Page 40 (1/1)

"Tryto her eyes "This is most unchivalrous of thee, my Lord," she accused him

"I was raised on a farm in Sendaria, es of a noble upbringing, so I have these little lapses fro you kill yourself Now, if you'll excuse o stop that nonsense out there" He turned and clanked toward the stairs "Oh," he said, looking over his shoulder at her, "don't get any ideas about ju ar ar

"That's better," he said and went on down the stairs

The servants in Mandorallen's castle took one look at Garion's stormy face as he strode into the courtyard below and prudently melted out of his path Laboriously, he hauled hie roan warhorse upon which he had arrived, adjusted the great sword of the Rivan King in its scabbard across his back, and looked around

"Soht hi over each other in their haste to coallop

The citizens of the town of Vo Mandor, which lay just beyond the walls of Mandorallen's keep, were as prudent as the servants within the walls had been A wide path was opened along the cobblestone streets as the angry King of Riva passed through, and the town gates stood wide open for hiet their attention, and Arends on the verge of battle are notoriously difficult to reach He would need to startle thereen Arendish countryside, past neat, thatch-roofed villages and groves of beech andclouds overhead, and the first faint hints of a plan began to form in his mind

When he arrived, he found the two armies drawn up on opposite sides of a broad, open e-old Arendish custoes had been issued, and thosesettled as a sort of prelude to the grand general hts fro in the center of the field as the two arly Enthusiastically, the brainless, steel-clad young nobles crashed into each other, littering the turf with splinters from the shattered remains of their lances

Garion took in the situation at a single glance, scarcely pausing before riding directly into the middle of the fray Itthe encounter The lance he carried looked the sa to kill or maim each other About the only real difference lay in the fact that his lance, unlike theirs, would not break, no matter what it encountered and was, moreover, enveloped in a kind of nimbus of sheer force Garion had no real desire to run the sharp steel tip of that lance through anybody He merely wanted theh the center of the startled, hts, he hurled three of them froer and unhorsed two more so quickly that the vast clatter they le sound

It needed a bitsuitably spectacular to penetrate the solid bone Arends used for heads

Alently, Garion discarded his invincible lance, reached back over his shoulder and drew theThe Orb of Aldur blazed forth its dazzling bluelight, and the sword itself immediately burst into flame As always, despite its vast size, the sword in his hand had no apparent weight, and he wielded it with blinding speed

He drove directly at one startled knight, chopping the a chunks as he worked his way up the weapon's shaft When only the butt reht fro sword He wheeled then, chopped an upraised round, horse and all

Stunned by the ferocity of his attack, the wide-eyed Mi prowess in battle, however, thatof Riva earing sulfurously, and his choice of oaths o pale

He looked around, his eyes ablaze, then gathered in his will He raised his fla sky overhead "NOW!" he barked in a voice like the cracking of a whip

The clouds shuddered, alarion's will s as thick as the trunk of athunderclap that shook the ground forhole appeared in the turf where the bolt had struck Again and again Garion called down the lightning The noise of thunder ripped and rolled through the air, and the reek of burning sod and singed earth hung like a cloud over the suddenly terrified arale struck; at the sa forces in a deluge so intense that hts were actually hurled froale shrieked and the driving downpour struck theer across the field which separated the the air with steam and smoke To cross that field was unthinkable

Grier in the veryaround him He let it rain on the two armies for several minutes until he was certain that he had their full attention; then, with a negligent flick of his flah of this stupidity!" he announced in a voice as loud as the thunder had been "Lay down your weapons at once!"

They stared at him and then distrustfully at each other

"AT ONCE!" Garion roared, e bolt and a shattering thunderclap

The clatter of suddenly discarded weapons was enorht here," Garion said then, pointing with his sword at a spot directly in front of his horse " Immediately!"

Slowly, alhts warily approached hi?" Garion demanded of the declared in a faltering voice He was a stout, florid-faced man of about forty with the purple-veined nose of one who drinks heavily "Sir Mandorallen hath abducted my kinswoman"