The longboat crept on through dark and fog toward the unseen beach where the long wash and slither of the waves on graveled shingle made that peculiar grating sound as each wave lifted pebbles from the beach to carry them up to the very verge of land and then, with melancholy and regretful note, to draw them back again as if the ever-hungry sea mourned its inability to engulf the land and rum all the world into one endless ocean where huge waves, unimpeded, could roll thrice around the globe.

The heavy fog bank lying to the east began to turn lighter and lighter as dawn broke over the dark, mist-obscured waves.

"Another hundred yards," Kresca said tensely.

"When we get there, Captain," Belgarath said to him, "keep your men in the boat. They won't be permitted to land anyway, and they'd better not try. We'll push you back out as soon as we get ashore."

Kresca swallowed hard and nodded.

Garion could hear the surf more clearly now and catch the seaweed-rank smell of the meeting of sea and land. Then, just before he was able to make out the dark line of the beach through the obscuring fog, the heavy, dangerous swells flattened, and the sea around the longboat became as flat and slick as a pane of glass.

"That was accommodating of them," Silk observed.

"Shh," Velvet told him, laying one finger to her lips. "I'm trying to listen."

The bow of the longboat grated on the gravel strand, and Durnik stepped out of the boat and drew it farther up onto the pebbles. Garion and his friends also stepped out into the ankle-deep water and waded ashore. "We'll see you tomorrow morning, Captain," Garion said quietly as Toth prepared to push the boat back out. "I hope," he added.

"Good luck, Garion," Kresca said. "After we're all back on board, you'll have to tell me what this was all about."

"I may want to forget about it by then," Garion said ruefully.

"Not if you win," Kresca's voice came back out of the fog.

"I like that man," Silk said. "He's got a nice optimistic attitude."

"Let's get off this open beach," Belgarath said. "In spite of what Garion's friend told him, I sense a certain tenuousness about this fog. I'll feel a lot better if we’ve got some rocks to hide behind."