stop swearing and chopping up furniture with his sword long enough to
listen to me.
“I’m going on to talk with Radek and Cho-Ram. Get your fleet ready and
call in the clans. I’ll either come back or send word to let you know
when to start. You’ll have to stop by the Isle of the Winds to pick up
Brand and the Rivans on your way south.”
“I’ll deal with Salmissra myself.”
“No, you won’t. Salmissra’s insulted the whole of Aloria, and the
whole of Aloria’s going to do something about it. I don’t want you to
offend Brand, Radek, and Cho-Ram by taking things into your own hands.
You’ve got work to do, Valcor, so you’d better sober up and get
cracking. I’m going on to Boktor. I’ll be back in a couple of
weeks.”
It was about dawn of the following day when I reached Boktor. Since
there were very few people about, I settled on the battlements of King
Radek’s palace. The sentry up there was noticeably startled when he
turned around and saw me standing in a place he’d just passed.
“I need to talk with the king,” I told him.
“Where is he?”
“I think he’s still asleep. Who are you? And how did you get up
here?”
“Does the name Belgarath ring any bells for you?”
He gaped at me.
“Close your mouth and take me to Radek,” I told him. I get so tired of
having people gawk at me when I’m in a hurry.
King Radek was snoring when I reached the royal bedchamber. The royal
bed was seriously mussed up, and so was the royal playmate, a busty
young woman who immediately dived under the covers when I entered. I
jerked open the drapes at the window and turned around.
“All right, Radek,” I barked,
“Wake up!”
His eyes popped open. Radek was a fairly young man. He was tall and
lean, and he had a decidedly hooked nose. Drasnian noses seem to go
off in all directions for some reason. Silk’s nose is so pointed that
from certain angles he looks like a stork, and Porenn’s husband had a
little pug nose that wasn’t much bigger than a button. I hadn’t had
much chance to look at the nose of the young lady who’d burrowed under
the covers when I’d entered. She’d moved fairly fast, and I’d been
more interested in other things.
“Good morning, Belgarath,” the king of Drasnia greeted me with
unruffled calm.
“Welcome to Boktor.” Fortunately, he was an intelligent man and not
nearly as excitable as Valcor, so he didn’t waste time trying to invent
new swear words when I told him what had happened at Riva. I didn’t
mention the fact that Prince Geran had survived the massacre on the
beach, of course. Nobody except Brand needed to know about that.
“What are we going to do about it?” he asked after I’d finished.
“I thought we might all visit Nyissa and have a little talk with
Salmissra.”
“I don’t have any problem with that.”
“Valcor’s gathering his fleet, and he’ll pick up the Rivans on his way
south. How far can your pike men march in a day?”
“Twenty leagues, if it’s important enough.”
“It is. Round them up and get them started. Go down through Algaria
and the Tolnedran Mountains. Stay out of Maragor, though. It’s still
haunted, and your pike men won’t be of much use if they all go crazy.
I’ll talk with Cho-Ram, and he’ll join you as you go south. Do you
know Beldin?”
“I’ve heard of him.”
“He’s dwarfed, he’s got a hump on his back and a foul temper. You
can’t miss him. If he’s made it back from Mallorea by the time you
reach the Vale, he’ll go with you. It’s five hundred leagues from here
to Sthiss Tor. Let’s say it’ll take you two months to reach the
eastern border of Nyissa. Don’t take any longer. The rainy season
comes on down there in the fall, and we don’t want to bog down in the
swamps.”
“Amen to that.”
“Beldin and I can stay in touch with each other, so we’ll be able to
coordinate things. I want to hit Nyissa from both sides at the same
time.
We don’t want too many Nyissans to escape, but whatever you do, don’t
kill all of them. That’d make Issa almost as unhappy as Mara is, and
we don’t need another war between Gods.”
“Issa let Salmissra kill Gorek, didn’t he?”
“No, he didn’t. He’s hibernating, so he had no idea of what Salmissra
was doing. Be very careful, Radek. Issa’s the Serpent God. If you
offend him, you might come back and find all of Drasnia infested with
poisonous snakes. Now get your pike men together and start south.
I’ve got to go talk with Cho-Ram.”
I started toward the door.
“You can tell the girl to come out now, Radek,” I threw back over my
shoulder.
“She’ll smother if she stays under there too long.” I stopped.
“Don’t you think it’s about time for you to stop all this playing?” I
asked him.
“There’s no real harm in it, Belgarath.”
“Not unless it gets out of hand. I think it’s time for you to get
married and settle down.”
“I can do that later,” he replied.
“Right now I’ve got business to take care of in Nyissa.”
I flew south to Algaria and it only took me two days to find Cho-Ram.
The chief of the Clan-Chiefs of Algaria was fairly old, and his hair
and beard were almost as white as mine. Old or not, though, you
wouldn’t have wanted to fight him. Age hadn’t slowed his saber-hand in
the slightest.
I honestly believe he could have cut off both a man’s ears so quickly
that the man wouldn’t notice that they were gone for a day or so.
We met in one of those rolling houses Fleet-foot had designed, so I was
fairly sure we’d have some privacy. Cho-Ram and I were neighbors and
old friends, so I didn’t have to bully him the way I had Valcor and
Radek. He listened carefully as I told him about the assassination of
Gorek and of what we were going to do about it.
When I finished, he leaned back, his black horsehide jacket creaking.
“We’ll be violating Tolnedran territory, you know,” he pointed out.
“That can’t be helped,” I said.
“Somebody put Salmissra up to this, and I want to find out who he is
before he gets too much of a running head start on me.”
“Ctuchik, maybe?”
“It’s possible. Let’s see what Salmissra has to say before we lay
siege to Rak Cthol, though. Radek should be along soon. Join forces
with him when he gets here. I’m going down to the Vale. If Beldin’s
made it back from Mallorea, I’ll send him along with you. If he
hasn’t, I’ll send the twins. If Ctuchik was behind this and he’s still
in Nyissa, you’ll need someone along to counter anything he throws at
you. I think I’d better go with Valcor and Brand. The Rivans are
enraged, and you know how the Chereks are.”
He smiled.
“Oh, yes,” he agreed.
“The whole world knows how the Chereks are.”
“Gather your clans, Cho-Ram. Radek should be along in a bit. If you
have to, go on ahead of his infantry. I want to be in Sthiss Tor
before the rainy season sets in.”
“I appreciate that, Ancient One. Wading through swamps in the rain is
very hard on the horses.”
Then I left for the Vale.
My luck was holding up, because Beldin had made it back from Mallorea
two days earlier. I love the twins, but they’re too gentle for the
plans I had for Nyissa. Beldin can be appropriately ungentle when the
occasion arises.
Let me set something straight here. There’s no denying the fact that I
was very angry about the murder of Gorek and his family. They were
relatives, after all, but the campaign I’d mapped out had very little
to do with vengeance and a great deal to do with deliberate terrorism.
Things in the world were already complicated enough without the
Nyissans dabbling in international politics. They had access to too
many poisons and narcotics for my taste, so the Alorn invasion of that
swamp was designed almost entirely to persuade the Serpent People to
stay home and mind their own business. I suppose that says a few
uncomplimentary things about me, but that can’t be helped.
“What are you going to do if the Murgos decide to play, too?” Beldin
asked me after I’d laid out my plan for him.
“I don’t think we need to worry about that,” I replied with more
confidence than I really felt.
“Ctuchik controls Cthol Murgos, no matter who’s sitting on the throne
in Rak Goska, and Ctuchik knows that it’s not time for a confrontation
with the Alorns yet. A lot more has to happen before we get to that.”