Pawn of Paradox, Part 1
The voice woke Garion from his dreams, or rather his nightmares.
"Garion, wake up," said the familiar dry voice, "Something's changed"
"Wha?" replied Garion, still half-asleep. He sat up in bed and pushed his hand through his blonde hair. His wife slept soundly by his side, and he got up quietly to avoid waking her.
"This isn't right, Garion. Go to the throne room, and I'll explain."
With that, the presence of the light prophecy was gone.
Garion pushed open the huge doors and entered the throne room, his familiar sword hanging from the wall. He couldn't lift it now the Orb was no longer attached to it. As the hordes of Torak ran virtually unchallenged through the lands of the West, the Rivan King couldn't even bring to the battle the one icon that might inspire the west to fight back. The west now consisted mainly of Cherek, Riva and a few pockets of resistance in the jungles of Nyissa. So many cities destroyed by the Orb enhanced Dragon God, so many people
slaughtered under Grolim knifes. Garion and his army (Ce'Nedra's really) had fled into the hills above Tol Honeth, watched as Torak himself drove the knife into the Tolnedran emperor's heart. That was the last time Ce'Nedra had cried. After that, an icy cold resolve had filled her soul, driving a deep wedge between the Rivan royal couple. The wedge was deepened by Garion's decision to retreat to Riva, at Belgarath's insistence. Tolnedra was now a district of Angarak, the sacrificial blades killing more than the way ever did.
"Garion, " the voice echoed in his mind, "what happened at Cthol Mishrak?"
"Surely you know?" Garion replied.
"I remember a set of events, but the result of those events would not have resulted in the current situation. Garion, this is difficult to explain in terms that you might understand, but there I have two sets of memories from the end of your fight with Torak until now. What do you think happened at Cthol Mishrak?"
"I lost!" Garion's voice was harsh. "I submitted to Torak. He said Polgara would be my mother. I dropped my sword. Why did I believe him? I knew it wasn't true. Afterwards, he laughed in my face. I said that he wouldn't even kill me, I wasn't worth it!"
The voice echoed in his mind "You won. I was there. I am everywhere. You ran your sword through Torak and he died. You didn't yield. You cast his words in his face. This isn't right!" the voice was anything but inpassionate now.
"That never happened," said Garion.
"I think you'll find that it did," said a new voice. Garion spun round to face a small boy, dressed in rags and wearing a huge grin on his face. The boy continued "In fact, a lot of things happened that didn't happen."
"Who are you?" said the dry voice through Garion's mouth.
"That's an interesting question, but the answer won't help you. Things are not going well, are they?"
"You could say that, perhaps you'd like to explain why they aren't going well?"
"Ah, now that would be telling. " The grin got bigger, and somehow seemed to get cheekier. "I'll tell you something, someone is coming who might be able to help you. I suggest you listen to him, he's what you might call an expert in this sort of thing."
Before Garion or the light prophecy could say anything else, a noise filled the room. It was very similar to the rushing sorcerous noise he heard in his head when the Will and the Word was being performed. Garion turned his head to the source of the noise, and was amazed to see a large blue box appear in the room. Garion turned back to the boy, but the boy had gone.
Pawn of Paradox, Part 2
Interlude
We can see him clinging to the side of the mountain, looking as if he is attached to the rock by force of will power. We are quite far way, as if on a mountain on the far side of the valley he could fall into.
*flicker*
We're closer now, we can see he's actually on a path worn into the rock. It still looks an impossible journey. Where is he going, where has he been? We can see no indication that anything is in front of him, or anything behind. Yet, something must have created the path for him. Unless of course, he has special powers we have no idea about.
*zoom*
The view lurches forward. We feel sick as our perceptions move. No we can see the man filling the whole frame of our perception. Unfortunately, his back is to us, so we can't see who he is. White hair cut short, old clothes, rope for a belt, who could it be? Hang on, we going to try something different.
*swing*
Now we're facing him. Short white beard. Got it yet? Another clue for the really slow, his eyes betray wolven cunning. Hang on, his eyes are looking straight at us, we've been rumbled.
*zing*
We're off, but mark my words, we'll need to keep an eye on this one, and we want to know where he is heading.
Part 2: I'm the Doctor
Garion stared at the object that had just appeared out of nowhere and dropped into his throne room. Perhaps I'm still dreaming, he thought. He could sense that the being known as the prophecy of light had gone again, but he was somehow reassured by the fact that he had returned for the first time since that horrible night at Cthol Mishrak. He had thought that the prophecy was gone for good, obviously not. However, things were getting really strange, and he wished Belgarath or Polgara were here with him.
He stepped up to the box and noticed a hum coming from it. He wondered where it could have come from. He had never seen anything like it before. He looked round the back of the box, and jumped high into the air as something tapped on his shoulder. Quickly he spun round, drawing in his will at the same time. It was a very oddly dressed man. He wore a white tunic that reached down to his waist, some very loose leggings, and a very odd white hat on his head.
"Hello" said the stranger. "I'm the Doctor and this is my companion Ace." The man indicated a young lady behind him who was wearing an even stranger outfit..
"Whatcha," said Ace so brightly that Garion jumped. He didn't know what to do, things were running rather too fast for him. He also didn't know what to say.
"You look a bit stunned," said the Doctor, raising his hat slightly off his head, before dropping it down again. "I do apologise for our unseemly arrival in your room." The Doctor looked round swinging an oddly shaped stick around in his hand. "We, er, I got a little bit lost. Actually, we seemed to be dragged off course by something, perhaps you could tell us where we are?"
"That's what the Professor always says when we don't land where we should," said Ace. "Actually, I don't think he controls the TARDIS at all."
"Riva" blurted out Garion, still unsure what to do, his mind racing.
"Riva? Riva, excellent, just excellent. Sorry , I've never heard of it." The Doctor gave another smile.
Garion remembered what the other stranger, the boy had said and realised that the Doctor must have been the one the boy had been talking about. That meant they knew something about what the prophecy had been going on about.
Whilst Garion was furiously thinking, Ace said "Look, Prof, this guy must be some mute or something, let's go any have a look around." With that she started off towards the door.
Garion decided that he couldn't have these people wandering around the Citadel. They could be Murgo spies, or worse Grolims. They didn't have the usual Angarak accent, or the facial features but Garion had heard something about the Dagashi, bred to look like westerners. He wasn't going to take any chances. Even if they weren't, they knew something about the strange boy and what the Prophecy of Light had been saying. Quickly, he drew in his will and said "Bind." The three strangers gave startled yelps as Garion's will drew them together and effectively bond them to the wall.
"Hey, what you doing" yelled Ace, struggling against Garion's bonds. "Put me down, you oaf!"
"Hmm, " mused the Doctor, "some form of psychic power, I'd imagine. How intriguing. "
"Sorry," said Garion "you must understand that I don't like doing this, but I can't trust anyone these days. Least of all complete strangers who arrive by sorcerous means."
With that, Garion left to go and get some guards.
Interlude
Queen Polgara, bride of Torak, gave an icy smile to the Tolnedran ambassador.
"Please, the Tolnedran government only wish to create a peace treaty with King Torak. Surely, the land you have .. erm.. acquired has some monetary value?" said the ambassador rather nervously.
"Really, Ambassador Brador, there is no need for you to waste our time with worthless bits of paper." Polgara's voice was level, cold even. "You can be a message to your worthless countrymen."
"B-b-be?" stammered the ambassador.
"Yes, b-b-be," mocked Polgara. "Today, your left leg will be a message to Varana, tomorrow one of your arms. If you are lucky, I'll kill you before I send him your heart."
Polgara laughed as Brador ran for the doors, and bounced unconsciously against her invisible barrier. Inside, however, she was screaming.
Pawn of Paradox, Part 3
Interlude 4
#prophecy
*DarkP giggles
*Celesti1 hits DarkP in the face with a wet fish
*Celesti1 hits LightP in the face with a wet fish
Chapter 3: The TARDIS waste disposal system
Fitz Kriener, general all-round hero, international spy and lady killer (in his own mind), was having a bad day. He counted off the number of bad things that had happened in his mind; one, woken up extra early by shouts from the Doctor. Two, in a fumbled attempt to light a cigarette and at the same time run to the console room, he had accidentally dropped his last packet of Marlboro Lights into the TARDIS waste disposal system. Three, cut his right hand trying to retrieve said cigarette packet. Four, tied up by a mentally powered alien, rounded up a group of sword carrying guards, and dropped in a distinctly medieval dungeon. Try as he might, there was no way he could see a silver lining.
The Doctor was pacing around the small room impatiently. Fitz could tell he was itching to get out, and couldn't understand why he hadn't used his sonic device to open the doors
"Shouldn't we be doing some exploring or something?" Fitz asked.
"Oh, I'm sure someone will be along shortly," said the Doctor.
"Yeah, but do we want to be here then?"
"Oh, that Belgarion fellow seemed a nice fellow. Just under a bit of stress at the moment. I'm sure that once he's had a decent amount of sleep, he'll be a lot less grumpy. Besides, who else can we ask about what's going on here?"
***
Garion hadn't slept very well after the mysterious intruders had been locked away. His problems were mounting. He had woken Ce'Nedra trying to get back into bed. Given her current state of mind, he'd decided it was best not to return to the bed after all and had gone back to the throne room. During the long hours of the night, he had stared at the blue box standing in the corner of the room. The dry voice had briefly returned only to say that the newcomers were extremely dangerous, and to reaffirm that things were not right. Garion knew things weren't right. He didn't have enough fingers to count the deaths of his close friends, and he certainly didn't want to think about Polgara or Belgarath. He sent out another desperate plea for help to the one remaining disciple of Aldur, hoping that Beldin might finally arrive.
At dawn, the Rivan soldiers found Garion asleep on his throne. They woke him and gave him further bad news. Val Alorn was under attack from a combined force of Murgos, Malloreans and Grolims and it was doubted that it would survive the week. The messenger had taken nearly a week to reach the Rivan capital. With a bleakening face, Garion decided enough hiding was enough. He was going to Val Alorn to save the Chereks.
Travels with Belgarath
I guess I should explain why Garion doesn't want to think about me. But I'm not going to. But you've got to believe that what I did, was for the best. Garion's young, he's experienced a lot of pain. But I'm old, and I've experienced more. I couldn't cope with what happened to Polgara. It broke my heart. Let's not go back to that night. My Master told me that it wasn't right, and that ever since he's felt that the universe has folded on itself again. An accident within an accident.
Later, much later, a blind woman came to see me. She told me to seek out the Woman who Watches. Typical Seeress nonsense, but what choice do I have? I've abandoned Garion to do this, but I know its right.
Pawn of Paradox, Part 4
"If I could just Belgarion, I'm sure we can sort out this little
misunderstanding".
Brand, the Rivan Warder examined this strangely dressed man closely. "King Belgarion has more important matters to attend to at the moment. He left me in charge of you three."
"Well then," said the Doctor brightly. "You look a sensible fellow. If you can just let go back to your kings throne room, we can be on our way. Hmm?"
"One of the last things King Belgarion said was that you were incredibly dangerous and if Belgarion thinks you're dangerous then I think you're doubly so."
"How can he think that?" interrupted the other man. "We only met him for a few minutes before he threw us in the dungeon. What sort of society is this?"
"Shush, Fitz. Lets not upset our guests," said the Doctor.
"We are a society at war. We are surrounded by our enemy, beaten back until there are precious few people left. Our enemy do not take prisoners, they take sacrifices to their gloriously evil God, Torak, and Belgarion suffers the most. He had the chance to kill Torak and failed. Maybe a few years ago, you would have been welcomed, but not now."
"We are simply travelers, passing through. We know nothing of your enemy," said the Doctor.
"I don't believe you, for the simple reason that there is no way you could not know about Torak."
"Guards, take them back to the cells. Perhaps the Chief of Police, Zandramas, can get more out of you."
****
Queen Ce'Nedra hummed quietly to herself as she wandered round the bedroom. She was, of course, quite insane by this point. The only thing keeping her from a descent into alcoholism was her son, Geran. If anything happened to him.....
Ce'Nedra had been drinking off and on since the Angarak invasion of Tolnedra. It was quite a cause for concern amongst the palace staff especially the times where a public incident had occurred. The most memorable had been when the Queen had danced on a table in her swimming costume (and you know what Tolnedrans wear when swimming). She claimed it was a typical Dryad custom, but even Garion wasn't convinced and he was furious.
What hurt Garion the most however, were the ugly stories about Ce'Nedra and various gentlemen. The stories regarding the Queen and her Knight Protector, Mandorallen were strenuously denied by the Royal PressOffice, but then there were the rumours about her and a member of the Royal PressOffice itself.
Ce'Nedra wandered from her bedroom, wondering where that one-armed friend of hers was these days, leaving young Prince Geran on his own.
Pawn of Paradox, Part 5
Garion:
A small boy sat on a hill above the besieged capital of Cherek. A falcon circled above his head, and then descended swiftly towards the city. With his keen eyesight, the boy could see a few soldiers taking pot-shots at the bird. Any arrows coming near the bird seemed to hit an invisible wall and fall away. With a smile on his face, the boy leapt to his feat and ran down towards the noisy melee below.
The falcon transformed itself into the shape of King Belgarion next to a Cherek soldier. The soldier had seen too much of that sort of thing over the past couple of years to be startled by his appearance and simply saluted the king before resuming his role watching the Angarak horde below. Without a word, the Rivan king left him there and headed for the interior.
Belgarath:
Belgarath made his way slowly over the rough terrain in the mountains south of the Vale. He knew the rough location of the cave, but wished that he had Garion with him to direct him as he did last time. The cave did seem to be calling to him, however, and it was getting stronger the closer he got. Soon he was walking up a familiar ledge that was no more than his body width across. Abruptly the wind picked up around him, a tree carving a precarious existence out of the conditions was ripped up and cast up the side of the mountain. Belgarath breathed the word "Calm" and the atmosphere immediately around him was still. Silently, he reminded himself to have a go at himself for messing with the weather later, however localised the effect was. The tree made it's descent down the mountain behind him and was gone.
Belgarath finally reached the cave door. It seemed like he had spent years searching for this place. He wondered briefly if it would have a good idea to have brought Garion after all, considering how easily he opened the door last time, but as he did so the door opened outwards. Cautiously, he stepped inside, certain that he was right to come here, but uncertain as to the reason why.
In the centre of the unnatural room was a huge table where Belgarath knew the Gods sat at many many years before. In the gloom, Belgarath could see a woman and a child sitting at the table. The boy appeared to be eating a piece of fruit taken from a bowl on the table. As he stepped forward, he realised who they were. "Poledra! Errand!"
Silk:
Silk arrived in a pub in Camaar. This event is completely unimportant, but I just thought he needed to be checked up on, because he is going to be more important later on.
The Doctor:
The Doctor decided that had been in too many prisons recently. At least they weren't torturing him here. However, prisons didn't currently agree with him, and he was rather intrigued by this situation. Something didn't feel quite right about the place, something nagged at his senses. The Doctor had a specific sense for wrongness, and someone was giving it a slight tug right now. He looked at his companions. Fitz looked a little nervous, a little tired, but otherwise okay. Compassion just looked bored. His suspicions about her grew everyday, but it wasn't the place to broach that subject now.
Rummaging round in his pockets, which took some time, the Doctor produced a cricket ball, a piece of string, a pencil and some paper before finally getting out what he wanted. He had the door unlocked and open in a few seconds, and with a finger of his mouth, motioned to the others that the time to leave had arrived.
The Doctor marched down the corridor with his customary brashness.
His garish multi-coloured coat was in stark contrast to the dull stone walls of the citadel.
'Keep up, Peri,' he shouted without looking back towards his
companion.
'Coming Doctor,' she called back with a sigh. He was always like
this after escaping from somewhere. She quickened her pace to try and catch up only to find that the Doctor had stopped at a T-junction.
'Left or right, Peri?' asked the Doctor.
'Well, you could tell me where are we going?'
'Why, to see that nice chap, the King, of course. Really, Peri, you must try to keep abreast of the situation.'
'What? The nice chap who locked us up in that horrible dungeon?'
'That's the fellow. I'm going to give him a chance to apologise.'
'Well,' said Peri, looking both ways. 'I think left looks more
royal.'
'Hmm,' said the Doctor setting off down the right turn.
'Doctor, I said left.'
'Yes, yes, Peri. Please keep up. We don't want to get split up, do we?' With that he turned another corner and was out of sight.
'Time Lords!' said Peri, raising her arms and pouting. She gave a
little start at this action, as it wasn't something she normally did. With a sigh, she set off after him.
She wasn't here. Belgarath had searched the cave completely. Twice. Why had he been told that she was here? And who had told him that
anyway? Belgarath shook his head, trying to clear the fog from his
brain. Then he laughed a long, low, manic laugh at himself for
thinking that physically shaking his head would clear the mental mess within it. At least he was aware there was a problem, he mused. An
image came into his mind unbidden. He was in the fens about to
perform some magic or other, doubtless important for the saving of the universe, he was that sort of man. He was striking a dramatic pose
ready to deliver his will unto the world. The pose was unnecessary,
but he always liked to do his magic in style. Another scene leapt out of his memory at that thought, but he pushed it down, this was
important. There was his grandson running towards him, about to warn him that his powers were either weakened or gone, and trying to
perform such a powerful spell would be beyond him. Belgarath
sniggered slightly at that. Beyond me? With my reputation?
Apparently, his grandson had thought that the illness he had had the
previous summer may have had an effect on his mental capabilities.
After that Belgarath had set a little spell in his brain, that would
warn him if something was wrong. The spell had been active for quite some time now, and was giving him a headache. Well, at least he knew, he thought, thanks, indirectly to Garion and the woman who had treated him whilst he was ill, Polgara.
'Polgara?' Belgarath said aloud. 'That name rings a bell.'
It was late in the Tolnedra capital. Ambassador Brador looked down
from citadel gates towards the courtyard below where Polgara waited.
Her black coat hid a pale blue dress, and was clenched tightly around her, yet the summer heat had not yet left the air. She looked up at
the dangling corpse and smiled at her handiwork. This would please
her husband. Tolnedra was under the black fist of Torak and his
handmaiden had made it so. The Kingdoms of the West, those that were left, rightly feared her name now, and with Torak's will behind her,
she would gain her revenge. Her son yet defied her and his father,
and she would not stop until he paid for the two thousand years. The two thousand years she gave up for him. The two thousand years he
wasted by not obeying his father and God, Torak. Garion had named her inhuman on a boat in Sthiss Tor, but his actions at Cthol Mishrak and made her so.
Later, she returned to her room where her husband made his customary
visit. After taking the rights of a husband from her, he gave her
Instruction. Abandon the conquest of the West, it was unimportant to him. Find the man known as the Doctor and kill him, as he could
change everything. The Prophecy had come to Torak and given him other Instructions.
Later again, Polgara lay in her bed alone. How would she find this
man? She decided she needed the help of someone who was good at
finding things. Her father was completely useless at most things, but he was always good at finding things.
Belgarath awoke in darkness. Slowly he rose up off the floor and
started crawling blindly around the cave. He was on all fours and he thought he had keen wolven sight, but he was still quite human.
'She must be in here somewhere,' he said. 'They told me she was.'