Sorceress of Darshiva

bo'sun, he never came back. I didn't like the smell of things, so I ordered the anchor up, and we sort of eased on back out to sea. I don't know what happened and I wasn't going to stay around to find out. There was things going on that made me real nervous."
    "Oh," Beldin said, "such as what?"
    "Well sir, one time in the main cabin, this woman as the white-eyed man and the aristocrat had with them, she reached out to take hold of the little boy, him acting kind of restless and all, and I seen her hand. Now, it might have been bad light in the cabin or some such—I don't spend all that much on lamp oil or candles. But—and strike me blind if I "m wrong—it seemed to me that there was sparkles under the skin of her hand."
    "Sparkles?" Belgarath asked him.
    "Yes, sir. I seen it with my own eyes, and they was moving—all these little tiny sparkles moving around in her flesh, almost like fireflies on a summer's evening."
    "As if all the starry universe were contained therein?" Beldin asked intently, quoting from the obscure passage in the Ashabine Oracles.
    "Now that you put it that way, that's exactly how it was," Kadian agreed. "I knowed right off that these wasn't no ordinary folks and, after I seen that fire in the fog, I didn't really want to stay around to find out just how un-ordinary they was."
    "That might just have saved your life, Captain," Belgarath told him. "Have you ever heard of Zandramas?"
    "The witch? Everybody's heard of her."
    "I think she was your glittering passenger, and Zandramas is a firm believer in the old notion that dead people can't tell stories. So far as we know, she's drowned three ships and fed several people to the lions. I expect it was only the fog that saved you. If she'd have been able to see you, you wouldn't be here now."
    Captain Kadian swallowed hard.
    "Do you need any more?" Silk asked.
    "No," Belgarath replied. "I think that covers everything." He looked at the captain.
    "We thank you, Kadian. Can you sketch us a map of the beach where you dropped off these passengers of yours?"
    "I can indeed," Kadian replied bleakly. "Is it in your mind to chase down the witch?"
    "We were sort of thinking along those lines, yes."
    "When you burn her, throw on a few logs of wood in memory of my bo'sun and his oarsmen."
    "You have my word on that, Captain," Garion told him.
    "Green logs," Kadian added. "They don't burn so fast."
    "We'll keep that in mind."
    Silk stood up and handed the captain a leather pouch.
    Kadian bounced it on his palm a few times, and it gave forth a jingling sound. "You're very generous, your Highness," he said, also rising to his feet. "Is there pen and ink handy? I'll draw you that chart."
    "Right over on that table," Silk said, pointing.
    The captain nodded and crossed the room.
    "Where's Aunt Pol," Garion asked, "and the others?"
    "They're changing clothes," Silk replied. "I sent word to our ship just as soon as one of Vetter's men came back and told us that they'd found Captain Kadian. She's waiting in the harbor for us right now." He looked closely at Garion. "Are you feeling well?" he asked. "You're looking a little pale."
    "I got a message that had some bad news in it."
    Silk gave Belgarath a puzzled look.
    "We found the Ashabine Oracles," the old man explained tersely. "Torak left a message for Garion on the last page. It wasn't very pleasant. We can talk about it once we get on board ship."
    Captain Kadian came back holding a sheet of parchment. "This is Selda," he said, pointing at his drawing. "There's a headland to the south, and the beach I was telling you about is just south of that. I can't tell you exactly where the witch landed because of the fog, but this place marked with the X should be fairly close."
    "Thanks again, Captain," Silk said.
    "My pleasure, your Highness, and good hunting."
    Kadian turned and left the room with the rolling gait of a man who spends little time on shore.
    It was only a few moments later when Polgara and the others joined them. Ce'Nedra and Velvet were both wearing plain gray dresses much like the one Polgara always wore when she was traveling. Gray, Garion noticed, was not a good color for Ce'Nedra. It made her skin look very pale, and the only touch of color about her was her flaming wealth of copper-colored hair.
    Durnik and the other men—except for Toth, who still wore only his unbleached blanket and loincloth—were dressed in the same nondescript brown that Silk wore.
    "Well, father?" Polgara asked as she