Queen of Sorcery

turning to look triumphantly at Aunt Pol. "This evil sorceress hath invaded thy domain to slay me. Her wicked power is so great that none may withstand her. I am thy promised bride, and I place myself under thy protection."
    "Who is this who defiles my temple?" the statue demanded in a vast roar. "Who dares to raise her hand against my chosen and beloved?" The emerald eyes flashed in dreadful wrath.
    Aunt Pol stood alone in the center of the polished floor with the vast statue looming above her. Her face was unafraid. "You go too far, Salmissra," she said. "This is forbidden."
    The Serpent Queen laughed scornfully. "Forbidden? What does your forbidding mean to me? Flee now, or face the wrath of Divine Issa. Contend if you will with a God!"
    "If I must," Aunt Pol said. She straightened then and spoke a single word. The roaring in Garion's mind at that word was overwhelming. Then, suddenly, she began to grow. Foot by foot she towered up, rising like a tree, expanding, growing gigantic before Garion's stunned eyes. Within a moment she faced the great stone God as an equal.
    "Polgara?" the God's voice sounded puzzled. "Why have you done this?"
    "I come in fulfillment of the Prophecy, Lord Issa," she said. "Thy handmaiden hath betrayed thee and thy brothers."
    "It cannot be so," Issa said. "She is my chosen one. Her face is the face of my beloved."
    "The face is the same," Aunt Pol said, "but this is not the Salmissra beloved of Issa. A hundred Salmissras have served thee in this temple since thy beloved died."
    "Died?" the God said incredulously.
    "She lies!" Salmissra shrieked. "I am thy beloved, O my Lord. Let not her lies turn thee from me. Kill her."
    "The Prophecy approaches its day," Aunt Pol said. "The boy at Salmissra's feet is its fruit. He must be returned to me, or the Prophecy will fail."
    "Is the day of the Prophecy come so soon?" the God asked.
    "It is not soon, Lord Issa," Aunt Pol said. "It is late. Thy slumber hath encompassed eons."
    "Lies! All lies!" Salmissra cried desperately, clinging to the ankle of the huge stone God.
    "I must test out the truth of this," the God said slowly. "I have slept long and deeply, and now the world comes upon me unaware."
    "Destroy her, O my Lord!" Salmissra demanded. "Her lies are an abomination and a desecration of thy holy presence."
    "I will find the truth, Salmissra," Issa said.
    Garion felt a brief, enormous touch upon his mind. Something had brushed him - something so vast that his imagination shuddered back from its immensity. Then the touch moved on.
    "Ahhh-" The sigh came from the floor. The dead snake Maas stirred. "Ahhh- Let me sleep," it hissed.
    "In but a moment," Issa said. "What was your name?"
    "I was called Maas," the snake said. "I was counsellor and companion to Eternal Salmissra. Send me back, Lord. I cannot bear to live again."
    "Is this my beloved Salmissra?" the God asked.
    "Her successor." Maas sighed. "Thy beloved priestess died thousands of years ago. Each new Salmissra is chosen because of her resemblance to thy beloved."
    "Ah," Issa said with pain in his huge voice. "And what was this woman's purpose in removing Belgarion from Polgara's care?"
    "She sought alliance with Torak," Maas said. "She thought to trade Belgarion to the Accursed One in exchange for the immortality his embrace would bestow upon her."
    "His embrace? My priestess would submit to the foul embrace of my mad brother?"
    "Willingly, Lord," Maas said. "It is her nature to seek the embrace of any man or God or beast who passes."
    A look of repugnance flickered across Issa's stony face. "Has it always been so?" he asked.
    "Always, Lord," Maas said. "The potion which maintains her youth and semblance to thy beloved sets her veins afire with lust. That fire remains unquenched until she dies. Let me go, Lord. The pain!"
    "Sleep, Maas," Issa granted sorrowfully. "Take my thanks with you down into silent death."
    "Ahhh-" Maas sighed and sank down again.
    "I too will return to slumber," Issa said. "I must not remain, lest my presence rouse Torak to that war which would unmake the world." The great statue stepped back to the spot where it had stood for thousands of years. The deafening creak and groan of flexing rock again filled the huge chamber. "Deal with this woman as it pleases thee, Polgara," the stone God said. "Only spare her life out of remembrance of my beloved."
    "I will, Lord Issa," Aunt Pol said, bowing to the statue.
    "And carry my love to my brother, Aldur," the hollow