Guardians of the West

Brendig suggested.
    Javelin frowned. "No," he said. "There's a war going on down there and the whole west coast is being patrolled by Murgo ships. The only safe place for a Nyissan ship to land is in Nyissa itself."
    "And that brings us back to Salmissra, doesn't it?" Polgara said.
    "I think that if there had been any kind of official involvement in this, my people would have found out about it, Lady Polgara," Javelin said. "I've got Salmissra's palace thoroughly covered. The actual orders would have had to come from Sadi, Salmissra's Chief-Eunuch, and we watch him all the time. I don't think this came out of the palace."
    The door opened and Beldin, his face as dark as a thundercloud, entered. "By the Gods!" he swore. "I lost him!"
    "Lost him?" Belgarath asked. "How?"
    "When he got to the street, he turned himself into a hawk. I was right on his tail, but he went into the clouds and changed form on me again. When he came out, he was mixed up in the middle of a flock of geese flying south. Naturally, when the geese saw me, they flew off squawking in all directions. I couldn't tell which one of them he was."
    "You must be getting old."
    "Why don't you shut up, Belgarath?"
    "He's not important anymore, anyway." Belgarath shrugged. "We got what we needed out of him."
    "I think I'd prefer it if he were safely dead. If nothing else, the loss of one of his favorite dogs would irritate Urvon, and I'll go out of my way to do that any day in the week."
    "Why do you keep calling him a dog?" Hettar asked curiously.
    "Because he's one of the Chandim -and that's what they are- the Hounds of Torak."
    "Would you like to explain that?" Queen Porenn asked him.
    Beldin took a deep breath to get his irritation under control. "It's not too complicated," he said. "When they built Cthol Mishrak in Mallorea, Torak set certain Grolims the task of guarding the city. In order to do that, they became hounds."
    Garion shuddered, the memory of the huge dog-shapes they had encountered in the City of Night coming back to him with painful clarity.
    "Anyway." Beldin continued, "after the Battle of Vo Mimbre when Torak was put to sleep for all those centuries, Urvon went into the forbidden area around the ruins and managed to persuade a part of the pack of hounds that he was acting on behalf of old burnt-face. He took them back to Mal Yaska with him and gradually changed them back into Grolims, even though he had to kill about half of them in the process. Anyhow, they call themselves the Chandim -a sort of secret order within the Grolim church. They're absolutely loyal to Urvon. They're pretty fair sorcerers and they dabble a bit in magic as well. Underneath it all, though, they're still dogs -very obedient and much more dangerous in packs than they are as individuals."
    "What a fascinating little sidelight," Silk observed, looking up from a parchment scroll he had found in one of the cabinets.
    "You have a very clever mouth, Kheldar," Beldin said testily. "How would you like to have me brick it up for you?"
    "No, that's quite all right, Beldin."
    "Well, what now, Belgarath?" Queen Porenn asked.
    "Now? Now we go after Zandramas, of course. This hoax with the cult has put us a long way behind, but we'll catch up."
    "You can count on that," Garion said. "I dealt with the Child of Dark once before and I can do it again if I have to." He turned back to Errand. "Do you have any idea of why Urvon wants my son killed?"
    "It's something he found in a book of some kind. The book says that if your son ever falls into the hands of Zandramas, then Zandramas will be able to use him to do something. Whatever it is, Urvon would be willing to destroy the world to prevent it."
    "What is it that Zandramas would be able to do?" Belgarath asked, his eyes intent.
    "Harakan doesn't know. All he knows is that he's failed in the task Urvon set him."
    Belgarath smiled slowly, a cold, wintery kind of smile. "I don't think we need to waste any time chasing down Harakan," he said.
    "Not chase him?" Ce'Nedra exclaimed, "After all he's done to us?"
    "Urvon will take care of him for us and Urvon will do things to him that we couldn't even begin to think of."
    "Who is this Urvon?" General Brendig asked.
    "Torak's third disciple," Belgarath replied. "There used to be three of them -Ctuchik, Zedar, and Urvon. But he's the only one left."
    "We still don't know anything about Zandramas," Silk said.
    "We know a few things. We know that Zandramas is now the Child of Dark, for