Demon Lord of Karanda

"Didn't it bother you at all the first time you put her down the front of your dress?"She laughed. "To be perfectly honest with you, Prince Kheldar, the first time it was all I could do to keep from screaming."

CHAPTER TWENTY
    At first light the following morning, a light that was little more than a lessening of the darkness of a sky where dense clouds scudded before the chill wind blowing down off the mountains, Silk returned to the room in which they had spent the night. "The house is being watched," he told them.
    "How many are there?" Belgarath asked.
    "I saw one. I'm sure there are others."
    "Where is he? The one that you saw?"
    Silk's quick grin was vicious. "He's watching the sky.At least he looks like he's watching. His eyes are open and he's lying on his back." He slid his hand down into his boot, pulled out one of his daggers, and looked sorrowfully at its once-keen edge. "Do you have any idea of how hard it is to push a knife through a chain-mail shirt?"
    "I think that's why people wear them, Kheldar," Velvet said to him. "You should use one of these." From somewhere amongst her soft, feminine clothing she drew out a long-bladed poniard with a needle-like point.
    "I thought you were partial to snakes."
    "Always use the appropriate weapon, Kheldar. I certainly wouldn't want Zith to break her teeth on a steel shirt."
    "Could you two talk business some other time?" Belgarath said to them. "Can you put a name to this fellow who's suddenly so interested in the sky?"
    "We didn't really have time to introduce ourselves," Silk replied, sliding his jagged-edged knife back into his boot.
    "I meant what -not who."
    "Oh. He was a Temple Guardsman."
    "Not one of the Chandim?"
    "All I had to go by was his clothing."
    The old man grunted.
    "It's going to be slow going if we have to look behind every tree and bush as we ride along," Sadi said.
    "I realize that," Belgarath answered, tugging at one earlobe. "Let me think my way through this."
    "And while you're deciding, I'll fix us some breakfast," Polgara said, laying aside her hairbrush. "What would you all like?"
    "Porridge?" Eriond asked hopefully.
    Silk sighed. "The word is gruel, Eriond. Gruel." Then he looked quickly at Polgara, whose eyes had suddenly turned frosty. "Sorry, Polgara," he apologized, "but it's our duty to educate the young, don't you think?"
    "What I think is that I need more firewood," she replied.
    "I'll see to it at once."
    "You're too kind."
    Silk rather quickly left the room.
    "Any ideas?" the hunchbacked Beldin asked Belgarath.
    "Several. But they all have certain flaws in them."
    "Why not let me handle it for you?" the gnarled sorcerer asked, sprawling on a bench near the fire and scratching absently at his belly. "You've had a hard night, a ten-thousand-year-old man needs to conserve his strength."
    "You really find that amusing, don't you? Why not say twenty -or fifty? Push absurdity to its ultimate edge."
    "My," Beldin said, "aren't we testy this morning? Pol, have you got any beer handy?"
    "Before breakfast, Uncle?" she said from beside the fireplace where she was stirring a large pot.
    "Just as a buffer for the gruel," he said.
    She gave him a very steady look.
    He grinned at her, then turned back toward Belgarath. "Seriously, though," he went on, "why not let me deal with all the lurkers in the bushes around the house? Kheldar could dull every knife he's carrying, and Liselle could wear that poor little snake's fangs down to the gums, and still wouldn't be sure if you'd cleaned out the woods hereabouts. I'm going off in a different direction anyway, so why not let me do something flamboyant to frighten off the Guardsmen and the Karands and then leave a nice, wide trail for the Chandim and the Hounds? They'll follow me, and that should leave you an empty forest to ride through."
    Belgarath gave him a speculative look. "Exactly what have you got in mind?" he asked.
    "I'm still working on it." The dwarf leaned back reflectively. "Let's face it, Belgarath, the Chandim and Zandramas already know that we're here, so there's not much point in tiptoeing around anymore. A little noise isn't going to hurt anything."
    "That's true, I suppose," Belgarath agreed. He looked at Garion. "Are you getting any hints from the Orb about the direction Zandramas took when she left here?"
    "A sort of a steady pull toward the east is all."
    Beldin grunted. "Makes sense. Since Urvon's people were wandering all over Katakor, she probably wanted to get to the