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"Not likely," the old ht go a little too far, and you can't get answers out of a dead erly

"I don't really care what you do with him afterward"

The next day, Garion was in a s over histo deterun of late to feel as if the entire ar directly on his shoulders

"Garion," Ce'Nedra said, entering his cubicle, "some friends have arrived"

He looked up

"Brand's three sons," she told hilass blower Joran" Garion frowned "What are they doing here?" he asked "I told the ihed "You'd better have theray-cloaked sons and the serious-faced Joran entered and bowed Their clothes were mud-spattered, and their faces weary "We are not deliberately disobeying your orders, Belgarion," Kail assured hi very important that you have to know"

"Oh? What's that?"

" After you left Riva with the army, your Majesty," Kail's older brother Verdan explained, "we decided to go over the west coast of the island inch by inch We thought there ht be some clues that we overlooked in our first search"

"Besides," Brin added, "we didn't have anything else to do"

"Anyway," Verdan continued, "we finally found the ship those Chereks had used to come to the island"

Their ship?" Garion asked, suddenly sitting up "I thought that whoever it ho abducted et off the island"

Verdan shook his head "The ship had been deliberately sunk, your Majesty They filled it with rocks and then chopped holes in the bottoht over it five ti on the bottoet off the island, then?"

"We had that saarion," Joran said "It occurred to us that, in spite of everything, the abductorThat's e found the shepherd"

"Shepherd?"

"He'd been alone with his flock up in the meadows on the western side of the Isle," Kail explained "He was completely unaware of what had happened in the city Anye asked hi unusual at about the time Prince Geran was taken from the Citadel, and he said that he had seen a ship sail into a cove on the West coast at about that tiot on board Then the ship put out to sea, leaving the others behind Belgarion, it was the sa ended"