King of The Murgos

it's time for another exercise of the royal assertiveness," Silk murmured to him.
    Urgit gave him a quick look and then squared his shoulders. He turned back to the hulking ship's master. "Load these horses on your ship, Captain," he repeated his command in a firmer tone.
    "I just told you that I don't—"
    "Did I say it too fast for you? Listen carefully this time. Put-the-horses-on-the-boat. If you don't do exactly what I tell you to do, I'll have you nailed to the prow of your ship in place of a figurehead. Do we understand each other?"
    The captain stepped back, his look of arrogance becoming one of doubt and apprehension. "Your Majesty—"
    "Do it, Captain!" Urgit barked, "Now!" ;. The captain drew himself up sharply, saluted, and then turned to his crew. "You heard the king," he said harshly. "Load the horses." He stalked away, muttering to himself. "You see," Silk said. "It gets easier every time you do it, doesn't it? All you have to remember is that your commands are not subjects for debate."
    "You know," Urgit said with a tight grin, "I could actually get to like that."
    The sailors began to push the skittish horses up the narrow gangplank and then down a steeply slanting ramp into the hold of the vessel. They had loaded perhaps half of the animals when Garion heard the sound of a sullen drum coming from the narrow, cobbled steel leading down to the quay. A double file of black-robed Grolims in polished steel masks marched down the hill toward the water, moving with that peculiar, swaying gait Garion had seen in the Temple.
    Belgarath took Urgit by the sleeve and drew him out of earshot of his guards and the busy sailors. "We don't need any surprises, here, Urgit," he said firmly, "so let's get through the formalities with Agachak as quickly as possible. Tell him that you're going to Rak Cthaka to take personal command of the defense of the city. Let's get your Dagashi on board ship and get out of here."
    "I don't really have any choice about this, do I?" Urgit asked unhappily.
    "No," Belgarath replied. "Not very much at all." The cadaverous Agachak rode in a litter carried by a dozen Grolims. At his side, her head erect, came the scarred priestess Chabat. Her eyes were ravaged from weeping, and her face was dreadfully pale. The look she directed at Sadi, however, was filled with implacable hatred.
    Behind Agachak's litter there came a hooded figure that did not walk with the stiff-legged, swaying gait of the Grolims in the Hierarch's entourage, and Garion surmised that this man was the mysterious Kabach. He looked at the man curiously, but could not see the face concealed beneath the hood.
    As the litter reached the gangway, Agachak signaled his bearers to a halt. "Your Majesty," he greeted Urgit hollowly as his litter was lowered to the stones. "Dread Hierarch."
    "I received your message. Is the situation in the south as grave as I was led to believe?"
    "I'm afraid so, Agachak. I'm going to take advantage of this ship to go to Rak Cthaka and take personal command.
    You, your Majesty?" Agachak looked startled. "Is that altogether wise?"
    "Perhaps not, but I'm sure I can't do much worse than my generals have done. I've left orders that reinforcements are to be sent to the city by ship."
    "By ship? A daring innovation, your Majesty. I'm surprised that your generals agreed to it."
    "I didn't ask them to agree. I finally realized that their duty to advise me doesn't give them the authority to order me around."
    Agachak looked at him, his eyes thoughtful. "This is a new side of you, your Majesty," he noted, stepping out of his litter to stand on the stones of the quay.
    "I thought it was time for a change."
    It was at that point that Garion felt a warning tingle and an oppressive kind of weight that seemed centered just above , his ears. He glanced quickly at Polgara, and she nodded. It did not appear to be emanating from the Hierarch, who seemed wholly engrossed in his conversation with Urgit. Chabat stood to one side with her burning eyes fixed balefully on Sadi, but there was no hint of any mounting of her will. The quiet probing was coming from somewhere else.
    "We should be able to reach Rak Cthaka in five or six days," Urgit was saying to the red-robed Hierarch. "As soon as we arrive, I'll get Ussa and his people started toward Rak Hagga with our Dagashi. They might have to swing south a bit to avoid the Mallorean advance, but they won't lose too much time."
    "You must be very careful at Rak Cthaka, your