Sorceress of Darshiva

that ale on the way?"
    Belgarath made a few more strangling noises.
    "It's so hard to get good help these days." Durnik sighed.
    Polgara tried very hard to stifle a laugh.
    "Well, now," the dockhand said, leaning forward in that same confidential manner, "this is what I seen with me own two eyes, so I'm not handin' along secondhand information. I seen this white-eyed one come to the docks on a mornin' about five days ago. 'Twas about daybreak, it was, an' one of them cloudy mornin's when ye can't tell the difference between fog an' smoke, an' ye don't want to breathe too deep of either. Anyway, the white-eyed one, he had a woman with him in a black satin robe with a hood coverin' her head, an' she had a little boy with her."
    "How do you know it was a woman?" Durnik interrupted.
    "Have ye no eyes, man?" the dockhand laughed. "They don't walk the same as we do. There's a certain swayin’ of the hips that no man alive could imitate. 'Twas a woman, right enough, an' ye have me word on that. An' the little boy was as fair as a mornin’ sunrise, but he seemed a little sad. Sturdy little lad he was, an' looked fer all the world as if he wished he could put his hands on a sword to rid hisself of them as he didn't like too much. Anyway, they went aboard ship, an' the ship, she slipped her hawsers an' rowed off into the fog. Word was that they was bound fer the city of Melcena—or some well-hid cove nearby, smugglin' not bein’ unknown in these parts, don't y' know."
    "And this was five days ago?" Durnik asked.
    "Five or four. Sometimes I lose track of the days."
    Durnik seized the man's tar-smeared hand warmly. "My friend," he said, "between us, we'll kick all the spokes out of the white-eyed man's wheel yet."
    "I'd surely like to help with the kickin'," the deckhand said a bit wistfully.
    "You have, friend," Durnik said. "You definitely have. I'll kick a time or two for you myself. Silk," the smith said very seriously, "I think our friend here should have something to pay him for his trouble."
    Silk, looking a bit awed, shook a few coins out of his purse.
    "Is that the best you can do?" Durnik asked critically.
    Silk doubled the amount. Then, after a glance at Durnik's disapproving expression, doubled that in gold. The deckhand left, his fist clutched protectively around his coins.
    Velvet rose wordlessly to her feet and curtsied to Durnik with profound respect.
    "Where did you learn how to do that?" Silk demanded.
    Durnik looked at him with some surprise. "Haven't you ever traded horses at a country fair before, Silk?" he asked.
    "As I told ye, me old friend," Beldin said gaily, "the old speech has not died out yet altogether, an' 'tis music to me ears t' hear it again."
    "Must you?" Belgarath said in a highly offended tone. He turned to Durnik. "What was all that folksy business?"
    Durnik shrugged. "I've met that sort of man many times," he explained. "They can be very helpful, if you give them a reason to be—but they're very touchy, so you have to approach them just right." He smiled. "Given a little time, I could have sold that fellow a three-legged horse—and convinced him that he'd got the best of the bargain."
    "Oh, my Durnik," Polgara said, throwing her arms about the smith's neck. "What would we ever do without you?"
    "I hope we never have to find out," be said.
    "All right," Belgarath said, "now we know that Zandramas went to Melcena. The question is why."
    "To get away from us?" Silk suggested.
    "I don't think so, Kheldar," Sadi disagreed. "Her center of power is in Darshiva. Why should she run off in the other direction?"
    "I'll work on that."
    "What's in Melcena?" Velvet asked.
    "Not too much," Silk replied, "unless you count all the money in Melcena itself—most of the world's supply, last time I heard."
    "Would Zandramas be interested in money?" the blond girl asked.
    "No," Polgara said very firmly. "Money would have no meaning to her—not at this point. It's something else."
    "The only thing that means anything to Zandramas right now is the Sardion, isn't it?" Garion said. "Could the Sardion be out there in the islands someplace?"
    Beldin and Belgarath exchanged a look. "What does that phrase mean?" Beldin demanded in exasperation. "Think, Belgarath. What does it mean when they say the 'Place Which Is No More'?"
    "You're smarter than I am," Belgarath retorted. "You answer the riddle."
    "I hate riddles!"
    "I think about all we can do at this point is trail along behind and find out," Silk said.