"We'll see," the officer said.
Then an even larger ship emerged from the fog and moved alongside their patched and leaky vessel. A familiar face looked over the rail. "It's been quite some time, hasn't it, King Belgarion?" General Atesca said in a pleasant, conversational tone.
"We really ought to try to stay in touch." Atesca wore his customary scarlet cloak and a burnished steel helmet embossed with gold.
Garion's heart sank. Subterfuge was quite out of the question now. "You knew we were out here," he said accusingly.
"Of course. I had people watching you on the Peldane side." The red-clad general sounded a bit smug about that.
"I felt no presence," Polgara declared, pulling her blue cloak about her.
"I'd have been very surprised if you had, my Lady," Atesca replied. "The men who were watching you are imbeciles. Their minds are as vacant as the minds of mushrooms." He looked distastefully out across the river. "You have no idea of how long it took me to explain to them what they were supposed to do. Every army has a few men like that. We try to weed them out, but even gross stupidity has its uses, I suppose."
"You're very clever, General Atesca," she said in a tight voice.
"No, Lady Polgara," he disagreed. "I'm just a plain soldier. No officer is more clever than his intelligence service. Brador's the clever one. He's been gathering information about your peculiar gifts from various Grolims since the battle of Thull Mardu. Grolims pay very close attention to your exploits, my Lady, and over the years they've amassed a great deal of information about your abilities. As I understand it—although I'm certainly no expert—the more acute a mind is, the more easily you can detect its presence. That's why I sent those human turnips out to watch you." He looked critically at their boat. "That's really a wretched tiling, you know. Are you keeping it afloat by sorcery?"
"No," Durnik told him in a flat, angry tone of voice, "by skill."
"I bow to your skill, Goodman Durnik," Atesca said a bit extravagantly. "You could probably work out a way to make a rock float—if you really wanted to." He paused and looked at Belgarath. "I assume we're going to be civilized about this, Ancient One?" he asked.
"I'm willing to listen," Belgarath replied warily.
"His Imperial Majesty feels a strong need to discuss certain matters with you and your companions, Holy Belgarath," Atesca said, "and I think I should advise you that you're paddling this wreck of yours directly into the middle of a hornet's nest.
Sensible people are avoiding Darshiva right now."
"I’ve never pretended to be sensible."
Atesca laughed ruefully. "I haven't either," he admitted. "At the moment, I'm trying to map out a military campaign to invade that most insensible region. May I offer you gentlemen—and your ladies—the hospitality of my ship?" He paused. "I think I'll have to insist," he added regretfully. "Orders, you understand. Besides, we might want to pool our information while we await the arrival of his Imperial Majesty."
"Is Zakath coming here?" Garion asked.
"I doubt that he's more than a day behind me, your Majesty," Atesca replied, "and he's aflame with the desire to have a long, long talk with you."
—What do we do, Grandfather?—Garion's fingers asked.
—I don't think we've got much choice at the moment. Beldin 's out there somewhere.
I'll let him know what's happening. He'll come up with something.—"All right, General," he said aloud. "I was getting a little tired of rowing anyway."—Pass the word to the others—He motioned to Garion.—Let's seem to go along—at least until we get to the Darshiva side. —
Atesca's ship, while not opulent, was comfortable. They gathered in the forward cabin, a room littered with maps and various-sized bits and pieces of parchment. As always, General Atesca was polite, but firm. "Have you had breakfast yet?" he inquired.
"We were a little rushed," Belgarath told him.
"I'll send word to the cook, then," Atesca said. He went to the door and spoke with one of the red-garbed guards posted outside. Then he came back. "While we're waiting, why don't we share that information I was talking about?
I'd heard that you were going to Ashaba when you left Mal Zeth. Then you suddenly surface in Melcena, and now you're halfway across the Magan to Darshiva. You people certainly move around."
—He already knows what we 're doing. —Silk's fingers said to Belgarath.—There's no point in trying to hide it.—
"Please, Prince Kheldar," Atesca said in a pained tone, "don't do that. It's very impolite, you know."
Silk laughed. "Either your eyes are very sharp, General, or advancing age is making my fingers clumsy. In point of fact, I was merely suggesting to Belgarath that we'd made no secret of our reason for coming to Mallorea. Kal Zakath knew why we were here, so there's no point in being coy about it." He gave Belgarath an inquiring look, and the old man nodded. Silk's face grew serious, even bleak. "We went to Ashaba in pursuit of Zandramas—and King Belgarion's son. Then we followed her across Karanda and on down to Jarot in northern Celanta. Her trail led to Melcena, so we followed her there. Then we came back to the continent."
"And you're still on her trail?" Atesca asked intently.
"More or less,'' Silk lied smoothly. Then he sidestepped the issue. "We discovered at Ashaba that Urvon is totally mad now. I'm sure Kal Zakath will be interested in that. Anyhow, Urvon's under the control of a Demon Lord named Nahaz. Zandramas has raised another Demon Lord named Mordja, and the two are fighting each other in Darshiva. I'd think a long time before I invaded that region, General. Nahaz and Mordja might prefer not to be interrupted."
"What happened to Mengha?" Atesca asked suddenly. "I thought he was the one who was raising demons."
Silk smiled wryly. "Mengha was actually a Chandim priest named Harakan. He was Urvon's underling for centuries."
"Was?"
"I'm afraid he's no longer with us. He met a little green snake named Zith and he lost interest in things shortly after that."
Atesca threw back his head and laughed. "I'd heard about your pet, your Excellency," he said to Sadi. "Do you suppose she'd accept a medal—Heroine of the Empire or something?"
"I don't think she'd really be interested, General Atesca," Sadi replied coolly. "Besides, if somebody tried to pin a medal to her, she might misunderstand."