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"Was he alone?"

"Yes, Grandfather Where are you?"

"Just a ways ahead of you There are soood a place as any to turn west I don't think we need to go all the way down to Gandahar"

"I'll tell Aunt Pol to pass the word to Durnik"

The woods were quite extensive, and there was very little undergrowth At one point, Garion passed the ey dark The cans that whoever had been there had departed in some haste The track of churned loaalloped off toward the fires on the beach Garion ran on

Near the edge of the woods, a faint breeze carried a sharp canine reek Garion stopped "Grandfather," he sent his thought out urgently, "I s up ahead"

"Only one?"

"I think so" He crept forward, his ears and nose alert "I can only sht there"

Garion dropped to his haunches and waited A fewaround at all?" Belgarath asked

"No, Grandfather He see in one place Do you think we can slip around him?"

"You and I could, but I don't think that Durnik and the others would be able to The Hounds can hear and shten hier than we are Even if we did, he'd just go for help--and we definitely don't want a pack of the Hounds on our trail We're going to have to kill hiht of deliberately killing another canine profoundly '' shocked hinant, but we don't have any choice "

He's blocking our way out of this area, and we have to be clear of here by daylight Now listen carefully The Hounds are big, but they're not very agile They particularly aren't very good at turning around in a hurry I'll confront hi hie was instinctive in wolves, and Garion found, almost with surprise, that he knew precisely what to do "Yes," he replied The speech of wolves is lie, so he could not indicate how uncoht," Belgarath continued, "once you cut his hae of his teeth He'll try to turn on you That's instinctive, so he won't be able to stop himself That's when I'll take his throat"

Garion shuddered at the deliberateness of the plan Belgarath was proposing not a fight, but a cold-blooded killing "Let's get it over with, Grandfather," he said unhappily

"Don't whine, Garion," Belgarath's thought came to hiht back

"Neither do I, but it's the only thing we can do Let's go" They crept arowing stronger in their nostrils It was not a pleasant ss will eat carrion, while wolves will not Then Garion saw the Hound outlined black against the fog beyond the edge of the trees Belgarath paused, indicating that he also saw their intended victim Then the tolves separated andeach paw carefully and noiselessly down on the damp forest loam