She heard the door open and then slam shut. "Ce'Nedra, where are you?" Garion's voice sounded a trifle testy.
"I'm in here, dear."
"Why are you standing around in the dark?" he asked, coming into the room.
"I was just looking at the moon. Do you realize that it's the same moon that shines down on Tol Honeth ‑and Riva, too, for that matter?"
"I hadn't really thought about it," he replied shortly.
"Why are you being so grumpy with me?"
"It's not you, Ce'Nedra," he answered apologetically. I had another fight with Zakath, is all."
"That's getting to be a habit."
"Why is he so unreasonably stubborn?" Garion demanded.
"That's part of the nature of Kings and Emperors, dear."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing."
"Do you want something to drink? I think we've still got some of that wine left."
"I don't think so. Not right now."
"Well I do. After my little chat with his pigheaded imperialness, I need something to calm my nerves." He went back out, and she heard the clink of a decanter against the rim of a goblet.
Out in the moon‑bright atrium something moved out from the shadows of the tall, broad‑leafed trees. It was Silk. He was wearing only his shirt and hose, he had a bath sheet over his shoulder, and he was whistling. He bent at the edge of the pool and dipped his fingers into the water. Then he stood up and began to unbutton his shirt.
Ce'Nedra smiled, drew back behind the drape, and watched as the little man disrobed. Then he stepped down into the pool, shattering the reflected moon into a thousand sparkling fragments. Ce'Nedra continued to watch as he lazily swam back and forth in the moon‑dappled water.
Then there was another shadow under the trees, and Liselle came out into the moonlight. She wore a loose- fitting robe, and there was a flower in her hair. The flower was undoubtedly red, but the wan light of the full spring moon leeched away the color, making it appear black against the blond girl's pale hair. "How's the water?" she asked quite calmly. Her voice seemed very close, almost as if she were in the same room with the watching Ce'Nedra.
Silk gave a startled exclamation, then coughed as his mouth and nose filled with water. He spluttered, then recovered his composure. "Not bad," he replied in an unruffled tone.
"Good," Liselle said. She moved to the edge of the pool. "Kheldar, I think it's time that we had a talk."
"Oh? About what?"
"About this." Quite calmly she unbelted her robe and let it fall to the ground about her feet.
She wasn't wearing anything under the robe.
"You seem to have a little difficulty grasping the idea that things change with the passage of time," she continued, dipping one foot into the water. Quite deliberately, she pointed at herself. "This is one of those things."
"I noticed that," he said admiringly.
"I'm so glad. I was beginning to be afraid that your eyes might be failing." She stepped down into the pool and stood waist‑deep in the water. "Well?" she said then.
"Well what?"
"What do you plan to do about it?" She reached up and took the flower from her hair and carefully laid it on the surface of the pool.
Ce'Nedra darted to the door on silent, bare feet. "Garion!" she called in an urgent whisper. "Come here!"
"Why?"
"Keep your voice down and come here."
He grumbled slightly and came into the darkened room. "What is it?"
She pointed at the window with a muffled giggle. "Look!" she commanded in a delighted little whisper.
Garion went to the window and looked out. After a single glance, he quickly averted his eyes. "Oh, my," he said in a strangled whisper.
Ce'Nedra giggled again, came to his side, and burrowed her way under his arm. "Isn't that sweet?" she said softly.
"I'm sure it is," he whispered back, "but I don't think we ought to watch."
"Why not?"
The flower Liselle on the water had floated across the intervening and Silk, his expression bemused, picked it up and smelled it. "Yours, I believe," he said, holding it out to the pale‑skinned girl sharing the pool with him.
"Why, yes, I believe it is," she replied. "But you haven't answered my question."
"Which question?"
"What are you going to do about this?"
"I'll think of something."
"Good. I'll help you."
Garion firmly reached out and pulled the drape shut.
"Spoilsport," Ce'Nedra pouted.
"Never mind," he told her. "Now come away from the window." He drew her out of the room. "I can't understand what she's up to," he said.
"I thought that was fairly obvious."
"Ce'Nedra!"
"She's seducing him, Garion. She's been in love with him since she was a little girl and she's finally decided to take steps. I'm so happy for her that I could just burst." He shook his head. "I will never understand women,"
he said. "Just when I think I've got everything worked out, you all get together and change the rules. You wouldn't believe what Aunt Pol said to me just this morning."
"Oh? What was that?"
"She said that I ought to‑" He stopped abruptly, his face suddenly going beet red. "Ah ‑never mind," he added lamely.
"What was it?"
"I'll tell you some other time." He gave her a peculiar look then. It was a look she thought she recognized.
"Have you taken your evening bath yet?" he asked with exaggerated casualness.
"Not yet. Why?"
"I thought I might join you ‑if you don't mind."
Ce'Nedra artfully lowered her lashes. "If you really want to," she said in a girlish voice.
"I'll light some candles in there," he said. "The lamp's a bit bright, don't you think?"
"Whatever you prefer, dear."
"And I think I'll bring in the wine, too. It might help us to relax."
Ce'Nedra felt an exultant little surge of triumph. For some reason her irritability had entirely disappeared. "I think that would be just lovely, dear."
"Well," he said, extending a slightly trembling hand to her, "shall we go in, then?"
"Why don't we?"
CHAPTER TEN
The following morning when they gathered for breakfast, Silk's expression was faintly abstracted as if he had just realized that someone had somehow outbargained him. The little man steadfastly refused to look at Velvet, who kept her eyes demurely on the bowl of strawberries and cream she was eating.
"You seem a trifle out of sorts this morning, Prince Kheldar," Ce'Nedra said to him in an offhand manner, though her eyes sparkled with suppressed mirth. "Whatever is the matter?"
He threw her a quick, suspicious look.
"There, there," she said, fondly patting his hand. "I'm sure that you'll feel much better after breakfast."
"I'm not very hungry," he replied. His voice was just a little sullen. He stood up abruptly. "I think I'll go for a walk," he said.
"But my dear fellow," she protested, "you haven't eaten your strawberries. They're absolutely delicious, aren't they, Liselle?"
"Marvelous," the blond girl agreed with only the faintest hint of her dimples showing.
Silk's scowl deepened, and he marched resolutely toward the door.
"May I have yours, Kheldar?" Velvet called after him.
"If you're not going to eat them, that is?"
He slammed the door as he went out, and Ce'Nedra and Velvet exploded into gales of silvery laughter.
"What's this?" Polgara asked them.
"Oh, nothing," Ce'Nedra said, still laughing. "Nothing at all, Lady Polgara. Our Prince Kheldar had a little adventure last night that didn't turn out exactly the way he expected it to."
Velvet gave Ce'Nedra a quick look and flushed slightly. Then she laughed again.
Polgara looked at the giggling pair, and then one of her eyebrows went up. "Oh. I see," she said.
The fl
ush on Velvet's cheeks grew rosier, although she continued to laugh.
"Oh, dear." Polgara sighed.
"Is something wrong, Pol?" Durnik asked her.
She looked at the good, honest man, assessing his strict Sendarian principles. "Just a small complication, Durnik," she replied, "Nothing that can't be managed."
"That's good." He pushed back his bowl. "Do you need me for anything this morning?"
"No, dear," she replied, kissing him.
He returned her kiss and then stood up, looking across the table at Toth and Eriond, who sat waiting expectantly. "Shall we go then?" he asked them.
The three of them trooped out, their faces alight with anticipation.
"I wonder how long it's going to take them to empty all the fish out of that pond," Polgara mused.
"Forever, I'm afraid, Lady Polgara," Sadi told her,
popping a strawberry into his mouth. "The grounds keepers restock it every night."
She sighed. "I was afraid of that," she said.
About midmorning, Garion was pacing up and down one of the long, echoing halls. He felt irritable, and a sort of frustrated impatience seemed to weigh him down. The urgent need to get to Ashaba before Zandramas escaped him again was so constantly on his mind now that he could think of almost nothing else. Although they had come up with several possible schemes, Silk, Velvet, and Sadi were still searching for a suitable diversion -something startling enough to draw off Brador's secret policemen so that they could all make good their escape. There was obviously little chance of changing Zakath's mind; and it began to look increasingly as if Garion and his friends were going to have to "do it the other way." as Belgarath sometimes put it. Despite his occasional threats to Zakath, Garion didn't really want to do that. He was quite sure that to do so would permanently end his growing friendship with the strange man who ruled Mallorea. He was honest enough to admit that it was not only the friendship he would regret losing but the political possibilities implicit in the situation as well.
He was about to return to his rooms when a scarlet-liveried servant came up to him. "Your Majesty," the servant said with a deep bow, "Prince Kheldar asked me to find you for him. He'd like to have a word with you."
"Where is he?" Garion asked.
"In the formal garden near the north wall of the complex, your Majesty. There's a half‑drunk Nadrak with him ‑and a woman with a remarkably foul mouth. You wouldn't believe some of the things she said to me."
"I think I know her," Garion replied with a faint smile. "I'd believe it." He turned then and walked briskly through the hallways and out into the palace grounds.
Yarblek had not changed. Though it was pleasantly warm in the neatly manicured formal garden, he nonetheless still wore his shabby felt overcoat and his shaggy fur hat. He was sprawled on a marble bench under a leafy arbor with a broached ale keg conveniently al hand.
Vella, as lush as ever, wandered idly among the flowerbeds, dressed in her tight‑fitting Nadrak vest and leather trousers. Her silver‑hilted daggers protruded from the tops of her boots and from her belt, and her walk was still that same challenging, sensual strut, a mannerism she had practiced for so long that it was by now automatic and probably even unconscious. Silk sat on the grass near Yarblek's bench, and he, too, held ‑ an ale cup.
"I was just about to come looking for you," he said as Garion approached.
The rangy Yarblek squinted at Garion. "Well, well," he said, blinking owlishly, "if it isn't the boy‑King of Riva. I, see that you're still wearing that big sword of yours."
"It's a habit," Garion shrugged. "You're looking well, Yarblek ‑aside from being a little drunk, that is."
"I've been cutting down," Yarblek said rather piously. "My stomach isn't what it used to be."
" Did you happen to see Belgarath on your way here?" Silk asked Garion.
"No. Should I have?"
"I sent for him, too. Yarblek's got some information for us, and I want the old man to get it firsthand."
Garion looked at Silk's coarse‑faced partner. " How long have you been in Mal Zeth?" he asked.
"We got in last night," Yarblek replied, dipping his cup into the ale keg again." Dolmar told me that you were all here in the palace, so I came by this morning to look you up."
"How long are you going to stay in town?" Silk asked him.
Yarblek tugged at his scraggly beard and squinted up at the arbor. "That's kind of hard to say," he said. "Dolmar picked up most of what I need, but I want to nose around the markets a bit. There's a Tolnedran in Boktor who said that he's interested in uncut gem stones. I could pick up a quick fortune on that transaction ‑particularly if I could sneak the stones past Drasnian customs."
"Don't Queen Porenn's customs agents search your packs pretty thoroughly?" Garion asked him.
"From top to bottom," Yarblek laughed, " And they pat me down as well. They don't, however, lay one finger on Vella. They've all learned how quick she is with her daggers. I've made back what I paid for her a dozen times over by hiding little packages here and there in her clothes." He laughed coarsely. "And of course the hiding is sort of fun, too." He belched thunderously.
"Par'me," he said.
Belgarath came across the lawn. The old man had resisted all of Zakath's tactful offers of less disreputable raiment, and still wore, defiantly, Garion thought, his stained tunic, patched hose, and mismatched boots.
"Well, I see that you finally got here," he said to Yarblek without any preamble.
"I got tied up in Mal Camat," the Nadrak replied. "Kal Zakath is commandeering ships all up and down the west-coast to bring his army back from stinking Cthol Murgos. I had to hire boats and hide them in the marshes north of the ruins of Cthol Mishrak." He pointed at the ale keg. "You want some of this?" he asked.
"Naturally. Have you got another cup?"
Yarblek patted here and there at his voluminous coat, reached into an inside pocket, and drew out a squat, dented tankard.
"I like a man who comes prepared."
"A proper host is always ready. Help yourself. Just try not to spill too much." The Nadrak looked at Garion. "How about you?" he asked. "I think I could find another cup"
"No. Thanks anyway, Yarblek. It's a little early for me."
Then a short, gaudily dressed man came around the arbor. His clothes were a riot of frequently conflicting colors. One sleeve was green, the other red. One leg of his hose was striped in pink and yellow and the other covered with large blue polka dots. He wore a tall, pointed cap with a bell attached to the peak. It was not his outrageous clothing that was so surprising, however. What caught Garion's eye first was the fact that the man was quite casually walking on his hands with both feet extended into the air. "Did I hear somebody offer somebody a little drap of somethin' to drink" he asked in a strange, lilting brogue that Garion did not quite recognize.
Yarblek gave the colorful little fellow a sour look and reached inside his coat again.
The acrobat flexed his shoulders, thrusting himself into the air, flipped over in midair, and landed on his feet. He briskly brushed off his hands and came toward Yarblek with an ingratiating smile. His face was nondescript, the kind of face that would be forgotten almost as soon as it was seen, but for some reason, it seemed to Garion to be naggingly familiar.
"Ah, good master Yarblek," the man said to Silk's partner, "l'm sure that yer the kindest man alive. I was near to perishin' of thirst, don't y' know?" He took the cup, dipped into the ale keg, and drank noisily. Then he let out his breath with a gusty sound of appreciation.
"Tis a good brew ye have there, Master Yarblek," he said, dipping again into the keg.
Belgarath had a peculiar expression on his face, partly puzzled but at the same time partially amused.
"He came tagging along when we left Mal Camat," Yarblek told them. "Vella finds him amusing, so I haven't chased him off yet. She turns a little shrill when she doesn't get her own wary."
"The name is Feldegast, fine gentlemen," the gau
dy little fellow introduced himself with an exaggerated bow. "Feldegast the juggler. I be also an acrobat ‑as ye've seen fer yerselves‑ a comedian of no mean ability, and an accomplished magician. I can baffle yer eyes with me unearthly skill at prestidigitation, don't y' know. I kin also play rousin' tunes on a little wooden whistle ‑or, if yer mood be melancholy, I kin play ye sad songs on the lute to bring a lump to yer throat and fill yer eyes with sweet, gentle tears. Would ye be wantin' to witness some of me unspeakable talent?"
"Maybe a little later," Belgarath told him, his eyes still a little bemused. "Right now we have some business to discuss."
"Take another cup of ale and go entertain Vella, comedian," Yarblek said to him. "Tell her some more off-color stories."
" 'Twill be me eternal delight, good Master Yarblek," the outrageous fellow said grandly. "She's a good strappin' wench with a lusty sense of humor and a fine appreciation fer bawdy stories." He dipped out more ale and then capered across the lawn toward the dark‑haired Nadrak girl.
" Disgusting," Yarblek growled, looking after him. "some of the stories he tells her make my ears bum, but the nastier they are, the harder she laughs." He shook his head moodily.
"Let's get down to business," Belgarath said. "We need to know what's going on in Karanda right now." "That's simple," Yarblek told him. "Mengha, that's what's going on. Mengha and his cursed demons."
"Dolmar filled us in," Silk said. "We know about what happened at Calida and about the way that Karands are flocking in to join his army from all over the seven kingdoms. Is he making any moves toward the south yet?"
"Not that I've heard," Yarblek replied. "He seems to be consolidating things through the north right now. He's whipping all of the Karands into hysteria, though. If Zakath doesn't do something quickly, he's going to have a full‑scale revolution on his hands. I can tell you, though, that it's not safe to travel in northern Karanda right now. Mengha's shrieking Karands control everything to the coast of Zamad."
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