Castle of Wizardry

crestfallen. "I suppose you're right. It would be a little difficult to catch them now, wouldn't it?"
    Barak nodded gravely.
    And then the blond Mimbrate girl, Ariana, stepped forward, her heart in her eyes. "My Lord," she said to Lelldorin, and Ce'Nedra remembered with a start that the two were married - technically at least. "Throe absence hath given me great pain."
    Lelldorin's eyes were immediately stricken. "My Ariana." He almost choked. "I swear that I'll never leave you again." He took both her hands in his and gazed adoringly into her eyes. The gaze she returned was just as full of love and just as empty of thought. Ce'Nedra shuddered inwardly at the potential for disaster implicit in the look the two exchanged.
    "Does anyone care that I'm starving to death right here on the spot?" Rhodar asked.
    The banquet was laid on a long table set up beneath a gaily striped pavilion on the beach not far from the edge of the forest. The table quite literally groaned under its weight of roasted game, and there was enough to eat to satisfy even the enormous appetite of King Rhodar. When they had finished eating, they lingered at the table in conversation.
    "Thy son, Lord Hettar, hath advised us that the Algar clans are gathering at the Stronghold, your Majesty," Mandorallen reported to King Cho-Hag.
    Cho-Hag nodded.
    "And we've had word from the Ulgo-Relg," Colonel Brendig added. "He's gathered a small army of warriors from the caves. They'll wait for us on the Algarian side of the mountains. He said you'd know the place."
    Barak grunted. "The Ulgos can be troublesome," he said. "They're afraid of open places, and daylight hurts their eyes, but they can see in the dark like cats. That could be very useful at some point."
    "Did Relg send any - personal messages?" Taiba asked Brendig with a little catch in her voice.
    Gravely, the Sendar took a folded parchment from inside his tunic and handed it to her. She took it with a rather helpless expression and opened it, turning it this way and that.
    "What's the matter, Taiba?" Adara asked quietly.
    "He knows I can't read," Taiba protested, holding the note tightly pressed against her.
    "I'll read it to you," Adara offered.
    "But maybe it's - well-personal," Taiba objected.
    "I promise I won't listen," Adara told her without the trace of a smile.
    Ce'Nedra covered her own smile with her hand. Adara's penetrating and absolutely straight-faced wit was one of the qualities that most endeared her to the princess. Even as she smiled, however, Ce'Nedra could feel eyes on her, and she knew that she was being examined with great curiosity by the Arends - both Asturian and Mimbrate - who had joined them. Lelldorin in particular seemed unable to take his eyes from her. The handsome young man sat close beside the blond Mimbrate girl, Ariana, and stared openly at Ce'Nedra even while, unconsciously perhaps, he held Ariana's hand. Ce'Nedra endured his scrutiny with a certain nervousness. To her surprise, she found that she wanted this rather foolish young man's approval.
    "Tell me," she said directly to him, "what are the sentiments here in Asturia - concerning our campaign, I mean?"
    Lelldorin's eyes clouded. "Unenthusiastic for the most part, your Majesty," he replied. "I'm afraid there's suspicion that this might all be some Mimbrate plot."
    "That's absurd," Ce'Nedra declared.
    Lelldorin shrugged. "It's the way my countrymen think. And those who don't think it's a plot are looking at the idea that all the Mimbrate knights might join a crusade against the East. That raises certain hopes in some quarters."
    Mandorallen sighed. "The same sentiments exist in some parts of Mimbre," he said. "We are a woefully divided kingdom, and old hatreds and suspicions die hard."
    Ce'Nedra felt a sudden wave of consternation. She had not counted on this. King Rhodar had made it plain that he absolutely had to have the Arends, and now the idiotic hatred and suspicion between Mimbre and Asturia seemed about to bring the entire plan crashing down around her ears. Helplessly she turned to Polgara.
    The sorceress, however, seemed undisturbed by the news that the Arends were reluctant to join the campaign. "Tell me, Lelldorin," she said calmly, "could you gather some of your less suspicious friends in one place - some secure place where they won't be afraid we might want to ambush them?"
    "What have you got in mind, Polgara?" King Rhodar asked, his eyes puzzled.
    "Someone's going to have to talk to them," Polgara