Belgarath the Sorcerer Read Online Free PDF

was obvious that I’d lingered too long in the mesmerizing shade of that silly tree.
    And the snow piled so deep that I could barely flounder my way through it. And my food was gone, and my shoes wore out, and I lost my knife, and it suddenly turned very, very cold. I’m not making any accusations here, but it seemed to me that this was all just a little excessive.
    In the end, soaked to the skin and with ice forming in my hair, I huddled behind a pile of rock that seemed to reach up into the very heart of the snowstorm that swirled around me, and I tried to prepare myself for death. I thought of the village of Gara, and of the grassy fields around it, and of our sparkling river, and of my mother, and - because I was still really very young - I cried.
    â€˜Why weepest thou, boy?’ The voice was very gentle. The snow was so thick that I couldn’t see who spoke, but the tone made me angry for some reason. Didn’t I have reason to cry?
    â€˜Because I’m cold and I’m hungry,’ I replied, ‘and because I’m dying and I don’t want to.’
    â€˜Why art thou dying? Art thou injured?’
    â€˜I’m lost,’ I said a bit tartly, ‘and it’s snowing and I have no place to go.’ Was he blind ?
    â€˜Is this reason enough amongst thy kind to die?’
    â€˜Isn’t it enough?’
    â€˜And how long dost thou expect this dying of thine to persist?’ The voice seemed only mildly curious.
    â€˜I don’t know,’ I replied through a sudden wave of self-pity. ‘I’ve never done it before.’
    The wind howled and the snow swirled more thickly around me.
    â€˜Boy,’ the voice said finally, ‘come here to me.’
    â€˜Where are you? I can’t see you.’
    â€˜Walk around the tower to thy left. Knowest thou thy left hand from thy right?’
    He didn’t have to be so insulting! I stumbled angrily to my half-frozen feet, blinded by the driving snow.
    â€˜Well, boy? Art thou coming?’
    I moved around what I thought was only a pile of rocks.
    â€˜Thou shalt come to a smooth grey stone,’ the voice said. ‘It is somewhat taller than thy head and as broad as thine arms may reach.’
    â€˜All right,’ I said through chattering teeth when I reached the rock he’d described, ‘now what?’
    â€˜Tell it to open.’
    â€˜What?’
    â€˜Speak unto the stone,’ the voice said patiently, ignoring the fact that I was congealing in the gale. ‘Command it to open.’
    â€˜Command? Me?’
    â€˜Thou art a man. It is but a rock.’
    â€˜What do I say?’
    â€˜Tell it to open.’
    â€˜I think this is silly, but I’ll try it.’ I faced the rock. ‘Open,’ I commanded half-heartedly.
    â€˜Surely thou canst do better than that.’
    â€˜Open!’ I thundered.
    And the rock slid aside.
    â€˜Come in, boy,’ the voice said. ‘Stand not in the weather like some befuddled calf. It is quite cold.’ Had he only just now noticed that?
    I went inside what appeared to be some kind of vestibule with nothing in it but a stone staircase winding upward. Oddly, it wasn’t dark, though I couldn’t see exactly where the light came from.
    â€˜Close the door, boy.’
    â€˜How?’
    â€˜How didst thou open it?’
    I turned to face that gaping opening, and, quite proud of myself, I commanded, ‘Close!’ And, at the sound of my voice, the rock slid shut with a grinding sound that chilled my blood even more than the fierce storm outside. I was trapped! My momentary panic passed as I suddenly realized that I was dry for the first time in days. There wasn’t even a puddle around my feet! Something strange was going on here.
    â€˜Come up, boy,’ the voice commanded.
    What choice did I have? I mounted the stone steps worn with countless centuries of footfalls and spiraled my way up and up, only a little bit