King of The Murgos

"and no one dares to touch that seal without her consent."
    "I see."
    "How did you come by the document, Sadi?" Silk asked curiously.
    "Four copies of all official documents are routinely made, Prince Kheldar. It's one of the resources of those with access to the queen's favor. The purchase price of the extra copies has been established for centuries."
    "All right," Garion said, "so Zandramas came to Nyissa posing as a merchant, arranged to have Sariss replace you as Chief Eunuch, and somehow managed to get Salmissra to issue that order. Is that it?"
    "It's not quite that simple, Belgarion," Sadi told him. "The Mallorean merchant was not Zandramas. No one here in Sthiss Tor ever saw Zandramas. The 'stranger' the document talks about joined the diplomats on their way to Sendaria. So far as I've been able to determine, Zandramas never passed through Sthiss Tor. Not only that, but after the arrangements for the ship to Halberg had been made, all the diplomats conveniently died. They were stopping over at an inn in Camaar on their way to the capital, and there was a fire in the middle of the night. No one escaped the fire."
    "That's got a familiar ring to it," Silk said.
    "All right then," Garion said, "who was the Mallorean jeweler?"
    Sadi spread his hands helplessly. "I was never able to find out," he confessed.
    "Did you ever see him?"
    "Once. He was a strange-looking fellow. His eyes were absolutely colorless."
    There was a long pause, and then Silk said, "That clears up a few other things, doesn't it?"
    "Maybe so," Garion said, "but it still doesn't answer my main question. We know who Naradas is working for now. We know how Zandramas got to Cherek and escaped from the Isle of the Winds with my son, but what I need to know is where the trail we're following is going to lead."
    Sadi shrugged. "Rak Verkat."
    "How did you arrive at that conclusion?" Silk asked him.
    "Sariss hasn't been in power long enough to weed out the more untrustworthy of his underlings. I found one who was open to the notion of private enterprise. Zandramas has to be in Mallorea with Prince Geran by this coming spring, and the route must be by way of Rak Verkat."
    "Wouldn't it be shorter to sail from Rak Cthan?" Silk asked.
    Sadi looked at him with a faintly surprised expression. "I thought you knew," he said. "Kal Zakath has put a very handsome price on the head of Zandramas, and the Mallorean reserves are concentrated at Rak Hagga. If Zandramas tried to go through Hagga to reach Cthan, all those troops would drop whatever they were doing to go head-hunting. The only safe port for Zandramas to sail from is Rak Verkat."
    "Was this underling you bribed reliable?" Silk demanded. "Of course not. As soon as he had finished telling me all this, he had planned to turn me in for the reward—dead, naturally, so he didn't really have any reason to lie to me, and he was too stupid to make up a coherent lie anyway." The eunuch smiled bleakly. "I know of a certain plant, though. It's a very reliable plant. The man was telling me the absolute truth. As a matter of fact, he kept telling me the truth long after it had begun to bore me. Sariss provided Zandramas with an escort across Nyissa and detailed maps of the shortest route to the Isle of Verkat.

    Was that all the fellow said?" Garion asked.
    "Oh, no," Sadi replied. "He was busy confessing to me that he had cheated on an examination in school when I finally had Issus cut his throat. I can only deal with so much truth in one day."
    "All right," Garion said, ignoring that, "Zandramas is going to the Isle of Verkat. How does that help us?"
    "The route Zandramas will have to follow will be roundabout—because of that reward I mentioned. We, on the other hand, can go straight across southern Cthol Murgos to the Isle. It will save us months."
    "That route goes right through the war zone," Silk protested.
    "That's no particular problem. I can take you directly through to Verkat without any hindrance from either the Murgos or the Malloreans.

    How do you propose to manage that?

    When I was younger, I was engaged in the slave trade in Cthol Murgos. I know all the routes and I know whom to bribe and whom to avoid. Slavers are useful to both sides in the war between the Murgos and Malloreans, so they're allowed to move around freely. All we have to do is dress as slave traders, and no one will interfere with us."
    "What's to keep you from selling us to the Grolims as soon as we cross the border?" Silk asked