He groaned. ‘What about ale? Or beer?’
‘What are those?’
‘I knew there was going to be something wrong with this place,’ the dwarf growled to Belgarath.
Polgara, however, had a beatific smile on her face.
‘What was that all about?’ Silk asked Velvet after the Dalasian women had left, ‘all that chit-chat, I mean?’
‘Groundwork,’ she replied mysteriously. ‘It never hurts to open channels of communication.’
‘Women,’ he sighed, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling.
Garion and Ce’Nedra exchanged a quick look, both of them remembering how often each of them had said approximately the same thing in the same tone early in their marriage. Then they both laughed.
‘What’s so funny?’ Silk asked suspiciously.
‘Nothing, Kheldar,’ Ce’Nedra replied. ‘Nothing at all.’
Garion slept poorly that night. The murmuring in his ears was just enough of a distraction to bring him back from the edge of sleep over and over again. He arose the next morning sandy-eyed and out of sorts.
In the large round central room he found Durnik. The smith had his ear pressed against the wall near the fountain.
‘What’s the trouble?’ Garion asked him.
‘I’m trying to pinpoint that noise,’ Durnik said. ‘It might be something in the plumbing. The water in this fountain has to come from somewhere. Probably it’s piped in, and then the pipe runs under the floor or up through the walls.’
‘Would water running through a pipe make that sort of noise?’
Durnik laughed. ‘You never know what sort of sounds are going to come out of the plumbing, Garion. I saw a whole town abandoned once. They all thought the place was haunted. The noise turned out to be coming from the municipal water supply.’
Sadi came into the room once again wearing his iridescent silk robe.
‘Colorful,’ Garion observed. For the past several months, the eunuch had been wearing a tunic, hose, and Sendarian half-boots.
Sadi shrugged. ‘For some reason I feel homesick this morning,’ he sighed. ‘I think I could live out my life in perfect contentment if I never saw another mountain. What are you doing, Goodman Durnik? Still examining the construction?’
‘No. I’m trying to track down the source of that noise.’
‘What noise?’
‘Surely you can hear it.’
Sadi cocked his head to one side. ‘I hear some birds just outside the window,’ he said, ‘and there’s a stream somewhere nearby, but that’s about all.’
Garion and Durnik exchanged a long, speculative look. ‘Silk couldn’t hear it yesterday either,’ Durnik recalled.
‘Why don’t we get everybody up?’ Garion suggested.
‘That might make some of them a little unhappy, Garion.’
‘They’ll get over it. I think this might be important.’
There were some surly looks directed at Garion as the others filed in.
‘What’s this all about, Garion?’ Belgarath asked in exasperation.
‘It’s what you might call an experiment, Grandfather.’
‘Do your experiments on your own time.’
‘My, aren’t we cross this morning?’ Ce’Nedra said to the old man.
‘I didn’t sleep very well.’
‘That’s strange. I slept like a baby.’
‘Durnik,’ Garion said, ‘would you stand over there, please?’ He pointed to one side of the room, ‘and Sadi, you over there.’ He pointed to the other side. ‘This will only take a few minutes,’ he told them all. ‘I’m going to whisper a question to each of you, and I want you to answer yes or no.’
‘Aren’t you being just a bit exotic?’ Belgarath asked sourly.
‘I don’t want to contaminate the experiment by giving all of you the chance to talk it over.’
‘It’s a sound scientific principle,’ Beldin approved. ‘Let’s humor him. He’s stirred up my curiosity.’
Garion went from person to person, whispering a single question: ‘Can you hear that murmuring sound?’ Depending on the answer, he asked each of them to join either Sadi or Durnik. It did not take long, and the result confirmed Garion’s suspicions. Standing with Durnik were Belgarath, Polgara, Beldin, and – somewhat surprisingly – Eriond. Standing with Sadi were Silk, Velvet, Ce’Nedra, and Zakath.
‘Now do you suppose you could explain all this rigamarole?’ Belgarath asked.
‘I asked everybody the same question, Grandfather. The people standing with you can hear that sound. The people over there can’t.’
‘Of course they can. It kept me awake half the night.’
‘Maybe that’s why you’re so dense this morning,’ Beldin grunted. ‘Good experiment, Garion. Now, why don’t you explain it to our fuzzy-headed friend?’
‘It’s not difficult, Grandfather,’ Garion said deprecatingly. ‘It’s probably so simple that you’re overlooking it. The only people who can hear the sound are those with what you used to call “talent”. Ordinary people can’t.’
‘I’ll be honest, Belgarath,’ Silk said. ‘I can’t hear a sound.’
‘And I’ve been hearing it ever since we first caught sight of Kell,’ Durnik added.
‘Now isn’t that interesting?’ Beldin said to Belgarath. ‘Shall we take it a few steps further, or did you want to go back to bed?’
‘Don’t be absurd,’ Belgarath replied absently.
‘All right then,’ Beldin continued, ‘we’ve got a sound that ordinary people can’t hear, but that we can. I can think of another right offhand as well, can’t you?’
Belgarath nodded. ‘The sound of someone using sorcery.’
‘This is not a natural sound, then,’ Durnik mused. He suddenly laughed. ‘I’m glad you worked this out, Garion. I was right on the verge of tearing up the floor.’
‘What on earth for?’ Polgara asked him.
‘I thought the noise was coming from a water pipe somewhere.’
‘This isn’t sorcery, though,’ Belgarath said. ‘It doesn’t sound the same and it doesn’t feel the same.’
Beldin was scratching thoughtfully at his matted beard. ‘How does this idea strike you?’ he said to Belgarath. ‘The people here have enough concentrated power to deal with any Grolim or group of Grolims who might come along, so why go to the trouble of laying down that curse of theirs?’