"Urvon made the announcement before all this broke out," Beldin added. "We didn't have the time to fill you in."
"That explains a great many things, doesn't it?" Belgarath mused. He looked at Velvet. "Did you know about this?" he asked her.
"No, Ancient One," she replied, "as a matter of fact, I didn't. I just seized the opportunity when it arose."
Silk, Durnik, and Toth came back into the body-strewn throne room. "The house is empty," the little man reported. "We've got it all to ourselves."
"Good," Belgarath said. "Garion was just telling us why he saw fit to start his own private war."
"Zandramas told him to." Silk shrugged. "I'm not sure why he started taking orders from her, but that's what happened."
"I was just getting to that," Garion said. "Urvon was down here telling all the Chandim that Harakan -Mengha- was going to be his first disciple. That's when Zandramas came in -or at least she seemed to. She had a bundle under her cloak. I didn't know it at first, but it was Geran. She and Urvon shouted at each other for a while, and Urvon finally insisted that he was a God. She said something like, 'All right. Then I will summon the Godslayer to deal with you.' That's when she put the bundle on the altar. She opened it, and it was Geran. He started to cry, and I realized all at once that it was his cry I'd been hearing all along. I just totally stopped thinking at that point."
"Obviously," Belgarath said.
"Well, anyway, you know all the rest." Garion looked around at the corpse-littered throne room and shuddered. "I hadn't altogether realized just how far things went," he said. "I guess I was sort of crazy."
"The word is berserk, Garion," Belgarath told him. "It's fairly common among Alorns. I'd sort of thought you might be immune, but I guess I was wrong."
"There was some justification for it, father," Polgara said.
"There's never a justification for losing your wits, Pol," he growled.
"He was provoked." She pursed her lips thoughtfully, then came over and lightly placed her hands on Garion's temples. "It's gone now," she said.
"What is?" Ce'Nedra sounded concerned.
"The possession."
"Possession?"
Polgara nodded. "Yes. That's how Zandramas tricked him. She filled his mind with the sound of a crying child.Then, when she laid the bundle that seemed to be Geran on the altar and Garion heard that same crying, he had no choice but to do what she wanted him to do." She looked at Belgarath. "This is very serious, father. She's already tampered with Ce'Nedra, and now it's Garion. She may try the same thing with others as well."
"What would be the point?" he asked. "You can catch her at it, can't you?"
"Usually, yes - if I know what's going on. But Zandramas is very skilled at this and she's very subtle. In many ways she's even better at it than Asharak the Murgo was." She looked around at them. "Now listen carefully, all of you," she told them. "If anything unusual begins to happen to you -dreams, notions, peculiar ideas, strange feelings- anything at all, I want you to tell me about it at once. Zandramas knows that we're after her and she's using this to delay us. She tried it with Ce'Nedra while we were on our way to Rak Hagga, and now-"
"Me?" Ce'Nedra said in amazement. "I didn't know that."
" Remember your illness on the road from Rak Verkat?" Polgara said. "It wasn't exactly an illness. It was Zandramas putting her hand on your mind."
"But nobody told me."
"Once Andel and I drove Zandramas away, there was no need to worry you about it. Anyway, Zandramas tried it first with Ce'Nedra and now with Garion. She could try it on any one of the rest of us as well, so let me know if you start feeling in the least bit peculiar."
"Brass," Durnik said.
"What was that, dear?" Polgara asked him.
He held up Urvon's crown. "This thing is brass," he said. " So'sthat throne. I didn't really think there'd be any gold left here. The house has been abandoned and wide open for looters for too many centuries."
"That's usually the way it is with the gifts of demons," Beldin told him. "They're very good at creating illusions." He looked around. "Urvon probably saw all this as unearthly splendor. He couldn't see the rotten drapes, or cobwebs, or all the trash on the floor. All he could see was the glory that Nahaz wanted him to see." The dirty, twisted man chuckled. "I sort of enjoy the idea of Urvon spending his last days as a raving lunatic," he added, "right up until the moment when I sink a hook into his guts."
Silk had been looking narrowly at Velvet. "Do you suppose you could explain something for me?" he asked.
"I'll try." she said.
"You said something rather strange when you threw Zith into Harakan's face."
"Did I say something?"
"You said, 'A present for the leader of the Bear-cult from Hunter.' "
"Oh, that." She smiled her dimples into life. "I just wanted him to know who was killing him, that's all."
He stared at her.
"You are getting rusty, my dear Kheldar," she chided him. "I was certain that you'd have guessed by now. I've done everything but hit you over the head with it."
"Hunter?" he said incredulously. "You?"
"I've been Hunter for quite some time now. That's why I hurried to catch up with you at Tol Honeth." She smoothed the front of her plain gray traveling gown.
"At Tol Honeth you told us that Bethra was Hunter."
"She had been, Kheldar, but her job was finished. She was supposed to make sure that we'd get a reasonable man as a successor to Ran Borune. First she had to eliminate a few members of the Honeth family before they could consolidate their positions, and then she made a few suggestions about Varana to Ran Borune while the two of them were-" She hesitated, glancing at Ce'Nedra, and then she coughed. "-ah- shall we say, entertaining each other?" she concluded.
Ce'Nedra blushed furiously.
"Oh, dear," the blond girl said, putting one hand to her cheek. "That didn't come out at all well, did it? "Anyway,"she hurried on, "Javelin decided that Bethra's task was complete and that it was time for there to be a new Hunter with a new mission. Queen Porenn was very cross about what Harakan did in the west -the attempt on Ce'Nedra's life, the murder of Brand, and everything that went on at Rheon -so she instructed Javelin to administer some chastisement. He selected me to deliver it. I was fairly sure that Harakan would come back to Mallorea. I knew that you were all coming here, too -eventually- so that's why I joined you." She looked over at the sprawled form of Harakan. "I was absolutely amazed when I saw him standing in front of the altar," she admitted, "but I couldn't allow an opportunity like that to slip by." She smiled. "Actually, it worked out rather well. I was just on the verge of leaving you and going back to Mal Yaska to look for him. The fact that he turned out to be Mengha, too, was just sort of a bonus."