as days pass by, by Stuart Langridge

scratched tallies on the prison wall

Twins, Part 1

Ildera was sleeping restlessly. Geran was by her side. Ildera was third week pregnant. Suddenly Aldur stood by the side of their bed. Ildera sighed. She knew this strange man was a God, but he was not Belar. 'Do wake the present heir to Rivan throne' Aldur said. 'I must needs speak with ye both'. Geran, who was raised a Sendar, knew immediately who Aldur was. 'Aldur?' he asked sleepily. 'Geran', Aldur said, 'Thy wife carries two sons, not one. Their minds are so close that Polgara is not able to tell them apart from each other. It is a necessity that none other than the parents of these twins know. Dost thou agree, king of Riva?'

'I do, divine Aldur' Geran said, 'but what is the purpose of this?' 'Thy choice hast given thee right to know. It must needs remain secret until the final meeting between the Child of Light and Child of Dark is complete and the final Choice has been made. One of thy sons has the mark of the Stone of Light and he shall be the Guardian. The other shall be the bearer, for it is his task to retrieve the Stone that lieth in the center of the shield and bear it to his brother, who shalt be the one who returns to Riva. This can not take place, unless the two are separated. Shoudst Polgara know of the existence of other, the two shall not be separated. It is also needful that thou, Geran, shalt keep thy tools handy at all times'.

'If you say so' Geran sighed. Really, who was he to argue with a God? Aldur disappeared. Ildera looked at Geran. Now that is something. 'Geran, must we really keep this a secret from Polgara? She has always said...' 'Yes, Ildera, I know. But you do know that Polgara is a disciple of Aldur, and if Aldur says we're not supposed to tell anyone, then it is so. Does that convince you?' 'Yes. The other we call Garion, but what of the name of the other?' 'We shall name him Eriond' Geran suggested. 'Complex of errand he must do and Garion whom his errand complies'. 'Yes' Ildera agreed. 'Eriond is his name'.



Twins, Part 2

By the time the sons to Ildera and Geran were to be born, Geran's mother had begun to walk around and went often to the place where Geran's father had died. Polgara had gone to search for her on the eve of Erastide.

Aldur appeared again near midnight. At midnight He laid his hand blessingly on Ildera's belly. 'Thou shalt share the spirit of Light, Belgarion and Eriond' He said and precisely at midnight were the twins Children of Light. And after that EVENT Ildera went to labour. The first one, who was named Belgarion, though he were to be called Garion until he would learn the secret of the Will and the Word. His birth was the next EVENT.

Geran hold him in his arms. Yes, he was marked. Ildera went on and as she was still on labour, the house was on fire. 'I must save my son' Geran thought and grapped his tools and begun to cut a corridor. As Geran pushed his son, the baby Garion, trough that hole in the wall, Ildera gave birth to Eriond, second son of the Rivan King Geran.



Twins, Part 3

Geran went to his wife, hoping his son would survive outside. Ildera was sweating and breathing heavily. The smoke made it all harder for her. Geran wiped off some of the sweat and did everything he could to keep Ildera cool enough.

Still, though giving birth to Garion had been really quick, and birthchannel was already open, Eriond's birth took four hours. By the time of his birth Ildera died. She could not survive taking effort of giving birth to two children, in a heat that is enough to burn stone, and breathing smoke. Geran hold the baby and kissed him on forehead. *Eriond* he said, and pushed him out through the same hole Garion had went before. Then he sried over his wifes dead body.

UL, Belar and Aldur came. *I don't want her to die!* Geran cried. *All ye humans art to die one day or other* UL said, *Thy wife hast done that already*. Aldur sighed. *Can't we give her another life?* He asked. *No* UL replied sternly, *That line must not be crossed, though thy compassion giveth thee credit*. Aldur sighed again.

Belar took the hand of Ildera as her spirit rose from within the body. *No!* Geran cried. *Least let me die along her, my life has no meaning without her!* And just as soon as he said that, he died. UL took care of his soul and Belar of Ildera's. Aldur went out and gently took baby Eriond in his arms.

*Thou needst be taken care of, dear child* Aldur said to him gently, speaking in the language of the Gods. He carried the baby to a nearby pack of wolves. The dominant female with six puppies looked at him curiously. *The small one is descendant of thy sister* Aldur said, *the one who ofts hast taken form other than that of wolf. Willst thou feed him, for thy sister is feeding the litterbrother of this puppy as the mother ist dead?*

*One concents to take care of him* the she-wolf replied, *but how couldst a man-thing feed on a wolf?* Aldur smiled gently, turned Eriond into form of a just born puppy of a wolf and put him gently on the ground. *How remarkable* the Wolf commented.



Twins, Part 4

The new member of the pack sucked milk. He was happy as the wolves took care of him. He crew up just like every other baby wolf does for half a year. So, to wolves he was nearly adult and he knew what all the other wolves knew. Then Aldur came by again and changed him to a six-month old baby human. Eriond cried. Oddly, he heard another baby cry, too.

He had so much wanted to remain as wolf. Aldur picked him up gently. *It's all right, child. I shall take care of you now.* He said and turned to the wolf. * One likes to thank thee* He said and then they vanished. *And what is God to a wolf?* the packmates said to each other, but no one knew the answer to that question.

Aldur appeared holding sleeping Eriond onto His seat in the Cave of the Gods. All His brothers but one were there. Issa was sleeping, though. Belar and Nedra were playing dice. Chaldan was trying to comfort weeping Mara without much success.



Twins, Part 5

Eriond listened. The Gods didn't speak to him, so they spoke in their own divine language. But a child always learns the language he hears. So Eriond learned the language of the Gods. Eriond crawled around the round cave. One of the Gods was always there, at least partially. Eriond never hurt himself, since everytime he was about to hit his head on the wall, he was either translocated or then the wall softened. Mara took special care for him, since this Child was the only one He had to take care of. As Eriond took his first steps, all the Gods were supporting and encouraging him. Eriond was really happy with them. He never left the cave. Gods didn't bother to dress him, either. It wasn't really necessary to do so. Even the fire they kept in the fireplace never hurted Eriond. Nothing was to hurt the beloved one of the Gods.

On Eriond's fifth birthday UL entered the cave. *Thou art sweet child, my son* He commented to Eriond, speaking the divine language as well. The Gods stood in circle around them. UL lifted the little Eriond. *Thou hast borne for an errand which lies ahead of thee. Thou shalt remain as thou art, child. Thy growth shall delay until thy hast borne the heart of stone to the Chosen One whose birthright is to be the Guardian of that piece.* The young boy nodded. UL escorted him out of the cave to a city. *Seek help from thy fellow humans, Eriond. Thou shalt not remember where thou hast grown, for the location of the cave is now in the mind of the One who is to recieve the heart of Stone. One of the humans shall come and say that he hast an errand for thee. Thou wilt grow after thy errand is complete. So answer to this word, child* Ul spoke in the language of the Gods and said the last word in the language most of humans spoke: ERRAND. Then UL went away. Eriond could sence His presence, somehow, but still he felt to be completely alone.

Eriond cried. A woman came to him. *Dear child, you're cold. Come with me* she said and Eriond followed her. She gave him a white smock and little shoes. Eriond stared at them, wondering what they were. He had no idea of what clothes were. So as child wants to play, he begun to play with them. The woman sighed. *No, child. You're supposed to wear them. These are clothes, not toys. Then she dressed Eriond, who had no idea what she was saying while she was doing that. The scent of porridge came from her kitchen. *Oh, dear* she said, *would you like some porridge?* And still, Eriond knew nothing except that he was hungry and the woman was offering him food. So he went to the kitchen. She put the porridge in a bowl and Eriond tried to eat it with his fingers.

*No, no*, the woman shook her head, put a spoon in his hand and guided his hand. Pretty quickly Eriond understood what she wanted. So he ate and smiled. She was busy cleaning him up, though. He did not understand, what people said, but he was slowly beginning to understand, not their words, but their thoughts. Eriond walked around. He was totally dependant of people. He smiled a lot, since he was beginning to understand all the creatures. He tried hard to find the one who would say the word ERRAND. That was what he had in mind. He did remain as sweet child. The Gods came to visit him. All they ever spoke to him about, was his ERRAND.*



Twins, Part 6

Eriond walked around, moving from town to town, wearing the same white smock and shoes. No one ever washed it. One day UL came to him. "Thou shalt not grow up yet, child" He said to him, "but thou shalt change, for change and progress is the Purpose of all the Universe. Learn all thou canst." Then He was silent again. Eriond looked the world with new eyes. Everytime he saw something new, he stopped to investigate it. As time passed, he noticed, that people treated him as if he were only two. Errand wondered about that. "Well, I hope I don't grow down any more" he thought to himself.

But thus he learned so much. He was fed frequently, some one always gave him something to eat. Poor little boy had no idea of the names of the place he was staying. He learned exactly how to appeal to people in order to be fed. They usually gave him everything he wanted. Eriond was sitting in a silent alley, listening. Some one walked as if looking for something. Errand heard his thoughts and sent silent advice. Soon that some one came to him. His face was somber and serious. He looked straightly at Eriond. "I have an errand for you, boy" he said. Eriond stood up and went to him. The word errand draw him to the man. They both were very quiet after that.

Some people came across them, bowed to the man and went away. The man put Eriond inside a wagon and begun to ride. At the city gate he heard that man speak with some guard. "I am Zedar" he heard the man say, "disciple of Kal Torak. Now open the gate before I burn you to death as sacrifice". The guards opened the gate at once and the wagons moved again. Eriond fell asleep. Zedar sighed and translocated them to the farthest he could see. Then he sighed and went on. They came to a harbour and Zedar carried him to a ship. Eriond only slept. When he woke up, he begun to investigate it. The sailors laughed as he looked their work very closely. "You'll be a sailor" one of them said. "Silence!" Zedar snapped from below. The sailors obeyed immediatly. Only the captain spoke, and he only to issue his commands.

As they passed an island, Zedar picked Eriond up and translocated them on the island. The ship sailed on as if they hadn't been on that ship at all. Zedar led Eriond to a stonebuilt house and gave him some porridge.



Twins, Part 7

Eriond sat alone outside the house and sighed. Weeping Mara came to greet him. "I am not to stay here for long, gentle child" He said, "thou art to find a stone in centre of a shield. It is thy errand to bear that stone unto Belgarion, whose coming we all hast awaited since the beginning of time. So remember Belgarion". Then Aldur joined Mara and nodded. "Belzedar shall show thee where the Stone is and bring thee unto that place. After thou hast touched the Stone and given the Stone away, thy growth shall continue".

Eriond nodded. The two Gods disappeared and Eriond begun to investigate the grass. The man Aldur had called Belzedar, came to him and offered him something else to eat. He did not say anything, but Eriond knew that he was just happy to have obeyed the voice of necessity. Belzedar seemed to be bothered about something, then he shuggered and went back to eating. Eriond ate and went back outside. The grass was so interesting. He noticed some ants and looked at them with great interest. He went back for supper and then he went back to look at the ants. So he spent his days for that summer and learned the language of ants.

As the fall came, Eriond investigated the bushes and trees. He wanted to grow. That was the only desire he had. He saw the trees grow, he saw the grass grow, everything around him was growing up, but he did not. That notion did bother him a lot, but since he could not do anything about it, he just shuggered it off. Aldur and UL came to visit him quite often. He knew they were something else than humans, since he was able to sense their strong presence. He didn't mind that too much, but concentrated on playing instead.

Some years passed. Then Belzedar came to him again and said "I have an errand for you, boy". "Errand?" Eriond repeated the word. Zedar nodded. Eriond walked with him to the ship and then they sailed away.



Twins, Part 8

The ship sailed to Rak Cthaka. Eriond and Zedar went to a carriage and went along the highway. After some time, Zedar called a halt. They spent the night in a tent. Eriond heard Zedar speaking asleep. "Yes, Master" Zedar said, his voice filled with affection, "the boy shall get thy Orb and give it to Belgarion". Eriond went back to sleep.

At dawn Eriond and Zedar begun to walk across hills. They walked on the edge. Eriond almost fell once. Zedar grapped him. "No, boy. You have yet an errand to run" he said. As the sun was setting, they went down and Zedar opend a door to a ruined tower. "This was built long before the Murgos came here, boy" Zedar explained, "no one knows of this place but me and now you. Here we shall live until you are ready for your errand. Sleep now". Eriond fell asleep in his lap.
The next morning Zedar woke him up. "Come, boy. We'll bick up some driftwood at the beach". Eriond and Zedar bicked up the wood, walked back and put the wood behind buttress. It was still a summer though, so they did not need all the wood. Zedar sat on a chair at the table, reading. Eriond looked at him. Zedar sighed and suddenly a bowl of porridge appeared at the table."Eat, boy" he said. Eriond begun to eat and Zedar continued his reading, ignoring Eriond. After finishing his eating, Eriond started towards the door. "Don't go anywhere, boy" Zedar said firmly. Eriond sighed and sat down. He could not open the door. After reading a bit more, Zedar finally opened it for him. Eriond went out to the grass bench.

Eriond laid in the sunlight and watched the clouds, wondering what caused their moving. Then he noticed two birds.
They came to Eriond. "Seems like a nice boy" one bird said, "he sure does" the other replied. Then they flew to the edge. Eriond looked at them as the birds flew around picking up seeds. Somehow he understood the birds. Zedar came to him and translocated him back inside. All summer the sparrows kept company to Eriond, who watched them closely. As autumn was coming, the birds told Eriond that they were going to Northwest. "Winter comes, we must go" the birds were telling to each other.

Zedar kept him inside all winter, they burnt the wood they had gathered earlier. As they went to sleep, Eriond sometimes woke up in the middle of night and heard Zedar talking. "He shall gain the stone, Master, so the Godslayer won't have it" he said, his voice that of fear. As Eriond watched his sleep, Zedar receieved instructions from Aldur and from Torak. All Eriond got was that he was to get some stone and to give it away. That was his errand, as Zedar was always saying. As spring came, they went to gather more wood, and Eriond heard the sparrows returning. They told him of their journeys in the north. All spring Eriond watched the nesting sparrows. One sparrrow told him about other boy, who was growing up on some farm. "He seems to be a bit like you" one sparrow noticed. "Yes. Only seemed to be older. Why is it that you don't grow?" his mate asked.

"I hast an errand to do" Eriond replied, "mine growth is delayed". The birds nodded. "He speaks like Gods" they exclaimed, "yet he is but a child". Years went past as Eriond listened to birds and watched the passing clouds, spending all winters indoors. Then Zedar told him that he had an errand for him. They walked back to the highway, which took them all day, since Eriond was still like a two-year-old child, though he knew that once he had completed his Errand he would grow up again.



Twins, Part 9

Zedar lifted Eriond into a wagon that was waiting for them. Eriond was tired and barely noticed the horses headed for west. As the wagon begun to move, he fell asleep. He woke up in the next morning as the sun was rising. He looked at the environment and noticed that they were in a rocky place. The wacon was still moving, the sun was shining behind them and Eriond climbed to the head of the wagon. Zedar handed him some bread with ham on it. Eriond ate it and then Zedar handed him a bottle of water. That's all Eriond had for breakfast. They stopped for a while and went on by another wagon. Each time they stopped, they had a new wagon waiting for them. Finally they arrived at a city. Zedar put on a black robe with a purple lining inside the hood and walked Eriond to the House of Torak. The doorman bowed and made way as they entered.

"I will speak with the hierarch of this Temple" Zedar said. The doorman stared at him. "The hierarch is performing the rite of sacrifice, Holy Zedar. I must not interfere". "My Master requires his service, not a heart of a man who insulted Agachack" Zedar replied and went to the temple. Silently he looked at Agachack. "Come here" he commanded. Agachack stared at him. "Who are you? And who is this child?" he demanded. "I am disciple of Torak" Zedar said. "Will you sacrifice the child, then?" Agachack asked. "No. The Master needs this boy alive. Now go and make arrangements for we'll stay here for the night". Agachack obeyed immediatly. After Zedar had settled in, he did his best to remain respectful. "Please, advice me. What is the purpose of this Child you have brought here?" "Beware, Agachack. The time of awaking of our God is near. This Child is an innocent and thus able to take Cthrag Yaska in his hands. Thus can we recover the living Stone of Power". "Are you sure he's innocent?" the hierarch of Rak Urga doubted. "Do you question my word, Agachack? You are only a priest. Do not rise above yourself". "Forgive me, dread disciple" Agachack begged, lowering his eyes. "Now leave us. None may disturb the child and me. He must remain innocent. No rites are to be performed as we are here.

"But..." Agachack tried. "That is a commandment from Torak Himself. Surely you don't question His authority?" "No, of course not" Agachack said, trembling violently. "May I withdraw, dread Zedar?" "You may" Zedar nodded. Then he remained in the room with Eriond and they both slept. Next morning a lower priest brought in some breakfast. He kept his head down and remained silent. "I shall need some money and a ship" Zedar said. The blackrobed priest bowed profoundly and left. Later that day Eriond and Zedar walked to the harbour. "Where are we going, dread Zedar?" the Captain required politely. "Camaar" Zedar said, choosing Sendaria delibrately, since Sendaria was the only Western kingdom where he could have a ship to get to Riva.

Eriond watched the sea as they went by. Some of the sailors were fishing. That interester Eriond, who had never before seen a fish. When the sailor lifted a fish on deck, the bulbing eyes of the fish brought tears to his eyes. "It's all right, child", the startled sailor said, "we eat the fish today. It's the law of nature; eat or be eaten". Eriond didn't say anything, he just run to Zedar. "Hold it, boy" Zedar said. "I'll speak with the sailor, you go down and stay there until I come to get you". The sailor stared at Zedar and his face went pale. "I told you not to upset the boy, remember?" he demanded. "Please, forgive me. I had no idea that simple fishing would upset him" the sailor begged falling on his knees, "Please, don't hurt me!" Zedar sighed. "Hurting you would upset him, if he finds out about it. You must be punished, though". Zedar looked at the fish. "Pick it up" he said, "right now". Sailor obeyed silently. "From now on, you will not speak again, nor will you make any sound" Zedar said and made the sailor totally mute. "He shall be flogged" Zedar told the captain, "I've made sure that he won't disturb the child by screaming". Zedar went down after the captain had given the order. Eriond was down there crying. "There, there" Zedar said, "it's not so bad. There's plenty of fish in the sea. People must eat, you know". Eriond nodded.

The sailors were very quiet after that. None of them spoke as they were on board.



Twins, Part 10

No one disturbed Eriond and Zedar until they reached the wharf of Camaar. The Captain knocked and said "Camaar, dread Disciple" and went away. Zedar looked at Eriond and said, "Your Errand requires that we leave the ship now". So they went to the harbour. Zedar made arrangements with a Tolnedran merchant and they sailed to Riva. Eriond was sleepy again and he fell asleep as the ship sailed on. As they went to the quay and continued to Citadel, Zedar put everyone they came across to sleep. As Eriond entered the throne room, he saw a huge basalt throne and a dais carpeted in red. On the dais was a big shield which had a stone in its center. The stone flickered blue light as Eriond approached. "It's all right" Eriond said to the stone in the silent language of the Gods, "I am the one who is born to bear thee unto the Chosen One". The Orb sung happily its agreement. Eriond picked up the stone and heard the song increasing in his mind.

Zedar watched him inpatiently. "Hurry up. We have to go, you do have an errand to do" he said. Eriond went to him and lifted the Orb. "Errand?" he asked offering the grey stone to him. "Not to me, silly child" Zedar chided."Let's go". They went back to the Tolnedran ship that sailed immediately towards Tol Honeth. Eriond tried to offer the stone to each of the Sailors, but none of them would take it. As the ship came to Tol Honeth, Zedar bought some horses and a wagon, fed Eriond and then they left towards Nyissa. They slept one night and Zedar slept uneasily. "Yes, Master" he said in terrified voice, "I shall obey". As they came to Nyissa, Zedar turned East and as he crossed the boarder to Cthol Murgos, Ctuchick came to him.

"You keep an eye of the Child and Cthrag Yaska, I must go to Master" Zedar said. "So has the Master commanded" Ctuchik agreed. Zedar turned himself into a bird and flew to North. Eriond stared after him longingly.



Twins, Part 11

Ctuchik stared at Eriond. "You have grown, child" he said, "You look as you had grown four years since the last time I saw you. Come with me now, so I may feed you". Eriond offered the stone to Ctuchick. "Errand?" he asked, but he would not take it. All the time the two travelled to East, Eriond kept offering the grey stone to everybody. It had a small blue flame deep within, but that was nearly unseen. No one ever tried to take the stone from the child. UL whispered to Eriond. "The first part is now over, my son. Study the stone, which shalt glow in blue at the presence of Belgarion. To thee it wilt show all that was, all that is and all that will be. Thou hast been given some growth, but the rest is still delayed until thou giveth the stone away".

Eriond sighed. He looked deeply into the stone, staring at it and indeed, it showed him a lot of things. He did not, how ever, understand even tenth of what the stone was telling him. "May be I'll understand later" Eriond thought, and made effort of trying to keep everything in his memory. Some Murgos fed him. Each time he tried to give them the stone, but none would took it. Eriond sighed and continued to study the stone, that sung to him. He saw how the Grolims used their knives, but he also saw why they did it. They feared that something worse would happen otherwise. They took no joy of the sacrifice. Eriond felt sad that they had to do it. Yet the Orb showed him what the people on the altar had done in their lives, what they had felt.

The stone showed him the very soul of everyone who came near him and the Orb. The Murgo Grolims had scars in their faces, and Eriond saw through the stone that all they had in mind was fear of Torak. That was the reason why they had offered blood from their faces and hurt others. Main struggle Eriond did was trying to understand people, even without the stone in his hands. Ctuchik brought him in his study and opened a lid of an iron cask. "Put it in there, boy" he commanded. Eriond, with the help of the stone, understood what he wanted and put it there. He stayed at Ctuchik's study after that.

Several Grolims came in and each time some one entered, Eriond went to the iron cask, opened the lid and offered the stone to whom ever came in and to each in turn. Some brought food and left, others spoke with Ctuchik. No one wanted the stone in his hands, they actually feared it. Yet the stone showed him the truth of every man's true nature. Slowly, Eriond also begun to learn how to see true feelings of souls and how to speak to them.



Twins, Part 12

Eriond spent all his days in Ctuchik's study beside him. One day there came a group of people who were not Angaraks. Eriond heard Ctuchik talk with the old man with white beard and then the two begun a fight. Eriond walked calmly to the iron cask on Ctuchik's desk, opened the lid even though Ctuchik had tried to lock it. As Eriond lifted the stone and turned towards sandyhaired young man. The stone begun to glow blue light, which became brighter and brighter as he approached him.

"Belgarion" he thought and offered him the stone. To Eriond's joy he did reach for it, but he could sense how sceared that made Ctuchik, who had always feared most that the Orb should end up in the hands of Belgarion the Godslayer. Then that lady with dark hair with a single white lock scrabbed Belgarion's wrist. "No!" she said, and the round stone went rolling on the floor.

Then there was a huge earthquake as Eriond run after the rolling stone. Just after he had grapped it and hold it securely against his chest, Belgarion grapped him and draw him trough the collapsed wall. "Errand?" he asked, surprised of what was happening. Then he looked around. He saw a huge man with red beard, but in the blue light of the Orb he also saw the Dreadful Bear within him. "Errand?" he asked, offering the stone to him, but he would not take it.

Then Belgarion held him. Eriond could feel the Orb searching Belgarion's memories and shared each one of them. It's song comforted him. Then the Guardian of Rivan line and Bride of Torak came to them, but she didn't stay for long. Soon the company left. Eriond tried to offer the stone to each member of the group, but no one would take it. One of them gave him a pouch where to keep the stone. Everybody called him Errand. It felt better than just boy, so Eriond didn't really mind, though he knew that the word meant only was to be done.
****

Soon enough they arrived at Isle of Winds, where they met more people. There was one who asked did they find the Orb, and as an answer, Eriond approached him, but they stopped him. After few days, however, was the special day, and Eriond felt it clearly. He was put into bath and given a white linen, and the pouch was still on his faist. Then Belgarion entered, dressed in doublet and Hose. Soon he was alone with Belgarion.

Delicately Eriond sensed his nervousness and put his hand into his. The song of the Orb comforted them. Then Belgarion took lead, raised his hand and the door opened. They came to other set of doors, and they opened as Belgarion only raised his hand, but that didn't surprise Eriond, since he could feel that the Orb opened the doors. As they went to the room, Eriond heard the Old man they called Belgarath, say: "Behold the Orb of Aldur!" Eriond knew what was required of him and lifted the glowing stone and it's light was now brighter than he had ever seen before. "You may now give the Orb, Errand" Polgara said gently. Eriond recalled how she had stopped Belgarion before and offered it to him. As Belgarion's hand touched the Orb, it's song filled everything, but Eriond heard the voices of the Gods who had raised him: "Thy Errand is now complete, Eriond. That which was delayed may now come to pass". "Errand!" Eriond exclaimed in joy, for he felt instantly that now he would grow up again!

THE END