Page 65 (1/1)

"Not well, Naradas," she replied "His Guardsmen and his Chandim and the rabble out of Karanda outnuiment of elephant cavalry behind me, mistress Naradas inforrass of central Peldane will be atered with the blood of Urvon's Guardsmen, Chandim, and Karands We will roll them back andfor Darshiva, Naradas I seek the world, and the fate of one se of Mallorea is a matter of sublime indifference to me Let it stand or let it fall I care not It hath served its purpose, and now I a will it take you to deliver your beasts to the field of battle?"

"Two days at most, enerals and then follow ather up Otrath and Belgarion's brat We will await thee in the shadow of the holy ht the Demon Lord Nahaz and his hordes with hier concerns us Demons are not so difficult to raise, and Nahaz is not the only Demon Lord in Hell Lord Mordja consented to aid us with his hordes There hath long been enmity between Mordja and Nahaz They do war upon each other noith no concern for ordinary forces"

"Mistress!" Naradas exclaimed "Surely you would not consort with such creatures!"

"I would consort with the King of Hell himself in order to triuht and hath lured Nahaz away from the battlefield Take thy beasts there so that they may destroy Urvon's hosts Nahaz and his minions shall not be there to delay thee Then come with all possible speed to Kell"

"I shall, e had been building up in Garion His son's abductor was no more than seconds away froather in her will before his fangs were into her flesh, and then it would be too late He curled his lips back from his dreadful teeth and slunk closer, one step at a tiround He thirsted for blood, and his hatred burned like a fire in his brain Quivering in awful anticipation, he bunched his rowl filled his throat

It was that sound that ultiht that had seared his brain was the thought of a ani beyond the immediate moment If Zandramas indeed stood no more than a few bounds way, he could rend her flesh and scatter her blood in the till grass beside the track upon which she stood before the echo of her shrieks had returned fro before white-eyed Naradas was but an insubstantial projection, he would clash his curved fangs on nothingness, and the Sorceress of Darshiva would escape his vengeance once again, even as she had at Ashaba It was perhaps the thought burning in his brain that alerted her; or perhaps, as Polgara had done so often, she had ion with her mind and had located the others

Whatever it was, the sorceress suddenly hissed in alar Then she smiled a cruel, mirthless smile "But I have a form immune to Alorn sorcery" She tensed herself, then blurred, and then the ion appeared before the suddenly terrified elephants She spread the vast sails of her wings and launched herself into the da bellow and her sooty red fire

"Aunt Pol!" Garion's thought flew out "The dragon's coht ca toward you!"

"Come back here!" she co into the damp turf, and ran toward the farmstead as fast as he could Behind hi of the elephants, and overhead the shrieking bellow of the vast dragon He ran on desperately, knowing that Zandraara and the others rip could drive her away

It was not far, though the seconds seeait of the wolf Ahead of hi the stor overhead, a fire eerily acco that danced in jerky streaks down fros and plum her

Between bounds, Garion changed and ran on toward the gate with the sword of Iron-grip flaon extended her vast pinions and settled into the far her snakelike neck around, sending incandescent billows of fla the yard The seasoned wood began to char and san to flicker their way up the sides of the door fra sword aloft Grion with it "You may be immune to sorcery, Zandramas," he shouted at her, "but you're not i hinored it and continued to lash her with the blue flame of the Orb and the sword Finally, unable to bear his relentless strokes any longer, she hurled herself into the air, flapping her great wings frantically She clawed at the air and finally ed to clear the second-story roof of the farain and continued to bathe the structure in fla to confront her again But then he stopped The dragon was not alone Gloith her peculiar nimbus, the blue wolf faced the altered forara had once expanded into immensity in Sthiss Tor to face the God Issa and as Garion hiht when he had co with Torak, the blue wolf swelled into vastness

The htht with flas Since the as insubstantial-- except for her teeth--the dragon's flah the teeth of the ere very sharp, they could not penetrate the dragon's scaly hide

Back and forth they raged in titanic but inconclusive struggle Then Garion thought he detected soood The sky overhead was still obscured by the last tattered clouds of the evening's stor seemed to obscure more than they revealed, but it appeared that each tion flinched visibly Then it caon, her blue nilow of the Orb and the fire of Iron-grip's sword So Poledra, when she assumed the shape of the wolf, partook of the power of the Orb, and Garion had discovered that even in the foron, Zandra connected with it Her flinching becae, snarling lunges Then, suddenly, they both stopped