Talking To Dragons

by Patricia C. Wrede

  I wished she hadn’t mentioned being hungry; I’d almost forgotten that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. But there wasn’t anything inside the hedge to eat, and I wasn’t going to try opening it. I thought I’d already done enough experimenting for one day, and besides, it was getting dark.

  “What are you doing in the Enchanted Forest?” Shiara asked when I didn’t say anything.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “How can you not know?” she demanded. “I told you why I came!”

  So I explained about Mother and the wizard. Shiara was very interested.

  “I think I want to meet your mother,” she said. “After I learn how to use my magic. Do you think she’d be willing to teach me how to melt a wizard?”

  I said I didn’t know.

  “I don’t see how you can find out what you’re supposed to be doing just by wandering about the Enchanted Forest,” Shiara said.

  “Well, you’re planning to wander around until you find out how to use your magic, aren’t you?” I said. “I don’t think I really see the difference.”

  “I know what I’m doing!” Shiara said. “That’s the difference.”

  “You don’t seem to know very much about the Enchanted Forest,” I said. “Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten caught by this hedge.”

  Shiara scowled, then looked suddenly thoughtful. “Is it more dangerous to wander around the forest alone than it is with someone?”

  “It depends,” I said. “Two people can attract more attention than one, but sooner or later everyone in the Enchanted Forest runs into something dangerous. And when you do get into trouble, it’s sort of nice to have someone around to help.”

  “Why don’t we stay together, then?” Shiara said. “After we get out of this stupid hedge, I mean. As long as neither of us knows exactly where we’re supposed to be going, we might as well wander in the same direction.”

  “All right,” I said. It sounded like a good idea, especially since it’s hard to run into someone completely by accident in the Enchanted Forest.

  Then Shiara made me describe Antorell in detail. She decided that he didn’t sound like any of the wizards who had kidnapped her. I wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad. I was beginning to like Shiara; she was sort of nice when she wasn’t mad. But if we were going to stick together, we would have two sets of wizards looking for us, and that didn’t sound too good. Shiara was still curious, so I wound up telling her about the sword and the lizard and everything, too.

  “The Sword of the Sleeping King,” she said thoughtfully when I finished. “Well, it sounds important. Can you do that spell again? I’d like to watch; maybe I could figure it out.”

  “I could do it, but I won’t,” I said. “Once was enough.”

  “You scared or something?” Shiara said scornfully.

  “I’m not being scared, I’m being sensible,” I said. “That was no minor magic I set off. Are you trying to attract attention?”

  “No, I suppose you’re right. Will you let me see it, at least?”

  “Sure, if you promise not to take it out of the sheath or say any spells at it or anything,” I said. I stood up and started trying to unbuckle the belt. It was hard to do in the dark. Finally Shiara got tired of waiting and came and helped. It still took a while, and my elbows got in the way again, but finally we managed to get the swordbelt off. Shiara took the sheath and squinted at the parts of the sword that showed.

  “I can’t see anything,” she complained.

  “There isn’t much to see,” I said. “Besides, it’s dark. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow.”

  “I wanted to see it now. Oh, all right.” She handed it back, hilt first. I took it and nearly let go again right away. The tingling was back, the one that reminded me of a bee, and it was a lot stronger than it had been before.

  “Watch out!” Shiara said. “You almost dropped it.”

  “It’s tingling again,” I said.

  “It is? Let me see.” I handed the sword back, and Shiara touched the hilt. “I don’t feel anything. Are you sure?”

  “Of course I’m sure.” I reached out and put my hand on the hilt, next to Shiara’s.

  “Ow!” I said, and Shiara went, “Oh!” and we both dropped the sword. We looked at each other for a minute.

  “What did it feel like to you?” I said finally.

  “Like something pulling at me,” Shiara said. She eyed the sword. “You can have it back; I don’t think I want to look at it anymore.”

  I picked up the sword and put it back on. I still wanted to know what it was doing, but I didn’t want to do any more messing around with it in the dark. Shiara and I talked about it for a while, but we were both tired, and finally we decided to just go to sleep. We would have plenty of time to experiment in the morning if we still felt like it.

  Spending the night in the Enchanted Forest sounds awfully exciting, but it isn’t really. Either you stay up all night so the wolves and nightshades and things won’t get you and they don’t, or you fall asleep and they do, or you find someplace safe and sleep there and never know. We slept all night, at least I did, and when we woke up in the morning the hedge was still there.

  By that time I was really hungry, and since there wasn’t anything to eat inside the hedge I was anxious to leave. So was Shiara; she was still worried about the Society of Wizards. We got up and brushed the moss off our clothes, and I checked the sword, just to be safe.

  “Will you quit fussing with that and come open this stupid hedge?” Shiara said.

  I walked over to the bushes. They looked very dense and very prickly. “Excuse me,” I said to the hedge. “I would like to thank you for keeping the wolves and things out all night, and I would very much appreciate it if you would let me through now.”

  “That’s the dumbest...” Shiara began, and the bushes rustled and parted. I grinned and stepped through. The branches shut behind me with a snap. “Ow!” said Shiara. I turned around. She was still on the other side of the hedge.

  “What happened?” I yelled.

  “What do you think happened? And you don’t have to shout; I’m not that far away.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “Make it open up again!”

  “I’ll try,” I said doubtfully. I addressed the bushes again. “Excuse me, but you seem to have a friend of mine inside, and she can’t get out. Will you please let her through?”

  The bushes rustled smugly and didn’t move apart at all. “I’d really appreciate it if you would let her out,” I said. “She’s nicer than you think.” The bushes rustled again. This time they sounded skeptical. They still didn’t open.

  “Well?” said Shiara’s voice.

  I sighed. ‘They won’t open up. I’m afraid you’ll have to apologize.”

  “Apologize? To a bush?” Shiara sounded outraged. “I won’t! I’ll burn this hedge to cinders! I’ll— Ow!”

  “I really think you’d better apologize,” I said. “Otherwise you probably won’t be able to get out until the wizards come.”

  There was silence for a while. Finally Shiara said, “Oh, all right. I’m sorry I said you were a stupid hedge.” She paused. “Now will you please let me through?”

  Reluctantly, the bushes pulled apart. Shiara sighed with relief and stepped through. She almost didn’t make it; the bushes closed again so fast they caught a piece of her tunic. “Hey!” she said. “Stop that!”

  “I hate to mention this,” I said as I helped Shiara work her tunic free, “but you really ought to be more polite.”

  “To lizards and bushes? Ha!” She jerked her tunic free and glared at the hedge.

  “I mean it,” I said. “It only gets you into trouble when you’re not.”

  “I’m a fire-witch,” Shiara said sullenly. “People are supposed to be polite to me.”

  “I thought you didn’t like having everyone scared of you,” I said. I turned to the bush. “Thank you very much,” I told it.

  The bran
ches rustled politely. I turned back to Shiara, who was watching me with her mouth open. “If you act like that all the time, I don’t think people would like you much even if you weren’t a fire-witch. Good-bye.” I turned around and started walking.

  “Wait!” I stopped. Shiara ran up beside me. “I—I’m sorry. I guess I’m not used to being nice to people.”

  “That could really get you in trouble in the Enchanted Forest,” I said.

  Shiara looked back over her shoulder at the hedge and shuddered. “I guess you’re right. Well, I’ll try.”

  “All right. Let’s find something to eat.”

  That was easier to say than do. We found a bush that had some berries on it, but half of them were blue and half were red. I wasn’t quite hungry enough to take a chance on them, and neither was Shiara. She thought about it, but finally decided not to. “If my fire-magic doesn’t always work, my immunity to magic might not always work, either,” she said. “I’d hate to turn into something awful just because of a few berries.” I thought that was very sensible. We kept going.

  Eventually we found a clearing full of blackberry brambles. It looked very odd sitting there in the middle of the Enchanted Forest; it was too ordinary. The berries were full of seeds, but we ate a lot of them anyway. I picked some extras and tied them up in my handkerchief for later. When we finished, we started walking again.

  It wasn’t a very exciting walk. The woods looked just the same. The trees didn’t get any smaller, the moss still covered the ground, and every once in a while there was a peculiar bush growing next to one of the trees. It would have gotten boring after a while if Shiara hadn’t been there. It was sort of nice to have someone my own age to talk to; I’d never had any friends. Most people didn’t want their children getting as close to the Enchanted Forest as we lived, so we never had any visitors except the Princes and so on. I told Shiara about living at the edge of the forest, and she told me about the town she lived in. It was very interesting, to me, anyway.

  By the middle of the morning we were both getting hungry again. Blackberries don’t stick with you for long. We stopped and got out the berries I’d saved in my handkerchief. They were sort of squashed and messy, but they tasted fine. Then we started walking again. It was a warm day, and by the time we saw the stream we were both very thirsty.

  “Water! Oh, great!” Shiara said as we reached the bank. It was a small stream, ankle deep and a little too wide to jump. I could see the pebbles on the bottom. Shiara knelt on the bank and reached down.

  “Wait a minute!” I said. “You shouldn’t just drink that. You could turn into a rabbit, or lose your memory, or disappear, or something.”

  Shiara looked at me. Then she looked at the stream. “I don’t care,” she said finally. “I’m thirsty.” She leaned back toward the water.

  “But what if— Watch out!” I grabbed Shiara and pulled her away just as a huge swirl of muddy water came rushing down the stream. She scrambled back and stood up, and we watched the stream for a minute. It was now almost a river, deep and fast and angry.

  Shiara looked at me. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. I guess we’ll have to go back—” I started to turn back toward the woods and stopped in mid-sentence. There was dark water on that side of us, too. We were standing on an island. A very small island. It was getting smaller every minute.

  I stared at the churning water, and my hand went to my sword. I don’t know why; swords usually aren’t much good against floods. As soon as I touched the hilt I knew that it wasn’t in the nature of this particular stream to do this sort of thing. I didn’t know how I knew, but I was sure someone was creating the flood.

  Right about then I heard a chuckle. Not a nice chuckle. I was looking around for the chuckler when Shiara grabbed my arm. “Daystar! Over there!”

  I turned. A man was leaning against one of the trees. He had blue robes and black hair and a wizard’s staff in one hand. I’d never seen him before. He was watching Shiara.

  “Well, little fire-witch, I seem to have caught you again,” he said.

  “You leave me alone!” Shiara shouted. “Or I’ll burn your staff, too.”

  The wizard chuckled again. He really had a nasty chuckle. “Oh, I don’t think so,” he said. “I’ve taken precautions, you see.” He waved at the water that surrounded us and smiled patronizingly. “Or weren’t you aware that fire-magic won’t cross water?”

  “Magic may not cross water, but we can,” I said. I was beginning to share Shiara’s dislike of wizards. “Come on, Shiara It can’t be very deep.”

  “Where did you find the hero?” the wizard asked. Shiara just glared at him. The wizard laughed. I didn’t like his laugh any better than his chuckle. “I should give him something to do, don’t you think? A monster, perhaps. Heroes like monsters.” He waved his staff in the general direction of the flooding stream.

  Part of the water on one side of our island started to bunch up and solidify. Once it got started, it went pretty fast. I didn’t even have time to step back before the thing was finished growing. It looked sort of like a giant snake’s head that dripped. The outlines kept changing because it was made out of water that wasn’t completely solid, but it was pretty clearly a snake.

  It lunged at me. I dodged and drew my sword. I almost didn’t make it. Shiara yelled, and there was a puff of steam from the snake’s head. The snake didn’t seem particularly hurt; some of the stream water bunched up around it, but that was all. I heard the wizard laugh again.

  “I’m afraid that won’t work very well, young lady,” he said. “You’d have to boil the whole stream away to get rid of my monster, and I don’t think you can. Pity, isn’t it? Be patient; you’ll have your turn in another minute, and then the Head Wizard will owe me a favor.”

  The head lunged again. By now I was ready for it, but it was awfully fast. I dodged again and struck at it with the sword, even though I wasn’t sure what good it would do me to wound something that wasn’t even alive. I found out in a hurry.

  The sword made a humming noise, and I heard the wizard yell. There was a sound like an explosion. The snake head made a bubbly noise and collapsed in a wave of muddy water. I got soaked. The floodwater drained away, leaving a lot of wet moss. And Shiara yelled again.

  I whirled around. Shiara was pointing; it took me a second to realize what she was pointing at. It was the big tree that the wizard had been leaning against. A couple of short branches were lying at the foot of the tree. The wizard was gone.

  4

  I STOOD WHERE I was, panting and dripping. When I got my breath back, I went over to the tree. There was no sign of the wizard except for the “branches” I’d noticed. There were three of them, and they weren’t branches. They were pieces of a staff.

  I looked at Shiara. “That’s two wizard’s staffs you’ve broken,” I said. “They’re really going to be after you now.”

  “I didn’t break it,” Shiara said indignantly. “You did.”

  “I did not,” I said. We looked at each other for a minute. “If neither of us broke it,” Shiara said finally, “who did?”

  “Me,” said a voice. I looked up. A little man was sitting in the branches of the tree. He was about two feet tall and dressed entirely in green. His eyes were black and very bright, and his ears were slightly pointed. He had to be an elf.

  “I think you mean ‘I,’” I said automatically.

  “I shouldn’t wonder if you’re right,” the elf said thoughtfully. He tilted his head to one side. “Does it matter?”

  “Can you get down from that tree?” Shiara said. “You’re giving me a crick in my neck.”

  The elf looked from me to Shiara and back to me again. “Introduce me to your charming companion,” he said.

  “Oh, excuse me,” I said. I told the elf our names and thanked him for taking care of the wizard. I was a little curious about that. I’d never met an elf, but they didn’t have a reputation for altruism. I wasn’t sure I wanted to trust one, eith
er. Elves can be very tricky.

  “You’re welcome,” the elf said. “I’ve never cared much for wizards. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to do anything permanent to them. This one will be back in a day or two.”

  “If there is anything we can do for you in return, I would like to hear what it is,” I said. If someone in the Enchanted Forest does you a favor, you have to offer to do one for them. Well, you don’t have to, but if you don’t, things seem to go wrong a lot after that. You have to be careful, though; if you promise to do a favor before you hear what it is, you can end up in more trouble than you started with. I wasn’t going to promise anything without finding out first what I was promising.

  “Consider the debt canceled,” the elf said politely. I thought he sounded disappointed, and I didn’t like the way he was looking at my sword. Suddenly I was very glad Mother had told me about making promises in the Enchanted Forest.

  “Thank you,” I said. “You did a very neat job.” He had, too; the staff had been sliced cleanly into thirds. I began to wonder how he had done it. I hadn’t thought elves were powerful enough to break a wizard’s staff. I didn’t really want to ask, though; he might take offense or something.

  “You may have the staff, if you want it,” the elf said, waving at the pieces.

  “What good is a busted wizard’s staff?” Shiara said. “You can’t do anything with it.”

  “Nonsense,” said the elf. “Wizard’s staffs are just as powerful in pieces as they are whole, and they’re fairly easy to put back together. So please, take it with you.”

  I didn’t like the way he kept suggesting that. It sounded reasonable enough, but as I said, I wasn’t sure I wanted to trust him. “Are you sure you don’t want it?” I asked finally.

  “What would an elf do with a wizard’s staff? If you don’t take it, I’ll just have to get rid of it somewhere.”

  That sounded reasonable, too. I wasn’t going to commit myself, though; he was too insistent. “Thank you for the suggestion,” I said. “We’ll think about it.”

  “Do,” the elf said. His black eyes twinkled. “Perhaps I’ll see you later. Good-bye.” Before I could say anything he had disappeared into the treetops. Elves move very quickly.