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The stone, which he called a jewel, was grey (as I have said) and
quite round and perhaps the size of a man's heart. My Master found
it, I believe, in the bed of a stream. To me it appeared to be a very
ordinary stone, but things are concealed from me that Aldur in his
wisdom perceived quite easily. It may be that there was something
in the stone which he alone could see, or it may be that this ordinary
grey stone became what it became because of his efforts and his will
and his spirit with which he infused it. Whatever it may have been, I
wish with all my heart that he had never seen it, never stooped and
touched it, never picked it up.
At any rate, one day, a very long time ago, it was finished, and our
Master called us together so that he might show it to us.
'Behold this Orb,' he told us. 'In it lies the fate of the world.' And
PREFACE
the grey stone, so ordinary a thing, but which had been polished by
the touch of our Master's hand for a thousand years and more,
began to glow as if a tiny blue fire flickered deep within it.
And Belzedar, always quick, asked, 'How, Great Master, can so
small a ~g be so important?'
And our Master smiled, and the Orb grew brighter. Flickering
dimly within it I seemed to see images. 'The past lies herein,' our
Master said, 'and the present and the future also. This is but a small
part of the virtue of this thing which I have made. With it may man
- or the earth itself - be healed - or destroyed. Whatsoever one
would do, even if it be beyond the power of the Will and the Word,
with this may it come to pass.'
'Truly a wondrous thing, Master,' Belzedar said, and it seemed to
me that his eyes glittered as he spoke, and his fingers seemed to
twitch.
'But, Master,' I said, 'thou hast said that the fate of the world lies
within this Orb of thine. How may that be?'
'It hath revealed the future unto me, my son,' my Master said
sadly. 'The stone shall be the cause of much contention and great
suffering and great destruction. Its power reaches from where it now
sits to blow out the lives of men yet unborn as easily as thou wouldst
snuff a candle.'
'It is an evil thing then, Master,' I said, and Belsambar and
Belmakor agreed.
'Destroy it, Master,' Belsambar pleaded, 'before it can bring this
evil to the world.'
'That may not be,' our Master said.
'Blessed is the wisdom of Aidur,' Belzedar said. 'With us to aid
him, our Master may wield this wondrous jewel for good and not W.
Monstrous would it be to destroy so precious a thing.'
* Notice that Belzedar's obsession with the Orb is introduced here.
'Destroy it, Master,' Belkira and Beltira said as in one voice, their
minds as always linked into the same thought. 'We beseech thee,
unmake this evil thing which thou hast made.'
'That may not be,' our Master said again. 'The unmaking of
things is forbidden. Even I may not unmake that which I have made.'
'Who shall forbid anything to the God Aldur?' Belnakor asked.
'It is beyond thine understanding, my son,' our Master said. 'To
thee and to other men it may seem that my brothers and I are