miss, since it glowed with an intensely blue fire.
It was the first time I’d ever seen the Orb. I was impressed. I’ve
seen that glow many times since then, but the only time I’ve ever
seen it so bright was on the day when Garion took that sword down
off the wall. In its own way the Orb was also blessing the wedding
of Beldaran and Riva.
When we reached the area just in front of the throne, my father
and I surrendered custody of Beldaran over to Riva and stepped
back a pace. The Rivan Deacon came forward at that point, and the
ceremony began.
My sister was radiant, and Riva’s worshipful eyes never left her
face. Since this was a state wedding, the Rivan Deacon hadexpanded
the ceremony extensively. Women, of course, absolutely love
weddings. After the first hour, though, the wedding guests began to
grow restless. The benches in the Hall of the Rivan King are made
of stone, so they’re not really very comfortable for the ladies. The
gentlemen were all looking forward to the extensive carousing that
plays such an important part in alorn weddings.
Out of respect, however, we all managed to stifle our yawns.
My sister and Riva endured the droning sermon of the ecclesiast
lecturing them on the duties of marriage. I idly noted in passing
that all the rights fell to the groom, and the duties and obligations
were the bride’s domain.
After another three quarters of an hour, the Deacon’s quickening
cadence indicated that he was nearing his conclusion. He was a
brave man; I’ll give him that. Every man in the hall was wearing a
sword, and he’d tested the congregation’s patience to the
limit.
I’d stopped paying much attention to him a long time ago, and
then mother’s voice inside my head made me very alert. ‘Polgara,’
she said, ‘keep a firm grip on your nerves.’
‘What?’
‘Don’t get excited. Something’s going to happen to you at this point.
It’s symbolic, but it’s quite important.’
A moment later her meaning became very clear. I felt a gentle
kind of warmth, and then I, like the Orb, began to glow a bright
blue. Mother explained later that the glow was the Master’s
benediction upon something which I would do at some point in the far
distant future.
‘Listen very carefully, Polgara,’ mother’s voice said then. ‘This is the
most important event in the history of the west. Beldaran’s the center Of
human attention, but the Gods are watching you.’
‘Me? What on earth for, mother?’
‘At the exact moment that Beldaran and Riva are declared man and
wife, you’ll have to make a decision. The Gods have chosen you to be the
instrument of their will, but you have to accept that.’
‘Accept what?’
‘A task, Polgara, and you must accept it or reject it right here and
now.
‘What kind of task?’
‘If you accept, you’ll be the guardian and protector of the line which
descends from Beldaran and Riva.’
‘ I’m not a soldier, mother.’
‘You’re not expected to be, Polgara. You won’t need a sword for this
task. Consider your decision carefully, my daughter. When the task presents
itself to you, you’ll recognize it immediately; and if you take it up, it’ll
consume the rest of your life.’
Then the Rivan Deacon finally arrived at his long-delayed climax.
Above me I heard the ghostly flutter of soft wings just over my
head, and I glanced upward. Mother, all snowy white, hovered in
the still air, her huge golden eyes intent. Then she curved away
from me and flew on soft wings to the rear of the hall to perch on
one of the rafters.
Then, as the Rivan Deacon pronounced the words that
forever took my sister away from me, mother said, ‘Do you accept,
Polgara?’
The formality of her question demanded a formal response so I
took the sides of my blue gown in my fingertips, spread the gown
slightly, and curtsied my acceptance even as Riva kissed his new
bride.
‘Done! And Done!’A strange new voice exulted as Destiny claimed
me for its own.
PART TWO
Father
*CHAPTER6
That was the first time I’d come into contact with what father chooses
to call ‘Garion’s friend’, and I didn’t fully understand the source of
that ‘Done! And Done!’ that rang so exultantly in my mind. It’s
probably just as well that I didn’t, since no one is ever fully prepared
for that first encounter with the Purpose of the Universe, and my
collapsing in a dead faint might have disrupted my sister’s wedding
just a bit.
Following the ceremony, the wedding party and the guests
adjourned to the large banquet hall just down the corridor for the
traditional wedding feast. Once we were settled on the benches of
the groaning table where meat and fowl and all manner of delicacies
awaited our attention, King Cherek Bear-shoulders rose to his feet.
‘My Lords and Ladies,’ he said, lifting his brimming ale-tankard, I
propose a toast to the bride and groom.’
The assembled Alorns gravely and soberly rose to their feet, raised
their tankards, and intoned, ‘The bride and groom!’ in unison.
I thought that was rather nice.
Then Dras Bull-neck proposed a toast to his father.
Then Algar Fleet-foot proposed a toast to his brother Dras, and
Bull-neck responded by toasting his brother Algar.
The gravity of that alorn assemblage was rapidly fading, and their
sobriety faded right along with it. Just about everyone at the table
seemed to feel obliged to honor somebody with a toast, and it was a
very long table. As I recall, they never did get completely around
it.
‘This is disgusting,’ I muttered to uncle Beldin, who was sitting
beside me.
Beldin, who was uncharacteristically clean – largely at Beldaran’s
insistence – put on a look of pious innocence. ‘Surely you can’t
object to the desire to honor those we love and respect, Pol,’ he said.
‘Excuse me a moment,’ he added. Then he stood up. ‘Ladies and
gentlemen!’ he thundered, ‘I give you the Lady Polgara!’
‘Lady Polgara!’ They roared in unison, and they all drank deeply
to me.
At some point about midway through the banquet, Beldaran and
Riva slipped away. The party grew progressively rowdier, and uncle
Beldin was drinking everything in sight.
I endured it for as long as I could, but then a bearded Alorn at
the far end of the table rose unsteadily to his feet, spilled half his
ale over the lady who sat beside him, and lifted his tankard. He
belched. ‘Par’n me,’ he said absently. ‘Ladies an’ Gennelmun, I give
you my dog, Bowser!’
‘To Bowser!’ they all shouted enthusiastically, and then they
drank.
That did it! I stood up.
‘To whom did you want to drink, Pol?’ Beldin asked, his eyes
unfocused and his speech slurred.
I know I shouldn’t have done it, and I apologized profusely the
next morning, but I was just a little irritated at that point. ‘Why to
you, of course, uncle dear,’ I replied sweetly. ‘My Lords and Ladies,’
I announced, ‘I give you my dear, dear uncle Beldin.’
And then I poured a tankard of ale on his head and stormed out
of the banquet hall, followed by the rest of the ladies.
Alorns have an enormous capacity for strong ale, so their
celebration lasted for three days.
I chose not to attend.
On the morning of the fourth day after the wedding, father stopped
by my rooms. We chatted for a while, and then Cherek Bear-shoulders
was admitted. Cherek looked decidedly unwell, but he seemed to be
more or less sober. ‘I was talking with Dras and Algar this morning,’
he said,’and Algar thought we might want to get together to exchange
some information. We don’t have much chance to meet and talk very
often, and there’s a lot going on in the world.’
‘Probably not a bad idea,’ father agreed. ‘Why don’t you go get
Riva, and I’ll see if I can locate Beldin.’ He squinted at me. ‘Why
don’t you join us as well, Pol?’ he suggested.
‘What on earth for?’
‘For my peace of mind, daughter dear,’ he said somewhat
pointedly.
‘It shall be as my father commands,’ I replied with feigned
obedience.
‘She has beautiful manners, doesn’t she?’ Cherek noted.
‘Don’t make such hasty judgments, Cherek,’ father warned him.
And so it was that I sat in on the first sessions of what came to
be known as ‘the Alorn Council’. At the outset I only sat in the
background and listened. The main topic of discussion was the
presence of Angaraks on this side of the Sea of the East, and I didn’t
really know very much about Angaraks.
I’d been a bit apprehensive about being in such close proximity
to Dras and Algar, fearing that one – or both – might seize this
opportunity to press unwelcome suits. That was when I discovered
that kings probably don’t make very good husbands, since when