"Eddings, David - Malloreon 02 - King Of The Murgos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

EDDINGS, David - Malloreon 2 - King of the Murgos.txt
PROLOGUE
Being an account of how Belgarion's Son was stolen and how he learned the Abductor
was that Zandramas against whom the puissant Orb ofAldur had warned. Чfrom The Lives
ofBelgarion the Great (Introduction, Vol. IV)
Now, as has been told, in the earliest of days the Gods created the world and filled
it with all manner of beasts and fowls and plants. Men also they created, and each
God chose from among the races of men those whom they would guide and over whom they
would rule. The God Aldur, however, took none, choosing to live apart in his tower
and study the creation which they had made.
But a time came when a hungry child arrived at Aldur's tower, and Aldur took the
child in and taught him the Will
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and the Word, by which all power may be used, in the manner that men call sorcery.
And when the boy showed promise, Aldur named him Belgarath and made him a disciple.
Then in time others came, and Aldur taught them and made them also his disciples.
Among these was a malformed child whom Aldur named Beldin.
There came a day when Aldur took up a stone and shaped it and he called it his Orb,
for the stone had fallen from beyond the stars and was a seat of great power, a
center for one of the two Destinies which had been in conflict for control of all
creation since the beginning of days.
But the God Torak coveted the stone and stole it, for the Dark Destiny had claimed
his soul for its agent. Then the men of Aloria, known as Alorns, met with Belgarath,
who led Cherek Bear-shoulders and his three sons into the far East where Torak had
built Cthol Mishrak, the City of Eternal Night. By stealth, they stole back the Orb
and returned with it.
With the counsel of the Gods, Belgarath divided Aloria into the kingdoms of Cherek,
Drasnia, Algaria, and Riva, naming each for one who had accompanied him. And to Riva
Iron-grip, who was to rule over the Isle of the Winds, he gave the keeping of the
Orb, which Riva placed on the pommel of the great sword that he hung upon the wall
of the Hall of the Rivan King, behind his throne.
Then Belgarath sought his home, but found tragedy awaiting him. His beloved wife
Poledra had passed from the world of the living in giving birth to twin girls. In
time, he sent Beldaran, the fairer of these, to be a wife to Riva Iron-grip to found
the line of Rivan kings. His other daughter, Polgara, he kept with him, since her
dark hair bore a single lock of white, the mark of a sorceress.
Guarded by the power of the Orb, all went well with the West for thousands of years.
Then, on an evil day, King Gorek of Riva and his sons and sons' sons were slain by
foul treachery. One child escaped, however, to be henceforth guarded in secret by
Belgarath and Polgara. On the Isle, the Rivan Warder, Brand, sorrowfully took over
the authority of his slain lord, and his sons continued to guard Aldur's Orb and all
were known as Brand.
But there came a time when Zedar the Apostate found a child of such innocence that
he could touch the Orb without being destroyed by its fire. Thus Zedar stole the Orb
and
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fled with it toward the place where his dread Master, Torak, lay hidden.
When Belgarath learned of this, he went up to the quiet farm in Sendaria where
Polgara was rearing a boy named Garion, who was the last descendant of the Rivan