Garion opened the door, and they filed in.
The king looked up in some surprise.
‘Be not dismayed, King of Perivor,’ Cyradis said to him, ‘for, as thy champions have told thee, we have come to reveal truths to thee, truths which will lessen thy sorrow.’
‘I am grateful for thine efforts, Lady,’ the king replied, ‘but that is scarce possible. My sorrow may neither be lessened nor banished. Here lieth my dearest friend, and my heart lieth on that cold bier with him.’
‘Thine heritage is in part Dal, your Majesty,’ she said to him, ‘so thou art aware that many of us possess certain gifts. There are things the one you called Erezel did not tell thee ’ere he died. I have summoned one who will question him ’ere his spirit doth sink into the darkness.’
‘A necromancer? Truly? I have heard of such, but have never seen the art practiced.’
‘Knowest thou that one with such gifts cannot misspeak what the spirits reveal?’
‘I understand so, yes.’
‘I assure thee that it is true. Let us then probe the mind of this Erezel, and see what truths he will reveal to us.’
The dark-robed and hooded necromancer stepped to the bier and laid her pale, slender hands on Naradas’ chest.
Cyradis began posing the questions. ‘Who art thou?’ she asked.
‘My name was Naradas,’ the figure in black replied in a halting, hollow voice. ‘I was Grolim arch-priest of the Temple of Torak at Hemil in Darshiva.’
The king stared first at Cyradis and then at the body of Naradas in stunned astonishment.
‘Whom didst thou serve?’ Cyradis asked.
‘I served the Child of Dark, the Grolim Priestess Zandramas.’
‘Wherefore camest thou to this kingdom?’
‘My mistress sent me hither to seek out a certain chart and to impede the progress of the Child of Light to the Place Which Is No More.’
‘And what means didst thou use to accomplish these ends?’
‘I sought out the king of this isle, a vain and foolish man, and I beguiled him. He showed me the chart which I sought, and the chart revealed to me a wonder which my shadow conveyed immediately to my mistress. Now she knows precisely where the final meeting is to take place. I prevailed upon the king’s gullibility and was able to lead him into various acts which delayed the Child of Light and his companions so that my mistress might arrive at the Place Which Is No More before him and thereby avoid the necessity of leaving the issue in the hands of a certain seeress whom my mistress distrusts.’
‘How is it that thy mistress did not herself perform this task, which was lain upon her and not upon thee?’ Cyradis’ voice was stern.
‘Zandramas had other concerns. I was her right hand, and all that I did was as if she had done the deeds herself.’
‘His spirit doth begin to sink out of reach, Holy Seeress,’ the necromancer said in a more normal tone of voice. ‘Ask quickly, for soon I will no longer be able to wrest further answers from him.’
‘What were these concerns of thy mistress which prevented her from seeking the answer to the last riddle herself as she was commanded to do?’
‘A certain Grolim Hierarch from Cthol Murgos, Agachak by name, had come to Mallorea seeking the Place Which Is No More, hoping to supplant my Mistress. He was the last of our race with enough power to challenge her. She met him near the barrens of Finda and killed him there.’ The hollow voice broke off, and then there came a despairing wail. ‘Zandramas!’ the voice cried. ‘You said that I would not die! You promised, Zandramas!’ The last word seemed to fall away into some unimaginable abyss.
The dark hooded necromancer’s head slumped forward, and she was shuddering violently. ‘His spirit has gone, Holy Seeress,’ she said in a weary voice. ‘The midnight hour is past, and he can no longer be reached.’
‘I thank thee,’ Cyradis said simply.
‘I but hope, Holy Seeress, that I have been able in some small way to aid thee in thine awesome task. May I retire now? for contact with this diseased mind hath distressed me beyond measure.’
Cyradis nodded briefly, and the necromancer quietly left the chapel.
The King of Perivor, his face ashen, but firmly set, walked to the bier. He took hold of the golden cloth which covered Naradas to the chest and hurled it to the floor. ‘Some rag perhaps,’ he said from between clenched teeth. ‘I would not look upon the face of this foul Grolim more.’
‘I’ll see what I can find, your Majesty,’ Durnik said sympathetically. He stepped out into the hall.
The rest stood silently by as the king, his back to the bier and his jaws clenching and unclenching, stared at the back wall of the chapel.
After a few moments, the smith returned with a torn piece of burlap, rusty and mildewed. ‘There was a store. room just down the hall, your Majesty,’ he said. ‘This was plugging up a rat hole. Was it more or less what you had in mind?’
‘Perfect, my friend. And it please thee, throw it over the face of that piece of carrion. I declare here unto ye all, there will be no funeral for this miscreant. Some ditch and a few spadefuls of earth shall be his grave.’
‘More than a few spadefuls I think, your Majesty,’ Durnik suggested prudently. ‘He’s corrupted your kingdom enough already. We wouldn’t want him to pollute it any more, would we? I’ll take care of it for you.’
‘I like thee, my friend,’ the king said. ‘And it please thee, bury the Grolim face-down.’
‘We’ll see to it, your Majesty,’ Durnik promised. He nodded to Toth, and the two of them roughly lifted the body of Naradas from the bier by the shoulders and dragged it from the chapel with its sandal-shod feet bouncing unceremoniously across the floor.
Silk stepped closer to Zakath. ‘So now we know that Agachak is dead,’ he said quietly to the Mallorean. ‘Urgit will be delighted to hear it. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to send a messenger to him to let him know about it?’
‘The tensions between your brother and myself have not relaxed all that much, Kheldar.’
‘Who are ye all?’ the king demanded. ‘Was this so-called quest of thine mere subterfuge?’
‘The time hath come for us to reveal ourselves,’ Cyradis said gravely. ‘The need for concealment is now past, for the other spies Zandramas hath set in this place without the knowledge of Naradas cannot commune with her without his aid.’