Castle of Wizardry, Chapter 1 Garion’s tripping on memories being recalled by the Orb, as the company flies down through the caves beneath Rak Cthol inside the earthquake triggered by Ctuchik’s utter destruction. He’s the one witness who truly understands the struggle of faith Relg goes through in his decision to pass through the rockfall and rescue Taiba. Sondra has book promo excitement and nerves, and is fizzing over the new words she wrote into the draft of Emerald on Her Tongue....

Castle of Wizardry, Prologue Garion’s family history with lots of story Easter eggs about the Rivan blood line’s relationship with the orb, Tolnedrans, and Nyissans. Sondra has realised, as she pens the series of introductory emails for new GKU subscribers, that she should probably take a sec to celebrate her achievements. Alysia is finalising her last Raven Dreams book and finding inspiration in music again amid demanding household transformations. They’re both of the opinion that...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 27 Garion follows Wolf through the strange and horrible rooms of Ctuchik’s tower as the orb song swells in his body and mind. His grandfather does battle with the evil magician until Ctuchik destroys himself, the aftermath of which cracks the city apart around them. In the end Garion scoops up the innocent orb thief just in time to flee the wreckage and re-enter the caves. Sondra is in data overload recovery (again) after coming down from the excitement of fresh,...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 26 Garion is in the thrall of some intense emotions: fear saturated slave pens, Brill’s surprise ambush and Silk’s bout of hand-to-hand combat with the assassin, anger at the horror of worship in the temple of Torak, and the subsequent draining of his will to destroy it all. Sondra has redesigned and reissued her whole Embodying Earth series of books and must be in alignment because she accidentally created a new book while she was at it. Alysia is in a week of...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 25 Garion follows Relg into the darkness of the caves beneath Rak Cthol, climbing up sheer rock for hours to reach the slave pens. He gives Taiba the escaped and dying Marag slave his cloak, and finds out Ctuchic killed her two baby girls, sacrificing them on the altar to Torak. Sondra is intoxicated by the sensuousness of the warming forest. She’s cycled around to connecting with people and her creations again. Alysia is once again experiencing the negatives and...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 24 Garion helps Aunt Pol shield the group from grolim mind-searching and is an accidental partner in the madding of a grolim’s mind when his aunt attacks. Sondra is walking into inspiration and feeling alive. Her artistic senses are waking up with the seasonal thaw. Alysia is pulling weeds and enjoying the scent of fresh turned earth, and drawing joy from the awareness of human connections. They’re both opening up to life. Stick around for "Prophecy Speaks",...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 23 Garion swims through black sand with sea monsters in the freezing wasteland of an empty sea, while Silk turns inside out in the aftermath of his internal rockslide. There’s a bit of swordplay, axeplay, and rockplay before the company sets course over shaking ground toward the smoking volcano. Sondra is in the depths of despair of ever being able to finish watching Anne with an E, and poking her sore spots. Alysia is toasting her happy birthday with friends and...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 22 Garion slides back down into the gully with Barak with the news of Silk’s capture. He waits around with everyone else for hours in the dark, spiralling down internally into guilt and grief, remembering Lelldorin for the first time in ages, while Relg prays his way through the rock wall of the pit to rescue Silk. Sondra has been ambushed by a year of work upending down the drain. Now she’s finding the advantages of a startling change of direction. Is panic the...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 21 Garion meets Silk’s Nadrak “friend” Yarblek and is amazed by the way Aunt Pol behaves when Yarblek asks to buy her. Relg gets a cold and thinks he’s dying. Silk freaks out and flees when he hears the King of the Murgos is on his way. But, too late! Brill has finally captured his man. Sondra is drawing more mystical creatures with layer and layers of colour, and they’re talking to her! She needs to remember that she’s an EFT, Reiki and Meditation therapist and...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 20 Garion has become Relg’s confessor—the Ulgo is having a tough time of it this week. Our teenage hero is witness to the horror of a Thull hurling himself from the top of the Eastern Escarpment, but the horror turns to sickness when he hears Silk explain why The Thull had been so willing to die by his own design. Sondra is still drawing and painting, and is NOT chopping her wife’s toe off. She’s been deep in the design and build of her publishing company’s new...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 19 Garion and the gang are out of the caves of Ulgo and back in the sunshine on the surface. He inadvertently nominates himself for Relg duty, which basically means to keep the newly emerged cave-dweller calm enough about open sky to not run screaming into the forest. Sondra tries to expound upon the attributes of the peoples of the Belgariad. It’s a hilarious effort. She’s painting and feeling the freshness of new creation and inspiration. Alysia is using...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 18 Relg gets very cooperative, Ce’Nedra is told she has to stay behind, and Garion gets kissed again (and is still clueless about why). The gang makes a plan to sneak into Cthol Murgos. Alysia is in Covid recovery with Supernatural, and she’s wondering what does being a professional writer look like? She’s centred and calm, even after coming through some tumultuous December happenings. Sondra gets passionate about personal responsibility around vaccinations. Her...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 17 Ce’Nedra acknowledges to herself that her bad behaviour is due to her continual state of fright since joining the group. The Gorim surprises her by recognising she’s a dryad, and her haughty sass plonks her into a situation of having to listen to a tiresome ancient story. But she’s captivated and learns about UL. Relg antagonises them all and ends up demonstrating why anyone might be willing to put up with his company. Sondra is moving her body more, inside and...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 16 Garion enters the portal and descends into the red-tinted dark caves of the Ulgos feeling the weight of the mountain as well as their seemingly bottomless depths. He is profoundly moved by the neverending echo of the Ulgo hymn that has sounded in the caves for thousands of years, and again when he meets the Gorim, knowing instinctively that he is perhaps the holiest man in the world. Sondra is rolling around in yin yoga yumminess and feeling rewarded for...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 15 Garion is feeling drained in the aftermath of working magic with Aunt Pol, and even though he’s worried about Durnik being unconscious for so long and the others being injured, he is present enough to prompt his aunt to get Wolf back on track when his grandfather gets lost in the misery of his grief. Belgarath then leads them up the mountain and through the worsening blizzard to the mysterious abandoned city of Prolgu. Sondra has been making plans and opened...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 14 Garion is again reigned in by Aunt Pol when he reaches for his sword to join the others as they fight off an attack from Grul the Eldrak and his pack of rockwolves. His grandfather leaps into the fray in wolf form. Garion and his aunt perform a piece of sorcery so powerful it takes their combined focus and their medallions to build the required will. Aunt Pol releases the spell with the word, Mother, after which an ephemeral smaller wolf appears surrounded with...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 13 Garion draws his sword and protects his aunt and the princess while Barak, Mandorallen, and Hettar do battle in epic style with hrulga and algroths, the big knight laughing in the face of fear. Sondra has a new mantra: I’m a writer and a podcaster I’m a writer and a podcaster. She’s in shock over her brother’s accident and feeling scattered and lost, scared of activating old patterns of guilt about leaving her family. Alysia is still encountering dark thoughts...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 12 Garion gets a lesson in the balance of universal forces after feeling foolish for flubbing his first act of deliberate magic. The shifted perspective of birds sings him out of his funk though, right before he meets his grandfather’s brother sorcerers and expands his cursing vocabulary thanks to Beldin and—of all people—his Aunt! Sondra has had a week of imposter syndrome that she only emerged from after remembering to breathe and meditate. Alysia has been...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 11 Garion meets Aldur and is blessed, claiming the God as his Master without knowing why. He spends time contemplating the passing of what he senses is a significant threshold and then sets out to discover how much more complicated the doing of deliberate magic is compared to instinctive magic. Sondra is enjoying the autumn changes and feeling much better now that her creative spark has returned. Alysia is diving into darkness and feeling the light of the dark,...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 10 Garion is nervous about Ce’Nedra who is watching him all the time. He projects his mind into that of the little colt, confirming the existence of a special bond between them. Mr Wolf relates a brief history of the ruined towers they pass once they reach the Vale of Aldur but is subdued and seems to not want to elaborate. But after the group reaches The Tree, Wolf takes Garion to his tower and relates some family history, and after some intimate instruction in...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 9 Garion is embarrassed at the awed respect being directed at him by all the horses and the colt’s uncensored adoration. He finally understands why he needs guidance in sorcery and realises that just because he can do something with his power doesn’t mean he should. His relationship with Ce’Nedra has reached the point of being able to pick up on her unspoken signals that she’s busting for an argument. Sondra is invoking dark moon energy and re-dedicating her word...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 8 Garion’s attention fades from the reality of Mandorallen confessing his deepest fear when he is called by the profound magic of the cave and shifts into an altered state of consciousness to bring a new-born colt back to life. Sondra is attempting to drink the oceans—unsuccessfully, and the berating of her cruel internal voice has required her to launch into emergency self-care mode. Alysia is on the magic crystal water of transformation and shifting to complete...

Magician’s Gambit, Chapter 7 arion wakes up with everyone else on the north edge of Maragor, keeps holding Ce’Nedra’s hand just because it feels nice and later on pays for an exuberant kiss with a load of snow down his collar. Between the appearance of a scruffy band of robbers and encountering a more dangerous group of murgos led by Brill, Garion also gets to see Silk at his sneaky and snarky best. Sondra is channelling vibrational essences again, and with that comes an update to the cold...

In this special episode of Belgariad & Beyond, Sondra and her guest, Jessica Moore-Lucas continue a conversation to discover how the magical realism of story and the books that we love weave through the fabric of our lives to support us. If you're enjoying the Belgariad & Beyond Podcast strictly spoiler-free, be aware we sometimes briefly touch on the Belgariad stories. Spirituality. What does it mean? Mindfulness and other home-schooling disasters. Depression and the absence of...