Castle of Wizardry

they rode along a spacious, tree-lined boulevard.
    "Boktor's a new city," Silk explained. "At least relatively."
    "I thought that it has been here since the time of Dras Bullneck."
    "Oh, it has," Silk replied, "but the old city was destroyed by the Angaraks when they invaded, five hundred years ago."
    "I'd forgotten that," Garion admitted.
    "After Vo Mimbre, when the time came to rebuild, it was decided to take advantage of the chance to start over," Silk continued. He looked about rather distastefully. "I don't really like Boktor," he said. "There aren't enough alleys and back streets. It's almost impossible to move around without being seen." He turned to Belgarath. "That reminds me of something, by the way. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to avoid the central marketplace. I'm rather well-known here, and there's no point in letting the whole city know we've arrived."
    "Do you think we'll be able to slip through unnoticed?" Garion asked him.
    "In Boktor?" Silk laughed. "Of course not. We've already been identified a half dozen times. Spying is a major industry here. Porenn knew we were coming before we'd even entered the city." He glanced up at a second floor window, and his fingers flickered a quick rebuke in the gestures of the Drasnian secret language. The curtain at the window gave a guilty little twitch. "Just too clumsy," he observed with profound disapproval. "Must be a first-year student at the academy."
    "Probably nervous about seeing a celebrity," Belgarath suggested. "You are, after all, something of a legend, Silk."
    "There's still no excuse for sloppy work," Silk said. "If I had time, I'd stop by the academy and have a talk with the headmaster about it." He sighed. "The quality of student work has definitely gone downhill since they discontinued the use of the whipping post."
    "The what?" Garion exclaimed.
    "In my day, a student who was seen by the person he was assigned to watch was flogged," Silk told him. "Flogging's a very effective teaching technique, Garion."
    Just ahead of them a door to a large house opened, and a dozen uniformed pikemen marched out into the street, halted and turned to face them. The officer in charge came forward and bowed politely. "Prince Kheldar," he greeted Silk, "Her Highness wonders if you'd be so good as to stop by the palace."
    "You see," Silk said to Garion. "I told you she knew we were here." He turned to the officer. "Just out of curiosity, captain, what would you do if I told you that we didn't feel like being so good as to stop by the palace?"
    "I'd probably have to insist," the captain replied.
    "I rather thought you might feel that way about it."
    "Are we under arrest?" Garion asked nervously.
    "Not precisely, your Majesty," the captain answered. "Queen Porenn most definitely wishes to speak with you, however." He bowed then to Belgarath. "Ancient One," he greeted the old man respectfully. "I think that if we went around to the side entrance, we'd attract less attention." And he turned and gave his men the order to march.
    "He knows who we are," Garion muttered to Silk.
    "Naturally," Silk said.
    "How are we going to get out of this? Won't Queen Porenn just ship us all back to Riva?"
    "We'll talk to her," Belgarath said. "Porenn's got good sense. I'm sure we can explain this to her."
    "Unless Polgara's been issuing ultimatums," Silk added. "She does that when she gets angry, I've noticed."
    "We'll see,"
    Queen Porenn was even more radiantly lovely than ever. Her slimness made it obvious that the birth of her first child had already occurred. Motherhood had brought a glow to her face and a look of completion to her eyes. She greeted them fondly as they entered the palace and led them immediately to her private quarters. The little queen's rooms were somehow lacy and feminine with rubies on the furniture and soft, pink curtains at the windows. "Where have you been?" she asked them as soon as they were alone. "Polgara's frantic."
    Belgarath shrugged. "She'll recover, What's happening in Riva?"
    "They're directing the search for you, naturally," Porenn replied. "How did you manage to get this far? Every road's been blocked."
    "We were ahead of everybody, Auntie dearest." Silk grinned impudently at her. "By the time they started blocking roads, we'd already gone through."
    "I've asked you not to call me that, Kheldar," she admonished him.
    "Forgive me, your Highness," he said with a bow, though still grinning mockingly.
    "You're impossible," she told him.
    "Of