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"I thought itto some trouble to keep her face covered, but she willl be with the archduke and Naradas We've picked up the information that they may have sailed from one of the commercial wharves to the south of the city Start out by concentrating the search there Send every man you can put your hands on down there Have them talk with everybody on those wharves We need information and we need it fast Spread money around if you have to I want to knohen they left, on which ship, and where they were going If the ship happens to be back in port, bring me one of the sailors--or even better yet, the captain Speed is essential, Vetter"

"I'll see to it at once, your Highness I'll have several hundred men on those wharves within the hour and I'll keep you posted about the progress of the search Will there be anything else?"

Silk frowned "Yes," he decided "We came to Melcena aboard one of our own ships It should still be down in the harbor Send soain We'll be leaving as soon as we get the information"

"I'll attend to it" Vetter bowed and quietly left the rooood ets things done and he never gets excited" The littleto lure hirunted and looked at Belgarath "We've got so herself with this archduke? This whole side trip of hers didn't make any sense at all"

"Of course it did"

"I'm sure you'll explain arath fished around inside his tunic and pulled out a tattered scrap of paper He looked at it "This is it," he grunted He held the paper out in front of him " 'Behold:' " he read " 'In the days which shall follow the ascension of the Dark God into the heavens shall the King of the East and the King of the South do war upon each other, and this shall be a sign unto ye that the day of theis at hand Hasten therefore unto the Place Which Is No More when battles do rage upon the plains of the South Take with thee the chosen sacrifice and a King of Angarak to bear witness to what shall come to pass For lo, whichever of ye co Sardius with the sacrifice and an Angarak king shall be exalted above all the rest and shall have dominion over them And know further that in the moment of sacrifice shall the Dark God be reborn, and he shall triuht in the instant of his rebirth' "

"What a fascinating piece of gibberish," Beldin said "Where did you coarath shrugged "It's a part of the Grolim Prophecies of Rak Cthol I told you about it before"

"No," Beldin disagreed, "as a matter of fact, you didn't"

"I rubby little man said fro thing" Belgarath frowned "Itto happen eventually, Pol," Beldin said "The old boy's finally slipped over the line into senility''

"Be nice, uncle," she murarath said a little plaintively

"There's no such thing as positive," Beldin replied, autoarath said just a bit sly

"Stop that"

"Stop what?"

"Don't try to use ainst me Where does this Grolim insanity put us?"