Lelldorin blinked several times as Garion's words sank in. His face
gradually grew mournful again. "I hadn't thought of that," he confessed.
"I didn't think you had. You're going to keep making these mistakes
as long as you keep carrying your brain in the same scabbard with your
sword, Lelldorin."
Lelldorin hushed at that, and then he laughed ruefully. "That's a pointed way of putting it, Garion," he said reproachfully.
"I'm sorry," Garion apologized quickly. "Maybe I should have said it another way."
"No," Lelldorin told him. "I'm an Arend. I tend to miss things if they aren't said directly."
"It's not that you're stupid, Lelldorin," Garion protested. "That's a
mistake everyone makes. Arends aren't stupid - they're just impulsive."
"All this was more than just impulsiveness," Lelldorin insisted sadly, gesturing out at the damp moss lying under the trees.
"This what?" Garion asked, looking around.
"This is the last stretch of forest before we come out on the plains
of central Arendia," Lelldorin explained. "It's the natural boundary
between Mimbre and Asturia."
"The woods look the same as all the rest," Garion observed, looking around.
"Not really," Lelldorin said somberly. "This was the favorite ground
for ambush. The floor of this forest is carpeted with old bones. Look
there." He pointed.
At first it seemed to Garion that what his friend indicated was
merely a pair of twisted sticks protruding from the moss with the twigs
at their ends entangled in a scrubby bush. Then, with revulsion, he
realized that they were the greenish bones of a human arm, the fingers
clutched at the bush in a last convulsive agony. Outraged, he demanded,
"Why didn't they bury him?"
"It would take a thousand men a thousand years to gather all the
bones that lie here and commit them to earth," Lelldorin intoned
morbidly. "Whole generations of Arendia rest here - Mimbrate, Wacite,
Asturian. All lie where they fell, and the moss blankets their endless
slumber."
Garion shuddered and pulled his eyes away from the mute appeal of
that lone arm rising from the sea of moss on the floor of the forest.
The curious lumps and hummocks of that moss suggested the horror which
lay moldering beneath. As he raised his eyes, he realized that the
uneven surface extended as far as he could see, "How long until we reach
the plain?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"Two days, probably."
"Two days? And it's all like this?"
Lelldorin nodded.
"Why?" Garion's tone was harsher, more accusing than he'd intended.
"At first for pride - and honor," Lelldorin replied. "Later for grief
and revenge. Finally it was simply because we didn't know how to stop.
As you said before, sometimes we Arends aren't very bright."
"But always brave," Garion answered quickly.
"Oh yes," Lelldorin admitted. "Always brave. It's our national curse."
"Belgarath," Hettar said quietly from behind them, "the horses smell something."
Mister Wolf roused himself from the doze in which he usually rode. "What?"
"The horses," Hettar repeated. "Something out there's frightening them."
Wolf's eyes narrowed and then grew strangely blank. After a moment he drew in a sharp breath with a muttered curse.
"Algroths," he swore.
"What's an Algroth?" Durnik asked.
"A non-human-somewhat distantly related to Trolls."
"I saw a Troll once," Barak said. "A big ugly thing with claws and fangs."
"Will they attack us?" Durnik asked.
"Almost certainly." Wolf's voice was tense. "Hettar, you're going to
have to keep the horses under control. We don't dare get separated."
"Where did they come from?" Lelldorin asked. "There aren't any monsters in this forest."
"They come down out of the mountains of Ulgo sometimes when they get
hungry," Wolf answered. "They don't leave survivors to report their
presence."
"You'd better do something, father," Aunt Pol said. "They're all around us."
Lelldorin looked quickly around as if getting his bearings. "We're
not far from Elgon's tor," he offered. "We might be able to hold them
off if we get there."
"Elgon's tor?" Barak said. He had already drawn his heavy sword.
"It's a high hillock covered with boulders," Lelldorin explained.
"It's almost like a fort. Elgon held it for a month against a Mimbrate
army."
"Sounds promising," Silk said. "It would get us out of the trees at
least." He looked nervously around at the forest looming about them in
the drizzling rain.
"Let's try for it," Wolf decided. "They haven't worked themselves up
to the point of attacking yet, and the rain's confusing their sense of
smell."
A strange barking sound came from back in the forest.
"Is that them?" Garion asked, his voice sounding shrill in his own ears.
"They're calling to each other," Wolf told him. "Some of them have
seen us. Let's pick up the pace a bit, but don't start running until we
see the tor."
They nudged their nervous horses into a trot and moved steadily along
the muddy road as it began to climb toward the top of a low ridge.
"Half a league," Lelldorin said tensely. "Half a league and we should
see the tor."
The horses were difficult to hold in, and their eyes rolled wildly at
the surrounding woods. Garion felt his heart pounding, and his mouth
was suddenly dry. It started to rain a bit harder. He caught a movement
out of the corner of his eye and looked quickly. A manlike figure was
loping along parallel to the road about a hundred paces back in the
forest. It ran half crouched, its hands touching the ground. It seemed
to be a loathsome gray color.
"Over there!" Garion cried.
"I saw him," Barak growled. "Not quite as big as a Troll."
Silk grimaced. "Big enough."
"If they attack, be careful of their claws," Wolf warned. "They're venomous."
"That's exciting," Silk said.
"There's the tor," Aunt Pol announced quite calmly.
"Let's run!" Wolf barked.
The frightened horses, suddenly released, leaped forward and fled up
the road, their hoofs churning. An enraged howl came from the woods
behind them, and the barking sound grew louder all around them.
"We're going to make it!" Durnik shouted in encouragement. But
suddenly a half-dozen snarling Algroths were in the road in front of
them, their arms spread wide and their mouths gaping hideously. They
were huge, with apelike arms and claws instead of fingers. Their faces
were goatish, surmounted by short, sharp-pointed horns, and they had
long, yellow fangs. Their gray skin was scaly, reptilian.