“Why are these people all so unfriendly toward each other?” Eriond asked Polgara.
“It’s a cultural trait,” she told him. “Murgos were the aristocracy at Cthol Mishrak before Torak ordered them to migrate to this continent. They are absolutely convinced that Murgos are the supreme creation of the universe—and every one of them is convinced that he’s superior to all the rest. It doesn’t leave them very much to talk about.”
There was a pall of greasy black smoke hanging over the city, bringing with it a sickening stench.
“What is that dreadful smell?” Velvet asked, wrinkling her nose.
“I don’t think you really want to know,” Silk told her with a bleak look on his face.
“Surely they aren’t still—” Garion left it hanging.
“It seems so,” the little man replied.
“But Torak’s dead. What’s the sense of it?”
“Grolims have never really been all that much concerned about the fact that what they do doesn’t make sense, Gar-ion,” Belgarath said. “The source of their power has always been terror. If they want to keep the power, they have to continue the terror.”
They rounded a comer and saw a huge black building ahead of them. A column of dense smoke rose from a large chimney jutting up from the slate roof, blowing first this way and then that in the gusty wind coming up from the harbor
“Is that the Temple?” Durnik asked.
“Yes “ Polgara replied. She pointed at the two massive, nail-studded doors forming the only break in the blank, featureless wall. Directly above those doors there hung the polished steel replica of the face of Torak. Garion felt the familiar chill in his blood as he looked at the brooding face of his enemy. Even now, after all that had happened in the City of Endless Night, the face of Torak filled him with dread, and he was not particularly surprised to find that he was actually trembling as he approached the entrance to the Temple of the maimed God of Angarak.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Sadi slid down from his saddle, went up to the nail-studded doors, and clanged the rusty iron knocker, sending hollow echoes reverberating back into the Temple.
“Who comes to the House of Torak?” a muffled voice demanded from inside.
“I bear a message from Jaharb, Chief Elder at Mount Kahsha, for the ears of Agachak, Hierarch of Rak Urga.”
There was a momentary pause inside, and then one of the doors creaked open and a pock-marked Grolim looked cautiously out at them. “You are not of the Dagashi,” he said accusingly to Sadi.
“No, as a matter of fact, I’m not. There’s an arrangement between Jaharb and Agachak, and I’m part of it.”
“I have not heard of such an arrangement.”
Sadi looked pointedly at the unadorned hood of the Grolim’s robe, an obvious indication that the priest was of low rank. “Forgive me, servant of Torak,” he said coolly, “but is your Hierarch in the habit of confiding in his doorman?”
The Grolim’s face darkened as he glared at the eunuch. “Cover your head, Nyissan,” he said after a long moment. “This is a holy place.”
“Of course.” Sadi pulled the hood of his green robe up over his shaven scalp. “Will you have someone see to our horses?”
“They will be taken care of. Are these your servants?” The Grolim looked past Sadi’s shoulder at the others, who still sat their horses in the cobbled street.
“They are, noble priest.”
“Tell them to come with us. I will take you all to Chabat.”
“Excuse me, priest of the Dragon God. My message is for Agachak.”
“No one sees Agachak without first seeing Chabat. Bring your servants and follow me.”
The rest of them dismounted and passed through the grim doors into the torchlit corridor beyond. The sickening odor of burning flesh which had pervaded the city was even stronger here in the Temple. A sense of dread came over Garion as he followed the Grolim and Sadi along the smoky hallway into the Temple. The place reeked of an ancient evil, and the hollow-faced priests they passed in the corridor all looked at them with heavy suspicion and undisguised malice.
And then there came from somewhere in the building an agonized shriek, followed by a great iron clang. Garion shuddered, fully aware of the meaning of those sounds.
“Is the ancient rite of sacrifice still performed?” Sadi asked the Grolim in some surprise. “I would have thought that the practice might have fallen into disuse—all things considered.”
“Nothing has happened to make us discontinue the performance of our holiest duty, Nyissan,” the Grolim replied coldly. “Each hour we offer up a human heart to the God Torak.”
“But Torak is no more.”
The Grolim stopped, his face angry. “Never speak those words again!” he snapped. “It is not the place of a foreigner to utter such blasphemy within the walls of the Temple. The spirit of Torak lives on, and one day he will be reborn to rule the world. He himself will wield the knife when his enemy, Belgarion of Riva, lies screaming on the altar.”
“Now there’s a cheery thought,” Silk murmured to Belgarath. “We get to do it all over again.”
“Just shut up, Silk,” Belgarath muttered.
The chamber to which the Grolim underpriest led them was large and dimly lighted by several oil lamps. The walls were lined with black drapes, and the air was thick with incense. A slim, hooded figure sat behind a large table with a guttering black candle at its elbow and a heavy, black-bound book before it. A kind of warning tingle prickled Garion’s scalp as he sensed the power emanating from that figure. He glanced quickly at Polgara, and she nodded gravely.
“Forgive me, Holy Chabat,” the pock-marked Grolim said in a slightly trembling voice as he genuflected before the table, “but I bring a messenger from Jaharb the assassin.”
The figure at the table looked up, and Garion suppressed a start of surprise. It was a woman. There was about her face a kind of luminous beauty, but it was not that which struck his eye. Cruelly inscribed into each of her pale cheeks were deep red scars that ran down from her temples to her chin in an ornate design, a design which appeared to represent flames. Her eyes were dark and smoldering, and her full-lipped mouth was drawn into a contemptuous sneer. A deep purple piping marked the edge of her black hood. “So?” she said in a harshly rasping voice. “And how is it that the Dagashi now entrust their messages to foreigners?”
“I—I thought not to ask, Holy Chabat,” the Grolim faltered. “This one claims to be a friend of Jaharb.”
“And you chose not to question him further?” Her harsh voice sank into a menacing whisper, and her eyes bored into the suddenly trembling underpriest. Then her gaze slowly shifted to Sadi. “Say your name,” she commanded.
“I am Ussa of Sthiss Tor, Holy Priestess,” he replied. “Jaharb instructed me to present myself to your Hierarch and to give him a message.”
“And what is that message?”
“Ah—forgive me, Holy Priestess, but I was told that it was for Agachak’s ears alone.”
“I am Agachak’s ears,” she told him, her voice dreadfully quiet. “Nothing reaches his ears that I have not heard first.” It was the tone of her voice that made Garion suddenly understand. Although this cruelly scarred woman had somehow risen to a position of power here in the temple, she was still uncertain about that power. She bore her uncertainty like an open wound, and the slightest questioning of her authority roused in her an abiding hatred for whomever doubted her. Fervently he hoped that Sadi realized how extremely dangerous she was.
“Ah,” Sadi said with polished aplomb. “I was not fully aware of the situation here. I was told that Jaharb, Agachak, and King Urgit have reason to want one Kabach transported safely to Rak Hagga. I am the one who is to provide that transportation.”
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “That is certainly not the entire message,” she accused.
“I’m afraid it is, Noble Priestess, I presume that Agachak will understand its meaning.”
“Jaharb said nothing else to you?”
“Only that this Kabach is here in the Temple under Agachak’s protection.”
“Impossible,” she snapped. “I would have known about it if he were. Agachak conceals nothing from me.”
Sadi spread his hands in a mollifying gesture. “I can only repeat what Jaharb told me, Holy Priestess.”
She gnawed at one knuckle, her eyes suddenly filled with doubt. “If you’re lying to me, Ussa—or trying to conceal something—I will have your heart ripped out,” she threatened.
“That is the entire message, Holy Priestess. May I now deliver it to your Hierarch?”
“The Hierarch is at the Drojim Palace, consulting with the High King. He is not likely to return until midnight.”
“Is there someplace where my servants and I could await his return, then?”