‘What thinkest thou will be their next move, Ancient One?’ Mandor asked me.
‘They’re going to have to retrieve those engines,’ I speculated. ‘They’re not going to be able to tear down these walls with their bare hands.’
‘My very thought,’ he agreed. Then he raised that horn he always carried at his side and blew a strident note on it.
The main gate crashed open and a couple thousand armored Mimbrate knights mounted on huge horses charged out.
‘What are you doing?’ I almost screamed at him.
‘The Angaraks have withdrawn in fearful confusion, Holy One,’ he explained in an infuriatingly reasonable tone of voice. ‘Their engines stand unmanned and unguarded. I find those engines irritating. ’Twere best, methinks, to seize this opportunity to destroy them.’
I couldn’t fault his reasoning, but I wished that he’d told me about his plan before he’d opened those gates. I was getting older, and my veins weren’t as good as they used to be.
The Mimbrate knights were armed with battle-axes, and they swept out of that gate like two great scythes, one cutting to the left and one to the right. They didn’t exactly reduce the Angarak siege-engines to kindling wood, but they came close, then they circled back, pounded, cheering, along the foot of the walls, re-entered the city, and slammed the gates behind them.
‘Nice job, Mandor,’ Wildantor complimented his friend.
Mandor smiled with becoming modesty.
Kal Torak, however, probably wasn’t smiling. His iron pavilion was at least a mile out on the plain, but the sound of his raging came to us quite clearly.
‘What’ll he do now?’ Wildantor asked me.
‘Something foolish, most likely,’ I replied. ‘Kal Torak doesn’t think very clearly when he’s angry.’
With the loss of his siege-engines, Torak’s chances of broaching the walls of Vo Mimbre were reduced to almost zero. He really didn’t have any choice but to try a frontal assault on the main gates at that point. The battering-rams crept forward, and the tall, swaying assault towers came lumbering toward us. Hordes of Murgos, Nadraks, and Malloreans ran at the walls carrying scaling-ladders. The Asturian archers picked them off in droves as they rushed forward, and when they got closer, Mimbrates joined in with their shorter-limbed bows. When the Angaraks reached the walls, we dropped boulders on them and poured boiling pitch on their heads. Fire arrows into the pitch added confusion and smoke.
It was a very expensive afternoon for Kal Torak of Mallorea, and his demoralized army withdrew as a smokey sunset decorated the western sky.
We’d survived the first day. Kal Torak had lost thousands of men, and he was still outside the walls.
We dumped heaps of dried brush and stacks of cord-wood off the top of the walls, doused the resulting jumble with naphtha, and set fire to it. The smoke was a little inconvenient, but that ring of fire surrounding the city made sure that there wouldn’t be any surprises during the night.
Then we all gathered in the throne room. King Aldorigen was almost beside himself with glee. ‘A most fruitful day!’ he gloated. ‘I salute thee, my Lord Baron of Wildantor. Thine archers have saved the day for us.’
‘I thank your Grace,’ Wildantor replied with a modest bow, ‘but much of the credit should go to my friend, Mandor, here. All my men did was drive the Angaraks away from their engines. Mandor sent the axemen out to hack them to pieces.’
‘There’s credit enough to go around, gentlemen.’ It was Mergon, the Tolnedran ambassador to the court at Vo Mimbre. He was a weedy-looking little fellow, whose short stature proclaimed him to be a Borune, a fact confirmed by his silver-trimmed blue mantle. Tolnedrans have an elaborate color code to identify members of the various families. ‘All in all, I’d say that it was a fairly successful day,’ he continued.
‘It’s only the first day of the battle, Mergon,’ I warned him. ‘I’m not going to start gloating until we get through tomorrow.’ I looked around. ‘Where’s Polgara?’ I asked.
‘She left just after sunset,’ Belkira told me. ‘She thought it might be a good idea to listen in on Torak and Zedar this evening.’
‘You can stand on the walls and listen to Torak, brother,’ I said. ‘He gets very loud when he’s angry. When Cherek and I went to Cthol Mishrak and stole back the Orb, we could hear him from ten miles off.’
Mergon’s face grew pained. ‘Please don’t say things like that, Belgarath,’ he pleaded. ‘You know it’s a violation of my religion to listen to that sort of thing.’
I shrugged. ‘Don’t listen, then.’
‘What can we expect tomorrow?’ Wildantor asked me.
‘I haven’t the faintest idea,’ I admitted. ‘Why don’t we wait until Pol gets back with some solid information rather than waste time on wild guesses.’
It was shortly after midnight when Polgara returned, and we gathered in the throne room again to listen to her report. ‘Zedar seems to have fallen out of favor,’ she told us with a faint smile. ‘He was supposed to take the city yesterday, and Torak said any number of highly uncomplimentary things to him about his failure.’
‘It wasn’t entirely Zedar’s fault, Lady Polgara,’ Mergon told her. ‘We had a little bit to do with it, after all.’
‘Torak’s not known for his forgiveness, your Excellency,’ Beltira said. ‘He tends to hold grudges.’
‘That he does,’ Pol added. ‘He made quite an issue of the fact that Zedar’s failed before. He raised the point that it was Zedar’s failure in Morindland that made it possible for father to retrieve the Orb, and that was almost three thousand years ago.’
‘That’s a very long time to hold a grudge,’ Wildantor noted.
‘Torak’s like that,’ I said. ‘Were you able to pick up any hints about what we should expect tomorrow, Pol?’
‘Torak didn’t say anything specific, father, but I think I can make a few guesses. He told Zedar that he would be inside the walls by nightfall, and Zedar’s supposed to use any means to accomplish that.’
‘Sorcery?’ Mandor guessed.
‘Torak didn’t say it in so many words, but the implications were there. I think we can expect Zedar to resort to his gifts to try to get inside. Tomorrow’s his last chance. If he fails again, Torak’ll probably incinerate him.’
‘I can face that prospect with a certain equanimity,’ I said. Then I looked at Beltira. ‘Would it violate the rules of this particular EVENT if Zedar tries to use sorcery?’ I asked.
‘That’s not too clear,’ he replied. ‘Torak isn’t supposed to, but the Mrin doesn’t say anything about his disciples.’
‘If the prohibition’s absolute, Zedar might be in for a nasty shock,’ Belkira added. ‘I’m not sure what it would do to one of us if nothing happened when we spoke the Word to release the Will, but I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t care to find out.’
‘Zedar’s probably desperate enough to try it,’ Polgara told him. ‘Torak gave him an ultimatum.’ She frowned. ‘We all know Zedar well enough to know that he’d rather not risk his own skin, but there are Grolims out there. He might order them to try to use Will and Word against us. If a few Grolims get turned to stone, Zedar could use that as an excuse when Torak called him to account.’
‘We could speculate all night about that,’ I told them. ‘To be on the safe side, we’re going to have to assume that they’ll try it, and that it’ll work. If it doesn’t, fine; if it does, we’d better be ready.’
Mergon’s expression was very pained.
‘We’re just talking shop, your Excellency,’ Pol told him. ‘It’s a family trait, and it doesn’t really concern you. I’m sure Nedra won’t be angry with you if you happen to hear some things you aren’t supposed to.’
‘My cousin might be, though,’ he replied.
‘Ran Borune’s not entirely unreasonable, Mergon,’ I said. ‘A lot of things have happened recently that he doesn’t understand. A few more won’t unhinge him.’ I looked around. ‘I think we’ve covered just about
everything,’ I told them. ‘We might as well try to get some sleep. I think we’ll all need to be alert tomorrow.’
I didn’t follow my own advice, of course, but I’ve learned to get along without sleep when I have to. I caught Pol in the dim corridor outside the throne room. ‘I think we’d better start moving people,’ I told her. ‘I’ll go tell Cho-Ram and Rhodar to start closing up the gap between them and Torak’s east flank. Then I’ll go talk with Brand and Ormik and have them ease down from the north. I want those soldiers to be in place and fresh when Beldin gets here day after tomorrow.’
‘Do you want me to do it?’ she offered.
‘No. I’ll take care of it. I couldn’t sleep tonight anyway. Keep an eye on things here, Pol. Zedar might decide to get an early start.’
‘I’ll take care of it, father. Would a suggestion offend you?’
‘That depends on the suggestion.’
‘Use the form of an owl. That falcon of yours doesn’t see all that well in the dark, and Zedar might have alerted his troops to keep an eye out for wolves.’
‘I’ll think about it. I’ll try to be back by morning, but if I’m not, you’ll have to handle things here for a while. Don’t let Mandor open that gate again.’
‘I’ll see to it. Have a nice flight, father.’ I think that Polgara’s the only person in the world who can say something like that without sounding ridiculous.
I took her advice about the owl, but I did not assume Poledra’s favorite form. I used an ordinary horned owl instead. Once I got out past the Angarak armies, though, I went wolf. Owls don’t really fly very fast, and I was in a hurry.
I woke Cho-Ram and Rhodar, and they sent for the Ulgo, Brasa, who commanded the Gorim’s forces. ‘Don’t make any contact with Kal Torak’s army,’ I cautioned them. ‘He knows you’re here, but he isn’t going to do anything about it unless you force him to.’
‘Can Vo Mimbre hold?’ Rhodar asked.
‘I think so. The Mrin says that Torak’s going to be engaged before the golden city for three days. It doesn’t say anything about him getting inside.’
‘That could be open to interpretation, Belgarath,’ Cho-Ram objected.
‘Just about everything in the Mrin’s open to interpretation, Cho-Ram, but I think it’d mention it if Vo Mimbre were going to fall. That’d probably be an EVENT, and the Mrin doesn’t miss very many of those. Get your people together, gentlemen. Move out at first light, but stay at least five miles back from Torak’s left. The Mimbrates are going to have to hold out alone for one more day.’
I went northwesterly from their encampment, and it was very close to morning when I found the Rivans, Sendars, and Asturian archers. ‘It’s time to move, gentlemen,’ I told Brand, Ormik, and Eldallan. ‘I want you to be within striking distance of Kal Torak’s rear by this evening. Don’t engage him, though. I’ll need every man I can get when tomorrow rolls around.’
Brand was holding the shield with my Master’s Orb embedded in the center of it, and, probably without even being aware that he was doing it, he was idly stroking the glowing jewel almost as if it were a puppy. ‘Don’t play with it, Brand,’ I cautioned him. ‘It’ll do some strange things to your mind if you keep your hand on it for too long. Has your friend told you what you’re supposed to do yet?’
He shook his head. ‘Not yet. I imagine he’ll get around to it when the time comes.’
‘You seem to be taking this all very calmly,’ Ormik accused him.
‘It won’t do me any good to get excited.’ Brand looked at me. ‘You’ve been the Child of Light once or twice, haven’t you, Belgarath?’ he asked.
‘Once,’ I said. ‘At least once that I know about. Your friend might have slipped a couple of others in on me without bothering to tell me about it. Why do you ask?’
‘Did you feel - well - sort of distant from what was going on? I’ve been feeling just a bit abstracted for the past few days. It’s almost as if I weren’t going to be personally involved when I meet Torak.’
‘That’s the Necessity working. And you’re at least partly right; your friend’ll sort of take over.’
‘And Torak’s friend will take him over as well?’
‘I’m not too sure about that, Brand. The two Necessities are different, and they might do things differently. Ours just steps in and takes charge. Torak’s might not do it that way. Torak’s not the sort to take something like that philosophically anyway. Maybe we’ll find out when the EVENT rolls around. Start your men south, gentlemen. I’d better get back to Vo Mimbre and see what Zedar’s up to.’
Zedar had evidently been up to no good. There were a dozen or so mangonels emplaced just beyond the range of Asturian arrows as I flew back to the city, and they were already hurling huge rocks at the walls. A mangonel’s an oversized catapult, about the size of a small house, and it can throw thousand-pound rocks for a long distance. There hadn’t been any of them among the other engines the previous day, and their sudden appearance this morning was a fair indication that Zedar’d had a busy night. He hadn’t thrown the Will and the Word directly at the city or its defenders, so I couldn’t be certain whether or not he was breaking the rules yet. He was pushing at the edges of them, though, and that gave me an idea. If he could do it without getting himself exploded, then so could I.
I settled onto the battlements, resumed my own form, and went looking for the twins. ‘When did the mangonels start?’ I asked them.
‘Just before dawn,’ Beltira replied. ‘They’re doing a lot of damage to the walls, Belgarath. There are several places where the foundations are starting to crack. We’d better do something - and soon.’
‘I was just getting to that. Did you hear Zedar working during the night?’
‘Quite clearly,’ Belkira replied. ‘He was in a hurry, so he didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was using his Will. What are we going to do?’
‘The same thing he did. He got away with it, so we can, too, I think. Let’s go build some mangonels of our own.’
‘They take a long time to aim, Belgarath,’ Beltira objected, ‘and thousand-pound rocks would be very hard to move, even for us.’
‘A thousand one-pound rocks should be manageable, though,’ I said. ‘We’ll be shooting at the engine crews, not at a solid wall. We won’t have to be accurate if all we’re trying to do is fill the sky with smaller rocks to rain down on the Thulls manning Zedar’s mangonels. Then, once we’ve got the range, we can start dropping burning pitch on them. I think they’ll lose interest at that point. Let’s go get started.’
I had some of the same reservations about the idea as Belsambar’d had during the war of the Gods. I didn’t like the idea of burning people alive, but I had to neutralize those engines. If the walls of Vo Mimbre fell, Torak’d be in the city by nightfall, and he’d win. I wasn’t going to let that happen if I could possibly stop it.
It didn’t take the twins and me very long to manufacture our mangonels. Zedar’s engines were sitting out in plain sight, so we plagiarized. Aiming them wasn’t a particular problem either. Among his other talents, Belmakor had been a mathematician, and he’d given the twins several centuries of instruction. It only took them about fifteen minutes to compute angles, trajectories, proper tension and weights. Our first throw dropped half a ton of fist-sized rocks directly on top of one of Zedar’s engines. The second one engulfed that monstrosity in fire.
Did you know that people almost always run when they’re on fire? It doesn’t do any good, of course, but they do it anyway. Burning Thulls fell back into the ranks of Torak’s other troops, causing a great deal of confusion, and after an hour or so, we’d eliminated the problem. Zedar’d lost a whole night’s sleep for nothing.
At that point, he didn’t really have any choice but to mount another frontal assault. I knew that something was coming, because I could feel his Will building even as his troops were forming up for the charge. When he released it, a howling windstorm struck the walls of Vo Mimbre.
No,
he wasn’t trying to blow us off the top of the walls. He was trying to deflect the arrows of our archers. I shudder to think of the effort his windstorm caused him. Moving that much air’s a great deal like trying to pick up a mountain.
The twins took steps without even bothering to consult with me. Working in tandem, they erected a barrier of pure Will about a mile out from the walls, neatly dividing Zedar’s windstorm and sending it streaming off to either side of the city. The air around Vo Mimbre became dead calm, and the Asturian archers cut down whole battalions of charging Malloreans. The attack faltered, stopped, and then reversed.
Polgara came up and joined us on the walls late in the morning. ‘You three have been busy, haven’t you?’ she observed. ‘You’re making so much noise that I can’t even hear myself think. Zedar’s right on the verge of exhaustion, you know.’
‘Good,’ I said. ‘I’m getting a little tired of playing games with him.’
‘Don’t start gloating yet, father. Zedar’s not the only one out there, you know. I’m getting the sense of a lot of other minds at work. Zedar’s called in the Grolims to help him.’
‘Can you get any idea of what he’ll try next, dear sister?’ Belkira asked her.
‘Nothing specific,’ she replied. ‘They seem to be thinking about dirt.’
‘Dirt?’ Belkira objected. ‘What’s dirt got to do with anything? All that’s out there right now is mud.’
‘They’re drying it out. Zedar’s got his Grolims concentrating on extracting the last trace of moisture out of that plain.’
Belgarath the Sorcerer Page 63