Here, in the eagerly awaited sequel to David Eddings' bestselling The Belgariad, is the first book of The Malloreon, an epic quest across strange lands and among stranger peoples--a magnificent fantasy of men, Kings, Sorcerers, and Gods caught up in the culmination of the seven-thousand-year war between two opposing Destinies to determine the fate of all creation. Garion had slain the evil God Torak and been crowned King of Riva. The Prophecy was fulfilled--or so it seemed. While the strange child Erand was growing up in the Vale of Aldur with Plgara and Durnik, showing only occasional flashes of inexplicable knowledge and power, Garion was learning to rule and to be the husband of his fiery little Queen Ce'Nedra. Eleven years passed. Then suddenly the Voice of Prophecy cried out a warning: "Beware Zandramas!" Not even Belgarath the Sorcerer knew who or what Zandramas was. But Garion discovered hints in a previously obscured part of the Mrin Codex. Worse, he learned that the Dark Prophecy was still waging its ancient struggle against the Prophecy of Light. Again, a great evil was brewing in the East. And again, Garion found himself a pawn, caught between the two ancient Prophecies, with the fate of the world somehow resting on him.

In this second book of The Malloreon, Garion and Ce'nedra continue the quest begun in Guardians of the West. In their party travel the immortal Belgarath the Sorcerer, his daughter Polgara the Sorceress, and the little Drasnian, Silk. Garion knows that it is the mysterious figure Zandramas who is responsible for the abduction of his infant son, and he and his companions journey many miles and encounter many strange beings in their search for him. Their way leads through the foul swamps of Nyissa, ruled over by the Snake-Queen, and on into the dark kingdom of the Murgos, where human sacrifices are still made to the dead god Torak. Further on, however, even beyond those forbidding lands, they must face the ultimate danger - not only to themselves but to all mankind... THUS CONTINUES BOOK TWO OF THE MALLOREON