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"Father," Polgara said o to make me cross Will one of you please explain all this hysteria?"

Beldin and Belgarath were capering hand in hand in a grotesque little dance of glee

"Will you two stop that?" Polgara snapped

"Oh, this is just too rare, Pol," Beldin gasped, catching her in a bear hug

"Don't do that! Just talk!"

"All right, Pol," he said, wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes "Kell is the holy place of the Dals It's the center of their whole culture"

"Yes, uncle I know that"

"When the Angaraks overran Dalasia, the Groliion and to replace it with the worship of Torak--the sanificance of Kell, they moved to destroy it The Dais had to prevent that, so they put their wizards to work on the probleion around Kell" He frowned "Maybe curses isn't the right word" he adht be closer, but it a Anyway, since the Grolier to Kell, the enchantments were directed at them Any Grolim who tries to approach Kell is struck blind"

"Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?" she asked him tartly

"I've never really paid that ot about it

I don't bother to go into Dalasia because the Dals are all mystics, and mysticism has always irritated me The seers all talk in riddles, and necromancy seems like a waste of time to me I wasn't even sure if the enchantullible soestion of a curse would probably work just as well as a real one"

"You know," Belgarath mused, "I think the reason weon the fact that Urvon, Zandra the fact that they're also Grolims"

"Is this curse--or whatever you call it--aimed specifically at the Grolims," Garion asked, "or would it affect us, too?"

Beldin scratched at his beard "It's a good question, Belgarath," he said "That's not the sort of thing you'd want to risk lightly"

"Senji!" Belgarath snapped his fingers

"I didn't quite follow that"

"Senji went to Kell, remember? And even as inept as he is, he's still a sorcerer"

"That's it, then' Beldin grinned "We can go to Kell, and they can't They'll have to follow us for a change"

"What about the de toward Kell, and as far as we know, Zandrao to Kell? What I'o there, couldn't they just send the deet the information for theood Cyradis won't let a demon anywhere near her copy of the Mallorean Gospels No matter what other faults they have, the seers refuse to have anything to do with the agents of chaos"

"Could she prevent either of the deh?"

Durnik looked worried "Let's face it, Beldin A de"