Guardians of the West

King Cho-Hag said quietly.
    "Were we keeping score?" Garion asked mildly.
    "It helps us to keep track, sort of," the Chief of the Clan-Chiefs of Algaria answered with a straight face.
    It was not until several days later that word reached Riva concerning Varana's rather novel approach to his problem with the Vordues. A Drasnian ship sailed into the harbor one morning, and an agent of the Drasnian Intelligence Service brought a sheaf of dispatches to Queen Porenn. After she read them, she entered the council chamber with a smug little smile. "I believe we can set our minds at rest about Varana's abilities, gentlemen," she told the Alorn Kings. "He appears to have found a solution to the Vordue question."
    "Oh?" Brand rumbled. "What is it?"
    "My informants advise me that he has made a secret arrangement with King Korodullin of Arendia. This so-called Kingdom of Vordue has suddenly become absolutely infested with Arendish bandits -most of them in full armor, oddly enough."
    "Wait a minute, Porenn," Anheg interrupted. "If it's a secret arrangement, how is it that you know about it?"
    The little blonde Queen of Drasnia lowered her eyelids demurely. "Why, Anheg, dear, weren't you aware of the fact that I know everything?"
    "Another one for her side," King Cho-Hag said to Garion.
    "I'd say so, yes," Garion agreed.
    "At any rate," the Drasnian Queen continued, "there are now whole battalions of brainless young Mimbrate knights in Vordue, all posing as bandits and plundering and burning at will. The Vordues don't have what you could call an army, so they've been screaming for aid from the legions. My people managed to get their hands on a copy of Varana's reply." She unfolded a document. " 'To the government of the Kingdom of Vordue,"' she read, "'Greetings: Your recent appeal for help came as a great surprise to me. Surely the esteemed gentlemen in Tol Vordue would not want me to violate the sovereignty of their newly established kingdom by sending Tolnedran legions across their borders to deal with a few Arendish brigands. The maintenance of public order is the paramount responsibility of any government, and I would not dream of intruding my forces into so fundamental an area. To do so would raise grave doubts in the minds of reasonable men the world over as to the viability of your new state. I do, however, send you my best wishes in your efforts to deal with what is, after all, a strictly internal matter.' "
    Anheg began to laugh, pounding his heavy fist on the table in his glee. "I think that calls for a drink," he chortled.
    "I think it might call for several," Garion agreed. "We can toast the efforts of the Vordues to maintain order."
    "I trust you gentlemen will excuse me then," Queen Porenn said. "No mere woman could ever hope to compete with the Kings of Aloria when it comes to really serious drinking."
    "Of course, Porenn," Anheg agreed magnanimously. "We'll even drink your share for you."
    "You're too kind," she murmured and withdrew.
    Much of the evening that followed was lost in a hazy fog of ale fumes for Garion. He seemed to remember weaving down a corridor with Anheg on one side and Brand on the other. The three of them had their arms about one anothers' shoulders, and they staggered in a peculiar kind of unison. He also seemed to remember that they were singing. When he was sober, Garion never sang. That night, however, it seemed like the most natural and enjoyable thing in the world.
    He had not been drunk before. Aunt Pol had always disapproved of drinking, and, as he did in most things, he had deferred to her opinions about the matter. Thus, he was totally unprepared for the way he felt the next morning.
    Ce'Nedra was unsympathetic, to say the very least. Like every woman who had ever lived since the beginning of time, she smugly enjoyed her husband's suffering. "I told you that you were drinking too much," she reminded him.
    "Please don't," he said, holding his head between his hands.
    "It's your own fault," she smirked.
    "Just leave me alone," he begged. "I'm trying to die."
    "Oh, I don't think you'll die, Garion. You might wish you could, but you won't."
    "Do you have to talk so loud?"
    "We all just loved your singing," she congratulated him brightly. "I actually think you invented notes that didn't even exist before."
    Garion groaned and once more buried his face between his trembling hands.
    The Alorn Council lasted for perhaps another week. It might have continued longer had not a savage autumn