The Seeress of Kell

light. It was a single beam of intense blue that bathed the amphitheater in its radiance, and it was soon joined by others that streamed down from the night sky in great glowing columns, red and yellow and green and shades for which there were no names. The columns stood in a semicircle not far from the edge of the water, and there in the center of their rainbow-hued light, the pristine white albatross hovered on seraphlike wings. The incandescent forms that Garion had seen before at Cthol Mishrak began to appear in the columns of pure light. Aldur and Mara, Issa and Nedra, Chaldan and Belar, the Gods stood, their faces filled with the joy of welcome.
    "It's time," Poledra sighed from where she sat enfolded in Belgarath's arms. She firmly took his arms from about her shoulders and rose to her feet.
    "No," Belgarath protested in an anguished tone, his eyes filled with tears. "There's time yet."
    "You knew this was going to happen. Old Wolf," she said gently. "It has to be this way, you know."
    "I'm not going to lose you twice," he declared. He also rose. "There's no longer any meaning to any of this." He looked at his daughter. "Pol," he said.
    "Yes, father," she replied, rising to her feet with Durnik at her side.
    "You'll have to look after things now. Beldin and Durnik and the twins wilt help you."
    “Will you orphan me in one single stroke, father?” Her voice was throbbing with unshed tears.
    "You're strong enough to bear it, Pol. Your mother and I are not displeased with you. Be well."
    "Don't be foolish, Belgarath," Poledra said firmly.
    "I'm not. I won't live without you again."
    "It's not permitted."
    "It can't be prevented. Not even our Master can prevent me now. You won't leave alone, Poledra. I'm going with you." He put his arms about his wife's shoulders and looked deeply into her golden eyes. "It's better this way."
    "As you decide, my husband," she said finally. "We must act now, however, before UL arrives. He can prevent it, no matter how much you bend your will to its accomplishment."
    Then Eriond was there. "Have you really considered this, Belgarath?" he said.
    "Many times in the last three thousand years, yes. I had to wait for Garion, though. Now he's here, and there's nothing to hold me any longer."
    "What would make you change your mind?"
    "Nothing. I won't be separated from her again."
    "Then I'll have to see to that, I suppose." .
    "That's forbidden, Eriond," Poledra objected. "I agreed to this when my task was laid upon me."
    "Agreements are always subject to renegotiation, Poledra," he said. "Besides, my father and my brothers neglected to advise me of their decision, so I'll have to deal with the situation without their advice."
    "You can't defy your father's will," she objected.
    "But I don't know my father's will as yet. I'll apologize, of course. I'm sure he won't be too angry with me, and no one stays angry forever not even my father and no decision is irrevocable. If necessary, I'll remind him of the change of heart he had at Prolgu when Gorim persuaded him to relent."
    "That sounds awfully familiar," Barak murmured to Hettar. "It looks as if the new God of Angarak has spent a little too much time with our Prince Kheldar.”
    "It might be contagious," Hettar agreed.
    An impossible hope had sprung up in Garion's heart.
    "May I borrow the Orb again, Garion?" Eriond asked politely,
    "Of course." Garion almost snatched the Orb from the pommel of the sword and offered it to the youthful God.
    Eriond took the glowing jewel and approached Belgarath and his wife. Then he reached out with it and gently touched it to each of their foreheads. Garion, knowing that the touch of the jewel meant death, leaped forward with a strangled cry, but it was too late.
    Belgarath and Poledra began to glow with a blue nimbus as they looked deeply into each other's eyes. Then Eriond handed the Orb back to the Rivan King.
    "Won't you get into trouble about this?" Garion asked.
    "It's all right, Garion," Eriond assured him. "I'm probably going to have to break all kinds of rules in the next several years, so I might as well get into practice."
    A deep organ note came from the incandescent columns of light at the edge of the water. Garion looked quickly at the assembled Gods and saw that the albatross had become so intensely bright that he could not bear to look at it.
    And then the albatross was gone, and the Father of the Gods stood where it had hovered, and he was surrounded by his sons. "Very well done, my