Guardians of the West

hasn't quite seeped into their heads yet."
    "That was an awfully good shot," Barak congratulated Lelldorin, who had just loosed an arrow through the shattered window.
    Lelldorin shrugged. "Child's play. Now, that fellow creeping along the roof-line of the house several streets back -that's a bit more challenging." He nocked another arrow, drew, and released all in one smooth motion.
    "You got him," Barak said.
    "Naturally"
    As evening approached, Polgara and Beldin returned to the camp outside the city. "Well," the gnarled sorcerer said with a certain satisfaction, "you won't have to worry about the pikemen for a while." He held out his twisted hands to one of Yarblek's glowing braziers.
    "You didn't hurt them, did you?" Porenn asked quickly.
    "No." He grinned. "We just bogged them down. They were going through a marshy valley, and we diverted a river into it. The whole place is a quagmire now. They're perched on hummocks and in the branches of trees waiting for the water to subside."
    "Won't that stall Brendig as well?" Garion asked.
    "Brendig's marching around that valley." Polgara assured him, sitting near one of the braziers with a cup of tea. "He should be here in a few days." She looked at Vella. "This tea is really excellent," she said.
    "Thank you, Lady Polgara," the dark-haired dancer replied. Her eyes were fixed on Ce'Nedra's copper curls, radiant in the golden candlelight. She sighed enviously. "If I had hair like that, Yarblek could sell me for double the price."
    "I'd settle for half," Yarblek muttered, "just to avoid all those incidental knifings."
    "Don't be such a baby, Yarblek," she told him. "I didn't really hurt you all that much."
    "You weren't the one who was doing the bleeding."
    "Have you been practicing your curses, Vella?" Beldin asked.
    She demonstrated -at some length.
    "You're getting better," he congratulated her.
    For the next two days, Garion's forces worked to heap obstructions along the rubble-choked perimeter of the north quarter of Rheon to prevent a counterattack in force from crossing that intervening space. Garion and his friends observed the process from a large window high up in the house which they had converted into a headquarters.
    "Whoever's in charge over there doesn't seem to have a very good grasp of basic strategy," Yarblek noted. "He's not making any effort to block off his side of that open space to keep us out of the rest of his city." Barak frowned. "You know, Yarblek, you're right. That should have been his first move after we secured this part of town."
    "Maybe he' s too arrogant to believe that we can take more of his houses," Lelldorin suggested.
    "Either that or he's laying traps for us back out of sight," Durnik added.
    "That's possible, too," Barak agreed. "More than possible. Maybe we ought to do a little planning before we start any more attacks."
    Before we can plan anything, we have to know exactly what kind of traps Ulfgar has waiting for us," Javelin said.
    Silk sighed and made a wry face. " All right. After dark I'll go have a look."
    "I wasn't really suggesting that, Kheldar."
    "Of course you weren't."
    It's a very good idea, though. I'm glad you thought of it."
    It was some time after midnight when Silk returned to the large, firelit room in Garion's headquarters. "It's a very unpleasant night out there," the little man said, shivering and rubbing his hands together. He went over to stand in front of the fire.
    "Well, are they planning any surprises for us?" Barak asked him, lifting a copper tankard.
    "Oh, yes," Silk replied. "They're building walls across the streets several houses back from our perimeter and they're putting them just around corners so you won't see them until you're right on top of them."
    "With archers and tubs of boiling pitch in all the houses nearby?" Barak asked glumly.
    "Probably." Silk shrugged. "Do you have any more of that ale? I'm chilled to the bone."
    "We'll have to work on this a bit," Javelin mused.
    "Good luck," Barak said sourly, going to the ale keg. "I hate fighting in towns. Give me a nice open field any time."
    "But the towns are where all the loot is," Yarblek said to him.
    "Is that all you ever think about?"
    "We're in this life to make a profit, my friend," the rawboned Nadrak replied with a shrug.
    "You sound just like Silk."
    "I know. That's why we went into partnership."
    It continued to snow lightly throughout the following day. The citizens of Rheon made a few more probing attacks on Garion's defensive