“Because I know why you’re following Zandramas—and more importantly, I know where Zandramas is going. It’s a very dangerous place for you, but I can arrange a way for us to move around freely once we get there. Now, why don’t we put aside all this childishness about trusting each other and get down to business?”
“We’re just wasting time here,” Belgarath said to the rest of them.
“I can be very useful to you, Ancient One,” Sadi told him.
“Or to anyone who might want to know where we are,” Silk added.
“That wouldn’t be in my own best interests, Kheldar.”
“Which brings up an interesting point,” Silk said. “I have a splendid opportunity here to turn a quick profit. You mentioned the fact that there’s a large price on your head. If you don’t want to be co-operative, I might just decide to collect that price. How much did you say it was?”
“You won’t do that, Kheldar,” Sadi replied placidly. “You’re in a hurry to catch up with Zandramas, and there are always a hundred administrative details involved in collecting a reward. It would probably be a month before you saw any of the money, and Zandramas would be that much farther ahead of you by then.”
“That’s probably true,” Silk admitted. He reached for one of his daggers with a regretful expression. “There’s this other alternative, however—messy, but usually fairly effective.”
Sadi backed away from him. “Belgarath,” he said in a faintly alarmed voice.
“That won’t be necessary, Silk,” the old man said. He turned to Polgara. “See what you can do, Pol,” he suggested.
“All right, father.” She turned to the eunuch. “Sit down, Sadi,” she told him. “I want you to look at something.”
“Of course, Lady Polgara,” he agreed amiably, seating himself in a chair by the table.
“Look closely,” she said, making a curious gesture in front of his eyes.
The eunuch continued to smile. “How charming,” he murmured, looking at something which seemed to have appeared before his eyes. “Can you make it do any other tricks, too?”
She bent forward and looked closely into his eyes. “I see. You’re more clever than I thought, Sadi.” She turned back to the rest of them. “He’s drugged,” she said. “Probably what he drank out of that flask. Right now there’s absolutely nothing I can do with him.”
“That takes us back to the other alternative, doesn’t it?” Silk said, reaching for his dagger again.
Polgara shook her head. “Right now, he wouldn’t even feel it.”
“Oh,” Sadi said in a disappointed voice, “you made it go away—and I rather liked it.”
“The drug won’t last forever.” Silk shrugged. “And by the time it wears off, we should be far enough from the city to be able to carve some answers out of him without the screams attracting any attention.” His hand strayed again to the hilt of his dagger.
“Alorns,” the dry voice in Garion’s mind said disgustedly. “Why is it that your solution to every problem comes out of a scabbard?”
“What? “
“Tell the little thief to put away his knife.”
“But—”
“Don’t argue with me, Garion. You have to have Sadi’s information about Zandramas, and I can’t give it to you.”
“You’re not suggesting that we take him along? “ Garion was profoundly shocked at the idea.
“I’m not suggesting anything, Garion. I’m telling you. Sadi goes along. You can’t do what you have to do without him. Now tell your grandfather.”
“He’s not going to like it.”
“I can face that prospect with enormous fortitude.” Then the voice was gone.
“Grandfather,” Garion said in a sick tone.
“What?” The old man’s tone was testy.
“This isn’t my idea, Grandfather, but—” Garion looked at the dreamy-faced eunuch with distaste and then lifted his hands helplessly.
“You’re not serious!” Belgarath exclaimed after a moment.
“I’m afraid so.”
“Am I missing something?” Sadi asked curiously.
“Shut up!” Belgarath snapped. Then he turned back to Garion. “Are you absolutely sure?”
Garion nodded dejectedly.
“This is sheer idiocy!” The old man turned and glared at Sadi. Then he reached across the table and took the front of the eunuch’s iridescent robe in his fist. “Listen to me very carefully, Sadi,” he said from between clenched teeth. “You’re going with us, but keep your nose out of that flask. Do you understand me?”
“Of course, Ancient One,” the eunuch replied in that same dreamy voice.
“I don’t think you fully grasp what I’m talking about,” Belgarath continued in a dreadfully quiet voice. “If I catch you with your brains full of dandelion fluff just once, I’ll make you wish that Kheldar had gotten to you with his knife first. Do you follow me?”
Sadi’s eyes grew wide, and his face blanched. “Y—yes, Belgarath,” he stammered fearfully.
“Good. Now start talking. Just exactly what do you know about Zandramas?”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“It all started last year,” Sadi began, still eyeing Belgarath apprehensively. “A Malloreon posing as a jewel merchant came to Sthiss Tor and sought out my chief rival at the palace—a petty schemer named Sariss. It was rather general knowledge that Sariss had long coveted my position, but I hadn’t gotten around to having him killed yet.” He made a face. “A grave oversight, as it turned out. Anyway, Sariss and the Malloreon negotiated for a bit, and the bargain they struck had nothing to do with gem stones. This so-called jeweler needed something that only someone in a position of authority could provide, so he gave Sariss certain information that Sariss was able to use to discredit me and usurp my position.”
“I just love politics, don’t you?” Silk said to no one in particular.
Sadi grimaced again. “The details of my fall from the queen’s favor are tedious,” he continued, “and I really don’t want to bore you with them. At any rate, Sariss supplanted me as Chief Eunuch, and I barely escaped from the palace with my life. Once Sariss had consolidated his position, he was able to keep his part of the bargain he had reached with his Malloreon friend.”
“And what exactly did the Malloreon want?” Silk asked.
“This, Prince Kheldar,” Sadi said, rising and going to his rumpled cot. He drew a carefully folded parchment from beneath the mattress and handed it to the little man.
Silk read it quickly and then whistled.
“Well?” Belgarath said.
“It’s an official document,” Silk replied. “At least, it’s over the queen’s seal. Early last spring, Salmissra dispatched a diplomatic mission to Sendaria.”
“That’s fairly routine, Silk.”
“I know, but there are also some secret instructions to the diplomats. She tells them that they will be met at the mouth of the River of the Serpent by a foreigner, and that they are to render this stranger every possible aid. The gist of the whole thing is that these diplomats were to make arrangements to get the foreigner to the port of Halberg on the west coast of Cherek and to have a Nyissan ship standing off the Rivan coast on a certain date about the middle of last summer.”
“Coincidence, perhaps?” Belgarath suggested.
Silk shook his head and held up the parchment. “It identifies the foreigner by name. The diplomats were supposed to identify their passenger by the name ‘Zandramas.’”
“That explains a few things, doesn’t it?” Garion said.
“May I see that?” Polgara asked.
Silk handed her the parchment.
She looked at it briefly and then held it out to Sadi. “Are you positive that this is Salmissra’s seal?” she asked him.
“There’s no question about it, Polgara,” he replied, “and no one dares to touch that seal without her consent.”
“I see.”
“How did you come by the document, Sadi?” Silk asked curiously.
“Four copies of all official documents are routinely made, Prince Kheldar. It’s one of the resources of those with access to the queen’s favor. The purchase price of the extra copies has been established for centuries.”
“All right,” Garion said, “so Zandramas came to Nyissa posing as a merchant, arranged to have Sariss replace you as Chief Eunuch, and somehow managed to get Salmissra to issue that order. Is that it?”
“It’s not quite that simple, Belgarion,” Sadi told him. “The Malloreon merchant was not Zandramas. No one here in Sthiss Tor ever saw Zandramas. The ‘stranger’ the document talks about joined the diplomats on their way to Sendaria. So far as I’ve been able to determine, Zandramas never passed through Sthiss Tor. Not only that, but after the arrangements for the ship to Halberg had been made, all the diplomats conveniently died. They were stopping over at an inn in Camaar on their way to the capital, and there was a fire in the middle of the night. No one escaped the fire.”
“That’s got a familiar ring to it,” Silk said-
“All right then,” Garion said, “who was the Malloreon jeweler?”
Sadi spread his hands helplessly. “I was never able to find out,” he confessed.