David Eddings - Malloreon 4 Sorcerres of Darshiva

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PROLOGUE
Being a Brief History of the Eastern Empire.
—from Emperors of Melcena and Mallorea University of Melcene Press
The origins of the Melcene Empire are forever lost to us. Some legends maintain that the
precursors of the Mel-cenes came in rude canoes out of the vast sea lying east of the Melcene
Islands; others contend that the ancestral Melcene was an offshoot of that curious culture
existing in Dal-asia. Whatever the source, however, Melcena stands as the oldest civilization on
the earth.
Melcena has always been closely allied with the sea, and her original home lay in the islands off
the east coast of the Mallorean continent. The capital at Melcena was a city of light and culture
when Tol Honeth was a rude village and Mal Zeth was only a shabby cluster of tents. Only Kell
stood in contemplation of the heavens to rival the ancestral home of the Melcenes.
It was the advent of a catastrophe which caused Melcena to abandon its splendid isolation. At a
time estimated to be five thousand years ago, a disaster occurred far to the west. The Angaraks
and Alorns blame this on a theological dispute between the Gods. Such explanation is not to be
taken seriously, but it does give some insight into the gropings of primitive minds to explain the
forces of nature.
Whatever the source, the cataclysm involved a great split in the protocontinent and engendered
colossal tidal waves. The seas first fell, then rose, and ultimately came to rest at more or less
the present shoreline. For Melcena, this was disastrous. Fully half the land area of ancient
Melcena was lost to the sea. Although the loss of property was enormous, the bulk of the people
were saved. This left a pitifully overcrowded population clinging to the remnants of their former
islands. The capital at Melcena had been a fair city in the mountains, where affairs could be
managed without the debilitating effects of the climate in the tropical lowlands. Following the
catastrophe, Melcena was a shattered city, destroyed by earthquake and flood, lying no more than a
league from the new coast.
After a period of rebuilding, it became clear that the shrunken homeland could no longer support
the population. Thus the Melcenes turned to the mainland. Southeastern Mallorea lay closest, a
region populated by peoples of their own racial stock with a compatible, though corrupted,
language; to that region the Melcenes turned their attention. There were five primitive kingdoms
in the area—Gandahar, Darshiva, Celanta, Peldane, and Rengel. These were quickly overrun by the
technologically superior Melcenes and were absorbed into their growing empire.
The dominating force in the Melcene Empire was the bureaucracy. While there were drawbacks to a
bureaucratic form of government, it provided the advantages of continuity and a clear-eyed
pragmatism more concerned with finding the most practical way to get the job done than with whim,
prejudice, and egocentricity, which so frequently move other forms of government. Melcene
bureaucracy was practical almost to a fault. The concept of "an aristocracy of talent" dominated
Melcene thinking. If one bureau ignored a talented individual, another was almost certain to snap
him up.
The various departments of the Melcene government rushed into the newly conquered mainland
provinces to winnow through the population in search of genius. The conquered peoples were thus
absorbed directly into the mainstream of the life of the empire. Always pragmatic, the Melcenes
left the royal houses of the five mainland provinces in place, preferring to operate mrough
established lines of authority rather than set up new ones.
For the next fourteen hundred years, the Melcene Empire prospered, far removed from the
theological and political squabbles of the western continent. Melcene culture was secular,
civilized, and highly educated. Slavery was unknown, and trade with the Angaraks and their subject
peoples in Karanda and Dalasia was extremely profitable. The old capital at Melcena became a major
center of learning. Unfortunately, some Melcene scholars turned toward the arcane. Their summoning
of evil spirits went far beyond the mumbo jumbo of the Morindim or the Karandese and began to
delve into darker and more serious areas. They made progress in witchcraft and necromancy. But the
major interest lay in the field of alchemy.
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The first encounter with the Angaraks took place during this period. Although victorious in that
first meeting, the Melcenes realized that eventually the Angaraks would overwhelm them by sheer
weight of numbers.
While the Angaraks bent most of their efforts to the establishment of the Dalasian Protectorates,
there was a wary, tentative peace. The trade contacts between the two nations yielded a somewhat
better understanding of each other, though the Melcenes were amused by the preoccupation with
religion of even the most worldly Angarak. Over the next eighteen hundred years relations between
the two nations deteriorated into little wars, seldom lasting more than a year or two. Both sides
scrupulously avoided committing their full forces, obviously not wishing all-out confrontation.
To gain more information about each other, the two nations developed a tradition of exchanging the
children of various leaders for certain periods of time. The sons of high-ranking Melcene
bureaucrats were sent to Mal Zeth to live with the families of Angarak generals, and the generals'
sons were sent to the imperial capital to be raised. The result was a group of young men with
cosmopolitanism which later became the norm for the ruling class of the Mallorean Empire.
One such exchange toward the end of the fourth millennium ultimately resulted in the unification
of the two peoples. At about the age of twelve, a youth named Kallath, son of a high-ranking
Angarak general, was sent to Melcena to spend his formative years in the household of the Imperial
Minister of Foreign Affairs. The minister had frequent official and social contacts with the
imperial family, and Kallath soon became a welcome guest at the imperial palace. Emperor Molvan
was an elderly man with but one surviving child, a daughter named Danera, perhaps a year younger
than Kallath. Matters between the two youngsters progressed in a not uncommon fashion until
Kallath was recalled at eighteen to Mal Zeth to begin his military career. Kallath rose
meteorically through the ranks to the position of Governor-General of the District of Rakuth by
the time he was twenty-eight, thereby becoming the youngest man ever elevated to the General
Staff. A year later he journeyed to Melcene, where he and Princess Danera were married.
In the years that followed, Kallath divided his time between Melcena and Mal Zeth, building a
power base in each, and when Emperor Molvan died in 3829, he was ready. There had been others in
line for the throne, but most of these had died— frequently under mysterious circumstances. It
was, nonetheless, over the violent objections of many noble families of Melcena that Kallath was
declared Emperor of Melcena in 3830; these objections were quieted with brutal efficiency by
Kallath's cohorts. Danera had produced seven healthy children to insure that Kallath s line would
continue.
Journeying to Mal Zeth the following year, Kallath brought the Melcene array to the border of
Delchin, where it stood poised. At Mal Zeth, Kallath delivered an ultimatum to the General Staff.
His forces comprised the army of his own district of Rakuth and of the eastern principalities in
Karand, where the Angarak military governors had sworn allegiance to him. Together with the army
on the Delchin border, these gave him absolute military supremacy. His demand was to be appointed
OverGeneral of the armies of Angarak. There were precedents. In the past, an occasional general
had been granted that office, though it was far more common for the General Staff to rule jointly.
But Kallath's demand brought something new into the picture. His position as emperor was
hereditary, and he insisted that the OverGeneralship of Angarak also be passed to his heirs.
Helplessly, the generals acceded to his demands. Kallath stood supreme on the continent as Emperor
of Melcene and Commander in Chief of Angarak.
The integration of Melcene and Angarak was turbulent, but in the end, Melcene patience won out
over Angarak brutality, as it became evident over the years that the Melcene bureaucracy was
infinitely more efficient than Angarak military administration. The bureaucracy first moved on
such mundane matters as standards and currency. From there it was but a short step to establishing
a continental Bureau of Roads. Within a few hundred years, the bureaucracy ran virtually every
aspect of life on the continent. As always, it gathered up talented men and women from every
corner of Mallorea, regardless of race; soon administrative units comprised of Melcenes, Karands,
Dalasians, and Angaraks were not at all uncommon. By 4400, the bureaucratic ascendancy was
complete. In the interim, the title of OverGeneral had begun to fall into disuse, perhaps because
the bureaucracy customarily addressed all communications to "the Emperor." There appears to have
been no specific date when the Emperor of Melcena became the Emperor of Mallorea, and such usage
was never formally approved until after the disastrous adventure in the West which ended in the
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Battle of Vo Mimbre.
The conversion of Melcenes to the worship of Torak was at best superficial. They pragmatically
accepted the forms of Angarak worship out of political expediency, but the Grolims were unable to
command the abject submission to the Dragon God which had always characterized the Angaraks.
In 4850, Torak himself suddenly emerged from his eons of seclusion at Ashaba. A vast shock ran
through Mallorea as the living God, his maimed face concealed behind a polished steel mask,
appeared at the gates of Mal Zeth. The Emperor was disdainfully set aside, and Torak assumed full
authority as "Kal" — King and God. Messengers were dispatched to Cthol Murgos, Mishrak ac Thull,
and Gar og Nadrak, and a council of war was held at Mal Zeth in 4852. The Dalasians, Karands, and
Melcenes were stunned by the appearance of a figure they had always thought purely mythical, and
their shock was compounded by the presence of Torak's disciples.
Torak was a God and did not speak, except to issue commands. But the Disciples, Ctuchik, Zedar,
and Urvon, were men and they probed and examined everything with a kind of cold disdain. They saw
at once that Mallorean society had become almost totally secular— and took steps to rectify the
situation. A reign of terror descended upon Mallorea. Grolims were everywhere, and secularism was
a form of heresy to them. The sacrifices, long virtually unknown, were renewed with fanatic
enthusiasm; soon not a village in all Mallorea did not have its altar and reeking bonfire. In one
stroke, Torak's disciples overturned millennia of military and bureaucratic rule and returned
absolute dominion to the Grolims. Soon there was not one facet of Mallorean life that did not bow
abjectly to the will of Torak.
The mobilization of Mallorea in preparation for the war with the West virtually depopulated the
continent, and the disaster at Vo Mimbre wiped out an entire generation. The catastrophic
campaign, coupled with the apparent death of Torak at the hands of the Rivan Warder, utterly
demoralized MaUorea. The doddering old emperor emerged from retirement to try to rebuild the
shattered bureaucracy. Grolim efforts to maintain control were met with universal hatred. Without
Torak, they had no real power. Most of the emperor's sons had perished at Vo Mimbre, but one
gifted child remained, a boy of seven, the son of his old age. The emperor spent his few remaining
years instructing and preparing his son for the task of ruling. When age finally rendered the
emperor incompetent, Korzeth, then about fourteen, callously deposed his father and ascended the
imperial throne.
After the war, Mallorean society had fractured back to its original components of Melcena,
Karanda, Dalasia, and Mallorea Antiqua. There was even a movement to disintegrate further into the
prehistoric kingdoms which had existed before the coming of the Angaraks. This movement was
particularly strong in the principality of Gandahar in southern Melcena, in Zamad and Voresebo in
Karanda, and in Perivor in the Dalasian Protectorates. Deceived by Korzeth's youth, these regions
rashly declared independence from the imperial throne at Mat Zeth, and other principalities gave
indications that they would soon follow suit. Korzeth moved immediately to stem the tide of
revolution. The boy emperor spent the rest of his life on horseback in perhaps the greatest
bloodbath in history; but when he was done, he delivered a reunified Mallorea to his successor to
the throne.
The descendants of Korzeth brought a different kind of rule to the continent. Before the
disastrous war, the Emperor of Mallorea had often been little more than a figurehead, and power
had largely rested with the bureaucracy. But now the Imperial throne was absolute. The center of
power shifted from Melcena to Mal Zeth in keeping with the military orientation of Korzeth and his
descendants. As is usual when power rests in the hands of one supreme ruler, intrigue became
commonplace. Plots and conspiracies abounded as various functionaries schemed to discredit rivals
and gain imperial favor. Rather than trying to stop these palace intrigues, Korzeth's descendants
encouraged them, perceiving that men divided by mutual distrust could never unite to challenge the
power of the throne.
The present emperor, Zakath, assumed the throne during his eighteenth year. Intelligent,
sensitive, and capable, he gave early promise of enlightened rule. A personal tragedy, however,
turned him from that course and made him a man feared by half the world. Now he is obsessed with
the concept of power; the idea of becoming Overking of all the Angaraks has dominated his thoughts
for the past two decades. Only time will determine if Zakath will succeed in asserting dominance
over the Western Angarak Kingdoms, but if he succeeds, the history of the entire world may be
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profoundly altered.
Part One
MELGENA
CHAPTER ONE
Her Majesty, Queen Porenn of Drasnia, was in a pensive mood. She stood at the window of her pink-
frilled sitting room in the palace at Boktor watching her son Kheva and Unrak, the son of Barak of
Trellheim, at play in a garden drenched with morning sunlight. The boys had reached that age where
sometimes it seemed almost possible to see them growing, and their voices wavered uncertainly
between boyish soprano and manly baritone. Porenn sighed, smoothing the front of her black gown.
The Queen of Drasnia had worn black since the death of her husband. "You would be proud of him, my
dear Rhodar," she whispered sadly.
There was a light knock at her door.
"Yes?" she replied, not turning.
"There's a Nadrak here to see you, your Majesty," the aged butler at the door reported. "He says
you know him."
"Oh?"
"He says his name is Yarblek."
"Oh, yes. Prince Kheldar's associate. Show him in, please."
"There's a woman with him, your Majesty," the butler said with a disapproving expression. "She
uses language your Majesty might prefer not to hear."
Porenn smiled warmly. "That must be Vella," she said. "I've heard her swear before. I don't know
that she's really all that serious about it. Show them both in, if you would, please."
"At once, your Majesty."
Yarblek was as shabby as ever. At some point, the shoulder seam of his long black overcoat had
given way and had been rudimentarily repaired with a piece of rawhide thong. His beard was coarse
and black and scraggly, his hair was unkempt, and he looked as if he didn't smell very good. "Your
Majesty," he said grandly, attempting a bow which was marred a bit by an unsteady lurch.
"Drunk already, Master Yarblek?" Porenn asked him archly.
"No, not really, Porenn," he replied, unabashed. "It's just a little carry-over from last night."
The queen was not offended by the Nadrak's use of her first name. Yarblek's grip on formality had
never been very firm.
The woman who had entered with him was a stunningly beautiful Nadrak with blue-black hair and
smoldering eyes. She was dressed in tight-fitting leather trousers and a black leather vest. A
silver-hilled dagger protruded from each of her boot tops, and two more were tucked under the wide
leather belt about her waist. She bowed with infinite grace. "You're looking tired, Porenn," she
observed. "I think you need more sleep."
Porenn laughed. "Tell that to the people who bring me stacks of parchment every hour or so."
"I made myself a rule years ago," Yarblek said, sprawling uninvited in a chair. "Never put
anything down in writing. It saves time as well as keeping me out of trouble.' *
"It seems to me that I've heard Kheldar say the same thing."
Yarblek shrugged. "Silk's got a good grip on reality."
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"I haven't seen you two for quite some time," Porenn noted, also sitting.
"We've been in Mallorea," Vella told her, wandering around the room and looking appraisingly at
the furnishings.
"Isn't that dangerous? I've heard that there's plague there."
"It's pretty much confined to Mal Zeth," Yarblek replied. "Polgara persuaded the Emperor to seal
up the city."
"Polgara?" Porenn exclaimed, coming to her feet. "What's she doing in Mallorea?"
"She was going in the general direction of a place called Ashaba the last time I saw her. She had
Belgarath and the others with her."
"How did they get to Mallorea?"
"By boat, I'd imagine. It's a long swim."
"Yarblek, am I going to have to drag every single scrap of information out of you?" Porenn
demanded in exasperation.
"I'm getting to it, Porenn," he said, sounding a little injured. "Do you want the story first or
the messages? I've got lots of messages for you, and Vella's got a couple more that she won't even
talk about— at least not to me."
"Just start at the beginning, Yarblek."
"Any way you want it." He scratched at his beard. "The way I got the story is that Silk and
Belgarath and the others were in Cthol Murgos. They got captured by the Malloreans, and Zakath
took them all to Mal Zeth. The young fellow with the big sword— Belgarion, isn't it? Anyway, he
and Zakath got to be friends—"
"Garion and Zakath?" Porenn asked incredulously. "How?"
"I wouldn't know. I wasn't there when it happened. To make it short, they were friends, but then
the plague broke out in Mal Zeth. I managed to sneak Silk and the others out of the city, and we
went north. We separated before we got to Venna. They wanted to go to this Ashaba place, and I had
a caravan load of goods I wanted to get to Yar Marak. Made a fairly good profit, actually."
"Why were they going to Ashaba?"
"They were after some woman named Zandramas— the one who abducted Belgarion's son."
"A woman! Zandramas is a woman?"
"So they told me. Belgarath gave me a letter for you. It's all in there. I told him that he
shouldn't write it down, but he wouldn't listen to me." Yarblek unwound himself from his chair,
fished around inside his overcoat, and handed a rumpled and none-too-clean piece of parchment to
the queen. Then he strolled to the window and looked out. "Isn't that Trellheim's boy down there?"
he asked. "The husky one with the red hair?"
Porenn was reading the parchment. "Yes," she said absently, trying to concentrate on the message.
"Is he here? Trellheim, I mean?"
"Yes. I don't know if he's awake yet, though. He stayed up rather late last night and he was a
little tipsy when he went to bed."
Yarblek laughed. "That's Barak, all right. Has he got his wife and daughters with him, too?"
" No," Porenn said. "They stayed in Val Alorn, making the preparations for his oldest daughter's
wedding."
"Is she that old already?"
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摘要：

file:///F|/rah/Dave%20Eddings/Eddings,%20David%20-%20Malloreon%204%20Sorceress%20of%20Darshiva.txtPROLOGUEBeingaBriefHistoryoftheEasternEmpire.—fromEmperorsofMelcenaandMalloreaUniversityofMelcenePressTheoriginsoftheMelceneEmpireareforeverlosttous.SomelegendsmaintainthattheprecursorsoftheMel-cenesc...

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