‘He’ll manage,’ Garion shrugged. ‘Zakath’s very good at ramming things down people’s throats.’

‘Cyradis will be able to soften that side of him, I expect.’

‘All right, then. What about afterward? After all the Angaraks have accepted Eriond?’

‘The movement will spread. You’ll probably live long enough to see the day when Eriond is the God of the whole world. That’s what was intended from the beginning.’

‘“And he shall have Lordship and Dominion”?’ Garion quoted with a sinking feeling, remembering certain Grolim prophecies.

‘You know Eriond better than that. Can you possibly see him sitting on a throne gloating over sacrifices?’

‘No, not really. What happens to the other Gods then? Aldur and the rest of them?’

‘They’ll move on. They’ve finished with what they came here to do, and there are many, many other worlds in the universe.’

‘What about UL? Will he leave, too?’

‘UL doesn’t leave anyplace, Garion. He’s everywhere. Does that more or less answer all the questions? I have some other things that need to be attended to. There are a number of people I have to make arrangements for. Oh, incidentally, congratulations on your daughters.’

‘Daughters?’

‘Small female children. They’re devious, but they’re prettier than sons, and they smell better.’

‘How many?’ Garion asked breathlessly.

‘Quite a few, actually. I won’t tell you the exact number. I wouldn’t want to spoil any surprises for you, but when you get back to Riva, you’d better start expanding the royal nursery.’ There was a long pause. ‘Goodbye for now, Garion,’ the voice said, its tone no longer dry. ‘Be well.’

And then the voice was gone.

The sun was slipping down, and Garion, Ce’Nedra, and Geran had rejoined the others near the portal to the grotto. They were all subdued as they sat not far from the vast carcass of the dragon.

‘We ought to do something about her,’ Belgarath murmured. ‘She wasn’t really a bad brute. She was just stupid, and that’s not really a crime. I’ve always felt rather sorry for her, and I’d sort of hate to just leave her out here in the open for the birds to pick over.’

‘You’ve got a sentimental streak in you, Belgarath,’ Beldin noted. ‘That’s very disappointing, you know.’

‘We all get sentimental as we get older,’ Belgarath shrugged.

‘Is she all right?’ Velvet asked Sadi as the eunuch returned with Zith’s little bottle. ‘You took quite a long time.’

‘She’s fine,’ Sadi replied. ‘One of the babies wanted to play. He thought it was funny to hide from me. It took me a while to locate him.’

‘Is there any real reason for us to stay here?’ Silk asked. ‘We could light that beacon, and maybe Captain Kresca could pick us up before dark.’

‘We’re expecting company, Kheldar,’ Eriond told him.

‘We are? Whom are we expecting?’

‘Some friends are planning to stop by.’

‘Your friends or ours?’

‘Some of each, actually. There’s one of them now.’ Eriond pointed out to sea.

They all turned to look.

Silk suddenly laughed. ‘We should have known,’ he said. ‘Trust Barak to disobey orders.’

They all looked out at the gently rolling ocean. The Seabird looked a bit the worse for weather, but she wallowed through the waves ponderously on a starboard tack which was taking her on a course past the reef. ‘Beldin,’ Silk suggested, ‘why don’t we go down to the shore and light a signal for him?’

‘Can’t you do it yourself?’

‘I’ll be happy to – just as soon as you teach me how to set fire to rocks.’

‘Oh, I hadn’t thought of that, I guess.’

‘Are you sure you’re not older than Belgarath? Your memory seems to be slipping a bit, old boy.’

‘Don’t belabor it, Silk. Let’s go see if we can signal that oversized barge in to shore.’

The two of them started down to the edge of the water.

‘Was that arranged?’ Garion asked Eriond. ‘Barak showing up, I mean?’

‘We had a hand in it, yes,’ Eriond admitted. ‘You’re going to need transportation back to Riva, and Barak and the others are sort of entitled to find out what happened here.’

‘The others, too? Is that all right? I mean, at Rheon Cyradis said—’

‘There’s no problem now,’ Eriond smiled. ‘The Choice has been made. There are quite a number of people on their way to meet us actually. Our mutual friend has a passion for tying up loose ends.’

‘You’ve noticed that already, I see.’

The Seabird hove to on the lee side of the reef, and a longboat put out from her starboard side to glide across what seemed to Garion to be a molten stretch of water made golden by the setting sun. They all went down to the shore to join Silk and Beldin as the longboat ran smoothly toward the shore of the reef.

‘What kept you?’ Silk called across the intervening water to Barak, who stood, his beard aflame in the light of the setting sun, in the prow of the boat.

Barak was grinning broadly. ‘How did things turn out?’ he shouted.

‘Quite well, actually,’ Silk called back. Then he seemed to think of something. ‘Sorry, Cyradis,’ he said to the Seeress. ‘That was insensitive of me, wasn’t it?’

‘Not entirely, Prince Kheldar. My companion’s sacrifice was made willingly, and methinks his spirit doth rejoice in our success even as we do.’

They were all in the boat with Barak, Garion saw. Mandorallen’s armor gleamed just behind the huge Cherek. Hettar, lean and whiplike, was there, and Lelldorin, and even Relg. Barak’s son Unrak was chained in the stern. Unrak had grown, but the restraints upon him were puzzling.

Barak placed one huge foot on the gunwale, preparing to leap from the boat.

‘Careful,’ Silk told him. ‘It’s deep right there. There are a fair number of Grolims who found that out the hard way.’

‘Did you throw them out into the water?’ Barak asked.

‘No. They volunteered.’

The longboat’s keel grated on the wave-eroded stones of the theater, and Barak and the others clambered out. ‘Did we miss very much?’ the big man asked.