“That’s what that sudden light was—the light from that exploding galaxy—the accident. It only just now reached this place.”
Garion swallowed hard. “Just how far away was the accident?”
“The numbers wouldn’t mean anything to you.”
“How long ago did it happen?”
“That’s another number you wouldn’t understand. You might ask Cyradis. She could probably tell you. She had a very special reason to have it calculated rather precisely.”
Garion slowly began to understand. “That’s it then,” he said, excited in spite of himself. “The instant of the Choice was the instant when the light from the accident reached this world.”
“Very good, Garion.”
‘ ‘Did that cluster of stars that exploded come back again after Cyradis made the Choice? I mean there has to be something to patch that hole in the universe, doesn’t there?”
“Better and better. Garion, I’m proud of you. You remember how the Sardion and Zandramas broke up into little flecks of intense light when they blew the roof off the grotto?”
“It’s not the sort of thing I’d be likely to forget.” Garion shuddered.
“There was a reason for that. Zandramas and the Sardion— or the pieces of them, at any rate—are on their way back toward that ‘hole,* as you put it. They’re going to be the patch. They’ll get bigger along the way, of course.”
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“And how long—” Garion broke off. “Another meaningless number, I suppose?”
“Very meaningless.”
‘ ‘I noticed some things about Zandramas back there. She had this all worked out, didn’t she? Right from the very beginning?”
“My opposite was always very methodical.”
“What I’m getting at is that she made all of her arrangements in advance. She had everything in place in Nyissa before she ever went to Cherek to pick up those Bear-cultists. Then, when she went to Riva to steal Geran, everything was ready. She’d even put things in place so that we ail suspected the cult instead of her.”
“She’d have probably made a very good general.”
“But she went even further. No matter how good her plans were, she always had a contingency to fall back on in case the original plan failed.” A thought came to him. “Did Mordja get her? I mean, she blew all apart when the Sardion exploded, didn’t she? Is her spirit still mixed up in those stars, or did it get pulled down into Hell? She sounded so very much afraid just before she dissolved.”
“I really wouldn’t know, Garion. My opposite and I dealt with this universe, not with Hell—which, of course, is a universe all its own.”
‘ ‘What would have happened if Cyradis had chosen Geran instead of Eriond?”
“You and the Orb would be moving to a new address about now.”
Garion felt his skin begin to crawl. “And you didn’t warn me?” he demanded incredulously.
“Would you really have wanted to know? And what difference would it have made?”
Garion decided to let that pass. “Was Eriond always a God?” he asked.
“Weren’t you listening earlier when he explained? Eriond was intended to be the seventh God. Torak was a mistake caused by the accident.”
“He’s always been around then? Eriond, I mean?”
“Always is a long time, Garion. Eriond was present—in spirit— since the accident. When you were born, he began to move around in the world.”
“We’re the same age then?”
“Age is a meaningless concept to the Gods. They can be any age they choose to be. It was the theft of the Orb that started
tilings moving toward what happened here today. Zedar wanted to steal the Orb, so Eriond found him and showed him how to do it. That’s what got you moving in the first place. If Zedar hadn’t stolen the Orb, you’d probably still be at Faldor’s farm-married to Zubrette, I’d imagine. Try to keep your perspective about this, Garion, but in a very peculiar way mis world was created just to give you something to stand on while you were fixing things.”
‘ * Please stop joking.”
“I’m not joking, Garion. You’re the most important person who’s ever lived—or ever will—with the possible exception of Cyradis. You killed a bad God and replaced him with a good one. You did a lot of floundering around in the process, but you finally managed to get it all done. I ‘m sort of proud of you, actually. All hi all, you turned out rather well.”
“I had a lot of help.”
“Granted, but you’re entitled to a bit of conceit—for a moment or two, anyway. I wouldn’t overdo it, though. It’s not a very becoming sort of thing.”
Garion concealed a smile. “Why me?” he asked, making it sound as plaintive and imbecilic as possible.
There was a startled silence, and then the voice actually laughed. “Please don’t go back to asking that, Garion.”
“I’m sorry. What happens now?”
“You get to go home.”
“No, I mean to the world?”
“A lot of that’s going to depend on Zakath. Eriond is the God of Angarak now, and despite Urgit and Drosta and Nathel, Zak-ath’s the real overking of Angarak. It might take a bit of doing and he may have to use up a large number of Grolims in the process, but before he’s done, Zakath is going to have to ram Eriond down the throats of all the Angaraks in the world.”
“He’ll manage.” Garion shrugged. “Zakath’s very good at ramming things down people’s throats.”
“Cyradis will be able to soften that side of him, I expect.”
“All right, then. What about afterward? After all the Angaraks have accepted Eriond?”
“The movement will spread. You’ll probably live long enough to see the day when Eriond is the God of the whole world. That’s what was intended from the beginning.”
*’ ‘And he shall have Lordship and Dominion’?” Garion quoted with a sinking feeling, remembering certain Grolim prophecies.
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“You know Eriond better than that. Can you possibly see him sitting on a throne gloating over sacrifices?”
“No, not really. What happens to the other Gods then? Aldur and the rest of them?”
“They’ll move on. They Ve finished with what they came here to do, and there are many, many other worlds in the universe.”
“What about UL? Will he leave, too?”
“UL doesn’t leave any place, Garion. He’s everywhere. Does that more or less answer all the questions? I have some other things that need to be attended to. There are a number of people I have to make arrangements for. Oh, incidentally, congratulations on your daughters.”
“Daughters?”
“Small female children. They’re devious, but they’re prettier than sons, and they smell better.”
“How many?” Garion asked breathlessly.
“Quite a few, actually. I won’t tell you the exact number. I wouldn’t want to spoil any surprises for you, but when you get back to Riva, you’d better start expanding the royal nursery.” There was a long pause. “Good-bye for now, Garion,” the voice said, its tone no longer dry. “Be well.”
And then the voice was gone.
The sun was slipping down, and Garion, Ce’Nedra, and Geran had rejoined the others near the portal to the grotto. They were all subdued as they sat not far from the vast carcass of the dragon.
“We ought to do something about her,” Belgarath murmured. “She wasn’t really a bad brute. She was just stupid, and that’s not really a crime. IVe always felt rather sorry for her, and I’d sort of hate to just leave her out here in the open for the birds to pick over.”
“You’ve got a sentimental streak in you, Belgarath,” Beldin noted. “That’s very disappointing, you know.”
‘ ‘We all get sentimental as we get older.” Belgarath shrugged.
“Is she all right?” Velvet asked Sadi as the eunuch returned with Zith’s little bottle. “You took quite a long time.”
“She’s fine,” Sadi replied. “One of the babies wanted to play. He thought it was funny to hide from me. It took me awhile to locate him.”
“Is there any real reason for us to stay here?” ‘Silk asked. “We could light that beacon, and maybe Captain Kresca could pick us up before dark.”
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“We’re expecting company, Kheldar,” Eriond told him.
“We are? Whom are we expecting?”
“Some friends are planning to stop by.”
” Your friends or ours?”
“Some of each, actually. There’s one of them now.” Eriond pointed out to sea.
They all turned to look.
Silk suddenly laughed. “We should have known,” he said. ‘ ‘Trust Barak to disobey orders.”
They all looked out at the gently rolling ocean. The Seabird looked a bit the worse for weather, but she wallowed through the waves ponderously on a starboard tack that was taking her on a course past the reef. “Beldin,” Silk suggested, “why don’t we go down to the shore and light a signal for him?”
“Can’t you do it yourself?”
“I’ll be happy to—just as soon as you teach me how to set fire to rocks.”