The fire Durnik had built was catching hold. He gave it a critical look; satisfied, he rose to his feet. "I'd better see to the horses," he said. "Do you want the packs in here, Pol?"

"Just the food and the cooking things for now, dear. But don't you think you should wait until the hail lets up?"

"There's a sort of covered walkway along the side of the house," he replied. "I'd guess that the people who built the place knew about this sort of weather." He went out with Toth and Eriond close behind him.

Garion crossed the room to where Velvet sat on a rude bench with her hand laid protectively over her right shoulder. Her face was pale, and her brow was dewed with sweat.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

"It surprised me, that's all," she replied. "It's nice of to ask, though."

"Nice my foot!" He was suddenly angry. "You're like a sister to me, Liselle, and if you let yourself get hurt, I'll take it as a personal insult."

"Yes, your Majesty," she said, her smile suddenly lighting up the room.

"Don't play with me, Velvet. Don't try to be brave. If you're hurt, say so."

"It's only a little bruise, Belgarion," she protested. Her large brown eyes conveyed a world of sincerity, mostly feigned.

"I'll spank you," he threatened.

"Now, that's an interesting notion." She laughed.

He didn't even think about it. He simply leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.

She looked a little surprised. "Why, your majesty," she said in mock alarm. "What if Ce'Nedra had seen you do that?"

"Ce'Nedra can cope with it. She loves you as much as I do. I'll have Aunt Pol look at that shoulder."

"It's really fine, Belgarion."

"Do you want to argue about that with Aunt Pol?"

She thought about it. "No," she said, "I don't really so. Why don't you send Kheldar over to hold my hand?"

"Anything else?"

"You could kiss me again, if you'd like."

With a certain clinical detachment, Polgara opened the top of Velvet's gray dress and carefully examined the large purple bruise on the blond girl's shoulder. Velvet blushed modestly covered her more salient features.

" I don't think anything's broken," Polgara said, gently probing the bruised shoulder. "It's going to be very painful, though"

"I noticed that almost immediately," Velvet said, wincing.

"A1I right, Sadi," Polgara said briskly, "I need a good analgesic. What would you suggest?"

" I have oret, Lady Polgara," the eunuch answered.

She thought about it. "No," she said. "Oret would incapacitate her for the next two days. Do you have any miseth?"

He looked a bit startled. "Lady Polgara," he protested. "Miseth is an excellent painkiller, but—" He looked at the suffering Velvet. "There are those side effects, you know."

"We can control her if necessary."

"What side effects?" Silk demanded, hovering protectively over the blond girl.

"It tends to rouse a certain—ah, shall we say—ardor," Sadi replied delicately. "In Nyissa it's widely used for that purpose."

"Oh," Silk said, flushing slightly.

"One drop," Polgara said. "No. Make that two."

"Two?" Sadi exclaimed.

"I want it to last until the pain subsides."

"Two drops will do that, all right," Sadi said, "but you'll have to confine her until it wears off."

"I'll keep her asleep if I need to."

Dubiously, Sadi opened his red case and removed a vial of deep purple liquid. "This is against my better judgment, Lady Polgara," he said.

"Trust me."

"It always makes me nervous when somebody says that," Belgarath said to Beldin.

"A lot of things make you nervous. We can't go anywhere until the girl's better. Pol knows what she's doing."

"Maybe," Belgarath replied.

Sadi carefully measured two drops of the purple medication into a cup of water and stirred the mixture with his finger. Then he rather carefully dried his hand on a piece of cloth. He handed the cup to Velvet. "Drink it slowly," he instructed.

"You'll begin to feel very strange almost immediately."

"Strange?" she asked suspiciously.

"We can talk about it later. All you need to know now is that it's going to make the pain go away."

Velvet sipped at the cup. "It doesn't taste bad," she observed.

"Of course not," the eunuch replied, "and you'll find that it tastes better and better as you get toward the bottom the cup."

Velvet continued to take small sips of the liquid. Her face flushed. "My," she said, "isn't it warm in here all of sudden?"

Silk sat down on the bench beside her. "Is it helping at all" he asked. "

"Hmm?"

"How's the shoulder?"

"Did you see my bruise, Kheldar?" She pulled her dress open to show it to him. She showed him—and everyone else in the room—other things as well. "Oops," she said absently, not bothering to cover herself.

"I think you'd better take those steps you mentioned, Lady Polgara," Sadi said. "The situation is likely to get out of hand any minute now."

Polgara nodded and put one hand briefly on Velvet's brow. Garion felt a light surge.

"Suddenly I feel so very drowsy," Velvet said. "Is the medicine doing that?"

"In a manner of speaking," Polgara replied. Velvet's head drooped forward, and she laid it on Silk's shoulder.

"Bring her along, Silk," Polgara told the little man. 'Let's find a bed for her."

Silk picked the sleeping girl up and carried her from the room with Polgara close beside him.

"Does that stuff always have that effect?" Ce'Nedra asked.

"Miseth? Oh yes. It could arouse a stick."

"And does it work on men, too?"

"Gender makes no difference, your Majesty."

"How very interesting." She gave Garion a sly, sidelong glance. "Don't lose that little bottle, Sadi," she said.

"Never mind," Garion told her.

It took them perhaps a quarter of an hour to tidy up the room.. Polgara was smiling when she and Silk returned. "She’ll asleep now," she said. "I looked into the other rooms, too. The woman of the house appears to have been a very neat sort of person," she said. "This is the only room that was seriously disturbed when the family left."