that moment of silence. I described her to the servants who were
cleaning up the debris of the previous evening’s festivities.
‘That would be the Countess Asrana, my Lady,’ a sober-faced
cleaning man told me. ‘She’s a notorious flirt and very witty.’
‘That’s the one,’ I said. ‘I think she and I were introduced some
years back, and I thought I’d look her up. Where do you suppose
I might find her?’
‘Her apartment’s in the west tower, my Lady, on the ground
floor.’
‘Thank you,’I murmured, gave him a small coin, and went looking
for the west tower.
The countess was just a trifle indisposed when her maid escorted
me into the room where she lay on a divan with bleary eyes and a
cold, wet cloth on her forehead. ‘I don’t believe I know you,’ she
told me in a tragic voice.
‘Are you unwell?’ I asked her.
‘I’m feeling just a little delicate this morning,’ she confessed. ‘I
wish it were winter. If it were, I’d go out into the courtyard and
stick my head in a snowbank for an hour or so.’ Then she looked
at me more closely. ‘You look awfully familiar, for some reason.’
‘I don’t think we’ve ever met, countess.’
‘It’s not that we’ve met, I don’t think. It’s something I’ve heard
about.’ She put her fingertips to her temples. ‘Oh, dear,’ she groaned.
‘We need to talk, Asrana,’ I told her, ‘but I’d better do something
about your condition first.’ I opened the small reticule I carried and
took out a glass vial. I poured the contents into the bottom of a cup
that was standing on a sideboard and then filled the cup with water.
‘This won’t taste very good,’ I warned.
‘Will it make me feel better?’
‘It should.’
‘Then I really don’t care what it tastes like.’ She drank it and then
shuddered. ‘That’s dreadful,’ she said. ‘You’re a physician?’ she
asked.
,I’ve had some training along those lines,’ I admitted.
‘What a peculiar occupation for a lady of rank,’ she said. She
touched her forehead. ‘I believe it’s actually getting better.’
,That was the whole idea, countess. As soon as the potion I just
gave you takes hold a little more, there’s something I’d like to talk
with you about.’
I owe you my life, dear Lady,’ she said extravagantly. ‘But I still
seem to know you for some reason.’ Then she made a little face.
,of course, on mornings like this one all sorts of strange idea’s come
to me.’ She shook her head slightly. ‘Amazing!’ she said. ‘My head
didn’t fall off. You could make a fortune with that potion here in
Vo Astur, you know. Everybody in the palace probably feels as
awful as I did a while ago. Whatever it was you gave me is
miraculous. I think I’ll actually live now. It’s almost like magic.’ She stopped
suddenly and looked at me as if really seeing me for the first time.
Then she started to tremble. ‘It was magic, wasn’t it?’
‘No, dear. Not really.’
‘Oh, yes it was’ You’ve got that white lock in your hair, and
you’re a physician. You’re Polgara the Sorceress, aren’t you? You’re
Belgarath’s daughter!’
‘My terrible secret’s out, I see,’ I sighed with mock regret.
‘You’re a million years old!’
I touched my cheek. ‘Does it really show that much, Asrana?’
‘Of course not, Lady Polgara,’ she replied. ‘You don’t look a day
over a hundred thousand.’ Then we both laughed, and she winced.
‘Rushing things a bit there,’ she noted, touching her forehead
slightly. ‘Please don’t make me laugh for a little while yet. Your
spell hasn’t really had time to get to the bottom of this headache
yet.’
‘It wasn’t really a spell, Asrana – just a mixture of some fairly
common herbs.’ I decided not to make an issue of the fact that her
Mornings would be much more enjoyable if she didn’t drink so
much wine every evening. ‘Is there something you could send your
maid to fetch for you?’ I asked her. ‘I’d like to talk to you without
anyone around.’
‘Breakfast, I think. I’m suddenly ravenous. Would you join me?’
‘I’d be delighted, dear.’
After the girl had left, Asrana and I got down to business. ‘I’m not
trying to be offensive, Countess, but I’m not very much impressed by
Your duke.’
‘Who is? We all have to be careful not to step on him when he’s
in the throne room. Do you happen to have a cure for n-dnsculism
Oldaran should probably take a double dose if you do. He’s a bug,
Polgara, so stepping on him’s a natural reaction. Life around here
would be much simpler if somebody’d just squish him and have
done with it. Would you care for some wine?’
‘Ah – not just now, Asrana, and you’d probably better drink water
this morning, too. Mixing wine with the potion I just gave you
would make you terribly ill.’
‘I knew there had to be a drawback. Where were we?’
‘We were discussing Duke Oldoran’s shortcomings.’
‘And shortgoings as well, as I recall.’ The Countess Asrana had
a quick tongue, and I rather liked her.
‘If the occasion arose, which of the men here at court would be
best to replace him?’
‘The Earl Mangaran, of course. Have you met him?’
‘I saw him last night. He doesn’t seem to have a very high opinion
of your duke.’
‘He’s not alone there. Who could possibly love his Bugship?’
‘Who’s that Tolnedran who seems to have taken up residence in
the duke’s pocket?’
‘You mean Gadon? He’s a merchant of some kind, and I think,
he’s made Oldoran some sort of offer – probably dishonorable and,
certainly disgusting. Gadon’s been knocking around the palace here
for the past half-year buying up court functionaries by the gross.
Nobody likes him, but he’s got the duke’s ear, so we have to be
civil.’
‘Are you in the mood for some serious plotting this morning,
Asrana?’
‘Now that my headache’s gone away, I’m in the mood for almost’
anything. What should we plot about?’
‘How about a revolution, Countess?’
‘Oh, what fun!’ she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. ‘I’d
just love to be a party to the downfall of the Bug. Are you going to
kill him, Polgara? If you are, can I watch?’
‘You’re a bad girl, Asrana.’
‘I know, and it’s so much fun. Are we going to sneak around in the
middle of the night holding whispered conversations and secretly
smuggling weapons into the palace?’
‘You’ve been reading too many bad epics, Asrana. A good plot
doesn’t work that way. I think we ought to have a talk with Earl
Mangaran before we elevate him to the throne, don’t you? He’s of
advanced years, and that sort of surprise might be hard on his veins.’
,spoilsport. I thought we could give him the throne for his
birthday.’
‘Are we likely to encounter much resistance if we move against
the duke? Are there any here at court who’d back him? Relatives
or officials with something to lose if we deposed him?’
‘Let me deal with them, Lady Polgara. I can wrap just about any
man here at court around my little finger if I really want to.’
I’ve broken a few hearts myself on occasion, and I’ve known some
of the most outrageous flirts in history, but Countess Asrana was
in a class by herself, and I’m certain that her towering self-confidence
was fully justified.
After breakfast, the countess sent word to Earl Mangaran, asking
him to meet us in the rose garden. Just to be on the safe side, I sent
out a searching thought when Asrana and I went into the garden.
This wasn’t going to be a conversation we’d care to have overheard.
The Earl Mangaran looked weary as he joined us, but there was
a tinge of impishness in his eyes nonetheless.
‘Should I tell him?’ Asrana asked me.
‘You might as well,’ I replied. ‘We won’t get very far with this if
he doesn’t know.’
‘I’ve a bit of a surprise fer y’, yer Earlship,’ Asrana said in a fair
imitation of the brogue of the Wacite peasants. ‘This dear lass with
th’ unspeakable beauty is after bein’ th’ Lady Polgara, don’t y’ know.
Aren’t y’ honored enough t’ just fall down in a swoon t’ make her
acquaintance.’
‘Please, Countess,’ Mangaran said, passing a weary hand across
his eyes, ‘I’ve had a very trying morning. His Grace is absolutely
impossible just now. He isn’t out of bed yet, and he’s already drunk.
Don’t start off with fairy-tales.’
‘But she is, my Lord. This is really Polgara the Sorceress.’ Asrana
gave me a look of wide-eyed innocence. ‘Sorcerize him, Lady
Polgara,’ she urged. ‘Turn him into a toad or something.’
‘Do you mind, Asrana?’ I said.
‘He’s a skeptic, Polly. Make all his hair fall out.’
Nobody had ever called me ‘Polly’ before – and nobody had better