"It's defensible, Belgarath," Barak approved, squinting at the bar. "The river will keep them off our backs, and they can only come at us across that one narrow place."
"It will do," Belgarath agreed shortly. "Let's go."
They rode out onto the snow-covered bar and quickly scraped an area clear with their feet while Durnik worked to build a fire under a large, gray driftwood snag that half blocked the narrow neck of the bar. Within a few moments, orange flames began to lick up around the snag. Durnik fed the fire with sticks until the snag was fully ablaze. "Give me a hand," the smith said, starting to pile larger pieces of wood on the fire. Barak and Mandorallen went to the jumbled mass of driftwood piled against the upstream edge of the gravel and began hauling limbs and chunks of log to the fire. At the end of a quarter of an hour they had built a roaring bonfire that stretched across the narrow neck of sand, cutting them off completely from the dark trees on the riverbank.
"It's the first time I've been warm all day." Silk grinned, backing up to the fire.
"They're coming," Garion warned. Back among the dark tree trunks, he had caught a few glimpses of furtive movements.
Barak peered through the flames. "Big brutes, aren't they?" he observed grimly.
"About the size of a donkey," Belgarath confirmed.
"Are you sure they're afraid of fire?" Silk asked nervously.
"Most of the time."
"Most of the time?"
"Once in a while they get desperate - or Grul could drive them toward us. They'd be more afraid of him than of the fire."
"Belgarath," the weasel-faced little man objected, "sometimes you've got a nasty habit of keeping things to yourself."
One of the rock-wolves came out onto the riverbank just upstream from the bar and stood sniffing the air and looking nervously at the fire. Its forelegs were noticeably longer than its hind ones, giving it a peculiar, half erect stance, and there was a large, muscular hump across its shoulders. Its muzzle was short, and it seemed snub-faced, almost like a cat. Its coat was a splotchy black and white, marked with a pattern hovering somewhere between spots and stripes. It paced nervously back and forth, staring at them with a dreadful intensity and yelping its highpitched, hooting laugh. Soon another came out to join it, and then another. They spread out along the bank, pacing and hooting, but staying well back from the fire.
"They don't look like dogs exactly," Durnik said.
"They're not," Belgarath replied. "Wolves and dogs are related, but rock-wolves belong to a different family."
By now ten of the ugly creatures lined the bank, and their hooting rose in a mindless chorus.
Then Ce'Nedra screamed, her face deathly pale and her eyes wide with horror.
The Eldrak shambled out of the trees and stood in the middle of the yelping pack. It was about eight feet tall and covered with shaggy black fur. It wore an armored shirt that had been made of large scraps of chainmail tied together with thongs; over the mail, also held in place with thongs, was a rusty breastplate that appeared to have been hammered out with rocks until it was big enough to fit around the creature's massive chest. A conical steel helmet, split up the back to make it fit, covered the brute's head. In its hand the Eldrak held a huge, steelwrapped club, studded with spikes. It was the face, however, that had brought the scream to Ce'Nedra's lips. The Eldrak had virtually no nose, and its lower jaw jutted, showing two massive, protruding tusks. Its eyes were sunk in deep sockets beneath a heavy ridge of bone across its brow, and they burned with a hideous hunger.
"That's far enough, Grul," Belgarath warned the thing in a cold, deadly voice.
"'Grat come back to Grul's mountains?" the monster growled. Its voice was deep and hollow, chilling.
"It talks?" Silk gasped incredulously.
"Why are you following us, Grul?" Belgarath demanded.
The creature stared at them, its eyes like fire. "Hungry, 'Grat," it growled.
"Go hunt something else," the old man told the monster.
"Why? Horses here - men. Plenty to eat."
"But not easy food, Grul," Belgarath replied.
A hideous grin spread across Grul's face. "Fight first," he said, "then eat. Come 'Grat. Fight again."
"Grat?" Silk asked.
"He means me. He can't pronounce my name - it has to do with the shape of his jaw."
"You fought that thing?" Barak sounded stunned.
Belgarath shrugged. "I had a knife up my sleeve. When he grabbed me, I sliced him open. It wasn't much of a fight."
"Fight!" Grul roared. He hammered on his breastplate with his huge fist. "Iron," he said. "Come, 'Grat. Try to cut Grul's belly again. Now Grul wear iron - like men wear." He began to pound on the frozen ground with his steel-shod club. "Fight!" he bellowed. "Come, 'Grat. Fight!"
"Maybe if we all go after him at once, one of us might get in a lucky thrust," Barak said, eyeing the monster speculatively.
"Thy plan is flawed, my Lord," Mandorallen told him. "We must lose several companions should we come within range of that club."
Barak looked at him in astonishment. "Prudence, Mandorallen? Prudence from you?"
"It were best, I think, should I undertake this alone," the knight stated gravely. "My lance is the only weapon that can seek out the monster's life with safety."
"There's something to what he says," Hettar agreed.
"Come fight!" Grul roared, still beating on the ground with his club.
"All right," Barak agreed dubiously. "We'll distract him then - come at him from two sides to get his attention. Then Mandorallen can make his charge."
"What about the rock-wolves?" Garion asked.
"Let me try something," Durnik said. He took up a burning stick and threw it, spinning and flaring, at the nervous pack surrounding the monster. The rock-wolves yelped and shied quickly away from the tumbling brand. "They're afraid of the fire, all right," the smith said. "I think that if we all throw at once and keep throwing, their nerve will break and they'll run."
They all moved to the fire.
"Now!" Durnik shouted sharply. They began throwing the blazing sticks as fast as they could. The rock-wolves yelped and dodged, and several of them screamed in pain as the tumbling firebrands singed them.
Grul roared in fury as the pack dodged and scurried around his feet, trying to escape the sudden deluge of fire. One of the singed beasts, maddened by pain and fright, tried to leap at him. The Eldrak jumped out of its way with astonishing agility and smashed the rock-wolf to the ground with his great club.