 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
not destroy this precious thing?'
'No,' Aldur said. 'It may not be destroyed but will abide even
unto the end of days; but if Torak can be pressed into haste, he will
attempt to use it in a way that it will not be used. Such is its power.'
Belzedar stared at him.
'The world is inconstant, my son,' our Master explained, 'but
good and evil are immutable and unchanging. The Orb is an object
of good, and is not merely a bauble or a toy. It hath understanding
not such as thine - but understanding nonetheless - and it hath a
will. Beware of it, for the will of the Orb is the will of a stone. It is, as
I say, a thing of good. If it be raised to do evil, it will strike down
whomever would so use it - be he man or be he God. Thus we must
make haste. Go thou, my Disciples, unto my other brothers and tell
them that I bid them come to me. I am the eldest, and they will come
out of respect, if not love.'
And so we went down from our Master's tower and divided
ourselves and went out of the Vale to seek out his brothers, the other
Gods. Because the twins Beltira and Belkira could not be separated
without perishing, they remained behind with our Master, but each
of the rest of us went forth in search of one of the Gods.
Since haste was important, and I had perhaps the farthest to go in
my search for the God, Belar, I traveled for a time in the form of an
eagle. But my arms soon grew weary with flying, and heights have
ever made me giddy. I also found my eyes frequently distracted by
tiny movements on the ground, and I had fierce urges to swoop
down and kill things. I came to earth, resumed my own form and sat
for a time to regain my breath and consider.
PREFACE
I had not assumed other forms frequently. It was a simple trick
without much advantage to it. I now discovered a major drawback
involved in it. The longer I remained in the assumed form, the more
the character of the form became interwoven with my own. The
eagle, for all his splendor, is really a stupid bird, and I had no desire
to be distracted from my mission by every mouse or rabbit on the
ground beneath me.
I considered the horse. A horse can run very fast, but he soon
grows tired and he is not very intelligent. An antelope can run for
days without growing wear34 but an antelope is a silly creature, and
too many things upon the plain looked upon the antelope as food. I
had not the time it would take to stop and persuade each of those
things to seek food elsewhere. And then it occurred to me that of all
the creatures of the plain and forest, the wolf was the most
intelligent, the swiftest, and the most tireless.
It was a decision well-made. As soon as I became accustomed to
going on all fours, I found the shape of the wolf most satisfactory
and the mind of the wolf most compatible with my own. I quickly
discovered that it is a fine thing to have a tail. It provides an
excellent means of maintaining one's balance, and one may curl it about
himself at night to ward off the chill. I grew very proud of my tail on
my journey in search of Belar and his people.
I was stopped briefly by a young she-wolf who was feeling
frolicsome. She had, as I recall, fine haunches and a comely muzzle.
'Why so great a hurry, friend?' she said to me coyly in the way of