Talking To Dragons

by Patricia C. Wrede

  I got behind the brazier just in time to avoid being hit by something like a large lightning bolt. I swallowed, hoping these wizards didn’t have very many more spells like that. I heard shouts, and I rolled to my feet, expecting to see the wizards with the swords coming after me.

  Wizards were running in several directions, but none of them seemed to be heading for me. For a moment, I was puzzled; then I saw Morwen, Telemain, and a couple of elves charging into the room from the hallway. I didn’t stop to worry about how they had gotten there. I turned back to the brazier, to pull the Sword of the Sleeping King out of it so I could join the fight, and stopped.

  The flames were still swirling in the air above the brazier, but they were denser somehow, and brighter. All I could see was a mass of white-and-yellow light, shot with power. Then something flashed so brightly that I had to cover my eyes. When I could see again, there was a door in the center of the brazier, right on top of the place where I had thrown the key and facing the point of the sword. The door was hung between two pillars that looked as if they were made of solid light, and I couldn’t see anything in back of it except light and flames.

  I stared at the door for a moment as it grew even more solid. I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out what was on the other side. Doors like that are even worse than the one in Morwen’s house; they can go anywhere. I reached for the Sword of the Sleeping King, but before my hand touched it, the door opened and a man stepped through.

  He didn’t look at all like the simulacrum; he was taller, with black hair and tired-looking grey eyes, and he didn’t have a beard. He was dressed in plain clothes, but there was a feeling of strength about him, and power. Even without the thin gold circlet he wore I would have guessed who he was. I took a deep breath of relief as he stepped down from the brazier and onto the marble floor in front of me.

  As he did, the doorway behind him melted back into leaping flames, which faded quickly until there was nothing there except the brazier and the glowing coals. The room was utterly silent. I looked up at the King of the Enchanted Forest for a moment, then turned to the brazier and reached for the hilt of the Sword of the Sleeping King.

  The sword wasn’t even warm from the fire, but the blade shone even more brightly than it had the day Mother brought it out of the Enchanted Forest and gave it to me. I looked at it for a minute, then turned back to the King and held it out.

  “I’ve come to return your sword, Father,” I said.

  21

  FOR A LONG moment the King of the Enchanted Forest looked at me over the hilt of the sword. Then he reached out and took it. He held it up for a moment, then turned and brought it down hard on the edge of the brazier.

  The brazier split and fell apart, scattering embers. As soon as it hit the floor, it started to melt and vanish, and in a few seconds there was nothing left of it except the key. The King bent and picked it up, then turned back to me and smiled. “Thank you, Daystar.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said automatically. Then I noticed Shiara sitting on the floor, where she had dived when the wizards started throwing spells around. She was looking from me to the King and back, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “Shiara, this is the King of the Enchanted Forest. Father, this is my friend, Shiara. She’s a fire-witch.”

  Father bowed. Shiara looked at him and cleared her throat, then cleared it again and said, “Hey, urn, are you really Daystar’s father?”

  The King smiled slightly and nodded. “Of course. Only the Kings of the Enchanted Forest can use the sword.” He raised it so that the light flashing from the blade filled the room, then in one fluid motion he sheathed it. He looked at me and smiled again.

  Shiara blinked, then turned her head and glared at me “Why didn’t you tell me the King of the Enchanted Forest was your father?” she demanded.

  “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know it myself until just now,” I said.

  “Ha!” said Shiara. “Why—”

  Before she could finish her sentence, Nightwitch pounced on her. I was just as surprised as Shiara; I hadn’t seen the kitten coming. “Nightwitch!” Shiara said. “Where did you come from?”

  “I believe she came with them,” Father said, nodding toward the doorway.

  Shiara and I turned. A dozen wizards were sprawled on the floor in a tangled pile. Some of them were wrapped in vines, some of them seemed to be frozen, and some of them had elves and cats sitting on them. As soon as we turned to look at them, the elves all got up and bowed, then sat down again quickly before the wizards could get up and do anything. The cats just sat and blinked at us.

  “I don’t think you need to be quite so careful,” the King said to the elves. “If you’ll let them up one at a time, I’ll decide what to do with them.”

  The elves nodded, and one of them stood up and bowed politely to the King. Father walked over to the wizard the elf had been sitting on and started asking him questions. The wizard didn’t answer. Finally, Father shrugged and waved a hand. The wizard disappeared, and Father went on to the next one.

  As soon as they got off of the wizards, the elves started gathering up the staffs into a big bundle; most of the cats just sat down and washed their paws. None of the wizards would say anything to Father, and he didn’t waste much time on any of them. In a few minutes, there were only three wizards left. I was watching them when Shiara poked me.

  “Daystar, where’s Morwen?” she said when I turned around. “Those are her cats; she has to be around somewhere.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I remember seeing her right before Father showed up, and Telemain was with her.” I looked toward the door, where the last few wizards were, and blinked. “Shiara, where’s Antorell?”

  “Didn’t he disappear already?”

  “No, he didn’t. I was watching,” I said. Shiara and I looked at each other for an instant, then headed for the doorway.

  No one tried to stop us. One of the elves gave us an odd look, but another elf grabbed his arm and whispered something to him, and he only bowed deeply as we passed. It made me feel almost as uncomfortable as I felt when the dwarves bowed to me; I didn’t like it at all.

  Outside in the hallway we found Morwen, kneeling on the floor beside Telemain and wrapping long strips of black cloth around his right shoulder. There were pieces of odd-looking plants all over the floor, and a little way down the hall was a puddle of something dark and slimy. The puddle had a wizard’s staff lying across it, and a wizard’s robe was sort of crumpled up under the staff; I got the distinct feeling that the puddle used to be a wizard.

  “Morwen!” Shiara said. “What happened? Can I help?”

  “What happened was a battle,” Morwen said. “I should think that would be obvious enough.”

  “But how did—” Shiara stopped, because Telemain was stirring. A moment later he opened his eyes and looked up at all of us.

  “What was that?” he said rather hazily.

  “That,” said Morwen, “was a sword. They are usually long, very sharp, and pointed. You’re lucky it didn’t take your head off.”

  Telemain started to shake his head, then winced. “A plain sword. No wonder I couldn’t block it; I thought it was a spell.”

  Morwen snorted. “You may be one of the greatest magical theoreticians in the world, but you don’t have a particle of common sense,” she said acidly. “Why, in heaven’s name, didn’t you duck?”

  “I did duck!” Telemain said, looking startled and indignant. “He wasn’t aiming for my shoulder, he was aiming for my chest. And if you think I’m going to put up with you and your—”

  “You,” Morwen said firmly, “are going to put up with me until that shoulder is healed. Which, may I remind you, means that I will have to put up with you for the same period of time. Fortunately, it shouldn’t take very long; a few days, at most.”

  “A few days!” Telemain said. “Woman, are you mad? It’ll take at least a week!”

  “Not if I change he
rbs twice a day,” Morwen said in an irritated tone. “I should know; it’s my field.”

  “Well, it’s my shoulder!”

  “I’m so glad you noticed,” Morwen said. “Stop fussing, or you’ll make things worse and I will have to put up with you for a week.”

  Telemain stopped talking and just glared. It didn’t seem to bother Morwen in the least. She dusted her hands and began picking up some of the plants that were scattered all over the floor. When he saw that Morwen wasn’t even watching him, Telemain stopped glaring and tried to sit up. Right away, Morwen was beside him, pushing him back down on the floor.

  “Didn’t you hear what I just said?” Morwen asked. “Stop jumping around like that.”

  “I’m quite capable of sitting up,” Telemain said. He didn’t look as if he were telling the truth; he was too pale, and he was having a lot of trouble pushing himself upright even before Morwen started pushing in the opposite direction.

  “You are too stubborn to know what is good for you,” Morwen informed him.

  Telemain glared at her again. “This floor is cold, hard, and extremely uncomfortable. Do you expect me to lie here all day?”

  “That would be far too much to ask,” the King of the Enchanted Forest said from the doorway behind us. “But I believe I can do something about it.”

  Morwen stood up and nodded, then frowned at Telemain, who was trying to sit up again. “I told you to stay there, and I meant it, Kings or no Kings. Excuse me, Mendanbar,” she added, looking at the King.

  “Morwen, you are incorrigible,” Father said, smiling. He looked at Telemain. “You may as well do as she says; Cimorene’s the only person I’ve ever met who has more determination than Morwen. Which room do you want?”

  “The brown one,” Morwen said before Telemain could answer. “He’ll need a firm bed to support that shoulder.”

  Father laughed. “Of course.” He started to lift his hand, and I cleared my throat.

  “I would like to ask them something before they go,” I said when Father turned toward me. He nodded, and I looked at Morwen. “Did you happen to notice what happened to the wizard who was halfway around the brazier when you came in? I didn’t see him afterward.”

  “You mean Antorell? Yes, I thought I saw him,” Morwen said. “I’m afraid I don’t recall. He wasn’t the one I melted, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Could he have gotten away?” Shiara asked.

  Morwen glanced at the King. “If you will allow me, I can find out fairly quickly.” Father nodded, and Morwen made a chuckling sort of sound. Two of the cats poked their heads around the comer of the doorframe.

  “Daystar wants to know what’s become of one of the wizards,” Morwen said to the cats. “The one named Antorell.”

  The cats looked at each other, and one of them twitched its tail. The other one looked back at Morwen and said, “Rroowww!” and they both pulled their heads back out of sight.

  “He got away,” Morwen said, turning back to the King. “Scum says he ducked down the hall while Telemain and I were busy with the rest of them.”

  Father frowned in concentration. “Well, he isn’t inside the castle anymore,” he said after a moment. “I suppose I’d better go find him; he might still be able to cause trouble, and I think it’s about time we checked on things outside, anyway.” He looked at me. “Is there anything else you need to ask right now?”

  “No,” I said. There were still a lot of things I wanted to know about, but I couldn’t really say I needed to know any of them. Father nodded and looked back at Morwen. “The brown room, I think you said?”

  Morwen nodded, and Father waved his hand. Morwen and Telemain disappeared. Father raised his hand for another gesture, then paused and looked at Shiara and me. “I suppose you want to come, too?”

  “Yes, we do. That is, if it isn’t going to cause problems,” I said.

  I hadn’t quite finished my sentence when the castle dissolved into mist around us. The mist cleared immediately, and we were standing on springy green moss with the trees of the Enchanted Forest all around us. At first I thought Father had taken us to a place a long way from the castle; then I saw all the dragons and elves among the trees. I looked back over my shoulder and saw the castle right behind us.

  “Hey, where did all the trees come from?” Shiara said.

  “They came from the wizards’ magic,” Father said. “When Day star released the magic they had stored in their staffs, it went back into the forest, and things got back to normal in a hurry.”

  “When Daystar did what?” Shiara said.

  “It was part of the sword and the fire and the brazier,” I said hastily. “I think you were busy ducking.”

  “Oh,” said Shiara.

  By that time the dragons and elves had seen us, and everyone started cheering and bowing. In the middle of the cheering and bowing, one of the dragons came over. “It is good to see Your Majesty again,” she said.

  “It is good to be here again,” the King replied. “How goes the battle?”

  “It is quite finished,” the dragon said. “There are a few still out herding prisoners together, but that’s about all. Oh, yes, we won,” she added.

  “Excellent!” the King said, but he was watching the trees out of the comers of his eyes, and there was a tiny crease between his eyebrows. “If King Kazul is about, I would like to speak with her.”

  The dragon smiled and her eyes glittered as if she were enjoying a private joke. “Kazul will be here in a moment.”

  Father nodded, managing to look impatient and polite at the same time. Suddenly the cheering got much louder, and then the dragons drew apart and Kazul came through the trees toward us. She was smiling, and she looked very large and green and shining. She was so magnificent that none of us saw the figure with her until they were both quite close to us.

  I was the first to notice that Kazul had someone with her. When I saw who it was, I blinked and swallowed hard. “Mother?”

  “Cimorene!” shouted Father. He took three strides forward and took her in his arms. Kazul smiled and sat back, looking smug.

  Mother was laughing and crying at the same time; I’d never seen her react like that to anything before. Not ever. I was still staring when Shiara poked me.

  “Don’t stare,” she whispered when I turned. “It’s not polite.”

  I looked at Shiara for a minute, and my face got hot. I couldn’t really say anything, though; she was right. I felt very peculiar, but fortunately Mother and the King stopped hugging each other just then and started paying attention to the rest of us instead.

  Father went to talk to Kazul, and Mother came over to us. She looked at me for a moment, then put her hands on my shoulders and said, “You’ve done very well, Daystar. For the most part, that is.”

  I didn’t say anything, because I was sure she meant the way I had almost lost the Sword of the Sleeping King to the Princess. Then Shiara shifted uncomfortably, and I remembered that I hadn’t introduced her. “Mother, this is my friend, Shiara,” I said. “She’s a fire-witch.”

  “I can tell that by looking at her,” Mother said. She smiled at Shiara. “You’ll stay with us for at least a few days, won’t you?”

  Shiara nodded.

  “Good,” Mother said. “Now, if you will excuse me, there are still a few things I have to attend to.”

  “Mother,” I said, and she turned. “That wizard, Antorell. He was in the castle, but he got away; I thought you should know.”

  “He did not get away!” said a familiar voice behind me. “I caught him myself. Do you want him for anything, or can I eat him?”

  We all turned. The little dragon was sitting on the other side of the bridge, holding on to one of Antorell’s arms. Antorell’s robe was dirty and he didn’t have his staff anymore. He looked very tattered and very unhappy; the dragon looked extremely pleased with itself. “Well?” it said. “Can I eat him?”

  I looked at Mother, and she shook her head. “I don’t t
hink you should eat him,” I said to the dragon. “The King talked to all the other wizards, and he’ll probably want to talk to this one, too.”

  “Well, I want him back when the King gets finished with him,” the little dragon said. “I caught him, and I’m going to eat him.”

  “He’ll probably give you a stomachache,” Shiara said.

  I stopped listening to the conversation, because Antorell had straightened and was glaring past me, at Mother. He looked more powerful, somehow, but no one else seemed to have noticed anything unusual. I looked uneasily over my shoulder and saw Father, still talking to Kazul. I looked back, wondering whether I really had anything to worry about. Without his staff, all Antorell had were his extra spells, and he’d probably used them up in the battle. At least, I hoped he had.

  Shiara and the dragon were still arguing. Suddenly, Antorell twisted and made a throwing motion with his left hand. The dragon shrieked in pain and let go of him, and he ran toward the bridge, waving his hands and shouting. I felt a sudden, intense surge of magic around him, and an instant later the demon appeared.

  It materialized right in front of us, all purple scales and orange claws and silver-green teeth. Fortunately for them, demons are color-blind. Antorell shouted again, in a language I didn’t understand, and pointed at Mother. The demon nodded, and darted out.

  I grabbed something I couldn’t see out of the air in front of me and pulled. The demon vanished, and Antorell cried out in surprise. I yanked at the something again and sent Antorell after the demon; after what he’d been trying to do, I didn’t care whether the King wanted to talk to him or not. Then I saw that the little dragon was turning pink around the edges again. I let go of whatever it was, grabbed a different one, and twisted. The dragon gave a surprised-sounding squeak and turned green again, all at once.

  I dropped the piece of nothing I’d been holding and turned. Mother was shaking her head. “That was a bit extreme, Daystar,” she said, but her expression was proud.