“What gave you that idea?”
“Well – the other day, when we gave Ce’Nedra the amulet – didn’t he – sort of -?”
“Most of that came from you, dear,” she replied.
“I felt something else.”
“That could have been just me. It was a pretty subtle thing, and even I couldn’t be sure if he had any part in it.”
“There has to be some way we can find out.”
“There’s only one way, Garion, and that’s for him to do something.”
“All right, let’s go off with him someplace and have him try – something sort of small, maybe.”
“And how would we explain that to him?”
“You mean he doesn’t know?” Garion sat up quickly.
“He might, but I rather doubt it.”
“You didn’t tell him?”
“Of course not. If he has any doubts whatsoever about his ability, he’ll fail, and if he fails once, that will be the end of it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“A very important part of it is knowing that it’s going to work. If you aren’t absolutely sure, then it won’t. That’s why we can’t tell him.”
Garion thought about it. “I suppose that makes sense, but isn’t it sort of dangerous? I mean, what if something really urgent comes up, and he tries to do something about it, and we all of a sudden find out that he can’t?”
“You and I would have to deal with it then, dear.”
“You seem awfully calm about it.”
“Getting excited doesn’t really help very much, Garion.”
The door burst open, and Queen Layla, her hair awry and her crown slipping precariously over one ear, stormed in. “I won’t have it, Polgara,” she declared angrily. “I absolutely won’t have it. You’ve got to talk to him. Oh, excuse me, your Majesty,” the plump little queen added, noticing Garion. “I didn’t see you.” She curtsied gracefully.
“Your Highness,” Garion replied, getting up hurriedly and bowing in return.
“With whom did you wish me to speak, Layla?” Aunt Pol asked. ”
Anheg. He insists that my poor husband sit up and drink with him every night. Fulrach’s so sick this morning that he can barely lift his head off the pillow. That great bully of a Cherek is ruining my husband’s health.”
“Anheg likes your husband, Layla. It’s his way of showing his friendship.”
“Can’t they be friends without drinking so much?”
“I’ll talk to him, dear,” Aunt Pol promised.
Mollified somewhat, Queen Layla departed, curtsying again to Garion.
Garion was about to return to the subject of Belgarath’s infirmity when Aunt Pol’s maid came in to announce Lady Merel.
Barak’s wife entered the room with a somber expression. “Your Majesty,” she greeted Garion perfunctorily.
Garion rose again to bow and politely respond. He was getting rather tired of it.
“I need to talk with you, Polgara,” Merel declared.
“Of course,” Aunt Pol replied. “Would you excuse us, Garion?”
“I’ll wait in the next room,” he offered. He crossed to the door, but did not close it all the way. Once again his curiosity overcame his good manners.
“They all keep throwing it in my face,” Merel blurted almost before he was out of the room.
“What’s that?”
“Well-” Merel hesitated, then spoke quite firmly. “My lord and I were not always on the best of terms,” she admitted.
“That’s widely known, Merel,” Aunt Pol told her diplomatically.
“That’s the whole problem,” Merel complained. “They all keep laughing behind their hands and waiting for me to go back to being the way I was before.” A note of steel crept into her voice. “Well, it’s not going to happen,” she declared, “so they can laugh all they want to.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Merel,” Aunt Pol replied.
“Oh, Polgara,” Merel said with a helpless little laugh, “he looks so much like a great shaggy bear, but he’s so gentle inside. Why couldn’t I have seen that before? All those years wasted.”
“You had to grow up, Merel,” Aunt Pol told her. “It takes some people longer, that’s all.”
After Lady Merel had left, Garion came back in and looked quizzically at Aunt Pol. “Has it always been like that?” he asked her. “What I mean is – do people always come to you when they’ve got problems?”
“It happens now and then,” she replied. “People seem to think that I’m very wise. Usually they already know what they have to do, so I listen to them and agree with them and give them a bit of harmless support. It makes them happy. I set aside a certain amount of time each morning for these visits. They know that I’m here if they feel the need for someone to talk to. Would you care for some tea?”
He shook his head. “Isn’t it an awful burden – all these other people’s problems, I mean?”
“It’s not really that heavy, Garion,” she answered. “Their problems are usually rather small and domestic. It’s rather pleasant to deal with things that aren’t quite so earthshaking. Besides, I don’t mind visitors whatever their reason for coming.”
The next visitor, however, was Queen Islena, and her problem was more serious. Garion withdrew again when the maid announced that the Queen of Cherek wished to speak privately with the Lady Polgara; but, as before, his curiosity compelled him to listen at the door of the adjoining chamber.
“I’ve tried everything I can think of, Polgara,” Islena declared, “but Grodeg won’t let me go.”
“The High Priest of Belar?”
“He knows everything, naturally,” Islena confirmed. “All his underlings reported my every indiscretion to him. He threatens to tell Anheg if I try to sever my connection with the Bear-cult. How could I have been so stupid? He’s got his hand around my throat.”
“Just how indiscreet have you been, Islena?” Aunt Pol asked the queen pointedly.
“I went to some of their rituals,” Islena confessed. “I put a few cult members in positions in the palace. I passed some information along to Grodeg.”
“Which rituals, Islena?”
“Not those, Polgara,” Islena replied in a shocked voice. “I’d never stoop to that.”
“So all you really did was attend a few harmless gatherings where people dress up in bearskins and let a few cultists into the palace where there were probably a dozen or more already anyway – and pass on a bit of harmless palace gossip? – It was harmless, wasn’t it?”
“I didn’t pass on any state secrets, Polgara, if that’s what you mean,” the queen said stiffly.
“Then Grodeg doesn’t really have any hold over you, Islena.”
“What should I do, Polgara?” the queen asked in an anguished voice.
“Go to Anheg. Tell him everything.”
“I can’t.”
“You must. Otherwise Grodeg will force you into something worse. Actually, the situation could be turned to Anheg’s advantage. Tell me exactly how much you know about what the cult is doing?”
“They’ve begun creating chapters among the peasants, for one thing.”
“They’ve never done that before,” Aunt Pol mused. “The cult’s always been restricted to the nobility and the priesthood.”
“I can’t be sure,” Islena told her, “but I think they’re preparing for something major – some kind of confrontation.”
“I’ll mention it to my father,” Aunt Pol replied. “I think he’ll want to take steps. As long as the cult was the plaything of the priesthood and the minor nobility, it wasn’t really all that important, but rousing the peasantry is quite another thing.”
“I’ve heard a few other things as well,” Islena continued. “I think they’re trying to penetrate Rhodar’s intelligence service. If they can get a few people in the right places in Boktor, they’ll have access to most of the state secrets in the West.”
“I see.” Aunt Pol’s voice was as cold as ice.
“I heard Grodeg talking once,” Islena said in a tone of distaste. “It was before he found out that I didn’t want anything more to do with him. He’d been reading the auguries and the signs in the heavens, and he was talking about the return of the Rivan King. The cult takes the term ‘Overlord of the West’ quite seriously. I honestly believe that their ultimate goal is to elevate Belgarion to the status of Emperor of all the West – Aloria, Sendaria, Arendia, Tolnedra – even Nyissa.”
“That’s not how the term was meant to be interpreted,” Aunt Pol objected.
“I know,” Islena replied, “but Grodeg wants to twist it until it comes out that way. He’s a total fanatic, and he wants to convert all the people of the West to Helar – by the sword, if necessary.”
“That idiot!” Aunt Pol raged. “He’d start a general war in the West if he tried that – and even set the Gods to wrangling. What is there about Alorns that makes them continually want to expand to the south? Those boundaries were established by the Gods themselves. I think it’s time for someone to put his foot down on Grodeg’s neck firmly. Go to Anheg immediately. Tell him everything and then tell him that I want to see him. I imagine that my father’s going to want to discuss the matter with him as well.”