The Seeress of Kell

here."
    "Of course," Garion replied. He reached back over his shoulder and put his hand on the pommel of his sword. “Come off," he told the Orb. The stone came free in his hand, and he held it out to the young God.
    Eriond took the glowing blue stone and turned to look at the Sardion and then down at the Orb in his hand. There was something inexplicable in his face as he looked at the two stones that were at the center of all division. He raised his face for a moment, his expression now serene. "So be it then," he said finally.
    And then to Garion's horror, he gripped the Orb even more tightly and pushed his hand quite deliberately, Orb and all, into the glowing Sardion.
    The reddish stone seemed to flinch. Like Ctuchik in his last moment, it first expanded, then contracted. Then it expanded one last time. And then, like Ctuchik, it exploded and yet that explosion was tightly confined, enclosed somehow within some unimaginable globe of force that came perhaps from Eriond's will or from the power of the Orb or from some other source. Garion knew that had that force not been in place, all the world would have been torn apart by what was happening in this tightly confined place.
    Even though it was partially muffled by Eriond's immortal and indestructible body, the concussion was titanic, and they were all hurled to the floor by its force. Rocks and pebbles rained down from the ceiling, and the entire pyramidal islet that was all that was left of Korim shuddered in an earthquake even more powerful than that which had destroyed Rak Cthol. Confined within the grotto, the sound was beyond belief. Without thinking, Garion rolled across the surging floor to cover Ce'Nedra and Geran with his armored body, noting as he did so that many of his companions were also protecting loved ones in the same fashion.
    The earth continued its convulsive shuddering, and what lay confined on the altar now with Eriond's hand still buried within what was no longer the Sardion but an intense ball of energy a thousand times brighter than the sun.
    Then Eriond, his face still calm, removed the Orb from the center of the incandescent ball that once had been the Sardion. As if the removal of Aldur's Orb had also removed the constraint that had held the Sardion in one shape and place, the blazing fragments of Cthrag Sardius blasted upward through the roof of the grotto, ripping the top off the shuddering pyramid and sending the huge stone blocks out in all directions as if they were no more than pebbles.
    The suddenly revealed sky was filled with a light brighter than the sun, a light that extended from horizon to horizon. The fragments of the Sardion streamed upward to lose themselves in that light.
    Zandramas wailed, an inhuman, animallike sound. The faint outline that was all that was left of her was writhing, twisting. "No." she cried, "It cannot be! You promised!" Garion did not know, could not know, to whom she spoke. She extended her hands to Eriond in supplication. "Help me, God of Angarak!" she cried. "Do not let me fall into the hands of Mordja or the foul embrace of the King of Hell! Save me!”
    And then her shadowy husk split apart, and the swirling lights that had become her substance streamed inexorably upward to follow the fragments of the Sardion into that vast light in the sky.
    What was left of the Sorceress of Darshiva fell to the floor like a discarded garment, shriveled and tattered like a rag no longer of any use to anyone.
    The voice that came from Eriond's lips was very familiar to Garion. He had been listening to it for all his life.
    "Point," it said in a detached, emotionless tone, as if merely stating a fact. "Point and game."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
    The sudden silence in the grotto was almost eerie. Garion rose and helped Ce'Nedra to her feet. “Are you all right?” he asked her, his voice hushed. Ce'Nedra nodded absently. She was examining their little boy, a look of concern on her smudged face. Garion looked around. "Is everyone all right?" he asked.
    "Is that earthquake finished yet?" Silk demanded, still covering Velvet's body with his own.
    "It's passed, Kheldar," Eriond told him. The young God turned and gravely handed the Orb back to Garion.
    "Aren't you supposed to keep it?" Garion asked him. "I thought "
    "No, Garion. You're still the Guardian of the Orb."
    For some reason, that made Garion feel better. Even in the midst of what had just happened, he had felt an empty sense of loss. Somehow he had become