The Seeress of Kell

within the form of the dragon, snarled its hatred as it twisted and writhed, attempting to break free.
    "Speak, Mordja," Poledra commanded. Did anyone have that kind of power?
    "I will not." Mordja spat out the words.
    “Thou wilt,” Garion's grandmother said in a dreadfully quiet voice.
    Mordja shrieked then, a shriek of total agony.
    "What is thy purpose?" Poledra insisted.
    "I serve the King of Hell!” the demon cried.
    "And what is the purpose of the King of Hell here?"
    "He would possess the stones of power," Mordja howled.
    "And why?"
    "That he may break his chains, the chains in which accursed UL bound him long ere any of this was made."
    "Wherefore hast thou then aided the Child of Dark, and wherefore didst thy foe Nahaz aid the Disciple of Torak? Didst not thy Master know that each of them sought to raise a God? A God which would even more securely bind him?"
    "What they sought was of no moment," Mordja snarled. "Nahaz and I contended with each other, in truth, but our contention was not on behalf of mad Urvon or sluttish Zandramas. In the instant that either of them gained the Sardion would the King of Hell reach forth with my hands or with the hands of Nahaz and seize the stone. Then, using its power, would the one of us or the other wrest Cthrag Yaska from the Godslayer and deliver both stones to our Master. In the instant that he took up the two stones would he become the new God. His chains would break and he would contend with UL as an equal nay, an even mightier God, and all that is, was, or will be would be his and his alone."
    "And what then was to be the fate of the Child of Dark or the Disciple of Torak?"
    “They were to be our rewards. Even now doth Nahaz feed eternally upon mad Urvon in the darkest pit of Hell, even as I shall feed upon Zandramas. The ultimate reward of the King of Hell is eternal torment."
    The Sorceress of Darshiva gasped in horror as she heard her soul's fate so cruelly pronounced.
    "Thou canst not stop me, Poledra," Mordja taunted, "for the King of Hell hath strengthened my hand."
    "Thy hand, however, is confined in the body of this rude beast," Poledra said. "Thou hast made thy choice, and in this place, a choice, once made, cannot be unmade. Here wilt thou contend alone, and thine only ally will not be the King of Hell, but no more than this mindless creature which thou hast chosen."
    The demon raised its dreadful, fang-filled muzzle with a great howl, and it struggled, heaving its vast shoulders this way and that as it desperately tried to wrench itself free of the shape that enclosed it.
    "Does this mean we have to fight them both!" Zakath asked Garion in a shaking voice.
    "I'm afraid so."
    "Garion, have you lost your mind?"
    "It's what we do, Zakath. At least Poledra has limited Mordja's power I don't know how, but she has. Since he doesn't have his full powers, we at least have a chance against him. Let's get at it.” Garion clapped down his visor and strode forward, swinging his flaming sword before him.
    Silk and the others had separated, and they were approaching the dragon from the sides and from the rear.
    As he and Zakath warily moved in, Garion saw something that might be an even greater advantage. The melding of the primitive mind of the dragon and the age-old one of the demon was not complete. The dragon, with stubborn stupidity, could only focus her single eye upon those enemies who stood directly before her, and she charged on, unmindful of Garion's friends moving toward her flanks. Mordja, however, was all too much aware of the dangers advancing from the sides and from the rear. The division of the unnaturally joined mind of the vast, bat-winged creature gave it a kind of uncharacteristic hesitation, indecision even. Then Silk, the sword of a fallen Grolim in his hands, darted in from the rear and chopped manfully at the writhing tail.
    The dragon bellowed in pain, and flames burst from her gaping mouth. Overriding what little control Mordja exerted upon her, she wheeled clumsily to respond to Silk's attack. The little thief, however, skipped nimbly out of her way even as the others dashed in to attack her flanks. Durnik rhythmically hammered on one exposed flank while Toth chopped no less rhythmically at the other.
    A desperate plan came unbidden to Garion as he saw that the dragon had turned almost completely around to meet Silk's attack. "Work on her tail!" he shouted to Zakath. He backed off a few paces to give himself running room, then lumbered