Pawn of Prophecy

help the Old Wolf with the horses?"
    "Certainly, Mistress Pol," Durnik said mildly.
    "A splendid little fight," Barak said, wiping his sword as he joined them. "Not much blood, but satisfying all the same."
    "I'm delighted you found it so," Aunt Pol said acidly. "I don't much care for such encounters. Did they leave anyone behind?"
    "Regrettably no, dear lady," Barak said. "The quarters were too narrow for good strokes, and these stones too slippery for good footing. I marked a couple of them quite well, however. We managed to break a few bones and dent a head or two. As a group, they were much better at running than at fighting."
    Silk came back from the alley where he had pursued the two who had tried to attack Garion. His eyes were bright, and his grin was vicious.
    "Invigorating," he said, and then laughed for no apparent reason.
    Wolf and Durnik had managed to calm their wild-eyed horses and led them back to where Garion and the others stood.
    "Is anyone hurt?" Wolf demanded.
    "We're all intact," Barak rumbled. "The business was hardly worth drawing a sword for."
    Garion's mind was racing; in his excitement, he spoke without stopping to consider the fact that it might be wiser to think the whole thing through first.
    "How did Brill know we were in Muros?" he asked.
    Silk looked at him sharply, his eyes narrowing.
    "Perhaps he followed us from Winold," he said.
    "But we stopped and looked back," Garion said. "He wasn't following when we left, and we've kept a watch behind us every day."
    Silk frowned.
    "Go on, Garion," he said.
    "I think he knew where we were going," Garion blurted, struggling against a strange compulsion not to speak what his mind saw clearly now.
    "And what else do you think?" Wolf asked.
    "Somebody told him," Garion said. "Somebody who knew we were coming here."
    "Mingan knew," Silk said, "but Mingan's a merchant, and he wouldn't talk about his dealings to somebody like Brill."
    "But Asharak the Murgo was in Mingan's counting room when Mingan hired us." The compulsion was so strong now that Garion's tongue felt stiff.
    Silk shrugged.
    "Why should it concern him? Asharak didn't know who we were."
    "But what if he did?" Garion struggled. "What if he isn't just an ordinary Murgo, but one of those others - like the one who was with those ones who passed us a couple days after we left Darine?"
    "A Grolim?" Silk said, and his eyes widened. "Yes, I suppose that if Asharak is a Grolim, he'd have known who we are and what we're doing."
    "And what if the Grolim who passed us that day was Asharak?" Garion fought to say. "What if he wasn't really looking for us, but just coming south to find Brill and send him here to wait for us?"
    Silk looked very hard at Garion.
    "Very good," he said softly. "Very, very good." He glanced at Aunt Pol. "My compliments, Mistress Pol. You've raised a rare boy here."
    "What did this Asharak look like?" Wolf asked quickly.
    "A Murgo." Silk shrugged. "He said he was from Rak Goska. I took him to be an ordinary spy on some business that didn't concern us. My mind seems to have gone to sleep."
    "It happens when one deals with Grolims," Wolf told him.
    "Someone's watching us," Durnik said quietly, "from that window up there."
    Garion looked up quickly and saw a dark shape at a second-story window outlined by a dim light. The shape was hauntingly familiar. Mister Wolf did not look up, but his face turned blank as if he were looking inward, or his mind were searching for something. Then he drew himself up and looked at the figure in the window, his eyes blazing. "A Grolim," he said shortly.
    "A dead one perhaps," Silk said. He reached inside his tunic and drew out a long, needle-pointed dirk. He took two quick steps away from the house where the Grolim stood watching, spun and threw the dirk with a smooth, overhand cast.
    The dirk crashed through the window. There was a muffled shout, and the light went out. Garion felt a strange pang in his left arm.
    "Marked him," Silk said with a grin.
    "Good throw," Barak said admiringly.
    "One has picked up certain skills," Silk said modestly. "If it was Asharak, I owed him that for deceiving me in Mingan's counting room."
    "At least it'll give him something to think about," Wolf said. "There's no point in trying to creep through town now. They know we're here. Let's mount and ride." He climbed onto his horse and led the way down the street at a quick walk.
    The compulsion was gone now, and Garion wanted to tell them about Asharak, but there