Magician's Gambit

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?"
    "One of the others will do just as well," Ctuchik asserted, his eyes blazing with fury.
    "No," Belgarath disagreed. "The others are all unassailable. Ce'Nedra's the only vulnerable one, and she's at Prolgu - under the protection of UL himself. You can attempt that if you'd like, but I wouldn't really advise it."
    "Curse you, Belgarath!"
    "Why don't you just give me the Orb now, Ctuchik?" Belgarath suggested. "You know I can take it away from you if I have to."
    Ctuchik struggled to gain control of himself. "Let's not be hasty, Belgarath," he said after a moment. "What are we going to gain by destroying each other? We have Cthrag Yaska in our possession. We could divide the world between us."
    "I don't want half the world, Ctuchik."
    "You want it all for yourself?" A brief, knowing smile crossed Ctuchik's face. "So did I - at first - but I'll settle for half."
    "Actually, I don't want any of it."
    Ctuchik's expression became a bit desperate. "What do you want, Belgarath?"
    "The Orb," Belgarath replied inexorably. "Give it to me, Ctuchik."
    "Why don't we join forces and use the Orb to destroy Zedar?"
    "Why?"
    "You hate him as much as I do. He betrayed your Master. He stole Cthrag Yaska from you."
    "He betrayed himself, Ctuchik, and I think that haunts him sometimes. His plan to steal the Orb was clever, though." Belgarath looked thoughtfully at the little boy standing in front of the table, his large eyes fixed on the iron cask. "I wonder where he found this child," he mused. "Innocence and purity are not exactly the same thing, of course, but they're very close. It must have cost Zedar a great deal of effort to raise a total innocent. Think of all the impulses he had to suppress."
    "That's why I let him do it," Ctuchik said.
    The little blond boy, seeming to know that they were discussing him, looked at the two old men, his eyes filled with absolute trust.
    "The whole point is that I still have Cthrag Yaska - the Orb," Ctuchik said, leaning back in his chair and laying one hand on the cask. "If you try to take it, I'll fight you. Neither of us knows for sure how that would turn out. Why take chances?"
    "What good is it doing you? Even if it would submit to you, what then? Would you raise Torak and surrender it to him?"
    "I might think about it. But Torak's been asleep for five centuries now, and the world's run fairly well without him. I don't imagine there's all that much point in disturbing him just yet."
    "Which would leave you in possession of the Orb."
    Ctuchik shrugged. "Someone has to have it. Why not me?"
    He was still leaning back in his chair, seeming almost completely at ease. There was no warning movement or even a flicker of emotion across his face as he struck.
    It came so quickly that it was not a surge but a blow, and the sound of it was not the now-familiar roaring in the mind but a thunderclap. Garion knew that, had it been