The Seeress of Kell

his crew. "There, young master." He grinned at Garion. "I'll have you out of earshot in no time at all. That should spare us all that drafty 'eloquence. Where was I? Oh, yes. When I got here, the ships of Perivor were so top-heavy that a good sneeze would capsize them. Would you believe it only took me five years to explain that to these people?"
    "You must have been amazingly eloquent, Captain." Garion laughed.
    "A bout or two with belaying pins helped a bit," the captain conceded. "Finally I had to issue a challenge, though. None of these blockheads can refuse a challenge, so I proposed a race around the island. Twenty ships started out, and only mine finished. They started listening about then. I spent the next five years in the yards supervising construction. Then the king finally let me go back to sea. I got me a baronetcy out of it not that it matters. I think I’ve even got a castle somewhere."
    A brazen blast came from the wharf as, in true Mimbrate fashion, the knights of the king's court saluted them on their horns. "Isn't that pitiful?" the captain said. "I don't think there's a man on the whole island who can carry a tune." He looked appraisingly at Garion. "I heard tell that you're making for the Turim reef."
    "Korim reef," Garion corrected absently.
    "You've been listening to the landsmen, I see. They can't even pronounce the name right. Anyway, before you get your mind set in stone about where you want to land, send for me. There's some very ugly water around that reef. It's not the sort of place where you want to make mistakes, and I’ve got some fairly accurate charts."
    "The king told us there weren't any charts of the reef."
    The captain winked slyly. "The rumors I mentioned earlier stirred some ship captains to try to follow me," he admitted, "although 'chase' would probably be a more accurate word. Rewards cause that sort of thing sometimes. Anyhow, I was passing near the reef in calm weather once, and I decided to take some soundings. It never hurts to have a place to hide where others are afraid to follow you.”
    "What's your name, Captain?" Garion asked him.
    "Kresca, young master."
    "I think we can drop that. Garion will do just fine."
    "Whatever you like, Garion. Now get comfy quarterdeck so I can maneuver this old tub out of the harbor.”
    The speech was different, and it was halfway around the world, but Captain Kresca was so much like Barak's friend Greldik that Garion felt suddenly very secure. He went below to join the others. "We’ve had a bit of luck," he told them. "Our captain is a Melcene. He's not overburdened with scruples, but he has got charts of the reef. He's probably the only man in these waters who does. He's offered to advise us when the time comes to decide on where we want to land."
    "That was helpful of him," Silk said.
    "Maybe, but I think his main concern is not ripping the bottom out of his ship."
    "I can relate to that," Silk said. "As long as I'm on board, anyway."
    "I'm going back up on deck," Garion said then. "Staying in a stuffy compartment on the first day of a voyage always makes me a little queasy for some reason."
    "And you 're the ruler of an island? " Poledra said.
    "It's just a question of getting adjusted, Grandmother."
    "Of course."
    The sea and sky were unsettled. The heavy cloud bank was still coming in from the west, sending long, ponderous combers rolling in from that direction, waves that had in all probability started somewhere off the east coast of Cthol Murgos. Although, as king of an island nation, Garion knew that the phenomenon was not unusual, he nonetheless felt a certain sense of superstitious apprehension when he saw that the surface winds were moving westward while those aloft, as proclaimed by the movement of the clouds, moved east. He had seen this happen many times before, but this time he could not be positive that the weather was responding to natural causes or to something else. Idly he wondered what those two eternal awarenesses might have done had he and his friends not found a ship. He had a momentary vision of the sea parting to provide a broad highway across its bottom, a highway littered with startled fish. He began to feel less and less in charge of his own destiny. Even as he had on the long trek to Cthol Mishrak, he became increasingly certain that the two prophecies were herding him toward Korim for a meeting that, though he himself might not have chosen it, was the ultimate Event toward which the entire universe