"If there are enemies in the service tunnels, then we can't use the tunnels to leave, Margo dear," Magrat pointed out.

"Are there only three men working for the Bishop or are there more than that?" Cat Rider asked.

"No, just three that we know of," the queen crumpled the message.

"Then it is less likely anyone is watching the outside of the house," Cat pondered. "If that is the case, what prevents us from walking out the front door, walking a block, getting in a carriage, and going anywhere we want? That would leave your agents to capture them while we can find a nice pub somewhere and play darts while we wait."

"Phfffft!" Queen Margo tried not to laugh and did not succeed. Then she snapped her fingers and one of the serving staff ran up to the table. "Get two coaches and park them a block away, ready to leave." The goblin nodded, turned on his heel, and ran off.

The two-footeds talked about wine while we waited. Not being a wine drinker, I had little interest in the subject. Another of the queen's agents ran into the dining room and whispered into the queen's ear. She frowned.

Very softly, she addressed the table: "the Bishop's men are already in the basement. We don't know what they are doing. They could be settling in to take a nap until later or they could be advancing. There are two of my people concealed in the basement but they can't move without revealing themselves."

"If they settle in, we need to get you to safety," Magrat told her sister, "and if they don't settle in, we still need to get you to safety."

Many minutes passed and nothing happened.

"I think you should leave, Margo," Magrat whispered. "Let's make the usual amount of noise for seeing someone off after dinner. If it looks like they aren't moving for now, we will all walk out and get into the carriages."

Queen Margo nodded her agreement and we all got to our feet.

"Wait," the Queen held up a hand, "won't this many people on the stairs make too much noise."

"I believe we elves can get down the stairs without making any sound," Cloud Eye stated softly. "We are professional hunters after all."

"But can Cat Rider get down the stairs without thumping his bad leg?" Magrat asked. Cat Rider really did make noise when he walked, especially on these wood floors.

"I'll go down on Fuzzy," Cat grinned.

"Well then, let's move," the Queen ordered.

I was a bit disgusted when the three elves slid down the banisters.

"Show-offs," Cat muttered as he rigged the stirrup strap and got on my back. I padded down the stairs, a little concerned that they might creak under my weight, but it was a needless worry. We were out the front door silently and waited for the goblins to catch up.

The Queen, Magrat, Gragoy, and two of the goblin servers-cum-agents came down with Magrat and Margo talking about goblin wines. The three older goblins stepped through the front door, and the two agents went back upstairs with audible footsteps. We walked with no noise to the two waiting carriages.

As we started getting in, the Queen walked up to me, and Cat as he rolled up the stirrup strap and put it into its case on his belt. She looked at the two of us with an impish smile, "you know, riding on the back of a mountain cat looks like fun."

"It can be," Cat remarked.

I had to cast mind talking since I always drop the spell if I'm not using it. * Are you hinting you'd like a ride? *

"Why, yes!"

* Cat, rig the stirrup strap and make sure you shorten it for the Queen since she has shorter legs than you do. *

Magrat stuck her head out a carriage window to see what the delay was, "sister, what are you doing?"

By now, the Queen was getting comfortable on the riding pad with her hands grabbing the two shoulder straps. "Going for a ride, sister. Alright Fuzzy, just how fast can you go?"

While I was taking the Goblin Queen for a run, the Queen's agents set off sleeping gas bombs in the basement of Magrat's townhouse. The captured men were stripped to their underclothes, cuffed and shackled, and locked in separate cells in the guardhouse for the palace. Their morning meal was water and oatcakes laced with goblin truth serum. For humans, goblin truth serum is also a narcotic.

Wren and I were invited to listen to the interrogation of each prisoner along with every senior minister. The Queen was there too. The goblins and Wren were seated on chairs on the other side of a thin partition from where the interrogation took place. I got a folded-up blanket to lie on.

We heard chains when the first prisoner was brought in by hobgoblin guards. His interrogator was a short thin goblin in a black robe wearing thick glasses. He looked quite harmless but he talked like a lawyer.

"Your name, please"

"Simon Green."

"And where are you from?"

"Tammerhof."

"What is your occupation?"

"I'm a member of the personal guard of Queen Griselda Oster, Regent of Nordweg."

Everyone in the listening room sat up and traded looks. Queen Margo scowled.

"If you work for Queen Griselda, why are you here?"

"Oh, the Queen told her son that he had to take us with him for his protection since his ballista troop are all siege engine experts and not real soldiers."

"Why were you in the basement of the First Minister's house last night?"

"His Eminence, the Bishop, wanted us to kill the tall lady elf if she had her own guest room and then set the house on fire. If that wasn't possible, we were to poison the elves' food with argalgol and leave argalgol bottles where they would be found."

"Why were you taking orders from the Bishop?"

"The Queen told us that we were to follow his orders even if the Prince or Duke told us otherwise."

"The Bishop told you to kill someone from another kingdom. Did you question his orders to murder a foreign princess?"

"Nope. We have to do that now and then. It's part of the job. We get a bonus in gold for every person we successfully put away."

That was how the first interrogation went. The second interrogation was similar. The third added something.

"Yeah, the Prince and the Bishop had words before he called us to his room and gave us orders," the third prisoner explained. "The Prince was real mad that the Bishop was being a jerk to the elf lady. The Bishop said the Prince shouldn't waste time on a heathen barbarian pretend royal. The Prince said he intended to request formal courtship with the elven lady and that the Bishop was making that impossible with his bad attitude."

Oh my. When Wren heard that, the look on her face was choice.