“Well spoken, Erezel,” the silly king agreed enthusiastically. “I had feared me that flushing the beast from hiding might have consumed weeks. Now it is accomplished in the space of a single night. Venture forth then, my champions and Master Garath. Rid my kingdom of this dragon, and no boon ye ask shall be denied thee.”
“Thy happy discovery was timely, Master Erezel,” Belgarath said. The words were bland, but Garion knew his grandfather well enough to recognize their implication. “As his Majesty hath said, thou hast saved us much time this night. As soon as I have leisure, I will think of some way to thank thee properly.”
Naradas shrank back slightly, his face apprehensive. “No thanks are necessary, Master Garath,” he said. “I did no more than my duty to my king and his realm.”
“Ah, yes,” Belgarath said, “duty. We all have many duties, don’t we? Commend me to the Child of Dark when next thou prayest to her. Advise her that, as is foreordained, we shall meet anon.”
Then he turned and, with Garion and Zakath close behind him, he strode out among the dancers and left the throne room. So long as he had been in the presence of strangers, the old man’s expression had been neutral. Once they reached the deserted corridor, however, he began to swear savagely. “I was right on the verge of getting my hands on that chart,” he fumed. “Naradas has done it to me again.”
“Should I go back and get the others?” Garion asked.
“No. They’d all want to go along, and that’d only start an argument. We’ll leave a note.”
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“Again?”
“These repetitions are cropping up more and more regularly,
aren’t they?”
“Let’s hope Aunt Pol doesn’t react the same way this time.”
“What are you two talking about?” Zakath asked.
“Silk, Grandfather, and I slipped out of Riva when we went
to meet Torak,” GaVion explained. “We left a note, but Aunt
Pol didn’t take it too well. As I understand it, there was a lot of
swearing and a number of explosions.”
“Lady Polgara? She’s the very soul of gentility.”
“Don’t be deceived, Zakath,” Belgarath told him. “Pol’s got
a vile temper when things don’t go the way she wants them to
go.”
“It must be a family trait,” Zakath said blandly. ‘ ‘Are you trying to be funny? You two go down to the stables. Tell the grooms to saddle, our horses and find out where this village is. I want to talk with Cyradis a moment b’efore we leave. I’m going to get some straight answers out of that girl. I’ll join you in the courtyard in a few minutes.”
It was perhaps ten minutes later when they mounted. Garion and Zakath took their lances from the rack at the stable wall, and then the three of them rode out of the palace compound. “Any luck with Cyradis?” Garion asked Belgarath.
‘ ‘Some. She told me that the dragon out there is not Zandra-mas.”
“It’s the real one then?”
“Probably. She got cryptic on me then, though. She said that there’s some other spirit influencing the dragon. That means you’ll both have to be very careful. The dragon’s very stupid normally, but if some spirit’s guiding her, she might be a bit more perceptive.”
A shadow slunk from a dark side street. It was the she-wolf. “How is it with you, little sister?” Garion greeted her formally. At the last instant, he avoided calling her “Grandmother. ”
“One is content,” she replied. “You go to hunt. One will
accompany you.”
“One must advise you that the creature we seek is not fit for
eating.”
“One does not hunt only to eat.” “We will be glad of your company then.” “What did she say?” Zakath asked. ‘ ‘She wants to go along.”
“Did you warn her that it’s going to be dangerous?”
“I think she already knows.”
“It’s up to her.” Belgarath shrugged. “Trying to tell a wolf what to do is an exercise in futility.”
They passed out through the city gate and took the road to which one of the grooms had directed Garion. “He said it’s about eight miles,” Garion said.
Belgarath squinted up at the night sky. “Good,” he said, “there’s a full moon. Let’s try a gallop until we get to about a mile from that village.”
“How will we know when we’re that close?” Zakath asked.
“We’ll know,” Belgarath replied bleakly. “There’ll be all kinds of fire.”
“They don’t really breathe fire, do they?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, they do. You’re both wearing armor, so that makes it a little safer. Her sides and belly are a bit softer than her back. Try to get your lances into her, then finish her off with your swords. Let’s not drag this out. I want to get back to the palace and get my hands on that map. Let’s ride.”
It was about an hour later when they saw the red glow of fire just ahead. Belgarath reined in. “Let’s go carefully,” he said. “We’ll want to pinpoint her location before we go charging in there.”
“One wil! go look,” the she-wolf said, and loped off into the darkness.
“I’m glad she came along,” Belgarath said. “For some reason it’s comforting to have her around.”
Garion’s visor concealed his smile.
The village of Dal Esta was perched on a hilltop, and they could see the sooty red flames shooting up out of burning bams and houses. They rode up the hill a ways and found the wolf waiting for them. “One has seen the creature we seek,” she advised. “It is feeding just now on the other side of that hill where the dens of the man-things are.”
“What’s it feeding on?” Garion asked apprehensively. • “A beast such as the one upon which you sit.”
“Well?” Zakath asked.
“The dragon’s on the other side of the village,” Belgarath told him. “She’s eating a horse just now.”
“A horse*! Belgarath, this isn’t a good time for surprises. Just how big is that thing?”
*’ About the size of a house—that’s not counting the wings, of course.”
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Zakath swallowed hard. “Could we perhaps reconsider this? I haven’t taken much joy in my life until recently. I ‘d sort of like to savor it a little longer.”
“I’m afraid we’re committed now,” Garion told him. “She doesn’t fly very fast, and it takes her quite a while to get off the ground. If we can surprise her while she’s eating, we might be able to kill her before she attacks.”
They rode carefully around the hill, noting the trampled crops and the carcasses of half-eaten cows. There were a few other dead things, as well—things at which Garion carefully avoided
looking.
And then they saw it. “Torak’s teeth!” Zakath swore. “It’s
bigger than an elephant!”
The dragon was holding down the carcass of a horse with its front claws, and she was not so much feeding as she was ravening.
“Give it a try,” Belgarath said. “She’s usually a bit unwary when she’s eating. Be careful, though. Get clear of her as soon as you sink your lances into her. And don’t let your horses go down. She’ll kill them if they do, and a man on foot is at a serious disadvantage when he’s fighting a dragon. Our little sister and I will slip around to the rear and attack her tail. She’s sensitive there, and a few bites might distract her.” He dismounted, walked some distance away from the horses, and blurred into the shape of the great silver wolf. “That still unnerves me,” Zakath admitted. Garion had been looking carefully at the feedilig dragon. “Notice that she has her wings raised,” he said quietly. “With her head down like that, they block her vision toward the rear. You go around to that side, and I’ll go to this one. When we both get into position, I’ll whistle. That’s when we’ll charge. Go in as fast as you can and try to stay behind that upraised wing. Sink your lance as deep into her as you can and leave it stuck in. A couple of lances hanging out of her should impede her movements a bit. Once you get the lance in, wheel and get
out of there.”
“You’re awfully cold-blooded about this, Garion.”
“In this kind of situation you almost have to be. If you stop to think about it, you’ll never do it. This isn’t the most rational thing weVe ever done, you know. Good luck.”
“You, too.”
They separated and moved out slowly at some distance from the feeding dragon until they had flanked her on either side.
Zakath dipped his lance twice to indicate that he was in position. Garion drew in a deep breath. He noticed that his hands were shaking slightly. He shook off all thought and concentrated on a spot just behind the dragon’s front shoulder. Then he whistled shrilly.