The Seeress of Kell

weasand, I drove a stake through his heart and buried him seventeen feet deep head down. He looked better than he had in years with just his feet sticking up out of the dirt. I paused to enjoy that sight while I was resting from all the shoveling."
    "You buried him yourself?" Barak asked.
    "I certainly wasn't going to let anybody else do it. I wanted to be sure of him. After I had him well planted, I stampeded horses across his grave several times to conceal the spot. As you may have guessed, my father and I were not on the best of terms. I take some pleasure in knowing that not a single living Murgo knows exactly where he's buried. Why don't we go join my queen and my mother? Then you can tell me your splendid news whatever it is. Dare I hope that Kal Zakath rests in the arms of Torak?"
    "I wouldn't think so."
    "Pity," Urgit said.
    As soon as they found out that Polgara, Ce'Nedra, and Velvet were still on board Seabird, Queen Prala and Queen Mother Tamazin excused themselves and left the throne room to renew old acquaintances.
    "Find seats, gentlemen," Urgit said after they had left. He sprawled on his throne with one leg cocked up over the arm. "What are these things you wanted to tell me, Kheldar?"
    Silk sat down on the edge of the dais and reached inside his tunic.
    "Please don't do that, Kheldar," Urgit told him, shying away. "I know how many daggers you carry."
    "Not a dagger this time, Urgit," Silk assured him. "Only this." He handed over a folded parchment packet.
    Urgit opened it and scanned it quickly. "Who's Oldorin of Perivor?" he asked.
    “He's the king of an island off the south coast of Mallorea,” Garion told him. "A group of us met in his palace."
    "Quite a group, I see," Urgit said, looking over the signatures. He frowned. "I also see that you spoke for me," he said to Silk.
    "He protected your interests rather well, Urgit," Belgarath assured him. "The details we hammered out are mostly generalities, you'll notice, but it's a start."
    "It is indeed, Belgarath," Urgit agreed. "I notice that no one spoke for Drosta."
    "The King of Gar og Nadrak was unrepresented, your Majesty," Mandorallen told him.
    "Poor old Drosta." Urgit chuckled. "He always seems to get left out. This is all very nice, gentlemen, and it might even insure a decade or so of peace provided you promised to let Zakath have my head on a plate to decorate some unimportant room in his palace at Mal Zeth with."
    "That's the main thing we came to discuss with you," Silk told him. "Zakath returned to Mal Zeth when we all left Perivor, but I talked with him for quite a while before we separated, and he finally agreed to accept peace overtures."
    "Peace?" Urgit scoffed. "The only peace Zakath wants is eternal peace for every living Murgo, and I'm at the top of his list."
    "He's changed a bit," Garion told him. "He has something more important on his mind right now than exterminating Murgos."
    "Nonsense, Garion. Everybody wants to exterminate the Murgos. Even I want to exterminate them, and I'm their king.”
    "Send some ambassadors to Mal Zeth," Silk advised him. "Give them enough power to negotiate in good faith."
    “Give a Murgo power? Kheldar, are you out of your mind?”
    "I can find some trustworthy men, Urgit," Oskatat assured him.
    "In Cthol Murgos? Where? Under some damp rock?"
    "You're going to have to start trusting people, Urgit," Belgarath told him.
    "Oh, of course, Belgarath," Urgit said with heavy sarcasm. "I sort of have to trust you, but that's because you'll turn me into a frog if I don't."
    "Just send your ambassadors to Mal Zeth, Urgit," Silk said patiently. "You may be pleasantly surprised at the outcome."
    "Any outcome that doesn't leave me without my head would be pleasant." Urgit squinted shrewdly at his brother. "You’ve got something else on your mind, Kheldar," he said. "Go ahead and spit it out."
    "The world's right on the verge of breaking out in a bad case of peace," Silk told him. "My partner and I have been on a wartime footing for years now. Our enterprises are very likely to collapse if we don't find new markets and markets for peacetime goods. Cthol Murgos has been at war for a generation now."
    "Longer than that, actually. Technically, We’ve been at war since the ascension of the Urga Dynasty which I have the distinct displeasure of representing."
    "There must be quite a hunger for peacetime amenities in your kingdom then little things, like roofs for the houses, pots to cook in, something to cook in