Sorceress of Darshiva

the same gorge."
    Zakath leaned out over the edge and looked down.
    "Careful," Garion said, catching the Mallorean's arm with one hand.
    "It is a long way down," Zakath agreed. "All right then," he said. "Now I see why the Darshivans are making for that gorge. It branches at the foot of this cliff, and one branch goes north. It probably connects with the main caravan route." He thought about it. "It's actually a good strategy. If Nahaz hadn't driven his troops so hard, the Darshivans would have reached the caravan route first, and they could have set up an ambush of their own.'' He pulled back away from the edge of the cliff. "That's one of the reasons I always hate to operate in rough terrain. I got a number of very nasty surprises in Cthol Murgos."
    "The elephants are starting to form up into a column, " Belgarath reported, "and the rest of the Darshivans are strung out behind them."
    "Are they putting out scouts?" Zakath asked.
    "Yes, but they're only scouting along the floor of the gorge. A few of them went up to the ridge tops, but the Hounds eliminated those."
    They waited as Beldin circled above the two armies.
    "They're committed now," Belgarath said sadly. "The elephants are starting into the gorge."
    "I feel a little sorry for the elephants," Durnik said. "They didn't volunteer for this. I wish they didn't plan to use fire on them."
    "It’s fairly standard, Goodman,’' Zakath said calmly.
    "Fire's the only thing elephants are really afraid of. They'll stampede back down the gorge."
    "Right through the Darshivans," Silk added in a slightly sick voice. "Nahaz should get his fill of blood today."
    "Do we really have to watch this?" Durnik asked.
    "We have to wait until it gets started," Belgarath replied.
    "I think I'll go back and wait with Pol," the smith said, edging back from the cliff top. Then he and Toth went on down the ridge.
    "He's a very gentle person, isn't he?" Zakath said.
    "Usually," Garion replied. "When it's necessary, though, he can do what needs doing."
    "You remember the time he chased that Murgo into a quicksand bog," Silk said with a shudder, "and then watched him sink?"
    "It shouldn't be too long now," Belgarath said tensely. "The last of the elephants just entered the gorge."
    They waited. For some reason, Garion felt suddenly cold. Then, even though what was happening was more than a league away, they heard a thunderous rumbling sound as Urvon's troops began to roll huge boulders down on the advancing elephants. Faintly they could hear the agonized screams of the huge beasts. Then, smoke and flame began to boil up out of the gorge as the brutish Karands rained huge piles of burning brush down on the helpless animals.
    "I think I've seen enough," Sadi said. He rose and went back down the ridge. The surviving elephants, looking almost like ants in the distance, wheeled and fled in panic back down the gorge, and the agonized squeals of the animals were suddenly accompanied by human screams as the great beasts crushed their way through rank after rank of Darshivan soldiers. Beldin came soaring up from below and settled back on the boulder from which he had started.
    "What's that?" Silk exclaimed. "There at the mouth of the gorge."
    There seemed to be some vast disturbance in the murky air at the edge of the plain, a sort of shimmering filled with flickering, rainbow-hued light and sullen flashes of heat lightning. Then, quite suddenly, the disturbance coalesced into a nightmare.
    "Belar!" Silk swore. "It's as big as a barn!"
    The thing was hideous. It had a dozen or more snakelike arms that writhed and lashed at the air. It had three blazing eyes and a vast muzzle filled with great fangs. It towered over the elephants and kicked them aside contemptuously with huge, clawed feet. Then with thunderous stride, it started up the gorge, walking indifferently through the flames and paying no more attention to the boulders bouncing off its shoulders than it might have to snowflakes.
    "What is that thing?" Zakath asked in a shaken voice.
    "That's Mordja," Belgarath told him. "I've seen him before—in Morindland—and that's not the sort of face one forgets."
    The demon in the gorge was reaching out with his many arms now, catching whole platoons of Karands in his clawed hands and almost casually hurling them with terrific force against the surrounding rocks.
    "It looks to me as if the tide of battle just turned," Silk said. "What's our general feeling about leaving—along about right now?"
    The