The red-clad guide pulled the two superfluous chairs off to one side, out of the way of extended legs or stretching arms, and then vanished discreetly.
For a moment of awkward silence the four studied one another. Garth noticed that Silda seemed, if anything, slightly bored, but the two magicians were obviously nervous and ill at ease. Chalkara appeared almost desperate, he thought, while Shandiph, fumbling with something small and shiny, was only marginally calmer.
He wondered what had so upset them.
When the silence had dragged on uncomfortably long, Garth said at last, “I saw your faces.” He was turned somewhat to the right, leaving the archivist out for the moment. “You two have heard of the Book of Silence.”
The two wizards glanced at each other, then back at the overman.
“We hav
