The turn of the millennium occasioned some serious celebration in the kingdoms of the west, but aside from noting that the year marked my two thousandth birthday, I paid very little attention to it.

In the early spring of 4002 I once again remembered that if I planned to eat the following winter, I’d probably better get to gardening. I set my studies aside for several weeks to concentrate on playing in the dirt.

I was spading up my vegetable garden when father swooped in. I knew immediately that something serious was afoot, since my father only flies – usually as a falcon – in emergencies. He blurred back into his natural form, and his expression was agitated. ‘I need you, Pol!’ he said urgently.

‘I needed you once, remember?’ I said it without even thinking. ‘You didn’t seem very interested. Now I get to return the favor. Go away, father.’

‘We don’t have time for this, Polgara. We have to go to the Isle of the Winds immediately. Gorek’s in danger.’

‘Who’s Gorek?’

‘Don’t you have any idea at all about what’s happening in the world beyond the edge of your garden? Has your brain shut down? You can’t evade your responsibilities, Pol. You’re still who you are, and you’re coming with me to the Isle of the Winds even if I have to pick you up in my talons and take you there.’

‘Don’t threaten me, Old Man. Who’s this Gorek you’re so worried about?’’

‘He’s the Rivan King, Pol, the Guardian of the Orb.’

“The Chereks patrol the Sea of the Winds, father. No fleet in the world can get past their war boats.’

‘The danger’s not coming from a fleet, Pol. There’s a commercial enclave just outside the walls of the city of Riva. That’s the source of the danger.’

‘Are you insane, father? Why did you permit strangers on the Isle?’

‘It’s a long story, and we don’t have time to go into it right now.’

‘How did you find out about this supposed danger?’

‘I just dredged the meaning out of a passage in the Mrin Codex.’

That brushed away all my scepticism. ‘Who’s behind it?’ I demanded.

‘Salmissra, as closely as I can determine. She has agents in that enclave who’ve been ordered to kill the Rivan King and his entire family. If she manages to pull it off, Torak wins.’

‘Not as long as I’m still breathing, he doesn’t. Is this more of Ctuchik’s games?’

‘It’s possible, but it’s a little subtle for Ctuchik. It might be Urvon or Zedar.’

‘We can sort that out later. We’re wasting time, father. Let’s go to the Isle and put a stop to this.’

Chapter 25

The shortest route to the Isle of the Winds involved crossing Ulgoland. Most sensible people avoid that whenever possible, but this was an emergency, and father and I would be several thousand feet above the hunting grounds of the Algroths, Hrulgin, and Eldrakyn. Our brief encounter with Harpies just before we flew over Prolgu, however, was highly suspicious. So far as I’m able to determine, that was the only time anyone has ever seen them. Their semi-human form makes them appear far more dangerous than they really are. A human face does not automatically indicate human intelligence, and their lack of a beak makes them a second-rate bird of prey. Father and I evaded them rather easily and flew on.

Dawn was touching the eastern horizon when we flew over Camaar. We were both on the verge of exhaustion, but we grimly flew on out over the lead-grey waves of the Sea of the Winds. My wings seemed almost on fire, but I drove myself to keep going. I’m not really sure how father managed, since he doesn’t really fly all that well. Father surprises me sometimes.

We were crossing the harbor at Riva, and my eyes were fixed on the grim battlements of the Hall of the Rivan King when mother’s voice cracked sharply in my mind. ‘Pol! Down there – in the harbor!’

I looked down and saw something splashing quite a ways out from the gravel beach.

‘It’s a little boy, Pol. Don’t let him drown!’

I didn’t even think. Changing form in midair isn’t really a good idea. For a moment as you blur from one form to the other you’re totally disoriented, but as luck had it I was still looking at the water after I’d shed my feathers. I arched forward and plunged down, tensing my body for the shock of impact with the surface of the harbor. The jolt would have been much worse had I been higher, but it still quite nearly knocked the wind out of me.

My dive took me deep down into the bone-chilling water, but I arched myself and shot toward the surface, coming up into the light and air only a few feet from the floundering little boy whose eyes were filled with terror and whose flailing arms were barely keeping him afloat.

A few strokes brought me to his side, and then I had him. ‘Relax!’ I told him sharply. ‘I’ve got you now.’

‘I’m drowning!’ he spluttered, his voice shrill.

‘No, you’re not. You’re safe, so stop waving your arms around. Just lay back and let me do the swimming.’

It took a little persuading to unlock the death grip of his arms around my neck, but I eventually got him calmed down and lying on his back while I towed him toward the end of one of the wharves jutting out into the bay. ‘See how much easier it is when you don’t fight the water?’ I asked him.

‘I almost had the knack of it,’ he assured me. ‘That’s the first time I’ve ever tried to swim. It’s not too hard, is it?’

‘You should probably practice in shallower water,’ I suggested.

‘I really couldn’t, ma’am. There was this man with a knife after me.’

‘Polgara!’ father’s voice came to me. ‘Is the boy all right?’

‘Yes, father,’ I replied out loud, not even realizing that my voice was audible to the little boy. ‘I’ve got him.’

‘Stay out of sight! Don’t let anybody see you!’

‘All right.’

‘Who were you talking to?’ the boy asked.

‘It’s not important.’

‘Where are we going?’

‘To the end of that wharf. We’ll hide there and keep very quiet until the men with the knives have been driven off.’

‘All right. Is the water always this cold?’

‘It was the last time I was here.’

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before, ma’am.’