Demon Lord Of Karanda by David Eddings

Author:David Eddings
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

‘Silk,’ Garion said urgently, ‘you’ve got to stop it.’

‘I’m sorry, Garion,’ the little man replied, looking cautiously around the moonlit atrium for hidden spies, ‘but it’s already in motion. Sadi’s bandits are inside the palace grounds and they’re taking their orders from Vasca. Vasca’s so brave now that he’s almost ready to confront Zakath himself. General Bregar of the Bureau of Military Procurement knows that something’s afoot, so he’s surrounded himself with troops. The King of Pallia, the Prince Regent of Delchin, and the old King of Voresebo have armed every one of their retainers. The palace is sealed, and nobody can bring in any outside help—not even Zakath himself. The way things stand right now, one word could set it off.’

Garion started to swear, walking around the shadowy atrium and kicking at the short-cropped turf.

‘You did tell us to go ahead,’ Silk reminded him.

‘Silk, we can’t even get out of the palace right now—much less the city. We’ve stirred up a fight, and now we’re going to be caught right in the middle of it.’

Silk nodded glumly. ‘I know,’ he said.

‘I’ll have to go to Zakath,’ Garion said. ‘Tell him the whole story. He can have his imperial guards disarm everybody.’

‘If you thought it was hard to come up with a way to get out of the palace, start thinking about how we’re going to get out of the imperial dungeon. Zakath’s been polite so far, but I don’t think his patience—or his hospitality—would extend to this.’

Garion grunted.

‘I’m afraid that we’ve outsmarted ourselves,’ Silk said. He scratched at his head. ‘I do that sometimes,’ he added.

‘Can you think of any way to head it off?’

‘I’m afraid not. The whole situation is just too inflammable. Maybe we’d better tell Belgarath.’

Garion winced. ‘He won’t be happy.’

‘He’ll be a lot less happy if we don’t tell him.’

Garion sighed. ‘I suppose you’re right. All right, let’s go get it over with.’

It took quite some time to locate Belgarath. They finally found him standing at a window in a room high up in the east wing. The window looked out over the palace wall. Beyond that wall fires raged unchecked in the stricken city. Sheets of sooty flame belched from whole blocks of houses, and a pall of thick smoke blotted out the starry sky. ‘It’s getting out of hand,’ the old man said. ‘They should be pulling down houses to make firebreaks, but I think the soldiers are afraid to leave their barracks.’ He swore. ‘I hate fires,’ he said.

‘Something’s sort of come up,’ Silk said cautiously, looking around to see if he could locate the spy holes in the walls of the room.

‘What is it?’

‘Oh, nothing all that much,’ Silk replied with exaggerated casualness. ‘We just thought that we’d bring it to your attention, is all.’ His fingers, however, were twitching and flickering. Even as he spoke quite calmly, improvising some minor problem with the horses for the edification of the spies they all knew were watching and listening, his dancing fingers laid out the entire situation for the old man.

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