And when may I meet the God?
I was getting tired of him anyway, so I took him to the tower.
Will the God Aldur wish to know my name? he asked as we started across the meadow.
I shrugged. Not particularly. If youre lucky enough to prove worthy, hell give you a name of his own choosing. When we reached the tower, I commanded the grey stone in the wall to open, and we went inside and on up the stairs.
My Master looked the stranger over and then turned to me. Why hast thou brought this man to me, my son? he asked me.
He besought me, Master, I replied. I felt it was not my place to say him yea or nay. I could mangle language as well as Zedar could, I guess. Thy will must decide such things, I continued. If it turns out that he doesnt please thee, Ill take him outside and turn him into a carrot, and thatll be the end of it.
That was unkindly said, Belgarath, Aldur chided.
Forgive me, Master, I said humbly.
Thou shalt instruct him, Belgarath. Should it come to pass that he be apt, inform me.
I groaned inwardly, cursing my careless tongue. My casual offer to vegetabilize the stranger had saddled me with him. But Aldur was my Lord, so I said, I will, Master.
What is thy current study, my son?
I examine the reason for mountains, Master.
Lay aside thy mountains, Belgarath, and study man instead. It may be that the study shall make thee more kindly disposed toward thy fellow-creatures.
I knew a rebuke when I heard one, so I didnt argue. I sighed. As my Master commands, I submitted regretfully. I had almost found the secret of mountains, and I didnt want it to escape me. But then I remembered how patient my Master had been when I first came to the Vale, so I swallowed my resentment at least right there in front of him.
I was not nearly so agreeable once I got Zedar back outside, though. I put that poor man through absolute hell, Im ashamed to admit. I degraded him, I berated him, I set him to work on impossible tasks and then laughed scornfully at his efforts. To be quite honest about it, I secretly hoped that I could make his life so miserable that hed run away.
But he didnt. He endured all my abuse with a saintly patience that sometimes made me want to scream. Didnt the man have any spirit at all? To make matters even worse to my profoundest mortification he learned the secret of the Will and the Word within six months. My Master named him Belzedar and accepted him as his pupil.
In time Belzedar and I made peace with each other. I reasoned that as long as we were probably going to spend the next dozen or so centuries together, we might as well learn to get along. Actually, once I ground away his tendency toward hyperbole and excessively ornamental language, he wasnt such a bad fellow. His mind was extraordinarily quick, but he was polite enough not to rub my nose in the fact that mine really wasnt.
The three of us, our Master, Belzedar, and I, settled in and learned to get along with a minimum of aggravation on all sides.
And then the others began to drift in. Kira and Tira were twin Alorn shepherd boys who had become lost and wandered into the Vale one day and stayed. Their minds were so closely linked that they always had the same thoughts at the same time and even finished each others sentences. Despite the fact that theyre Alorns, Belkira and Beltira are the gentlest men Ive ever known. Im quite fond of them, actually.
Makor was the next to arrive, and he came to us from so far away that I couldnt understand how he had ever heard of my Master. Unlike the rest of us, whod been fairly shabby when wed arrived, Makor came strolling down the Vale dressed in a silk mantle, somewhat like the garb currently in fashion in Tol Honeth. He was a witty, urbane, well-educated man, and I took to him immediately.
Our Master questioned him briefly and decided that he was acceptable with all the usual provisos.
But, Master, Belzedar objected vehemently, he cannot become one of our fellowship. He is a Dal one of the Godless ones.
Melcene, actually, old boy, Makor corrected him in that ultra-civilized manner of his that always drove Belzedar absolutely wild. Now do you see why I was so fond of Makor?
Whats the difference? Belzedar demanded bluntly.
All the difference in the world, old chap, Makor replied, examining his fingernails. We Melcenes separated from the Dals so long ago that were no more like them than Alorns are like Marags. Its not really up to you, however. I was summoned, the same as the rest of you were, and thats an end on it.
I remembered the odd compulsion that had dragged me out of Gara, and I looked sharply at my Master. Would you believe that he actually managed to look slightly embarrassed?
Belzedar spluttered for a while, but, since there was nothing he could do about it anyway, he muffled his objections.
The next to join us was Sambar, an Angarak. Sambar or Belsambar as he later became was not his real name, of course. Angarak names are so universally ugly that my Master did him a favor when he renamed him. I felt a great deal of sympathy for the boy he was only about fifteen when he joined us. Ive never seen anyone so abject. He simply came to the tower, seated himself on the earth, and waited for either acceptance or death. Beltira and Belkira fed him, of course. They were shepherds, after all, and shepherds wont let anything go hungry. After a week or so, when it became obvious that he absolutely would not enter the tower, our Master went down to him. Now that was something Id never seen Aldur do before. He spoke with the lad at some length in a hideous language old Angarak, Ive since discovered and turned him over to Beltira and Belkira for tutelage. If anyone ever needed gentle handling, it was Belsambar.
In time, the twins taught him to speak a normal language that didnt involve so much spitting and snarling, and we learned his history. My distaste for Torak dates from that point in time. It may not have been entirely Toraks fault, however. Ive learned over the years that the views of any priesthood are not necessarily the views of the Gods they serve. Ill give Torak the benefit of the doubt in this case the practice of human sacrifice might have been no more than a perversion of his Grolim priests. But he did nothing to put a stop to it, and thats unforgivable.
To cut all this windy moralizing short, Belsambars parents both of them had been sacrificed, and Belsambar had been required to watch as a demonstration of his faith. It didnt really work out that way, though. Grolims can be so stupid sometimes. Anyway, at the tender age of nine, Belsambar became an atheist, rejecting not only Torak and his stinking Grolims, but all Gods.
That was when our Master summoned him. In his particular case, the summoning must have been a bit more spectacular than the vague urge that turned my face toward the Vale. Belsambar was clearly in a state of religious ecstasy when he reached us. Of course he was an Angarak, and theyre always a little strange in matters of religion.
It was Belmakor who first raised the notion of building our own towers. He was a Melcene, after all, and theyre obsessed with building things. Ill admit that our Masters tower was starting to get a bit crowded, though.
The construction of those towers took us several decades, as I recall. It was actually more in the nature of a hobby than it was a matter of any urgency. We did use what you might call our advantages in the construction, of course, but squaring off rocks is a tedious business, even if you dont have to use a chisel. We did manage to clear away a lot of rock, though, and building material got progressively scarcer as the years rolled by.
I think it was late summer one year when I decided that it was time to finish up my tower so that I wouldnt have it hanging over my head nagging at me. Besides, Belmakors tower was almost finished, and I was first disciple, after all. I didnt think it would really be proper for me to let him outstrip me. We sometimes do things for the most childish of reasons, dont we?
Since my brothers and I had virtually denuded the Vale of rocks, I went up to the edge of the forest lying to the north in search of building materials. I was poking around among the trees looking for a stream-bed or an outcropping of stone when I suddenly felt a baleful stare boring into the back of my neck. Thats an uncomfortable feeling thats always irritated me for some reason. You might as well come out, I said. I know youre there.
Dont try anything, an awful voice growled at me from a nearby thicket. Ill rip you to pieces if you do.
Now thats what I call an unpromising start. Dont be an idiot, I replied. Im not going to hurt you.
That evoked the ugliest laugh Ive ever heard. You? the voice said scornfully, You? Hurt me? And then the bushes parted and the most hideous creature Ive ever seen emerged. He was grotesquely deformed with a huge hump on his back, gnarled, dwarfed legs, and long, twisted arms. This combination made it possible even convenient for him to go on all fours like a gorilla. His face was monumentally ugly, his hair and beard were matted, he was unbelievably filthy, and he was partially dressed in a ratty-looking fur of some kind. Enjoying the view? he demanded harshly. Youre not so pretty yourself, you know.
You startled me, thats all, I replied, trying to be civil.
Have you seen an old man in a rickety, broken-down cart around here anywhere? the creature demanded. He told me hed meet me here.
I stared at him in absolute astonishment.
Youd better close your mouth, he advised me in that raspy growl. Youll catch flies if you dont.
All sorts of things clicked into place. This old man youre looking for, I said. Did he have a humorous way of talking?
Thats him, the dwarf said. Have you seen him?
Oh, yes, I replied with a broad grin. Ive known him for longer than you could possibly imagine. Come along, my ugly little friend. Ill take you to him.
Dont be too quick to throw the word friend around, he growled. I dont have any friends, and I like it that way.
Youll get over that in a few hundred years, I replied, still grinning at the little monster.
You dont sound quite right in the head to me.
Youll get used to that, too. Come along. Ill introduce you to your Master.
I dont have a master.
I wouldnt make any large wagers on that.
And that was our introduction to Din. My brothers thought at first that Id come across a tame ape. Din rather quickly disabused them of that notion. He had by far the foulest mouth Ive ever come across, even when he was not trying to be insulting, and I honestly believe he could swear for a day and a half without once repeating himself. He was even ungracious to our Master. His very first words to him were, What did you do with that stupid cart of yours? I tried to follow the tracks, but they just disappeared on me.
Aldur, with that inhuman patience of his, simply smiled. Would you believe that he actually liked the foul-mouthed little monster? Is that what took thee so long? he asked mildly.
Of course thats what took me so long! Din exploded. You didnt leave me a trail to follow! I had to reason out your location! Din had turned losing his temper into an art-form. The slightest thing could set him off. Well? he said then, now what?
We must see to thine education.
What does somebody like me need with an education? I already know what I need to know.
Aldur gave him a long, steady look, and even Din couldnt face that for long. Then our Master looked around at the rest of us. He obviously dismissed Beltira and Belkira out of hand. They hadnt the proper temperament to deal with our newest recruit. Belzedar was in a state verging on inarticulate rage. Belzedar may have had his faults, but he wouldnt tolerate any disrespect for our Master. Belmakor was too fastidious. Din was filthy, and he smelled like an open sewer. Belsambar, for obvious reasons, was totally out of the question. Guess who that left.
I wearily raised my hand. Dont trouble thyself, Master, I said. Ill take care of it.
Why, Belgarath, he said, how gracious of thee to volunteer thy service.
I chose not to answer that.
Ah, Belgarath? Belmakor said tentatively.
What?
Could you possibly wash him off before you bring him inside again?
Despite my show of reluctance, I wasnt quite as displeased with the arrangement as I pretended to be. I still wanted to finish my tower, and this powerful dwarf seemed well-suited to the task of carrying rocks. If things worked out the way I thought they might, I wouldnt have to strain my creativity in the slightest to find things for my ugly little servant to do.
I took him outside and showed him my half-finished tower. You understand the situation here? I asked him.
Im supposed to do what you tell me to do.
Exactly. This was going to work out just fine. Now, lets go back to the edge of the woods. Ive got a little chore for you.
It took us quite some time to return to the woods. When we got there, I pointed at a dry stream-bed filled with nice round rocks of a suitable size. See those rocks? I asked him.
Naturally I can see them, you dolt! Im not blind!
Im so happy for you. Id like for you to pile them all beside my tower neatly, of course. I sat down under a shady tree. Be a good fellow and see to it, would you? I was actually enjoying this.
He glowered at me for a moment and then turned to glare at the rocky stream-bed.
Then, one by one, the rocks began to vanish! I could actually feel him doing it! Would you believe it? Din already knew the secret! It was the first case of spontaneous sorcery Id ever seen. Now what? he demanded.
How did you learn to do that? I demanded incredulously.
He shrugged. Picked it up somewhere, he replied. Are you trying to tell me that you cant?
Of course I can, but I got hold of myself at that point. Are you sure you translocated them to the right spot?
You wanted them piled up beside your tower, didnt you? Go look, if you want. I know where they are. Was there anything else you wanted me to do here?