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"Couldn't we rig a sail of some sort?" Silk asked hopefully

"Easily," Durnik replied He wet one finger with his tongue and held it up "I'll do that just as soon as you work out a way to make the wind blow''

Silk's face fell

"While you're doing that, I need to go talk with Ce'Nedra" He went back up the beach and gently shook Garion's sleeping wife awake

"You know? Sometimes he has a very warped sense of huan to tinge theand took their places at the oars "I don't want to seem critical, Goodman," Sadi said to Durnik, who stood in the stern with his hands gripping the tiller, "but I've seen a lot of fog in Nyissa, and, once it's fully daylight, you won't have the faintest idea of where the sun is How do you plan to keep your course?"

"Ce'Nedra's taking care of that," the s toward the bow

The Rivan Queen was leaning over the portside intently watching a floating piece of wood attached to a long cord "What's she doing?" Sadi asked, sounding a bit perplexed

"She's watching the current We'll be quartering it, but as long as that cord stays at the saht on course I put a ht to be"

"You think of everything, don't you?" Sadi said, continuing to pull his oar

"I try You can usually avoid probleh a job"

Ce'Nedra raised one arm and pointed i her job very seriously Durnik obediently reat river vanished in the fog, it seemed to Garion that time had stopped entirely There was no real sense of h he bent his back over his oar with ularity "Tireso always is," Garion replied Silk looked around, then spoke quietly "Do you notice a change in Durnik?" he asked "No Not really"

"What I' that you alet that he's around, but back there on the beach, he just son of took charge"

"He's always been like that, Silk When we're doing so he doesn't know all thatand keeps his eyes open; but e co he knows about, he steps in and does what has to be done" Garion smiled affectionately back over his shoulder at his old friend Then he looked slyly at Silk "He also learns very fast By now, he's probably at least as good a spy as you are, and he watched you very closely while you werethe bean o into business, I think you and Yarblek had better start keeping a close count of your tail feathers"

Silk looked a bit worried "He wouldn't really do that, would he?"

"He ht You never really know about Durnik, do you?"

As the sun rose higher, the fog diffused its light, and the world around the and black water with no hint at all that they were ht direction Garion felt a bit strange, knowing that they were entirely at Ce'Nedra'sacross an angled mark on the rail that kept them on course He loved her, but he knew that she was soestures to port or to starboard, however, showed no sign of hesitancy or lack of certainty, and Durnik obeyed the About an to thin, and Beldin drew in his oar "Can you ht to know just exactly e're running into There's all sorts of unpleasantness going on in Darshiva, and I don't think we'll want to co tired of rowing, right?" the old man replied sarcastically