“I have frequently been in close contact with Nahaz,” the Grolim admitted. “It was I who delivered him to Lord Mengha.”
“Why don’t you tell me about that? I’m sure it’s a fascinating story and I’d really like to hear it. Take your time, Arshag. Tell me the whole story, and don’t leave out any of the details.”
The Grolim smiled almost happily. “I’ve been wanting to tell someone the story for a long time now,” he said.
“Do you really want to hear it?”
“I’m absolutely dying to hear it,” Belgarath assured him.
The Grolim smiled again. “Well,” he began, “it all started quite a number of years ago ‑not too long after the death of Torak. I was serving in the Temple at Calida. Though we were all in deepest despair, we tried to keep the faith alive. Then one day Harakan came to our temple and sought me out privately. I had journeyed at times to Mal Yaska on Church business and I knew Harakan to be of high rank among the Chandim and very close to the Holy Disciple Urvon. When we were alone, he told me that Urvon had consulted the Oracles and Prophecies concerning the direction the Church must take in her blackest hour. The Disciple had discovered that a new God was destined to rise over Angarak, and that he will hold Cthrag Sardius in his right hand and Cthrag Yaska in his left. And he will be the almighty Child of Dark, and the Lord of Demons shall do his bidding.”
“That’s a direct quotation, I take it?”
Arshag nodded. “From the eighth antistrophe of the Ashabine Oracles,” he confirmed.
“It’s a little obscure, but prophecies usually are. Go on.”
Arshag shifted his position and continued. “The Disciple Urvon interpreted the passage to mean that our new God would have the aid of the demons in quelling his enemies.”
“Did Harakan identify these enemies for you?”
Arshag nodded again. “He mentioned Zandramas ‑of whom I have heard‑ and one named Agachak, whose name is strange to me. He also warned me that the Child of Light would probably attempt to interfere.”
“That’s a reasonable assumption,” Silk murmured to Garion.
“Harakan, who is the Disciple’s closest advisor, had selected me to perform a great task,” Arshag continued proudly. “He charged me to seek out the wizards of Karanda and to study their arts so that I might summon up the Demon Lord Nahaz and beseech him to aid the Disciple Urvon in his struggles with his enemies.”
“Did he tell you how dangerous that task would be?” Belgarath asked him.
“I understood the perils,” Arshag said, “but I accepted them willingly, for my rewards were to be great.”
“I’m sure,” Belgarath murmured. “Why didn’t Harakan do it himself?”
“The Disciple Urvon had placed another task upon Harakan ‑somewhere in the west, I understand‑ having to do with a child.”
Belgarath nodded blandly. “I think I’ve heard about it.”
“Anyway.” Arshag went on, “I journeyed into the forest of the north, seeking out the wizards who still practiced their rites in places hidden from the eyes of the Church. In time, I found such a one.” His lip curled in a sneer. “He was an ignorant savage of small skill, at best only able to raise an imp or two, but he agreed to accept me as his pupil ‑and slave. It was he who saw fit to put these marks upon my body.” He glanced with distaste at his tattoos. “He kept me in a kennel and made me serve him and listen to his ravings. I learned what little he could teach me and then I strangled him and went in search of a more powerful teacher.”
“Note how deep the gratitude of Grolims goes,” Silk observed quietly to Garion, who was concentrating half on the story and half on the business of steering the scow.
“The years that followed were difficult,” Arshag continued. “I went from teacher to teacher, suffering enslavement and abuse.” A bleak smile crossed his face. “Occasionally, they used to sell me to other wizards ‑as one might sell a cow or a pig. After I learned the arts, I retraced my steps and repaid each one for his impertinences. At length, in a place near the barrens of the north, I was able to apprentice myself to an ancient man reputed to be the most powerful wizard in Karanda. He was very old, and his eyes were failing, so he took me for a young Karand seeking wisdom. He accepted me as his apprentice, and my training began in earnest. The raising of minor demons is no great chore, but summoning a Demon Lord is much more difficult and much more perilous. The wizard claimed to have done it twice in his life, but he may have been lying. He did, however, show me how to raise the image of the Demon Lord Nahaz and also how to communicate with him. No spell or incantation is powerful enough to compel a Demon Lord to come when he is called. He will come only if he consents to come ‑and usually for reasons of his own.
“Once I had learned all that the old wizard could teach me, I killed him and journeyed south toward Calida again.” He sighed a bit regretfully. “The old man was a kindly master, and I was sorry that I had to kill him.” Then he shrugged. “But he was old,” he added, “and I sent him off with a single knife stroke to the heart.”
“Steady, Durnik,” Silk said, putting his hand on the angry smith’s arm.
“At Calida, I found the Temple in total disarray,” Arshag went on. “My brothers had finally succumbed to absolute despair, and the Temple had become a vile sink of corruption and degeneracy. I suppressed my outrage, however, and kept to myself. I dispatched word to Mal Yaska, advising Harakan that I had been successful in my mission and that I awaited his commands in the Temple at Calida. In time, I received a reply from one of the Chandim, who told me that Harakan had not yet returned from the west.” He paused. “Do you suppose that I could have a drink of water?” he asked. “I have a very foul taste in my mouth for some reason.”
Sadi went to the water cask in the stern and dipped out a tin cup of water. “No drug is completely perfect,” he murmured defensively to Garion in passing.
Arshag gratefully took the cup from Sadi and drank.
“Go on with your story,” Belgarath told him when he had finished.
Arshag nodded. “It was a bit less than a year ago that
Harakan returned from the west,” he said. “He came up to Calida, and he and I met in secret. I told him what I had accomplished and advised him of the limitations involved in any attempts to raise a Demon Lord. Then we went to a secluded place, and I instructed him in the incantations and spells which would raise an image of Nahaz and permit us to speak through the gate that lies between the worlds and communicate directly with Nahaz. Once I had established contact with the Demon Lord, Harakan began to speak with him. He mentioned Cthrag Sardius, but Nahaz already knew of it. And then Harakan told Nahaz that during the long years that Torak slept, the Disciple Urvon had become more and more obsessed with wealth and power and had at last convinced himself that he was in fact a demigod, and but one step removed from divinity. Harakan proposed an alliance between himself and Nahaz. He suggested that the Demon Lord nudge Urvon over the edge into madness and then aid him in defeating all the others who were seeking the hiding place of Cthrag Sardius. Unopposed, Urvon would easily gain the stone.”
“I gather that you chose to go along with them -instead of warning Urvon what was afoot? What did you get out of the arrangement?”
“They let me live.” Arshag shrugged. “I think Harakan wanted to kill me ‑just to be safe‑ but Nahaz told him that I could still be useful. He promised me kingdoms of my own to rule ‑and demon children to do my bidding. Harakan was won over by the Demon Lord and he treated me courteously.”
“I don’t exactly see that there’s much advantage to Nahaz in giving the Sardion to Urvon,” Belgarath confessed.
“Nahaz wants Cthrag Sardius for himself,” Arshag told him. “If Urvon has been driven mad, Nahaz will simply take Cthrag Sardius from him and replace it with a piece of worthless rock. Then the Demon Lord and Harakan will put Urvon in a house somewhere ‑Ashaba perhaps, or some other isolated castle‑ and they’ll surround him with imps and lesser demons to blind him with illusions. There he will play at being God in blissful insanity while Nahaz and Harakan rule the world between them.”