not certain who first suggested
him, but the suggestion was a stroke of genius. I've met
Reldegen on a couple of occasions, and I've never met a
more fair-minded and impartial man. The fact that Varana
and the Vordues are seeking a mediator is ample evidence
that their 'war' is winding down. Quite obviously, Varana
has won, and Reldegen's good offices will be somewhat in
the nature of a formality - a face-saving gesture to make
total surrender more palatable to the Vorduvians. Varana
got what he wanted, and he sees no necessity for rubbing
the Vordues' noses in his victory.
Once again we have disturbing news out of southern
Cthol Murgos. The region was apparently inhabited before
the Murgos came, and the indigenous population was
enslaved. Despite the eons of slavery however, it appears
that those people have managed to keep their racial
identity intact. Because of their peculiar racial notions, Murgos
scrupulously avoid contact with their slaves, hence they
are almost totally unaware of what is really going on in
their slave-pens. The Malloreans, however, are more
curious. The Melcenes in particular seem to automatically
begin to search through any new population they
encounter in the search for what they call 'talent'. Drasnian
intelligence agents, operating at great risk in 'Zakath's
army, have begun to send back reports of a highly
disturbing nature. The Malloreans are aghast at what they have
discovered. They have found a sort of religion among the
slaves in southern Cthol Murgos. In itself this would not
be particularly significant, but what has so alarmed the
Malloreans is that this subterranean religion is absolutely
identical to the one which exists in the Dalasian
protectorates of southwestern Mallorea. This despite the fact that
the two regions have been totally separated from each
other since the cracking of the world almost 5400 years ago.
What seems to upset the Malloreans the most is the fact that
a document referred to as 'The Mallorean Gospels' is
circulated among the slaves. Mallorean Grolims have been
attempting for centuries to destroy all existing copies in
Dalasia, and now the self-same work appears in southern
Cthol Murgos - with no possible explanation for its
presence. I am afire with curiosity I must have a copy of these
'Mallorean Gospels'. I will not rest easy until I have read
them.
This spring Belgarion issued a general invitation to the
monarchs of the entire world to attend a conference in the
city of Sendar. To take the note of peremptoriness from the
invitation, he urged those monarchs unable to attend to
send envoys. The avowed purpose of this conference is 'to
examine world tensions and to seek peaceful solutions to
frictions between nations.' This is an ambitious proposal,
but one which derives more from idealism than from any
sense of how the world really operates. Our Belgarion still
has a great deal of growing to do, I fear. I will attend his
conference, however, (scheduled for mid-autumn). I look
forward to meeting rulers of nations and principalities
lying on the far side of the world.
The conference,* rather naturally, produced almost no