‘Never mind,’ Garion said. ‘He’s enjoying himself.’
‘At last,’ Belgarath concluded, ‘unable to any longer bear the dreadful punishment, the dragon, which had never known fear before, turned and cravenly fled from the field, to pass, as your Majesty hath said, directly over this fair city toward its hidden lair, where the fear it hath learned this night will, methinks, canker far more than the wounds it received. It will, I believe, never return to thy kingdom, your Majesty, for, stupid though it may be, it will not willingly return to the place which hath been the site of so much pain. And that, your Majesty, is exactly what happened.’
‘Masterful!’ the king said delightedly. And from the assemblage there in the throne room came thunderous applause. Belgarath turned and bowed, signaling to Garion and Zakath to do likewise, generously permitting them to share in the adulation.
The nobles of the court, some of them with actual tears in their eyes, pressed forward to congratulate the trio, Garion and Zakath for their heroism and Belgarath for his lurid description of it. Naradas, Garion noticed, stood at the king’s elbow, his dead white eyes burning with hatred. ‘Brace yourselves,’ Garion warned his friends. ‘Naradas is planning something.’
When the hubbub had died down, the white-eyed Grolim stepped to the front of the dais. ‘I, too, join my voice with these others in this hall to heap praise upon these mighty heroes and their brilliant advisor. Never hath this kingdom seen their match. Methinks, however, that caution is indicated here. I do fear me that Master Garath, fresh from the scene of this unutterably magnificent struggle and understandably exhilarated by what he hath witnessed, may have been too sanguine in his assessment of the dragon’s present state of mind. Truly, most normal creatures would shun a place which hath been the locale of such desperate agony, but this foul, loathesome brute is no normal creature. Might it not be more probable that, given what we know of it, it will instead be consumed with rage and a hunger and a thirst for revenge? Should these mighty champions depart now, this fair and beloved kingdom would lie defenseless beneath the vengeful depradations of a creature consumed with hatred.’
‘I knew he was going to do that,’ Zakath grated.
‘I am honor bound, therefore,’ Naradas added, ‘to advise his Majesty and the members of his court to consider long and well rather than make hasty decision concerning the disposition of these knights. We have seen that they are perhaps the only two on life who can face this monster with any hope of success. Of what other knights in all this land are there any of whom we can make the same statement with any degree of certainty?’
‘What thou sayest may well be true, Master Erezel,’ the king said with surprising coolness, ‘but it would be churlish of me to hold them here against their will in view of the sacred nature of the quest in which they are engaged. We have delayed them here too long already. They have rendered us amply sufficient service. To insist on more would be ungrateful of us in the extreme. I thereby decree that tomorrow will be a day of celebration and of gratitude throughout the realm and shall culminate with a royal banquet at which we will honor these mighty champions and bid them a regretful farewell. I do perceive that the sun hath risen, and our champions are doubtless greatly fatigued by the rigors of the tourney of yesterday and by their encounter last night with the loathesome dragon. This day, therefore, will be a day of preparation, and tomorrow will be a day of joy and thanksgiving. Let us then to our beds for a time to refresh ourselves that we may more assiduously turn to our several tasks.’
‘I thought he’d never get around to that,’ Zakath said as the three of them moved through the packed throne-room. ‘Right now I could sleep standing up.’
‘Please don’t,’ Garion said. ‘You’re wearing armor, and you’d make an awful clatter when you toppled over. I don’t want to be startled out of sleep. I’m as tired as you are.’
‘At least you have someone to sleep with.’
‘Two someones, actually, counting the puppy. Puppies take an unwholesome interest in toes, I’ve noticed.’
Zakath laughed.
‘Grandfather,’ Garion said, ‘up until now, the king has blithely gone along with anything Naradas suggested. Did you tamper with him at all?’
‘I made a couple of suggestions,’ Belgarath admitted. ‘I don’t usually like to do that, but the situation was a bit unusual.’
It was in the corridor outside where Naradas caught up with them. ‘You haven’t won yet, Belgarath,’ he hissed.
‘No, probably not,’ Belgarath admitted with aplomb, ‘but then, neither have you, Naradas, and I imagine Zandramas – you’ve heard the name before, I trust – will be a bit cross with you when she finds out how miserably you’ve failed here. Maybe, if you start running right now, you can get away from her – for a while, at least.’
‘This isn’t the end of this, Belgarath.’
‘Never thought it was, old boy.’ Belgarath reached out and insultingly patted Naradas on the cheek. ‘Run along now, Grolim,’ he advised, ‘while you still have your health.’ He paused. ‘Unless, of course, you’d like to challenge me. Considering your limited talents, I don’t advise it, but that’s entirely up to you.’
After one startled look at the Eternal Man, Naradas fled.
‘I enjoy doing that to his kind,’ Belgarath gloated.
‘You are a dreadful old man, aren’t you?’ Zakath said.
‘Never pretended not to be, Zakath,’ Belgarath grinned. ‘Let’s go talk with Sadi. Naradas is starting to become an inconvenience. I think it’s high time he left us.’
‘You’ll do anything, won’t you?’ Zakath asked as they continued down the corridor.
‘To get the job done? Of course.’
‘And when I interfered with you back in Rak Hagga, you could have blown me into nothingness, couldn’t you?’
‘Probably, yes.’
‘But you didn’t. Why not?’
‘Because I thought I might need you, and I saw more in you than others did.’
‘More than Emperor of half the world?’
‘That’s trash, Zakath,’ Belgarath said scornfully. ‘Your friend here is Overlord of the West, and he still has trouble getting his boots on the right feet.’
‘I do not!’ Garion objected vehemently.