Guardians of the West

as they joined the others.
    "No," she replied. "All that she says is that she has to speak with you and Garion."
    "Her name is Cyradis," Errand said from nearby.
    "Do you know her?" Garion asked him.
    "We met once -in the Vale. She wanted to find out something about me, so she came there, and we talked."
    "What did she want to find out?"
    "She didn't say."
    "Didn't you ask her?"
    "I think that if she'd wanted me to know, she'd have told me."
    "I would speak with thee, Ancient Belgarath," the seeress said then in a light, clear voice, "and with thee, also, Belgarion."
    They drew closer.
    "I am permitted a short time here to tell thee certain truths. First, know that your tasks are not yet completed. Necessity doth command yet one more meeting between the Child of Light and the Child of Dark; and mark me well -this meeting shall be the last, for it is during this meeting that the final choice between the Light and the Dark shall be made."
    "And where will this meeting take place, Cyradis?" Belgarath asked her, his face intent.
    "In the presence of the Sardion -in the place which is no more."
    "And where is that?"
    "The path to that dread place lies in the mysteries, Ancient One. Thou must seek it there." She turned her face toward Garion, half-reaching out to him with one slender hand.
    "Thy heart is sore, Belgarion," she said with a great sympathy in her voice, "for Zandramas, the Child of Dark, hath reft away thy son and even now doth flee with him toward the Sardion. It lies upon thee to bar the path of Zandramas to that stone -for the stars and the voices of the earth proclaim that the power of the Dark doth reside in the Sardion, even as the power of the Light doth reside in the Orb of Aldur. Should Zandramas reach the Dark Stone with the babe, the Dark shall triumph, and its triumph shall be eternal."
    "Is my baby all right?" Ce'Nedra demanded, her face pale and a dreadful fear in her eyes.
    "Thy child is safe and well, Ce'Nedra," Cyradis told her. "Zandramas will protect him from all harm -not out of love, but out of Necessity." The seeress' face grew still. "Thou must steel thy heart, however," she continued, "for should there be no other way to prevent Zandramas from reaching the Sardion with thine infant son, it falls to thee -or to thy husband -to slay the child."
    "Slay?" Ce'Nedra exclaimed, "Never!"
    "Then the Dark shall prevail," Cyradis said simply. She turned back to Garion. "My time grows short," she said to him. "Heed what I say. Thy choice of companions to aid thee in this task of thine must be guided by Necessity and not thine own preference. Shouldst thou choose awry, then shalt thou fail thy task, and Zandramas will defeat thee. Thy son shall be lost to thee forever, and the world as thou knowest it shall be no more." Garion's face was bleak. "Go ahead," he told her shortly. "Say the rest of what you have to say." Her suggestion that either he or Ce'Nedra could ever under any circumstances kill their own child had filled him with a sudden anger.
    "Thou wilt leave this place in the company of Ancient Belgarath and his most revered daughter. Thou must also take with thee the Bearer of the Orb and thy wife."
    "Absurd!" he burst out. "I'm not going to expose Ce'Nedra -or Errand- to that kind of danger."
    "Then thou wilt surely fail."
    He looked at her helplessly.
    "Thou must have with thee as well the Guide and the Man with Two Lives -and one other whom I will reveal to thee. Thou wilt be joined at some later times by others -the Huntress, the Man Who Is No Man, the Empty One, and by the Woman Who Watches."
    "That's fairly typical seer gibberish," Beldin muttered sourly.
    "The words are not mine, gentle Beldin," she told him.
    "These are the names as they are written in the stars -and in the prophecies. The incidental and worldly names which were given them at the time of their births are of no moment in the timeless realm of the two Necessities which contend with each other at the center of all that is or ever will be. Each of these companions hath a certain task, and all tasks must be completed 'ere the meeting which is to come, else the Prophecy which hath guided thy steps since time began will fail."
    "And what is my task, Cyradis?" Polgara asked her coolly."
    "It is as it hath ever been, Holy Polgara. Thou must guide, and nurture, and protect, for thou art the mother -even as Ancient Belgarath is the father." The faintest of smiles touched the blindfolded girl's lips. "Others will aid thee in thy