“Do we really have to kill him?” Eriond asked sadly. “Naradas, I mean?”
“I don’t think we have any choice, Eriond,” Garion said. “As long as he’s still alive, we’ll be stumbling over him at every turn. “He frowned. “It may be my imagination, but Zandramas seems very reluctant to leave the choice to Cyradis. If she can block us, she’ll win by default.”
“Thy perception is not altogether awry, Belgarion,” Cyradis told him. “Zandramas indeed hath done all in her power to thwart my task.” She smiled briefly. “I tell thee truly, she hath caused me much vexation, and were the choice to be between her and thee, well might I be tempted to choose against her by way of retribution.’ *
“I never thought I’d hear that from one of the seers,” Beldin said. “Are you actually coming down off that fence, Cyradis?” She smiled again. “Dear, gentle Beldin,” she said affectionately, ‘ ‘our neutrality is not the result of whim, but of duty—a duty laid upon us before even thou wast bom.”
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Since they had slept most of the day, they talked well into the night. Garion awoke refreshed the next morning and prepared to face the day’s festivities.
The nobles at the court of King Oldorin had utilized the previous day and probably half the night preparing speeches—long, flowery, and generally tedious speeches—in praise of “our heroic champions.” Protected by his closed visor, Garion frequently found himself dozing—a languor brought on not by weariness, but by boredom. At one point he heard a light clang on the side of his armor.
“Ouch!” Ce’Nedra said, rubbing her elbow.
“What’s the matter, dear?”
“Do you have to wear all that steel?”
“Yes, but you know I’m wearing it. What possessed you to try to gouge me in the ribs?”
“Habit, I suppose. Stay awake, Garion.”
“I wasn’t sleeping,” he lied.
“Really? Why were you snoring then?”
Following the speeches, the king assessed the glassy-eyed condition of his court and called upon ‘ ‘Good Master Felde-gast” to lighten things up.
Beldin was at his outrageous best that day. He walked on his hands; he did astonishing back-flips; he juggled with amazing dexterity—all the while telling jokes in his lilting brogue. “I hope IVe managed in me small way t’ add t’ the festivities, yer Majesty,” he concluded the performance after bowing in response to the enthusiastic applause of the assemblage.
“Thou art truly a virtuoso, Master Feldegast,” the king complimented him. “The memory of thy performance this day will warm many a dreary winter evening in this hall.”
“Ah, yer too kind t’ say it, yer Majesty.” Beldin bowed.
Before the banquet got under way, Garion and Zakath went back to their quarters for a light meal, since they would be unable to eat in the main dining hall without raising their visors. As guests of honor, however, it was incumbent upon them to be present.
“IVe never gotten very much entertainment out of watching other people eat,” Zakath said quietly to Garion after they had entered the banquet hall and taken their seats.
“If you want entertainment, watch Beldin,” Garion replied. “Aunt Pol spoke very firmly with him last night. She told him to mind his manners today. YouVe seen the way he usually eats.
The strain of behaving himself should come very close to making him fly apart.”
Naradas sat at the king’s right elbow. His white eyes were uncertain—even slightly baffled. The fact that Belgarath had made no attempt to get his hands on the map obviously confused him.
And then the serving men began to bring in the banquet. The smells made Cation’s mouth water, and he began to wish that he’d eaten a bit more earlier.
“I must talk with the king’s chef before we leave,” Polgara said. “This soup is exquisite.”
Sadi chuckled slyly.
“Did I say something amusing, Sadi?”
“Just watch, Polgara. I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you.”
Suddenly there was a commotion at the head of the table. Naradas had half risen, clutching at his throat with his hands. His white eyes were bulging, and he was making strangling noises.
“He’s choking!” the king cried out. “Someone help him!”
Several of the nobles near the head of the table leaped to their feet and began to pound the Grolim on the back. Naradas, however, continued to strangle. His tongue protruded from his mouth, and his face started to turn blue.
“Save him!” the king almost screamed.
But Naradas was beyond saving. He arched backward, stiffened, and toppled to the floor.
There were cries of dismay from all over the dining hall.
“How did you do that?” Velvet murmured to Sadi. “I’d take an oath that you were never anywhere near his food.”
Sadi smirked wickedly. “I didn’t have to go near his food, Liselle,” he said. “The other night I took a rather careful note of his customary place at the table. He always sits to the king’s right. I slipped in here an hour or so ago and anointed his spoon with a little something that makes a man’s throat swell shut.” He paused. “I hope he enjoyed his soup,” he added. “I know /certainly did.”
“Liselle,” Silk said, “when we get back to Boktor, why don’t you have a chat with your uncle? Sadi’s out of work just now, and Javelin could use a man with his talents.”
“It snows in Boktor, Kheldar,” Sadi said with some distaste, ***and I really don’t like snow that much.” . “You wouldn’t necessarily have to be stationed in Boktor,
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Sadi. How would Tbl Honeth suit you? You’d have to let your
hair grow, though.”
Zakath leaned forward, chuckling. “Brilliant, Sadi,*’ he added his congratulations, “and so perfectly appropriate. Nar-adas poisoned me back in Rak Hagga, and you poisoned him here. I’ll tell you what, I’ll double any offer Javelin makes you if you’ll come to work for me in Mal Zeth.”
“Zakath!” Silk exclaimed.
“The employment opportunities seem to be cropping up in all quarters of the world,” Sadi observed.
“Good men are hard to find, my friend,” Zakath told him.
The king, shaking and with his face white, was being slowly escorted from the room. As he passed their table, Garion could hear him sobbing.
Belgaralh began to swear under his breath.
“What’s the matter, father?” Polgara asked him.”
“That idiot will be in mourning for weeks. I’ll never get my hands on that map.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Belgarath was still swearing when they returned to their quarters. “I think I’ve outsmarted myself,” he fumed. “We should have exposed Naradas before we killed him. There’s no way to discredit him in the king’s eyes now.”
Cyradis sat at the table eating a simple meal with Toth standing protectively over her. “What hath thou wrought, Ancient One?” she asked.
“Naradas is no longer with us,” he replied, “and now the king’s in mourning for him. It could be weeks before he recovers his composure enough to show me that map.”
Her face grew distant and Garion seemed to hear the murmur of mat strange group mind. “I am permitted to aid thee in this, Ancient One,” she said. “The Child of Dark hath violated the Tt-fpommandment we laid upon her when we assigned her this task. •’Ipbe sent her henchman here rather than coming to seek the chart 4llerself. Thus certain strictures upon me are relaxed.” ‘$&• i ft i
asst I. ol
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She leaned back in her chair and spoke briefly to Toth. He nodded and quietly left the room. ‘ ‘I have sent for one who will assist us,” she said.
“What exactly are you going to do?” Silk asked her.
“It might be unwise of me to tell thee in advance, Prince Kheldar. Canst thou, however, discover the location of the remains of Naradas for me?”
“I should be able to do that,” he replied. “I’ll go ask around a bit.” Then he left the room.
“And when Prince Kheldar returns with the location of dead Naradas, thou, King of Riva, and thou, Emperor of Mallorea, go even unto the king and prevail upon him in the strongest of terms to accompany you at midnight to that place, for certain truths shall be revealed to him there which may lessen his grief.”
“Cyradis,” Beldin sighed, “why must you always complicate things?”
She smiled almost shyly. ‘ ‘It is one of my few delights, gentle Beldin. To speak obscurely doth cause others to ponder my words more carefully. The dawning of understanding in them causes me a certain satisfaction.”
“Not to mention the fact that it’s very irritating.”
“That perhaps is also a part of the delight,” she agreed impishly.
“You know,” Beldin said to Belgarath, “I think she’s a human being after all.”
It was about ten minutes later when Silk returned. “Found him,” he said a bit smugly. “They’ve got him laid out on a bier in the chapel of Chamdar on the main floor of the palace. I looked in on him. He’s really much, much more attractive with his eyes closed. The funeral’s scheduled for tomorrow. It’s summer, and he probably won’t keep.”