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long over the Orb. There was a great sadness in his face, and my
heart wept to see it. There was also a reddened mark upon his cheek
which I did not understand.
But Belzedar, ever quick, saw at once what I did not see. 'Master,'
he said, and his voice had the sound of panic in it, 'where is the
jewel? Where is the Orb of power which thou hast-made?'
'Torak, my brother, hath taken it away with him,' my Master said,
and his voice had almost the sound of weeping in it.
'Quickly,' Belzedar said, 'we must pursue him and reclaim it
before he escapes us. We are many, and he is but one.'
'He is a God, my son,' Aldur said. 'Thy numbers would mean
nothing to him.'
'But, Master,' Belzedar said most desperately, 'we must reclaim
the Orb. It must be returned to us.'
'How did he obtain it from thee, Master?' the gentle Beltira asked.
'Torak conceived a desire for the thing,' Aldur said, 'and he
besought me that I should give it to him. When I would not, he
smote me and took the Orb and ran.'
A rage seized me at that. Though the jewel was wondrous, it was
still only a stone. The fact that someone had struck my Master
brought flames into my brain. I cast off my robe, bent my win into
the air before me and forged a sword with a single word. I seized the
sword and leapt to the window.
'No!' my Master said, and the word stopped me as though a wall
had been placed before me.
'Open!' I commanded, slashing at the wall with the sword I had
just made.
'No!' my Master said, and it would not let me through.
'He hath struck thee, Master,' I raged. 'For that I will slay him
though he be ten times a God.'
'No,' my Master said again. 'Torak would crush thee as easily
as thou would
* This is grammatically incorrect. When using archaic language it is important
to pay
attention to the verb forms, which are not the same in second person familiar as
they are in
second person formal. The proper form here would be 'wouldst'.
crush a fly which annoyed thee. I love thee
much, my eldest son, and I would not lose thee so.'
'There must be war, Master,' Belnakor said. 'The blow and the
theft must not go unpunished. We will forge weapons, and
Belgarath shall lead us, and we shall make war upon this thief who
calls himself a God.'
'My son,' our Master said to him, 'there will be war enough to
glut thee of it before thy life ends. The Orb is as nothing. Gladly
would I have given it unto my brother, Torak, were it not that the
Orb itself had told me that one day it would destroy him I would
have spared him had I been able, but his lust for the thing was too
great, and he would not listen.' He sighed and then straightened.
There will be war,' he said. 'My brother, Torak, hath the Orb in
his possession. It is of great power, and in his hands can do great
mischief. We must reclaim it or alter it before Torak learns its full
power./
'Alter?' Belzedar said, aghast. 'Surely, Master, surely thou wouldst