the blizzards and squalls they had encountered in the mountains above maragor and again among the peaks of ulgo had hinted that winter would be early and severe , and there was already a chill to the nights as they rode day after day across the open grassland toward the eastern escarpment.belgarath had recovered from his momentary fit of anger over garion 's failure to deal with relg 's attack of guilt , but then , with inescapable logic , he had placed an enormous burden squarely on garion 's shoulders .