Castle of Wizardry

[sawyl]

Time to get back on track with my re-read of David Eddings Belgariad withe the fourth novel in the sequence, Castle of Wizardry. In a departure from the model established by previous books in the sequence this starts with a prologue that joins the story of the recovery of the Orb of Aldur from the god Torak in the city of Cthol Mishrak three thousands years before with the current and on-going narrative of Garion and his friends' attempts to recover the Orb from the hands of Torak's disciples Zedar and Ctutchik.

The action picks up immediately after the end of the previous book, with the city of Rak Cthol all but disintegrating in the aftermath of the titanic duel between Ctutchik and Belgarath the Sorcerer. Fleeing through the caves beneath the city carrying the unconscious Belgarath and pausing only to allow Relg to rescue Taiba the Marag from a cave-in, the company escape only to find themselves under magical attack from the remaining priests of Torak. In order to save the child who they found carrying the Orb — and who might just be the only person in the world who can touch it — Polgara erects a shield around herself and the child leaving Garion in charge of the escape to Algaria. After a fraught journey, just when everyone appears to be safe, Belgarath, still weak after his duel, suffers a catastrophic collapse that leaves him near death.

The escape sequence works rather well, not least because Belgarath's unconsciousness and Polgara's shield allow Garion to take on the leadership of the company. Silk makes a point of pushing at Garion and carefully assessing each of his decisions, clearly suspecting that Garion is likely to wield great influence in the world at some point in the not-to-distant future. The chase comes right down to the wire with Algaria in sight, the horses almost completely exhausted, a large Murgo force close on their heels, and no sign of rescue from the Algarian calvary, making the tension-release-tension of the final section all the more effective.

Desperately worried that her father's collapse may have irreparably damaged his magical powers, Polgara gives him as much recovery time as she dares before the group have to depart for Riva — something that allows Garion to become acquainted with his cousin Adara. Stopping off in Prolgu, where Garion is reunited with Princess Ce'Nedra, they hurry to the Isle of the Winds where the princess is required to present herself before the empty throne on her sixteenth birthday. During Ce'Nedra's presentation, Belgarath steps forward to reveal that Belgarion is the missing heir to the Rivan throne, making him Ce'Nedra's betrothed, while Errand, the child carrying the Orb of Aldur, places it in Garion's hands.

Garion's sudden elevation to Belgarion of Riva should come as no surprise to anyone by this point: Belgarath and Polgara have been dropping cryptic hints since the very first and anyone who's ever read a quest fantasy knows almost exactly how these things inevitably turn out. But since neither Garion nor Ce'Nedra seem to have read the right sort of books, they're both astonished by events and not entirely sure how they feel about the fact that they're suddenly engaged to be married. Reading Eddings almost immediately after The Horse and his Boy, it's hard not to see how similar Ce'Nedra's position is to that of Aravis: both have behaved rather badly towards someone they were convinced was their social inferior, got over that and started to care for them and to process their guilt about treating them badly, only to discover that the person is in fact a prince or a king and their social superior.

Garion doesn't much like being king, especially once he realises that it means that he is going to have to spend the rest of his reign leading an army against the armies of the newly awaked Torak. So when someone suggests that it might be better if he, Belgarath and Silk slip off and head for Cthol Mishrak and Garion's pre-destined fight with the God of the Angaraks, he writes a short note for Aunt Pol and leaves on the next tide. Travelling first through the fens of Drasnia, where Belgarath reluctantly agrees to do a favour for the witch Vordai, they move through Boktor where Silk fills in his aunt, Queen Porenn, on their plan and asks her to persuade Polgara to arrange for the Alorn kings to stage a diversionary attack against the armies of Angarak — the Murgos, the Malloreans, the Thulls, and an unreliable force of Nadraks — to make it easier for them to slip into Mallorea unnoticed.

The journey isn't terribly exciting although the encounter with Vordai adds depth to Belgarath's character, forcing both Garion and Silk to recognise that far from being the ruthless, implacable Eternal Man who has spent the last seven thousand years defending the West against the forces of Torak, his exterior manner conceals a great well of compassion. The meeting with Porenn in Boktor — which, with its wide streets and modern buildings, puts me in mind of St Petersburg — adds a layer to Silk's character revealing the tragedy of his mother's illness and explaining both his cynical manner and why he chooses to spend so much time on the road.

Needless to say both Polgara and Ce'Nedra are furious about being left behind in Riva, but they quickly come to their senses and start working with the Alorn kings to stage a diversionary attack on the Mallorean and Murgo armies in an attempt to distract the Angaraks from Garion's attempt to sneak around the back of them. Ce'Nedra proves an unexpected asset in the campaign. Using her betrothal agreement as a source of authority, she stands in for Garion and travels the continent giving public speeches and bringing the forces of Arendia and Imperial Tolnedra to the Alorn banner.

Again this feels a bit like a middle section of a story on the way to somewhere else. Ce'Nedra's speechs might set the world on fire but because Eddings avoids recounting any of them — he gives a few bits and pieces of her speech to the Tolnedran Legions — the reader doesn't really get a sense of this. Then again, with the exception of Shakespeare's great speechs from Henry V, these things tend to fall a bit flat, so maybe it's no bad thing to leave it to the audiences' imaginations.

Castle of Wizardry is solid, but feels a bit flat after the finale of Magician's Gambit.