Castle of Wizardry

wait.
    Quite early one morning, perhaps a week after they had arrived at the Stronghold, Adara tapped on the door of Garion's room; even as he came awake, he knew it was she. "Yes?" he said through the door, quickly pulling on his shirt and hose.
    "Would you like to ride today, Garion?" she asked. "The sun's out, and it's a little warmer."
    "Of course," he agreed immediately, sitting to pull on the Algar boots Hettar had given him. "Let me get dressed. I'll just be a minute."
    "There's no great hurry," she told him. "I'll have a horse saddled for you and get some food from the kitchen. You should probably tell Lady Polgara where you're going, though. I'll meet you in the west stables."
    "I won't be long," he promised.
    Aunt Pol was seated in the great hall with Belgarath and King ChoHag, while Queen Silar sat nearby, her fingers flickering through warp and woof on a large loom upon which she was weaving. The click of her shuttle was a peculiarly drowsy sort of sound.
    "Travel's going to be difficult in midwinter," King Cho-Hag was saying. "It will be savage in the mountains of Ulgo."
    "I think there's a way we can avoid all that," Belgarath replied lazily. He was lounging deeply in a large chair. "We'll go back to Prolgu the way we came, but I need to talk to Relg. Do you suppose you could send for him?"
    Cho-Hag nodded and gestured to a serving man. He spoke briefly to him as Belgarath negligently hung one leg over the arm of his chair and settled in even deeper. The old man was wearing a soft, gray woolen tunic; although it was early, he held a tankard of ale.
    "Don't you think you're overdoing that a bit?" Aunt Pol asked him, looking pointedly at the tankard.
    "I have to regain my strength, Pol," he explained innocently, "and strong ale restores the blood. You seem to forget that I'm still practically an invalid."
    "I wonder how much of your invalidism's coming out of Cho-Hag's ale-barrel," she commented. "You looked terrible when you came down this morning."
    "I'm feeling much better now, though." He smiled, taking another drink.
    "I'm sure you are. Yes, Garion?"
    "Adara wants me to go riding with her," Garion said. "I - that is, she - thought I should tell you where I was going."
    Queen Silar smiled gently at him. "You've stolen away my favorite lady in waiting, Garion," she told him.
    "I'm sorry," Garion quickly replied. "If you need her, we won't go."
    "I was only teasing you." The queen laughed. "Go ahead and enjoy your ride."
    Relg came into the hall just then, and not far behind him, Taiba. The Marag woman, once she had bathed and been given decent clothes to wear, had surprised them all. She was no longer the hopeless, dirty slave woman they had found in the caves beneath Rak Cthol. Her figure was full and her skin very pale. She moved with a kind of unconscious grace, and King Cho-Hag's clansmen looked after her as she passed, their lips pursed speculatively. She seemed to know she was being watched, and, far from being offended by the fact, it seemed rather to please her and to increase her self confidence. Her violet eyes glowed, and she smiled often now. She was, however, never very far from Relg. At first Garion had believed that she was deliberately placing herself where the Ulgo would have to look at her out of a perverse enjoyment of the discomfort it caused him, but now he was not so sure. She no longer even seemed to think about it, but followed Relg wherever he went, seldom speaking, but always there.
    "You sent for me, Belgarath?" Relg asked. Some of the harshness had gone out of his voice, but his eyes still looked peculiarly haunted.
    "Ah, Relg," Belgarath said expansively. "There's a good fellow. Come, sit down. Take a cup of ale."
    "Water, thank you," Relg replied firmly.
    "As you wish." Belgarath shrugged. "I was wondering, do you by any chance know a route through the caves of Ulgo that reaches from Prolgu to the southern edge of the land of the Sendars?"
    "That's a very long way," Relg told him.
    "Not nearly as long as it would be if we rode over the mountains," Belgarath pointed out. "There's no snow in the caves, and no monsters. Is there such a way?"
    "There is," Relg admitted.
    "And would you be willing to guide us?" the old man pressed.
    "If I must," Relg agreed with some reluctance.
    "I think you must, Relg," Belgarath told him.
    Relg sighed. "I'd hoped that I could return home now that our journey's almost over," he said regretfully.
    Belgarath laughed. "Actually, our journey's