Chapter 5

                "Cyradis!" Zakath leapt up from his throne as he saw his delicate wife enter with her blindfold.  "What's wrong?!  Have you–" he couldn't bring himself to finish the horrifying thought.

                "Nay, Zakath," she assured him, "It is just that the bright sunlight hath irritated my fragile sight."  Indeed, her pale eyes could be seen through the thin cloth (a/n: medieval sunglasses!!)

                "So you're not–" he still couldn't say it.

                "Nay, my days as a seer are over, and forever shall I rest by thine side."

                Zakath's racing heart slowed, although he was still unconvinced; a part of him suspected that his gentle wife's days as a seer were perhaps still not over. However, the bright sun could be quite irritating at this time of the day, and as long as Cyradis wasn't having any more visions, he was satisfied.

                The ambassador from Tolnedra had presented Riva with a rather interesting and seemingly profitable treaty.  Kail was undecided on whether or not to accept it, and the ambassador was growing rather impatient.  He had stalled Berditi (the ambassador) for the past several days with the excuse that his King was busy with his newborn.  However, the treaty was truly too good to pass up, and he decided to see if his King had left yet.  Being practical because of his Sendarian background, Garion never announced when he left so that his whereabouts were never too certain and sneaky ambassadors wouldn't try to take advantage of the kind-hearted Kail.

                Kail knocked softly on the door of the Royal bedroom (a/n: is there a special name for that?).  When there was no answer, he decided to check the nursery, in case his King and Queen were still resting from the newborn.  The nursery was full with all five children; Beldaran, Ce'Vesta, Geran, and Polgara's twins, Asrana and Killane. He was like an uncle to those children.  Kail especially liked Polgara's twins.  Asrana had beautiful hair and glorious eyes like her mother, and Killane had an honest face and light brown hair, like his father (a/n: does Durnik have brown hair?  For some reason I always imagined him with brown hair.).  Both were playful, but their little frowns always amused Kail when they were in a "serious" situation, such as who gets to sit at on the tallest branch of the Tree today.  Well, he thought, They would never leave their children behind.  I guess I should check Lady Polgara's room.

                Polgara's door was slightly open.  When there was no answer to his knock, he went in after a moment's hesitation.  He looked about in confusion.  There was nothing left in that room; everything was packed and gone.  Then it hit him.  Of course! They were just about to leave.  He raced down to the stables, only to find that the horses were already gone.  His shoulders slumped in defeat and he started up to Berditi's room to ask for an extension on the treaty when he realized something.  There were no fresh horse tracks in the mud, and he should have heard them going to get the children.  He ran back to the nursery, and saw all five children playing an innocent game of tag.  Something was definitely wrong here; after Geran's abduction, Garion never went anywhere without his children.  He always had to know exactly where his children were.  Though it was summer, Kail suddenly felt like an icicle.  A chill went down his spine and he shivered.  His skin felt clammy all over and a dread began to build up in his heart.  So preoccupied was he in his worries that he did not notice a dark figure creeping up behind him.

                Since Greldik was out of town on some voyage, Garion and company had boarded Barak's ship.

                "Are you ready yet?" the huge redhead roared, pacing around impatiently as they led the horses on.

                "Why the impatience?" Belgarath replied.  He was, for whatever reason, in a rather whimsical mood that day.  Barak simply muttered something under his breath and let it lie.  Like most people who knew Belgarath well, he knew how unbelievably irritating the ageless sorcerer could be when he was in one of his funny moods.  They closed the doors and made their way onto the deck of the ship.

                Barak's son, Unrak, bowed in greeting as he saw them.

                "I hope you're not going to get yourself into any trouble, Garion." Barak said gruffly.

                "What's gotten into you, Father?" Unrak asked quietly.  Barak had been acting strange since they had set out.  The Earl did not reply.  Unrak then directed his attention to the guests, greeting each one in turn.

                "Who will be taking care of the little ones?" he inquired.

                It was as if a wall in his brain had suddenly broken down as the impact of Unrak's simple, innocent words suddenly registered in his mind.  All thought of the children had been somehow eliminated from his mind the last days.  He simply acknowledged their existence, but never anything more.

                "Why, Grandfather?" He asked.  From the looks on their faces, Garion knew that he wasn't the only one that just remembered that their children were still in the Palace.

                "I think that this has something to do with this insane dark spirit that your friend told us about, Garion.  Do you think you could somehow get in touch with him?"

                "Are you there?" Garion demanded angrily.  There was no response.  Polgara then stood up.              
                "Let me try something," Polgara said suddenly, rising from her sitting position.  She took Garion's left hand in hers, and placed it on the white lock in her hair.  She then placed her middle and forefinger gently on Garion's temples.  He felt like he was flying.  Until…

                "When'd you figure that out?" the familiar voice asked in his head.

                "I picked it up somewhere.  Let's have a chat, shall we?" Polgara's voice was loud and clear in his head, "Father has something to ask you."

                "What is it, Belgarath?" This time the voice spoke through Garion's lips.

                "Since Geran's abduction, we never let the children out of our sights.  Can you explain perhaps how we managed to get this far on our journey without even thinking of them?  It's as if they were simply blocked off in our minds, until Unrak's question broke the wall."

                "Do you remember how you once said that my opposite tends to repeat himself?  Well, I'm assuming that he was attempting the abduction thing again.  He must've used Zedar to tamper with your minds, to block them off."

                "Very subtle," Belgarath remarked, "Although why wasn't Unrak affected?"

                Garion scratched his head thoughtfully (a/n:  hey, all the necessity does is talk.  I wanted him to DO something when he was taking over someone.), "Since Unrak is Geran's protector, he is immune to all sorcery that would cause him to harm or forget Geran."

                "Well, then," Polgara said, "We know that at least Garion and Geran will remain safe, although," she looked at Barak sternly, "Barak can be quite unbelievable at times."

                The necessity was gone, but their journey was also stalled.  With no other choice, They set off once again towards the palace.  The men went to bring out the horses.  Ce'Nedra was in hysterics about forgetting her babies, and, strangely enough, it was Poledra, not Polgara, who was comforting her.  Nobody noticed Polgara leaning gently over the railing.  She glanced over at her mother, who had risen to find something to comfort the weeping Ce'Nedra.  Her lips twisted into an evil grin and she began gathering her will.

                Back in the castle, a faint laughter could be heard.  In the silent, empty, echoeing throne room, Zedar sat upon the throne, laughing.  Beside him, weak, feeble, and helpless, was Polgara.  Her eyes showed her misery and her heart was crying for her loved ones.  She was helpless, but not hopeless.  Somewhere, something deep in her aching body and feeble mind told her everything was going to be all right.  But sitting beside the powerful Zedar, Polgara could do nothing but weep.

A/n:  hahaha….wasn't that a surprise!! The following chapters will be revealing and will contain a lot of drama!!!  Plz review, I won't post till I get more reviews!!