Castle of Wizardry

unmolested and unaware of the ternble violence lurking in the shadows not twenty yards away. After they were out of earshot, Relg uncovered his light again and selected yet another passageway. They moved on, descending, twisting, zigzagging their way down through the caves toward the foot of the pinnacle and the dubious safety of the wasteland which lay outside.
    While the song of the Orb did not diminish in any way, Garion was at least able to think as he followed Silk along the twisting passageways with the little boy in his arms. He thought that perhaps it was because he had grown at least partially accustomed to it - or maybe its attention was concentrated on one of the others.
    They had done it; that was the amazing thing. Despite all the odds against them, they had retrieved the Orb. The search that had so abruptly interrupted his quiet life at Faldor's farm was over, but it had changed him in so many ways that the boy who had crept out through the gate at Faldor's farm in the middle of a windswept autumn night no longer even existed. Garion could feel the power he had discovered within himself even now and he knew that power was there for a reason. There had been hints along the way - vague, half spoken, sometimes only implied - that the return of the Orb to its proper place was only a beginning of something much larger and much more serious. Garion was absolutely certain that this was not the end of it.
    "It's about time,"the dry voice in his mind said.
    "What's that supposed to mean?"
    "Why do I have to explain this every single time?"
    "Explain what?"
    "That I know what you're thinking. It's not as if we were completely separate, you know."
    "All right, then. Where do we go from here?"
    "To Riva."
    "And after that?"
    "We'll see."
    "You aren't going to tell me?"
    "No. Not yet. You haven't come nearly as far as you think you have. There's still a very long way to go. "
    "If you aren't going to tell me anything, why don't you just leave me alone?"
    "I just wanted to advise you not to make any long-term plans. The recovery of the Orb was only a step - an important one - but only a beginning."
    And then, as if mention of it somehow reminded the Orb of Garion's presence, its song returned in full force, and Garion's concentration dissolved.
    Not much later, Relg stopped, lifting the faint light aloft.
    "What's the trouble?" Barak demanded, lowering Belgarath to the floor again.
    "'The ceiling fell in," Relg replied, pointing at the rubble choking the passageway ahead. "We can't get through." He looked at Aunt Pol. "I'm sorry," he said, and Garion felt that he really meant it. "That woman we left down here is on the other side of the cave-in."
    "Find another way," she told him shortly.
    "There isn't any. This was the only passageway leading to the pool where we found her."
    "We'll have to clear it then."
    Relg shook his head gravely. "We'd just bring more of it down on top of us. It probably fell in on her as well - at least we can hope so."
    "Isn't that just a bit contemptible, Relg?" Silk asked pointedly.
    The Ulgo turned to regard the little man. "She has water there and sufficient air to breathe. If the cave-in didn't kill her, she could live for weeks before she starves to death." There was a peculiar, quiet regret in Relg's voice.
    Silk stared at him for a moment. "Sorry, Relg," he said finally. "I misunderstood."
    "People who live in caves have no desire to see anyone trapped like that."
    Polgara, however, was considering the rubble-blocked passageway. "We have to get her out of there," she declared.
    "Relg could be right, you know," Barak pointed out. "For all we know, she's buried under half the mountain."
    She shook her head. "No," she disagreed. "Taiba's still alive, and we can't leave without her. She's as important to all of this as any one of us." She turned back to Relg. "You'll have to go get her," she told him firmly.
    Relg's large, dark eyes widened.
    "You can't ask that," he protested.
    "There's no alternative."
    "You can do it, Relg," Durnik encouraged the zealot. "You can go through the rock and bring her out the same way you carried Silk out of that pit where Taur Urgas had him."
    Relg had begun to tremble violently. "I can't!" his voice was choked. "I'd have to touch her - put my hands on her. It's sin."
    "This is most uncharitable of thee, Relg," Mandorallen told him. "There is no sin in giving aid to the weak and helpless. Consideration for the unfortunate is a paramount responsibility of