King of The Murgos

leading down to the aft companionway creaked, and Durnik came out on deck, bracing himself against the awkward roll of the ship and squinting in the bright sunlight. The smith wore his usual plain brown tunic, and his face was somber.
    Garion crossed the deck to his friend's side. "Is she all right?" he asked.
    "She's very tired," Durnik replied wearily. His own nearly exhausted face clearly showed that he had slept very little himself. "She tossed and fretted for a long time before she finally went to sleep last night. That was a terrible thing she had to do."
    "Did she talk to you about it at all?"
    "Some. The demon had to be sent back to where he came from. Otherwise he'd have spread horror and death across the whole world. Since Chabat summoned him, he could have used her as a doorway to come into this world any time he wanted to. That's why Chabat had to go with him—to close that doorway."
    "Exactly where do they come from—demons, I mean?"
    "She didn't say very much about that, but I got the feeling that I wouldn't really want to know about it."
    "Is she sleeping now?"
    Durnik nodded. "I'm going to go talk with the ship's cook. I want to have something hot for her to eat when she wakes up."
    "You'd better get some sleep yourself."
    "Perhaps. Would you excuse me, Garion? I don't want to stay away too long—just in case she wakes up and needs me." He went on forward toward the ship's galley.
    Garion straightened and looked around. The Murgo sailors worked with fearful looks on their faces. What had taken place the previous afternoon had washed away all traces of the stiff arrogance that usually marked a Murgo's expression, and they all cast frightened, sidelong glances at every one of their passengers, as if expecting them to turn into - ogres or sea monsters without any warning.
    Silk and Urgit had emerged from the companionway door while Garion and Durnik had been talking and stood at the rail near the stern, idly watching the bubbly wake tracing its path across the dark green swells and the white-winged gulls screeching and hovering in a greedy cloud behind them. Garion moved a bit closer, but did not actually join them.
    "Uninviting sort of place," Silk observed, looking at the stark cliffs rising from the sea. The little man had discarded the shabby clothing he had worn when they had begun this journey and he now wore a plain, unadorned gray doublet.
    Urgit grunted morosely. Idly, he tossed chunks of stale bread into their wake, watching without much interest as the squawking gulls trailing the ship swooped down to fight over them. "Kheldar," he said, "does she do that all the time?"
    "Who's that?"
    "Polgara." Urgit shuddered. "Does she obliterate everybody who displeases her?"
    "No," Silk replied. "Polgara doesn't do that—none of them do. It's not allowed."
    "I'm sorry, Kheldar. Allowed or not, I know what I saw yesterday."
    "I talked to Belgarath about it," Silk told him, "and he explained it. Chabat and the demon weren't actually destroyed. They were just sent back to the place where the demon came from. The demon absolutely had to be sent back; unfortunately, Chabat had to go with him."
    "Unfortunately? I didn't feel all that much sympathy for her."
    "I don't think you quite understand, Urgit. Killing somebody is one thing, but destroying someone's soul is quite something else. That's what made Polgara miserable. She was forced to condemn Chabat to eternal pain and horror. That's the most terrible thing anybody can be forced to do."
    "Who was that who came up out of the water with her?"
    "Aldur."
    "You're not serious!"
    "Oh, yes. I've seen him once or twice. It was Aldur, all right."
    "A God? Here? What was he doing?"
    "He had to be here." Silk shrugged. "No human, however powerful, can face a demon unaided. When the magicians of the Morindim raise a demon, they always are very careful to set rigid limits on him. Chabat just unleashed hers without any limits at all. Only a God can deal with a demon with that kind of freedom; and since the Gods work through us, Polgara had to be involved as well. It was a very tricky business."
    Urgit shuddered. "I don't think I'm going to be able to deal with this."
    They stood side by side, leaning on the rail and looking out at the long waves rolling in off the Great Western Sea to crash against the barren cliffs. As Garion looked at the two of them, he wondered how it had been possible for anyone to miss the relationship. Although they were not exactly