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"Who could possibly do that?" she asked

"I don't know, but I'hter, still fading, continued to echo up to where they stood And then it ended abruptly far below

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

A sudden su in off the Great Western Sea two days after the fight on the cliffs and it raked the island with shrieking winds and sheets of rain that rattled against the s of the council chah in the south tower The bone-thin Javelin, who had arrived with the others aboard the Seabird thatstorether "Where did the trail finally lead?" he asked"Right down to the water's edge in a secluded cove," Garion replied

"Then I think we'll have to assume that this abductor ht have been a little tight, but thethe coast would have been concentrating on the shore line, and a ship that had gotten well out to sea before they arrived could have escaped their notice"

Barak was piling an ars in the cavernous fireplace "Why were those others left behind, then?" he asked "That doesn'tabout Bear-cultists, Barak," Silk told him "They're not supposed to h," the Earl of Seline pointed out "If what the cultist said before he died is true, this Ulfgar has declared war on Belgarion Isn't it entirely possible that those men were left behind specifically to waylay him? One way or another, he was certain to follow that trail"

"There's still so true" Javelin frowned "Let me think about it for a bit"

"We can sort out their ht now is to find out where they've takensaid "We've destroyed Jarviksholot left"

"That's not entirely certain, Anheg," Queen Porenn disagreed "This scheme to abduct Prince Geran was obviously planned quite soo, and you destroyed Jarviksholm only last week It's unlikely that the abductors even knew about it I don't think we can rule out the possibility that the prince was taken to Cherek"

Anheg rose and began pacing up and down, a dark scowl on his face "She's got a point," he admitted finally "These child stealers were Chereks, after all It's quite possible that they tried to take him to Jarviksholo someplace else We could very well find thee somewhere on the west coast"

"What do we do now, then?" Garion asked helplessly

"We split up," King Cho-Hag said quietly "Anheg turns out all his forces, and they search every village and faro to Rheon and deal with those people there"

"There's only one difficulty with that," Anheg said "A baby is a baby How do nize Garion's son if they do run across hiara told hi a cup of tea "Show theht hand to show the King of Cherek the silvery runted "Does Prince Geran have the same mark?"

"All heirs to the Rivan Throne have that mark on their palms," she replied "It's been that way since the birth of Iron-grip's first son"

"All right," Anheg said "My men will knohat to look for, but will the rest of you have enough ar and Drasnian cultists there, Ulfgar's got quite an are map tacked up on one of the walls "If I leave iether a sizeable army in a few days A forced march could put us in Darine within a week"