David Eddings - Enchanter's End Game

She stared at him, hesitated, then blurted the one word, “Yes.”

Garion was shocked—not so much by Aunt Pol’s acceptance but rather by Aldur’s request. Aunt Pol’s power was central to her very being. To remove it from her would leave her with nothing. What would she be without it? How could she even live without it? It was a cruel price to demand, and Garion had believed that Aldur was a kindly God.

“I will accept thy sacrifice, Polgara,” Aldur was saying. “I will speak with my father and my brothers. For good and proper reasons, we have denied ourselves this power, and we must all agree to it before any of us might attempt this violation of the natural order of things.” And he returned to the sorrowful gathering about Torak’s bier.

“How could he do that?” Garion, his arm still about Ce’Nedra, demanded of his grandfather.

“Do what?”

“Ask her to give up her power like that? It will destroy her.”

“She’s much stronger than you think, Garion,” Belgarath assured him, “and Aldur’s reasoning is sound. No marriage could survive that kind of inequality.”

Among the glowing Gods, however, one angry voice was raised. “No!” It was Mara, the weeping God of the Marags, who were no more. “Why should one man be restored when all my slaughtered children still lie cold and dead? Did Aldur hear my pleas? Did he come to my aid when my children died? I will not consent.”

“I hadn’t counted on that,” Belgarath muttered. “I’d better take steps before this goes any further.” He crossed the littered ground and bowed respectfully. “Forgive my intrusion,” he said, “but would my Master’s brother accept a woman of the Marags as a gift in exchange for his aid in restoring Durnik?”

Mara’s tears, which had been perpetual, suddenly stopped, and his face became incredulous. “A Marag woman?” he demanded sharply. “None such exist. I would have known in my heart if one of my children had survived in Maragor.”

“Of a certainty, Lord Mara,” Belgarath agreed quickly. “But what of those few who were carried out of Maragor to dwell in perpetual slavery—”

“Knowest thou of such a one, Belgarath?” Mara asked with a desperate eagerness.

The old man nodded. “We discovered her in the slave pens beneath Rak Cthol, Lord Mara. Her name is Taiba. She is but one, but a race may be restored by such a one as she—particularly if she be watched over by a loving God.”

“Where is Taiba, my daughter?”

“In the care of Relg, the Ulgo,” Belgarath replied. “They seem quite attached to each other,” he added blandly.

Mara looked at him thoughtfully. “A race may not be restored by one,” he said, “even in the care of the most loving God. It requires two.” He turned to UL. “Wilt thou give me this Ulgo, Father?” he asked. “He shall become the sire of my people.”

UL gave Belgarath a rather penetrating look. “Thou knowest that Relg hath another duty to perform,” he said pointedly.

Belgarath’s expression was almost impish. “I’m certain that the Gorim and I can work out the details, Most Holy,” he declared with utmost self confidence.

“Aren’t you forgetting something, Belgarath?” Silk asked diffidently, as if not wanting to intrude. “Relg has this little problem, remember?”

Belgarath gave the little man a hard look.

“I just thought I ought to mention it,” Silk said innocently.

Mara looked sharply at them. “What is this?”

“A minor difficulty, Lord Mara,” Belgarath said quickly. “One I’m certain Taiba can overcome. I have the utmost confidence in her in that particular area.”

“I will have the truth of this,” Mara said firmly.

Belgarath sighed and gave Silk another grim look. “Relg is a zealot, Lord Mara,” he explained. “For religious reasons, he avoids certain—ah—forms of human contact.”

“Fatherhood is his destiny,” UL said. “From him will issue a special child. I will explain this to him. He is an obedient man, and he will put aside his aversions for my sake.”

“Then thou wilt give him to me, Father?” Mara asked eagerly.

“He is throe—with but one restriction—of which we will speak later.”

“Let us see this brave Sendar, then,” Mara said, and all traces of his weeping were now gone.

“Belgarion,” the voice in Garion’s mind said.

“What?”

“The restoration of your friend is in your hands now.”

“Me? Why me?”

“Must you always say that? Do you want Durnik’s life restored?”

“Of course, but I can’t do it. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“You did it before. Remember the colt in the cave of the Gods?”

Garion had almost forgotten that.

“You are my instrument, Belgarion. I can keep you from making mistakes—most of the time anyway. Just relax; I’ll show you what to do.” Garion was already moving without conscious volition. He let his arm fall from about Ce’Nedra’s shoulders, and, his sword still in his hand, he walked slowly toward Aunt Pol and Durnik’s body. He looked once into her eyes as she sat with the dead man’s head in her lap, and then he knelt beside the body.

“For me, Garion,” she murmured to him.

“If I can, Aunt Pol,” he said.

Then, without knowing why, he laid the sword of the Rivan King upon the ground and took hold of the Orb at its pommel. With a faint click, the Orb came free in his hand. Errand, smiling now, approached from the other side and also knelt, taking up Durnik’s lifeless hand in his. Holding the Orb in both hands, Garion reached out and put it against the dead man’s chest. He was faintly conscious of the fact that the Gods had gathered about in a circle and that they had reached out their arms, palm to palm, forming an unbroken ring. Within that circle, a great light began to pulsate, and the Orb, as if in answer, glowed between his hands.

The blank wall he had seen once before was there again, still black, impenetrable, and silent. As he had before in the cave of the Gods, Garion pushed tentatively against the substance of death itself, striving to reach through and pull his friend back into the world of the living.

It was different this time. The colt he had brought to life in the cave had never lived except within its mother’s body. Its death had been as tenuous as its life, and it lay but a short distance beyond the barrier. Durnik, however, had been a man full grown, and his death, like his life, was far more profound. With all his strength, Garion pushed. He could feel the enormous force of the combined wills of the Gods joining with his in the silent struggle, but the barrier would not yield.

“Use the Orb!” the voice commanded.

This time Garion focused all the power, his own and that of the Gods upon the round stone between his hands. It flickered, then glowed, then flickered again.

“Help me!” Garion commanded it.

As if suddenly understanding, the Orb flared into a coruscating eruption of colored light. The barrier was weakening.

With an encouraging little smile, Errand reached out and laid one hand upon the blazing Orb.

The barrier broke. Durnik’s chest heaved, and he coughed once. With profoundly respectful expression upon their eternal faces, the Gods stepped back. Aunt Pol cried out in sudden relief and clasped her arms about Durnik, cradling him against her.

“Errand,” the child said to Garion with a peculiar note of satisfaction. Garion stumbled to his feet, exhausted by the struggle and nearly staggering as he moved away.

“Are you all right?” Ce’Nedra demanded of him, even as she ducked her head beneath his arm and firmly pulled it about her tiny shoulders. He nodded, though his knees almost buckled.

“Lean on me,” she told him.