“That’s the ability that makes him useful to us, Silk,” Belgarath explained. “Relg’s a diviner. He finds caves, and we need to locate the caves under Rak Cthol. If necessary, Relg can walk through solid rock to find them for us.”
“How could anyone do that?” Silk asked, still staring at the spot where Relg had sunk his hand into the wall.
“It has to do with the nature of matter,” the sorcerer replied. “What we see as solid isn’t really all that impenetrable.”
“Either something’s solid or it’s not,” Silk insisted, his face baffled.
“Solidity’s an illusion,” Belgarath told him. “Relg can slip the bits and pieces that make up his substance through the spaces that exist between the bits and pieces that make up the substance of the rock.”
“Can you do it?” Silk demanded skeptically.
Belgarath shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never had occasion to try. Anyway, Relg can smell caves, and he goes straight to them. He probably doesn’t know himself how he does it.”
“I am led by my sanctity,” Relg declared arrogantly.
“Perhaps that’s it,” the sorcerer agreed with a tolerant smile.
“The holiness of the caves draws me, since I am drawn to all holy things,” Relg rasped on, “and for me to leave the caverns of Ulgo would be to turn my back on holiness and move toward defilement.”
“We’ll see,” Belgarath told him.
The glow in the rock wall which Ce’Nedra had noticed before began to shimmer and pulsate, and the princess seemed to see a dim shape within the rocks. Then, as if the stones were only air, the shape became distinct and stepped out into the chamber. For just a moment, it seemed that the figure was an old man, bearded and robed like the Gorim, although much more robust. Then Ce’Nedra was struck by an overpowering sense of something more than human. With an awed shudder, she realized that she was in the presence of divinity.
Relg gaped at the bearded figure, and he began to tremble violently. With a strangled cry he prostrated himself.
The figure looked calmly at the groveling zealot. “Rise, Relg,” it said in a soft voice that seemed to carry all the echoes of eternity in it, and the caverns outside rang with the sound of that voice. “Rise, Relg, and serve thy God.”
Chapter Eighteen
CE’NEDRA HAD RECElVED an exquisite education. She had been so thoroughly trained that she knew instinctively all the niceties of etiquette and all the proper forms to be observed upon coming into the presence of an emperor or a king, but the physical presence of a God still baffled and even frightened her. She felt awkward, even gauche, like some ignorant farm girl. She found herself trembling and, for one of the few times in her life, she hadn’t the faintest idea what to do.
UL was still looking directly into Relg’s awe-struck face. “Thy mind hath twisted what I told thee, my son,” the God said gravely. “Thou hast turned my words to make them conform to thy desire, rather than to my will.”
Relg flinched, and his eyes were stricken.
“I told thee that the child who will be Gorim will come to Ulgo through thee,” UL continued, “and that thou must prepare thyself to nurture him and see to his rearing. Did I tell thee to exalt thyself by reason of this?”
Relg began to shake violently.
“Did I tell thee to preach sedition? Or to stir Ulgo against the Gorim whom I have chosen to guide them?”
Relg collapsed. “Forgive me, O my God,” he begged, groveling again on the floor.
“Rise, Relg,” UL told him sternly. “I am not pleased with thee, and throe obeisance offends me, for thy heart is filled with pride. I will bend thee to my will, Relg, or I will break thee. I will purge thee of this overweening esteem thou hast for thyself. Only then wilt thou be worthy of the task to which I have set thee.”
Relg stumbled to his feet, his face filled with remorse. “O my God-” He choked.
“Hearken unto my words, Relg, and obey me utterly. It is my command that thou accompany Belgarath, Disciple of Aldur, and render unto him all aid within thy power. Thou wilt obey him even as if he were speaking in my voice. Dost thou understand this?”
“Yes, O my God,” Relg replied humbly.
“And wilt thou obey?”
“I will do as thou hast commanded me. O my God – though it cost me my life.”
“It shall not cost thee thy life, Relg, for I have need of thee. Thy reward for this shall be beyond thy imagining.”
Relg bowed in mute acceptance.
The God then turned to the Gorim. “Abide yet a while, my son,” he said, “though the years press heavily upon thee. It shall not be long until thy burden shall be lifted. Know that I am pleased with thee.”
The Gorim bowed in acceptance.
“Belgarath,” UL greeted the sorcerer. “I have watched thee at thy task, and I share thy Master’s pride in thee. The prophecy moves through thee and Polgara thy daughter toward that moment we have all awaited.”
Belgarath also bowed. “It’s been a long time, Most Holy,” he replied, “and there were twists and turns to it that none of us could see at the beginning.”
“Truly,” UL agreed. “It hath surprised us all upon occasion. Hath Aldur’s gift to the world come into his birthright as yet?”
“Not entirely, Most Holy,” Polgara answered gravely. “He’s touched the edges of it, however, and what he’s shown us so far gives us hope for his success.”
“Hail then, Belgarion,” UL said to the startled young man. “Take my blessing with thee and know that I will join with Aldur to be with thee when thy great task begins.”
Garion bowed – rather awkwardly, Ce’Nedra noticed. She decided that soon – very soon-she’d have to give him some schooling in such matters. He’d resist, naturally – he was impossibly stubborn – but she knew that if she nagged and badgered him enough, he’d eventually come around. And it was for his own good, after all.
UL seemed to be still looking at Garion, but there was a subtle difference in his expression. It seemed to Ce’Nedra that he was communicating wordlessly to some other presence – something that was a part of Garion and yet not a part of him. He nodded gravely then, and turned his gaze directly upon the princess herself.
“She seems but a child,” he observed to Polgara.
“She’s of a suitable age, Most Holy,” Polgara replied. “She’s a Dryad, and they’re all quite small.”
UL smiled gently at the princess, and she felt herself suddenly glowing in the warmth of that smile. “She is like a flower, is she not?” he said.
“She still has a few thorns, Most Holy,” Belgarath replied wryly, “and a bit of bramble in her nature.”
“We will value her all the more for that, Belgarath. The time wilt come when her fire and her brambles will serve our cause far more than her beauty.” UL glanced once at Garion, and a strange, knowing smile crossed his face. For some reason, Ce’Nedra felt herself beginning to blush, then lifted her chin as if daring the blush to go any further.
“It is to speak with thee that I have come, my daughter,” UL said directly to her then, and his tone and face grew serious. “Thou must abide here when thy companions depart. Do not venture into the kingdom of the Murgos, for if it should come to pass that thou makest this journey unto Rak Cthol, thou shalt surely die, and without thee the struggle against the darkness must fail. Abide here in the safety of Ulgo until thy companions return.”
This was the kind of thing Ce’Nedra completely understood. As a princess, she knew the need for instant submission to authority. Though she had wheedled, coaxed, and teased her father all her life to get her own way, she had seldom directly rebelled. She bowed her head. “I will do as thou hast commanded, Most Holy,” she replied without even thinking of the implications of the God’s words.
UL nodded with satisfaction. “Thus is the prophecy protected,” he declared. “Each of you hath his appointed tasks in this work of ours – and I have mine as well. I will delay you no longer, my children. Fare you all well in this. We will meet again.” Then he vanished.
The sounds of his last words echoed in the caverns of Ulgo. After a moment of stunned silence, the hymn of adoration burst forth again in a mighty chorus, as every Ulgo raised his voice in ecstasy at this divine visitation.
“Belar!” Barak breathed explosively. “Did you feel it?”
“UL has a commanding presence,” Belgarath agreed. He turned to look at Relg, one eyebrow cocked rather whimsically. “I take it you’ve had a change of heart,” he observed.