Demon Lord of Karanda by David Eddings Read Free Book Online Page B

and comfortable in the belief that one day he would awaken, punish all their enemies, and reassert the absolute authority of the unwashed and stinking priesthood. But when you killed Torak, you destroyed their comfortable. sense of security. They were forced to face the fact that without Torak they were nothing. Some of them were so chagrined that they went mad. Others fell into absolute despair. A few, how ever, began to hammer together a new mythology -something to replace what you had destroyed with a single stroke of that sword over there."
    "It wasn't entirely my idea," Garion told him.
    "It's results that matter, Belgarion, not intentions. Anyway, Urvon was forced to tear himself away from his quest for opulence and his wallowing in the adoration of the sycophants who surrounded him and get back to business. For a time he was in an absolute frenzy of activity. He resurrected all the moth-eaten old prophecies and twisted and wrenched at them until they seemed to say what he wanted them to say."
    "And what was that?"
    "He's trying to convince people that a new God will come to rule over Angarak -either a resurrection of Torak himself or some new deity infused with Torak's spirit. He's even got a candidate in mind for this new God of Angarak."
    "Oh? Who's that?"
    Zakath's expression became amused. "He sees his new God every time he looks in a mirror."
    "You're not serious!"
    "Oh, yes. Urvon's been trying to convince himself that he's at least a demigod for several centuries now. He'd probably have himself paraded all over Mallorea in a golden chariot -except that he's afraid to leave Mal Yaska. As I understand it, there's a very nasty hunchback who's been hungering to kill him for eons -one of Aldur's disciples, I believe."
    Garion nodded. "Beldin," he said. "I've met him."
    "Is he really as bad as the stories make him out to be?"
    "Probably even worse. I don't think you'd want to be around to watch what he does, if he ever catches up with Urvon."
    "I wish him good hunting, but Urvon's not my only problem, I'm afraid. Not long after the death of Torak, certain rumors started coming out of Darshiva. A Grolim priestess -Zandramas by name- also began to predict the coming of a new God."
    "I didn't know that she was a Grolim," Garion said with some surprise.
    Zakath nodded gravely. " She formerly had a very unsavory reputation in Darshiva. Then the so-called ecstasy of prophecy fell on her, and she was suddenly transformed by it. Now when she speaks, no one can resist her words. She preaches to multitudes and fires them with invincible zeal. Her message of the coming of a new God ran through Darshiva like wildfire and spread into Regel, Voresebo, and Zamad as well. Virtually the entire northeast coast of Mallorea is hers."
    "What's the Sardion got to do with all this?" Garion asked.
    "I think it's the key to the whole business," Zakath replied. "Both Zandramas and Urvon seem to believe that whoever finds and possesses it is going to win out."
    "Agachak -the Hierarch of Rak Urga- believes the same thing," Garion told him.
    Zakath nodded moodily. "I suppose I should have realized that. A Grolim is a Grolim -whether he comes from Mallorea or Cthol Murgos."
    "It seems to me that maybe you should go back to Mallorea and put things in order."
    "No, Belgarion, I won't abandon my campaign here in Cthol Murgos."
    "Is personal revenge worth it?"
    Zakath looked startled.
    "I know why you hated Taur Urgas, but he's dead, and Urgit's not at all like him. I can't really believe that you'd sacrifice your whole empire just for the sake of revenging yourself on a man who can't feel it."
    "You know?" Zakath's face looked stricken. "Who told you?"
    "Urgit did. He told me the whole story."
    "With pride, I expect." Zakath's teeth were clenched, and his face pale.
    "No, not really. It was with regret -and with contempt for Taur Urgas. He hated him even more than you do."
    "That's hardly possible, Belgarion. To answer your question, yes, I will