"Books - David Eddings - Belgarath the Sorcerer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

had sort of expropriated me. Since she was along, I once again chose
the shape of a wolf for the journey. She approved of that, I suppose.
She never was totally satisfied with my real form, and she seemed much
happier with me when I had four feet and a tail.

We found out what was holding up the Alorns almost before we reached
the lands of the Bear God. Would you believe that they were already
fighting--with each other?

Alorn society--such as it was in those days--was clannish, and the
bickering was over which Clan-Chief was going to take command of the
entire army. The other Gods had encountered similar problems and had
simply overruled the urges toward supremacy of the various factions and
selected one leader to run things. Belar, however, wouldn't do that.

"I'm sure you can see my position, Belgarath," he said to me when I
finally found him. He said it just a little defensively, I thought.

I took a very deep breath, suppressing my urge to scream at him.

"No, my Lord," I said in as mild a tone as I could manage.

"Actually, I don't."

"If I select one Clan-Chief over the others, it might be construed as
favoritism, don't you see? They're simply going to have to settle it
for themselves."

"The other races are already on the march, my Lord," I reminded him as
patiently as I could.

"We'll be along, Belgarath," he assured me, "eventually."

By then I knew Alorns well enough to realize that Belar's "eventually"
would quite probably stretch out for several centuries.

The she-wolf at my side dropped to her haunches with her tongue lolling
out. Her laughter didn't improve my temper very much, I'll confess.

"Would you be open to a suggestion, my Lord?" I asked the Bear God in
a civil tone.

"Why, certainly, Belgarath," he replied.

"To be honest with you, I've been racking my brains searching for a
solution to this problem. I'd hate to disappoint my brothers, and I
really don't want to miss the war entirely."

"It wouldn't be the same without you, my Lord," I assured him.