Guardians of the West

conversation in the adjoining room broke off suddenly at the sound of a knock on the door.
    "Am I welcome here?" he heard Queen Islena ask in a subdued voice.
    "Of course you are," Aunt Pol replied.
    "I had thought that-" Islena faltered, then began again. "Considering everything, I had thought that perhaps it might be better if I stayed away."
    "Nonsense," Queen Layla declared. "Do come in, Islena." There was a general murmur of agreement.
    "I swear to you all that my husband is innocent of this atrocity," Islena said in a clear voice.
    "No one is saying that he was not, Islena," Aunt Pol replied quietly.
    "Not openly perhaps, but there are ugly suspicions everywhere."
    "I'm certain that Garion and the others will get to the bottom of it," Ce'Nedra said firmly. "Then everything will be cleared up."
    "My poor Anheg did not sleep at all last night," Islena told them sadly. " I know that he looks brutish, but inside he's really very sensitive. This has hurt him deeply. Once he even cried."
    "Our lords will requite the tears thy husband hath shed upon the body of the foul villain who lurks behind this monstrous act." the Baroness Nerina declared. "And the foolish men who doubt his true fidelity shall be covered with shame for their lack of trust, once the truth is out."
    "I can only hope that you're right," Islena said.
    "This is a mournful topic, ladies," Garion's cousin Adara told the rest of them, "and it has nothing to do with the real reason we're all here."
    " And what reason is that, gentle Adara?" Ariana asked.
    "The baby, Ariana," Adara replied. "We've come to see your baby again, Ce'Nedra. I'm sure he's not still sleeping, so why don't you bring him in here so that we can all fuss over him?"
    Ce'Nedra laughed. "I thought you'd never ask."
    The council meeting began about midmorning. The kings and their advisors gathered once more in a blue-draped council chamber. The golden sunlight of a late summer morning streamed in through the windows and a gentle sea breeze stirred the draperies. There was no particular formality in these sessions, and the monarchs and the others lounged comfortably in the velvet-upholstered chairs scattered about the room.
    "I really don't think we'll accomplish too much by chewing on that letter for another day," Belgarath began. "Let's agree that it's obviously a forgery of some kind and move on." He looked at Kail. "Did your father have any enemies here on the island?" he asked, "Someone wealthy enough and powerful enough to hire Cherek assassins?"
    Kail frowned. "No one can go through life without stepping on a few toes, Ancient One," he replied, "but I don't think anybody was holding that kind of grudge."
    "In truth, my friend," Mandorallen told him, "some men, when they feel that they have been offended, will nurture their rancor in silence and with dissembling guise conceal their enmity until opportunity doth present itself to revenge themselves. The history of Arendia is replete with stories of such acts."
    "It's a possibility." King Fulrach agreed. " And it might be better if we start close to home before we begin to go further afield."
    "A list might be useful," Javelin suggested. "If we write down the name of every man on the Isle of the Winds whom Brand might possibly have offended, we can start eliminating them. Once we have the list narrowed down, we can start investigating. If the man behind this is a Rivan, he'd either have had to visit Cherek or had some contact with Chereks sometime in the recent past."
    It took the remainder of the morning to compile the list.
    Kail sent for certain documents, and they all considered each of the decisions Brand had made during the past five years.
    Since the Warder had functioned as the kingdom's chief-magistrate, there had been many decisions and usually a winner and a loser in each case.
    After lunch, they began the winnowing process, discarding the names of those men without sufficient wealth or power to be able to obtain the services of paid assassins.
    "It's narrowing down a bit," Javelin said as he struck off another name. He held up the list. "We've got this down to almost manageable proportions."
    There was a respectful knock on the door. One of the guards posted there spoke briefly with someone outside, then came over to Barak and murmured something to him. The big red-bearded man nodded, rose, and followed him from the room.
    "How about this one?" Javelin asked Kail, pointing at another name.
    Kail scratched at one cheek. "I