‘There’s a little more. Have you ever stood a long way from somebody who’s chopping wood?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you notice that he’d chop and that then, a moment or so later, you heard the sound?’

‘Yes, now that you mention it, I do. What causes that?’

‘The interval is the amount of time the sound takes to reach you. Light moves much faster than sound, but it still takes time to go from one place to another.’

‘I’ll take your word for it.’

‘Do you know what the accident was?’

‘Something out among the stars, I understand.’

‘Exactly. A star was dying, and it died in a place where that wasn’t supposed to happen. The dying star was in the wrong place when it exploded, and it ignited an entire cluster of stars – a galaxy. When the galaxy exploded, it tore the fabric of the universe. She protected herself by dividing. That’s what led to all of this.’

‘All right. Why were we talking about light then?’

‘That’s what that sudden light was – the light from that exploding galaxy – the accident. It only just now reached this place.’

Garion swallowed hard. ‘Just how far away was the accident?’

‘The numbers wouldn’t mean anything to you.’

‘How long ago did it happen?’

‘That’s another number you wouldn’t understand. You might ask Cyradis. She could probably tell you. She had a very special reason to have it calculated rather precisely.’

Garion slowly began to understand. ‘That’s it then,’ he said, excited in spite of himself. ‘The instant of the Choice was the instant when the light from the accident reached this world.’

‘Very good, Garion.’

‘Did that cluster of stars that exploded come back again after Cyradis made the Choice? I mean there has to be something to patch that hole in the universe, doesn’t there?’

‘Better and better. Garion, I’m proud of you. You remember how the Sardion and Zandramas broke up into little flecks of intense light when they blew the roof off the grotto?’

‘It’s not the sort of thing I’d be likely to forget.’ Garion shuddered.

‘There was a reason for that. Zandramas and the Sardion – or the pieces of them, at any rate, are on their way back toward that ‘hole’, as you put it. They’re going to be the patch. They’ll get bigger along the way, of course.’

‘And how long—’ Garion broke off. ‘Another meaningless number, I suppose?’

‘Very meaningless.’

‘I noticed some things about Zandramas back there. She had this all worked out, didn’t she? Right from the very beginning?’

‘My opposite was always very methodical.’

‘What I’m getting at is that she made all of her arrangements in advance. She had everything in place in Nyissa before she ever went to Cherek to pick up those Bear-cultists. Then, when she went to Riva to steal Garan, everything was ready. She’d even put things in place so that we all suspected the cult instead of her.’

‘She’d have probably made a very good general.’

‘But she went even further. No matter how good her plans were, she always had a contingency to fall back on in case the original plan failed.’ A thought come to him. ‘Did Mordja get her? I mean, she blew all apart when the Sardion exploded, didn’t she? Is her spirit still mixed up in those stars, or did it get pulled down into Hell? She sounded so very much afraid just before she dissolved.’

‘I really wouldn’t know, Garion. My opposite and I dealt with this universe, not with Hell – which, of course, is a universe all of its own.’

‘What would have happened if Cyradis had chosen Geran instead of Eriond?’

‘You and the Orb would be moving to a new address about now.’

Garion felt his skin begin to crawl. ‘And you didn’t warn me?’ he demanded incredulously.

‘Would you really have wanted to know? and what difference would it have made?’

Garion decided to let that pass. ‘Was Eriond always a God?’ he asked.

‘Weren’t you listening earlier when he explained? Eriond was intended to be the seventh God. Torak was a mistake caused by the accident.’

‘He’s always been around then? Eriond, I mean?’

‘Always is a long time, Garion. Eriond was present – in spirit – since the accident. When you were born, he began to move around in the world.’

‘We’re the same age then?’

‘Age is a meaningless concept to the Gods. They can be any age they choose to be. It was the theft of the Orb that started things moving toward what happened here today. Zedar wanted to steal the Orb, so Eriond found him and showed him how to do it. That’s what got you moving in the first place. If Zedar hadn’t stolen the Orb, you’d probably still be at Faldor’s farm – married to Zubrette, I’d imagine. Try to keep your perspective about this, Garion, but in a very peculiar way this world was created just to give you something to stand on while you were fixing things.’

‘Please stop joking.’

‘I’m not joking, Garion. You’re the most important person who’s ever lived – or ever will – with the possible exception of Cyradis. You killed a bad God and replaced him with a good one. You did a lot of floundering around in the process, but you finally managed to get it all done. I’m sort of proud of you, actually. All in all, you turned out rather well.’

‘I had a lot of help.’

‘Granted, but you’re entitled to a bit of conceit – for a moment or two, anyway. I wouldn’t overdo it, though. It’s not a very becoming sort of thing.’

Garion concealed a smile. ‘Why me?’ he asked, making it sound as plaintive and imbecilic as possible.

There was a startled silence, and then the voice actually laughed. ‘Please don’t go back to asking that, Garion.’

‘I’m sorry. What happens now?’

‘You get to go home.’

‘No, I mean to the world?’

‘A lot of that’s going to depend on Zakath. Eriond is the God of Angarak now, and despite Urgit and Drosta and Nathel, Zakath’s the real overking of Angarak. It might take a bit of doing and he may have to use up a large number of Grolims in the process, but before he’s done, Zakath is going to have to ram Eriond down the throats of all the Angaraks in the world.’