Sorceress of Darshiva

talk to me, but he calls room his study. Isn't that absurd? Well, at any rate, that happened at a time when I was still curious about the oaf's affairs. I'd had one of the footmen drill a hole through the wall so I could watch—and hear—what the fool was up to." Her lower lip began to tremble. "Not long after that, I saw him in there with the upstairs maid." She threw her arms out tragically, sloshing ale on Beldin. "Betrayed!" she cried. "In my own house!"
    "What were they talking about?" Garion asked her gently. "Your husband and the white-eyed man, I mean?"
    "White-eyes told my husband that somebody named Zandramas could guarantee him succession to the throne in Mal Zeth. That name sounds familiar for some reason. Has anybody ever heard it before?" She looked around, trying to focus her eyes.
    "Not that I recall," Silk lied blandly. "Have you ever seen this white-eyed man again?"
    The archduchess was busily trying to dip the last bit of ale out of the cask.
    "What?" she asked.
    "The white-eyed man," Belgarath said impatiently. "Did he ever come back?"
    "Of course." The lady leaned back and lustily drained her tankard. "He was here just a few days ago. He came here with some woman in a black satin robe and a little boy." She belched modestly. "Could you give that bellpull over there a bit of a jerk, my twisted little friend?" she asked Beldin. "I think we've used up all of this cask, and I'm still sort of thirsty."
    "I'll see to it at once, me darlin'!" The hunchback stumped to the bellpull.
    "It's so very nice to have friends about," the archduchess said dreamily. Then her head drooped to one side and she began to snore.
    "Wake her up, Pol," Belgarath said.
    "Yes, father."
    It was a very light surge, but the tipsy noblewoman's eyes popped open immediately.
    "Where was I?" she asked.
    "Ah—you were telling us about the visit of the white-eyed man a few days back, your Grace," Silk supplied.
    "Oh, yes. He came in about dusk—him and that hag in black satin."
    "Hag?" Silk asked.
    "She must have been a hag. She went to a lot of trouble to keep her face covered. The little boy was adorable, though—reddish-blond curls and the bluest eyes you ever saw. I got some milk for him, because he was hungry. Anyway, White-eyes and the hag went off along with my husband, and then they all took horses and rode off. The toad, my husband, told me that he was going to be gone for a while and that I should send for my dressmaker—something about a gown suitable for an imperial coronation. I forget exactly.''
    "What happened to the little boy?" Ce'Nedra asked in a very tense voice.
    The archduchess shrugged. "Who knows? As far as I know, they did take him with them." She sighed. "I'm suddenly so sleepy," she murmured.
    "Did your husband give you any hint about where they were going?" Silk asked her.
    She waved her hands helplessly. "I stopped listening to him years ago," she said. "We have a small yacht in a cove about a mile from here. It's gone, so I think they took that. My husband was saying something about those commercial wharves south of the city." She looked around. "Has that other cask of ale got here yet?" she asked drowsily.
    'Twill only be a moment or two, me darlin'," Beldin assured her in a gentle voice.
    "Oh, good."
    "You need anything more?" Silk quietly asked Belgarath.
    "I don't think so." The old man turned to his daughter. "Put her to sleep again, Pol," he said.
    "There's no need, father," she replied. She looked rather sadly at the lush-bodied noblewoman, who had once again wrapped her arms about Beldin's neck, burrowed her face into his shoulder, and was lightly snoring. Gently, the dwarfed hunchback disengaged her arms and laid her softly on the couch. He straightened her gown, then crossed the room, picked up a comforter from a divan, returned, and covered her with it. "Sleep well, my Lady," he murmured, touching her face with one sad hand. Then he turned and glared pugnaciously at Belgarath. "Well?" he demanded in the tone of a man ready to fight.
    "I didn't say anything," Belgarath said to him.
    Wordlessly, Ce'Nedra rose, went to the hideous little man, embraced him, and kissed him on the cheek.
    "What was that all about?" he asked suspiciously.
    "I didn't say anything either," she replied, absently picking a few pieces of straw out of his beard and handing them to him.

CHAPTER SIX
    As they emerged from the house, Garion went immediately to Chretienne and swung up into his saddle.
    "What have you got