and yet a thousand years more was cast down, and great was the
ruin thereof.
And the maimed God spake unto the Angaraks in a great voice,
saying, ‘Because ye have permitted this thing to come to pass, shall
ye dwell no more in cities. Because you have become unwatchful
and indolent and have allowed a thief to steal that which I have
purchased at such great cost, I will break your city and cast it down
and drive you forth from this place, and ye shall be wanderers in the
earth until ye return to me that which was stolen.’ And he raised up
his arms and broke the city and cast it down in ruin and drove forth
the Angaraks into the wilderness, and Cthol Mishrak was no more.
And in the wasteland to the north* the ‘companions heard the outcry
from the city and the Angaraks pursued them.
* The account in Belgarath the Sorcerer differs. The pack ice of winter offered an alternative
to that ‘land bridge’.
And once the Angaraks
,came upon them, and Cherek Bear shoulders and his sons Dras Bull
neck and Algar Fleet-foot did turn and withstand them, and the
Angaraks fled. And again the Angaraks came upon them, and again did
Cherek and his sons withstand them, though their numbers were greater
THE RIVAN CODEX
And yet a third time did the Angaraks come upon them and
with them strode Kal-Torak himself and the great hosts of the
Angaraks.
And Riva Iron-grip saw that his father and his brothers were
weary even unto death and that their wounds bled. And the bearer
of the Orb did turn and did reach into his bosom and withdrew the
Orb and held it forth that the maimed God and his hosts might
behold it.
And great was the confusion of the host by reason of the Orb, and
Kal-Torak cried out a great cry and did turn away, but drove he the
Angaraks back again and commanded them to regain the Orb.
But Riva did raise again the Orb of Aldur, and it shone brighter
even than before, and the eyes of the Angaraks were dazzled, and
they turned away again, but the maimed God raised his hand
against them and drove them yet once more against the companions.
And yet a third time did Riva raise the Orb, and the sky was lit by
its fire, and behold, the front ranks of the host were consumed by it.
And then did the hosts of the Angaraks flee from the Orb, and in no
way could Kal-Torak drive them back again.
And so passed the companions again unto the north and returned
they unto the west. And the spies of Torak did follow them, but
Belgarath the Sorcerer assumed again the form of the wolf and
waylaid the spies of Torak, and they followed no more.
And behold, the Gods of the west did hold council, and Aldur
advised them. And he spake unto them, saying, ‘It may not be that
we ourselves make war upon our brother Torak, for in the warfare of
Gods shall the world itself not be destroyed? Must we then absent
ourselves from the world that our brother Torak
make war ur)on us and thus destroy the world.’
not find us and
And the other Gods were silent, each loath to leave the people
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he loved, but all knew that Aldur spoke truth, and that if they
remained, would the world be destroyed.
And Belar, the youngest of the Gods, wept, for he loved deeply
the Alorn people, and Aldur relented. And he spake unto them,
saying, ‘In spirit might each remain with his people, and guide them
and protect them, but in no wise may Gods themselves remain, lest
Torak find us and make war upon us and the world be unmade and
our people perish utterly.’
‘And wilt thou, my brother, bear away the Orb which is thy
chiefest delight?’ quoth Chaldan, God of the Arends.
‘Nay, my brother,’ quoth Aldur, and sad was his heart in the
speaking. ‘The Orb must remain, for only in the Orb lies that which
will prevent our brother Torak from lordship of the world. So long as
the Orb remains, Torak shall not prevail against it, and thy people
will be safe from his enslavement.’
And so it came to pass that the Gods departed from the world
which they had made, and in spirit only did they sojourn each with
his people. And Torak only of the seven Gods did remain, but he
was restrained by the Orb of Aldur from lordship over the world
and prevented from the enslavement of all peoples of the world.
And in the wastelands of Mallorea in the east did the maimed God
know this, and the knowledge cankered in his soul.
And Belgarath spake unto Cherek and his sons, saying, ‘Hearken
unto the words of the Gods, for behold, this is their judgement and
their doom* upon you.
*’Doom’ originates in Scandinavian mythology, and the word in contemporary English
derives from the Scandinavian ‘dom’. It does not mean ‘preordained death’, but rather
‘destiny’ or ‘fate’.
Here must we part and be sundered one from
the other even as in the day wherein all men were sundered.’
And to Riva he spake, saying, ‘Thy journey is longest, Iron-grip.
Bear thou the Orb even unto the Isle of the Winds. Take with thee thy
people and thy goods and thy cattle, for thou shalt not return. Build
there a fortress and a sanctuary and maintain it and defend the Orb
with thy life and with the lives of thy people, for know ye that the
Orb alone hinders Torak from Lordship and Dominion – even over
the whole world.’
And to Dras he spake, saying, ‘Turn,thou aside here, Bull-neck,
and maintain the marches of the north against the Angaraks and
against Kal-Torak. Take thy people and thy goods and thy cattle also
and return no more, lest the marches be unguarded.’
And to Algar he spake, saying, ‘Turn thou also aside here,
Fleet
foot, and maintain the plains to the south against the enemy. Take
thy people and thy goods and thy cattle also and return no more lest
the plains be unguarded.’
And to Cherek he spake, saying, ‘Upon thee, Bear-shoulders, lies
the doom of the sea. Go thou onward even unto the peninsula of the
north that is named for the Alorns. And build thou thereon a
seaport and a fleet of swift ships and tall, and maintain the seas that the
enemy come not by water against Riva, thy son. And maintain there
thy people and thy goods and thy cattle. And teach unto thy people
the ways of the sea that none upon the waters may prevail against
them.’
And he raised up his face and spake in a great voice, saying, ‘Hear
me, Torak-One-eye. Thus is the Orb defended and made secure
against thee. And thou shalt not prevail against it. I, Belgarath, first
Disciple of Aldur, proclaim it. In the day that thou”comest against
the west shall I raise war upon thee, and I shall destroy thee utterly.
And I will maintain watch upon thee by day and by night. And I will
abide against thy coming – yea, verily, be it even unto the end of
days.’
And in the wastelands of Mallorea Kal-Torak heard the voice of
Belgarath and was wroth and smote about him in his fury’
destroying even the very rocks, for he knew that in the day when he went
against the kingdoms of the west, in that day would he surely
perish.
And then did Cherek Bear-shoulders embrace his sons and turned
away and saw them no more.
And Dras Bull-neck turned aside and abode in the lands drained
by the Mrin River, from Aldurfens north to the steppes and beyond,
and from the coast to the mountains of Nadrak. And he builded a
city at Boktor east of the junction of ‘ and Atun. And men called
this northern land the country of Dras, or, in the language of the
Alorns, Drasnia. And for a thousand years and yet another thousand
years dwelt the descendants of Dras Bull-neck in the north and
stood they athwart the northern marches and denied them unto the
enemy. And tamed they the vast herds of reindeer, and the homed
beast became as cat or dog unto them, and they took from the rivers
and marshes furs and skins most luxuriant; and bright gold they
found and silver also and did commerce with the kingdoms of the
west and with the strange-faced merchants of the east also. And
Drasnia prospered, and Kotu at ‘-mouth was a city of wealth
and power.
And Algar Fleet-foot turned aside and went to the south with his
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people and his goods and his cattle. And horses were there on the
broad plains drained by the Aldur river, and Algar Fleet-foot and his