“You and Silk go ahead, father,” Aunt Pol said. “There are things in the other rooms on this level that Garion, Durnik, and Relg shouldn’t see.”
Belgarath nodded and went through a doorway with Silk behind him. After a few moments they returned by way of another door. Silk’s face looked slightly sick. “He has some rather exotic perversions, doesn’t he?” he remarked with a shudder.
Belgarath’s face was bleak. “We go up again,” he said quietly. “He’s on the top level. I thought he might be, but I needed to be sure.” They mounted another stairway.
As they neared the top, Garion felt a peculiar tingling glow beginning somewhere deep within him, and a sort of endless singing seemed to draw him on. The mark on the palm of his right hand burned.
A black stone altar stood in the first room on the top level of the turret, and the steel image of the face of Torak brooded from the wall behind it. A gleaming knife, its hilt crusted with dried blood, lay on the altar, and bloodstains had sunk into the very pores of the rock. Belgarath was moving quickly now, his face intent and his stride catlike. He glanced through one door in the wall beyond the altar, shook his head and moved on to a closed door in the far wall. He touched his fingers lightly to the wood, then nodded. “He’s in here,” he murmured with satisfaction. He drew in a deep breath and grinned suddenly. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” he said.
“Don’t dawdle, father,” Aunt Pol told him impatiently. Her eyes were steely, and the white lock at her brow glittered like frost.
“I want you to stay out of it when we get inside, Pol,” he reminded her. “You too, Garion. This is between Ctuchik and me.”
“All right, father,” Aunt Pol replied.
Belgarath put out his hand and opened the door. The room beyond was plain, even bare. The stone floor was uncarpeted, and the round windows looking out into the darkness were undraped. Simple candles burned in sconces on the walls, and a plain table stood in the center of the room. Seated at the table with his back to the door sat a man in a hooded black robe who seemed to be gazing into an iron cask. Garion felt his entire body throbbing in response to what was in the casks, and the singing in his mind filled him.
A little boy with pale blond hair stood in front of the table, and he was also staring at the cask. He wore a smudged linen smock and dirty little shoes. Though his expression seemed devoid of all thought, there was a sweet innocence about him that caught at the heart. His eyes were blue, large, and trusting, and he was quite the most beautiful child Garion had ever seen.
“What took you so long, Belgarath?” the man at the table asked, not even bothering to turn around. His voice sounded dusty. He closed the iron box with a faint click. “I was almost beginning to worry about you.”
“A few minor delays, Ctuchik,” Belgarath replied. “I hope we didn’t keep you waiting too long.”
“I managed to keep myself occupied. Come in. Come in – all of you.” Ctuchik turned to look at them. His hair and beard were a yellowed white and were very long. His face was deeply lined, and his eyes glittered in their sockets. It was a face filled with an ancient and profound evil. Cruelty and arrogance had eroded all traces of decency or humanity from it, and a towering egotism had twisted it into a perpetual sneer of contempt for every other living thing. His eyes shifted to Aunt Pol. “Polgara,” he greeted her with a mocking inclination of his head. “You’re as lovely as ever. Have you come finally then to submit yourself to the will of my Master?” His leer was vile.
“No, Ctuchik,” she replied coldly. “I came to see justice.”
“Justice?” He laughed scornfully. “There’s no such thing, Polgara. The strong do what they like; the weak submit. My Master taught me that.”
“And his maimed face did not teach you otherwise?”
The High Priest’s face darkened briefly, but he shrugged off his momentary irritation. “I’d offer you all a place to sit and some refreshment, perhaps,” he continued in that same dusty voice, “but you won’t be staying that long, I’m afraid.” He glanced at the rest of them, his eyes noting each in turn. “Your party seems diminished, Belgarath,” he observed. “I hope you haven’t lost any of them along the way.”
“They’re all well, Ctuchik,” Belgarath assured him. “I’m certain that they’ll appreciate your concern, however.”
“All?” Ctuchik drawled. “I see the Nimble Thief and the Man with Two Lives and the Blind Man, but I don’t see the others. Where’s the Dreadful Bear and the Knight Protector? The Horse Lord and the Bowman? And the ladies? Where are they-the Queen of the World and the Mother of the Race That Died?”
“All well, Ctuchik,” Belgarath replied. “All well.”
“How extraordinary. I was almost certain that you’d have lost one or two at least by now. I admire your dedication, old man – to keep intact for all these centuries a prophecy that would have collapsed if one single ancestor had died at the wrong time.” His eyes grew distant momentarily. “Ah,” he said. “I see. You left them below to stand guard. You didn’t have to do that, Belgarath. I left orders that we weren’t to be disturbed.”
The High Priest’s eyes stopped then on Garion’s face. “Belgarion,” he said almost politely. Despite the singing that still thrilled in his veins, Garion felt a chill as the evil force of the High Priest’s mind touched him. “You’re younger than I expected.”
Garion stared defiantly at him, gathering his will to ward off any surprise move by the old man at the table.
“Would you pit your will against mine, Belgarion?” Ctuchik seemed amused. “You burned Chamdar, but he was a fool. You’ll find me a bit more difficult. Tell me, boy, did you enjoy it?”
“No,” Garion replied, still holding himself ready.
“In time you’ll learn to enjoy it,” Ctuchik said with an evil grin. “Watching your enemy writhe and shriek in your mind’s grip is one of the more satisfying rewards of power.” He turned his eyes back to Belgarath. “And so you’ve come at last to destroy me?” he said mockingly.
“If it comes down to that, yes. It’s been a long time coming, Ctuchik.”
“Hasn’t it, though? We’re very much alike, Belgarath. I’ve been looking forward to this meeting almost as much as you have. Yes, we’re very much alike. Under different circumstances, we might even have been friends.”
“I doubt that. I’m a simple man, and some of your amusements are a bit sophisticated for my taste.”
“Spare me that, please. You know as well as I do that we’re both beyond all restriction.”
“Perhaps, but I prefer to choose my friends a bit more carefully.”
“You’re growing tiresome, Belgarath. Tell the others to come up.” Ctuchik raised one eyebrow sardonically. “Don’t you want to have them watch while you destroy me? Think of how sweet their admiration will be.
“They’re fine just where they are,” Belgarath told him.
“Don’t be tedious. Surely you’re not going to deny me the opportunity to pay homage to the Queen of the World.” Ctuchik’s voice was mocking. “I yearn to behold her exquisite perfection before you kill me.”
“I doubt that she’d care much for you, Ctuchik. I’ll convey your respects, however.”
“I insist, Belgarath. It’s a small request – easily granted. If you don’t summon her, I will.”
Belgarath’s eyes narrowed, and then he suddenly grinned. “So that’s it,” he said softly. “I wondered why you’d gone to all the trouble to let us get through so easily.”
“It doesn’t really matter now, you know,” Ctuchik almost purred. “You’ve made your last mistake, old man. You’ve brought her to Rak Cthol, and that’s all I really needed. Your prophecy dies here and now, Belgarath – and you with it, I’d imagine.” The High Priest’s eyes flashed triumphantly, and Garion felt the evil force of Ctuchik’s mind reaching out, searching with a terrible purpose.
Belgarath exchanged a quick look with Aunt Pol and slyly winked. Ctuchik’s eyes widened suddenly as his mind swept through the lower levels of his grim turret and found it empty. “Where is she?” he demanded wildly in a voice that was almost a scream.
“The princess wasn’t able to come with us,” Belgarath replied blandly. “She sends her apologies, though.”
“You’re lying, Belgarath! You wouldn’t have dared to leave her behind. There’s no place in the world where she’d be safe.”
“Not even in the caves of Ulgo?”
Ctuchik’s face blanched. “Ulgo?” he gasped.
“Poor old Ctuchik,” Belgarath said, shaking his head in mock regret. “You’re slipping badly, I’m afraid. It wasn’t a bad plan you had, but didn’t it occur to you to make sure that the princess was actually with us before you let me get this close to you?”