The Seeress of Kell

Zandramas back there. She had this all worked out, didn't she? Right from the very beginning?”
    "My opposite was always very methodical."
    "What I'm getting at is that she made all of her arrangements in advance. She had everything in place in Nyissa before she ever went to Cherek to pick up those Bear-cultists. Then, when she went to Riva to steal Geran, everything was ready. She'd even put things in place so that we all suspected the cult instead of her.”
    "She'd have probably made a very good general."
    "But she went even further. No matter how good her plans were, she always had a contingency to fall back on in case the original plan failed." A thought came to him. "Did Mordja get her? I mean, she blew all apart when the Sardion exploded, didn't she? Is her spirit still mixed up in those stars, or did it get pulled down into Hell? She sounded so very much afraid just before she dissolved."
    "I really wouldn't know, Garion. My opposite and I dealt with this universe, not with Hell which, of course, is a universe all its own."
    “What would have happened if Cyradis had chosen Geran instead of Eriond?"
    "You and the Orb would be moving to a new address about now."
    Garion felt his skin begin to crawl. "And you didn't warn me?" he demanded incredulously.
    "Would you really have wanted to know? And what difference would it have made?"
    Garion decided to let that pass. "Was Eriond always a God?" he asked.
    "Weren't you listening earlier when he explained? Eriond was intended to be the seventh God. Torak was a mistake caused by the accident."
    "He's always been around then? Eriond, I mean?"
    "Always is a long time, Garion. Eriond was present in spirit since the accident. When you were born, he began to move around in the world."
    "We're the same age then?"
    "Age is a meaningless concept to the Gods. They can be any age they choose to be. It was the theft of the Orb that started things moving toward what happened here today. Zedar wanted to steal the Orb, so Eriond found him and showed him how to do it. That's what got you moving in the first place. If Zedar hadn't stolen the Orb, you'd probably still be at Faldor's farm-married to Zubrette, I'd imagine. Try to keep your perspective about this, Garion, but in a very peculiar way this world was created just to give you something to stand on while you were fixing things."
    “Please stop joking.”
    "I'm not joking, Garion. You're the most important person who's ever lived or ever will with the possible exception of Cyradis. You killed a bad God and replaced him with a good one. You did a lot of floundering around in the process, but you finally managed to get it all done. I 'm sort of proud of you, actually. All in all, you turned out rather well."
    "I had a lot of help."
    "Granted, but you're entitled to a bit of conceit for a moment or two, anyway. I wouldn't overdo it, though. It's not a very becoming sort of thing."
    Garion concealed a smile. "Why me?" he asked, making it sound as plaintive and imbecilic as possible.
    There was a startled silence, and then the voice actually laughed. "Please don't go back to asking that, Garion."
    "I'm sorry. What happens now?"
    "You get to go home."
    "No, I mean to the world?"
    "A lot of that's going to depend on Zakath. Eriond is the God of Angarak now, and despite Urgit and Drosta and Nathel, Zakath's the real Overking of Angarak. It might take a bit of doing and he may have to use up a large number of Grolims in the process, but before he's done, Zakath is going to have to ram Eriond down the throats of all the Angaraks in the world."
    "He'll manage." Garion shrugged. "Zakath's very good at ramming things down people's throats."
    "Cyradis will be able to soften that side of him, I expect."
    "All right, then. What about afterward? After all the Angaraks have accepted Eriond?"
    "The movement will spread. You'll probably live long enough to see the day when Eriond is the God of the whole world. That's what was intended from the beginning."
    ”And he shall have Lordship and Dominion'?" Garion quoted with a sinking feeling, remembering certain Grolim prophecies.
    "You know Eriond better than that. Can you possibly see him sitting on a throne gloating over sacrifices?"
    "No, not really. What happens to the other Gods then? Aldur and the rest of them?”
    "They'll move on. They’ve finished with what they came here to do, and there are many, many other worlds in the universe.”
    "What about UL? Will he leave, too?"
    "UL doesn't