The Seeress of Kell

that I did was as if she had done the deeds herself."
    "His spirit doth begin to sink out of reach, Holy Seeress," the necromancer said in a more normal tone of voice. "Ask quickly, for soon I will no longer be able to wrest further answers from him."
    "What were these concerns of thy mistress which prevented her from seeking the answer to the last riddle herself as she was commanded to do?"
    "A certain Grolim Hierarch from Cthol Murgos, Agachak by name, had come to Mallorea seeking the Place Which Is No More, hoping to supplant my mistress. He was the last of our race with enough power to challenge her. She met him near the barrens of Finda and killed him there.” The hollow voice broke off, and then there came a despairing wail. "Zandramas!" the voice cried. "You said that I would not die! You promised, Zandramas!" The last word seemed to fall away into some unimaginable abyss.
    The dark-hooded necromancer's head slumped forward, and she was shuddering violently. "His spirit has gone, Holy Seeress," she said in a weary voice. "The midnight hour is past, and he can no longer be reached."
    "I thank thee," Cyradis said simply.
    "I but hope, Holy Seeress, that I have been able in some small way to aid thee in thine awesome task. May I retire now? For contact with this diseased mind hath distressed me beyond measure."
    Cyradis nodded briefly, and the necromancer quietly left the chapel.
    The King of Perivor, his face ashen but firmly set, walked to the bier. He took hold of the golden cloth that covered Naradas to the chest and hurled it to the floor. "Some rag perhaps," he said from between clenched teeth. "I would not look upon the face of this foul Grolim more."
    "I'll see what I can find, your Majesty," Durnik said sympathetically. He stepped out into the hall.
    The rest stood silently by as the king, his back to the bier and his jaws clenching and unclenching, stared at the back wall of the chapel.
    After a few moments, the smith returned with a torn piece of burlap, rusty and mildewed. "There was a storeroom just down the hall, your Majesty," he said. "This was plugging up a rat hole. Was it more or less what you had in mind?"
    "Perfect, my friend. An it please thee, throw it over the face of that piece of carrion. I declare here unto ye all, there will be no funeral for this miscreant. Some ditch and a few spadefuls of earth shall be his grave."
    "More than a few spadefuls I think, your Majesty," Durnik suggested prudently. "He's corrupted your kingdom enough already. We wouldn't want him to pollute it any more, would we? I'll take care of it for you."
    "I like thee, my friend," the king said. "An it please thee, bury the Grolim facedown."
    "We'll see to it, your Majesty," Durnik promised. He nodded to Toth, and the two of them roughly lifted the body of Naradas from the bier by the shoulders and dragged it from the chapel with its sandal-shod feet bouncing unceremoniously across the floor.
    Silk stepped closer to Zakath. "So now we know that Agachak is dead," he said quietly to the Mallorean. "Urgit will be delighted to hear it. I don't suppose you'd be willing to send a messenger to him to let him know about it?”
    "The tensions between your brother and myself have not relaxed all that much, Kheldar."
    "Who are ye all?" the king demanded. "Was this so-called quest of thine mere subterfuge?"
    "The time hath come for us to reveal ourselves," Cyradis said gravely. "The need for concealment is now past, for the other spies Zandramas hath set in this place without the knowledge of Naradas cannot commune with her without his aid.”
    "That's Zandramas, all right," Silk said. "She doesn't even trust herself."
    Garion and Zakath raised their visors with some relief. "I know that your kingdom is isolated, your Majesty," Garion said in his normal dialect. "How much do you know of the outside world?"
    "There are times when seafarers call upon this harbor," the King replied. "They bring us news as well as goods."
    "And what of the events that shaped the world in times past?”
    "Our forebears brought many books with them, Sir Knight, for the hours at sea are long and tedious. Among those volumes were those of history, which I have read."
    "Good," Garion said. "That should make things a bit easier to explain. I am Belgarion, King of Riva," he introduced himself.
    The king's eyes widened. "The Godslayer?" he asked in an awed voice.
    "You've heard about that, I see," Garion said wryly.
    "All the world hath heard of it.