Garion slid down and slapped Chretienne sharply on the rump. The big gray bolted back toward where the others were still concealed. ‘What on earth was she thinking of?’ Garion fumed.

‘I’m not sure if she was,’ Belgarath grunted. ‘She’s been acting strangely for the past few days. Let’s get on with this. The quicker we find her, the quicker we can get her back to the others. Your aunt can get to the bottom of this.’ The old man was already blurring into the shape of the huge silver wolf. ‘You lead,’ he growled at Garion. ‘Her scent is more familiar to you.’

Garion changed and cast back and forth until his nose caught Ce’Nedra’s familiar fragrance. ‘She went this way,’ he cast his thought to Belgarath.

‘How fresh is the trail?’ the old wolf asked.

‘It can’t be much more than a half hour old,’ Garion replied, bunching himself to run.

‘Good. Let’s go find her.’ And the two of them ran smoothly through the woods, their noses to the ground in the manner of hunting wolves.

They found her after about a quarter of an hour. She was coming happily back through the forest, crooning softly to a bundle she was carrying tenderly in her arms.

‘Don’t startle her,’ Belgarath warned. ‘There’s something very wrong here. Just go along with anything she tells you.’ The two of them shimmered and changed.

Ce’Nedra gave a little cry of delight when she saw them. ‘Oh, Garion!’ she exclaimed, running toward them. ‘Look! Arell found our baby!’

‘Arell? But Arell’s—’

‘Just let it lie!’ Belgarath snapped under his breath. ‘Don’t send her into hysterics!’

‘Why – uh – that’s wonderful, Ce’Nedra,’ Garion said, trying to make it sound natural.

‘It’s been so long,’ Ce’Nedra said, her eyes brimming with tears, ‘and he looks just the same as he did before. Look, Garion. Isn’t he beautiful?’

She turned back the blanket, and Garion saw that what she was holding so tenderly was not a baby, but a bundle of rags.

Part Two

PERIVOR

CHAPTER NINE

ETERNAL SALMISSRA HAD dispensed with the services of Adiss, her Chief Eunuch, that morning. Stunned into forgetfulness by a massive dose of one of his favorite drugs, Adiss had shambled into the throne room to make his daily report. When he had come to within a dozen feet of the dais, Salmissra had detected from his rank odor that he had disobeyed her command that he never enter her presence unbathed. Cold-eyed, she had watched the eunuch prostrate himself on the marble floor before the throne to deliver his report in a slurred voice. The report had never been finished. At a sibilant command from the Serpent Queen, a small green snake had emerged from beneath the divanlike throne, purring quietly, and Adiss had received a suitable reward for his disobedience.

And now Eternal Salmissra coiled pensively on her throne, idly contemplating her reflection in the mirror. The troublesome business of selecting a new Chief Eunuch still lay before her, and she was not really in the mood for it. She decided finally to forgo the chore for a time to give the palace eunuchs the opportunity to scramble for the position. That scramble usually resulted in a number of fatalities, and there were really too many eunuchs in the palace anyway.

From under the throne there was an irritated grumbling. Her pet green snake was obviously distressed about something. ‘What is it, Ezahh?’ she asked him.

‘Can’t you have them washed before you ask me to bite them, Salmissra?’ Ezahh replied plaintively. ‘You might have at least warned me what to expect.’ Although Ezahh and Salmissra were of different species, their languages were to some degree compatible.

‘I’m sorry, Ezahh. It was inconsiderate of me, I suppose.’ In rather sharp contrast to her dealings with humans, whom she held more or less in general contempt, the Serpent Queen was unfailingly polite to other reptiles – particularly the venomous ones. This is considered the course of wisdom in the world of snakes.

‘It was not entirely your fault, Salmissra.’ Ezahh was also a snake, and he was also very polite. ‘I just wish there was some way to get the taste out of my mouth.’

‘I could send for a saucer of milk. That might help.’

‘Thank you, Salmissra, but the taste of him might curdle it. What I’d really like is a nice fat mouse – alive, preferably.’

‘I’ll see to it at once, Ezahh.’ She turned her triangular face around on her slender neck. ‘You,’ she hissed to one of the chorus of eunuchs kneeling in adoration at one side of the throne, ‘go catch a mouse. My little green friend is hungry.’

‘At once, Divine Salmissra,’ the eunuch replied obsequiously. He jumped to his feet and backed toward the door, genuflecting at every other step.

‘Thank you, Salmissra,’ Ezahh purred. ‘Humans are such trivial things, aren’t they?’

‘They respond only to fear,’ she agreed, ‘and to lust.’

‘That raises a point,’ Ezahh noted. ‘Have you had time to consider the request I made the other day?’

‘I have some people looking,’ she assured him, ‘but your species is very rare, you know, and finding a female for you might take some time.’

‘I can wait, if necessary, Salmissra,’ he purred. ‘We are all very patient.’ He paused. ‘I’m not trying to be offensive, but if you hadn’t chased Sadi away, you wouldn’t have to take the trouble. His little snake and I were on very good terms.’

‘I noticed that on occasion. You might even be a father by now.’

The green snake slid his head out from under the throne and regarded her. Like all snakes of his kind, he had a bright red stripe down his green back. ‘What’s a father?’ he asked in a dull, incurious tone.

‘It’s a difficult concept,’ she replied. ‘Humans make much of it for some reason.’

‘Does any real creature care about the perverse peculiarities of humans?’

‘I certainly don’t – at least not any more.’

‘You were always a serpent at heart, Salmissra.’

‘Why, thank you, Ezahh,’ she said in a pleased hiss. She paused, her restless coils rubbing drily against each other. ‘I must select a new Chief Eunuch,’ she mused. ‘It’s a bothersome thing.’

‘Why trouble yourself? Select one at random. Humans are all alike, after all.’