They had been climbing steadily for the past hour or more as they moved up into the low range of hills that formed the spine of the island. The land became more broken, with wooded gullies and ravines wrinkling the floor of the forest.
“I hate mountain country,” Sadi complained, looking at a cliff that suddenly reared up out of the trees. “Broken terrain is always so inconvenient.”
“It’s going to be just as troublesome for the Malloreons,” Silk pointed out.
“That’s true, I suppose,” Sadi admitted, “but I’m afraid I still don’t like hills and valleys. They seem so unnatural for some reason. Give me a nice flat swamp anytime.”
“Let me check that ravine just ahead,” Durnik said. “It’s getting on toward sunset, and we’re going to need a safe place to spend the night.” He cantered his horse to a narrow notch, splashed across the turbulent brook that issued from its mouth, and disappeared upstream.
“How far do you think we’ve come today?” Velvet asked.
“Six or eight leagues,” Belgarath replied. “We should be deep enough into the forest to avoid being noticed—unless the Malloreons intend to take this search of theirs seriously.”
“Or unless that seeress we met accidentally happens to mention the fact that we’re here,” she added.
“Why are you so suspicious about those people?” Ce’Nedra asked her.
“I’m not entirely sure,” the blond girl replied, “but I get an uneasy feeling every time one of them sends us off in some direction or other. If they’re supposed to be so neutral, why are they going out of their way to help us?”
“It’s her Academy training, Ce’Nedra,” Silk said. “Skepticism is one of the major branches of study there.”
“Do you trust her, Kheldar?” Velvet asked pointedly.
“Of course not—but then I graduated from the Academy, too.”
Durnik came back out of the ravine with a satisfied look on his face. “It’s a good place,” he announced. “It’s secure, sheltered, and well out of sight.”
“Let’s have a look,” Belgarath said.
They followed the smith up the ravine, with the brook gurgling and splashing beside them. After a few hundred yards, the ravine angled sharply to the left; farther along, it twisted back to the right again and opened out into a wooded basin. The brook they had been following upstream spilled out over the edge of a steep limestone cliff above the basin to fall as a misty spray into a pond at the upper end of the little canyon.
“Very nice, Durnik,” Polgara congratulated her husband. “And that pond really didn’t have anything at all to do with your choice, did it?”
“Well—” he said.
She laughed a rich, warm laugh, leaned across, and kissed him lightly. “It’s all right, Durnik,” she said, “but first we’ll need shelter. Then you can see if the pond is occupied.”
“Oh, it is, Pol,” he assured her. “I saw one jumping.” He hesitated. “I mean—well, I just happened to notice it in passing, is all.”
“Of course, dear.”
He lowered his head slightly, much like an abashed school- boy, but Garion could see the faint flicker of a smile playing about the smith’s lips. It was almost with a shock that he realized that his plain, honest friend was far more devious than he sometimes appeared. Since Polgara enjoyed catching him in these little subterfuges so much, Durnik often arranged things so that she could catch him—just for the sake of the pleasure it gave her.
They set the tents back under the trees, not too far from the edge of the pond. As usual, the chore of gathering firewood fell to Garion and Eriond while Durnik and Toth put up the tents. Also, as usual, Silk and Belgarath disappeared until all the work was completed. Sadi sat chatting with Velvet and Ce’Nedra, and his contralto voice seemed somehow as feminine as theirs.
As Polgara began to busy herself with supper, Durnik looked critically around at the campsite. “I guess that’s about it,” he said.
“Yes, dear,” Polgara agreed.
“Do you need anything else?”
“No, dear.”
“Well, I suppose—” He glanced toward the pond.
“Go ahead, Durnik,” she told him. “Just be sure to come back when supper’s ready.”
“Are you coming, Toth?” Durnik asked his friend.
As evening darkened their concealed basin, and the stars came out in the velvety sky overhead, they gathered about the fire and ate a supper consisting of lightly grilled lamb, steamed vegetables, and dark bread, all drawn from the sun^ plies Yard had pressed upon them before they had left the village near the beach.
“A meal fit for a king, Lady Polgara,” Sadi said expansively, leaning back.
“Yes,” Garion murmured.
Sadi laughed. “I keep forgetting,” he said. “You’re such an unassuming fellow, Belgarion. If you asserted yourself a bit, people might take more note of your royalty.”
“I couldn’t agree more, Sadi,” Ce’Nedra said.
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea at the moment,” Garion told them. “Just now, I don’t really want that kind of recognition.”
Silk rose from the place where he had been sitting.
“Where are you going, Kheldar?” Velvet asked him.
“I’m going to have a look around,” he replied. “I’ll give you a full report when I come back, so that you can make note of it in the document you’re preparing for Javelin.”
“You’re not taking this situation well at all, Prince Kheldar.”
“I just don’t like being spied on.”
“Try to look at it as a friendly concern for your welfare. It’s not really spying, if you consider it in that light, is it?”
“It amounts to the same thing, Liselle.”
“Of course, but it doesn’t seem quite so unpleasant that way, now does it?”
“Very clever.”
“I thought so myself. Try not to get lost out there.”
He went off into the darkness muttering to himself.
“How long do you think the soldiers will keep searching, Grandfather?” Garion asked.
The old man scratched absently at his bearded chin. “It’s hard to say,” he replied. “Malloreons don’t have the same kind of brainless tenacity that Murgos do; but if the orders came from someone with enough authority, they probably won’t give up until they’ve at least gone through the motions of making a thorough search.”
“Several days, then?”
“At least.”
“And all the time Zandramas is getting farther and farther ahead of us with my son.”
“I’m afraid that can’t be helped.”
“Don’t you think the slavers’ robes would deceive them, Belgarath?” Sadi asked.
“I don’t believe I want to take the chance. Murgos have seen Nyissan slavers moving around down here for so many years that they don’t give them a second glance. Malloreons are probably more alert—besides, we don’t know exactly what they’re looking for. For all we know, they could be specifically looking for a group of slavers.”
Silk quietly came back to the fire. “We’ve got company,” he said. “I saw several campfires out there.” He gestured off to the northeast.
“How close?” Garion asked quickly.
“Probably several leagues or so. I was up on top of that ridge, and you can see for quite a distance. The fires are pretty well spread out.”
“Malloreons?” Durnik asked him.
“Probably. I’d say that they’re making a sweep through the woods.”
“Well, father?” Polgara asked.
“I don’t think we can make any decisions until daylight,” the old man replied. “If they’re just making a cursory pass, we can probably sit tight. If they’re serious about it, we might have to think of something else. We’d all better get some sleep. Tomorrow might be hectic.”
Silk was up the next morning before daylight. As the rest of them rose to gather about the fire in the growing light of the dawn, he came back down the ridge. “They’re coming,” he announced, “and they’re combing the woods inch by inch. I think we can be fairly sure that some of them will come up this ravine.”
Belgarath stood up. “One of you put that fire out,” he said. “We don’t want the smoke to lead them right to us.”
As Durnik quickly shoveled dirt over their cook fire, Toth stood up and peered off across the basin. Then he tapped Belgarath on the shoulder and pointed.
“What did he say, Durnik?” the old man asked.
The smith and his huge friend exchanged a series of somewhat obscure gestures.
“He says that there’s a bramble thicket on the other side of the pond,” Durnik interpreted. “He thinks that if we go around to the back side where the cliff comes down behind it, we might be able to find a good place to hide.”
“Go look,” Belgarath said shortly, “while the rest of us brush out any traces to show we’ve been here.” f
It took about a quarter of an hour to break down their tents and to obliterate any footprints that might alert the soldiers to the fact that someone had spent the night in this secluded place. As Silk was giving the campsite a critical last scrutiny, Durnik and Toth returned. “It’s adequate,” the smith reported. “There’s an open place in the center of the thicket. We won’t leave any tracks, if we’re careful getting in there with the horses.”