Talking to Dragons (17 page)

“I was trying to hang on to the sword,” I said. “It was glowing red, and my hands felt like they were burning or something, so it was sort of hard to do. But as soon as the fire-witch was gone, it stopped.”

“You are extremely fortunate,” Telemain said. “You might have gotten yourself killed and ruined everything. I don't recommend that you try that again. Stick to wizards. That's what the sword was meant for.”

“It was?” said Shiara. “How do you know? What else does it do?”

Telemain looked at her. “Magicians know many kinds of magic.” He turned back to me. “Please, continue.”

I was curious about what the sword did, too, but Telemain obviously didn't want to talk about it, so I didn't ask. Instead, I explained about fixing Shiara and not finding the castle and meeting the second elf. Telemain listened carefully, then shook his head.

“So the war is beginning again,” he said, half to himself. “I had best make my own preparations. I wonder why no one let me know?”

“War?” Shiara and I said together.

Telemain looked up, almost as if he had forgotten we were there. “The war between the dragons and the wizards,” he said in the tones of someone trying to be patient.

The dragon, who had been falling asleep, suddenly came awake. “War with the wizards?”

“It is obvious,” Telemain said a trifle crossly. “The elves are choosing sides, the dragons are restless, the wizards are coming into the Enchanted Forest in large numbers, and the Sword of the Sleeping King has returned. What more do you need to know?”

“What does the Sword of the Sleeping King have to do with a war between the dragons and the wizards?” I asked before the dragon could take offense.

“The sword is what started the war in the first place,” Telemain said, and then he refused to say any more. “If Cimorene didn't see fit to explain, I certainly won't,” he said. “When you meet Kazul, I am sure she will tell you whatever you need to know. I'm afraid I don't have time at the moment. I must see to things at once, if we are to win this war at last.”

“Who do you mean, ‘we'?” Shiara asked suspi­ciously.

“The dragons,” Telemain said, “and the rest of us who follow the sword. Now, if you will excuse me?” He rose and started for the stairs.

“Wait a minute!” Shiara said. “What about us?”

“What? Oh, of course,” Telemain said. He waved his hand again and muttered something, and suddenly the table was full of plates and bowls of food. I jumped. Telemain didn't seem to notice. “Help yourselves while I am gone,” he said. “I don't expect to be long.” He turned away and went up one of the iron staircases.

Shiara and I looked at each other. “Now what do we do?” Shiara said.

“
I'm
going to eat,” I said. “Would you like something?”

Shiara snorted, but she reached for one of the bowls. There was plenty for all of us, including Nightwitch and the dragon. About the time we finished, Telemain came back.

“I was right,” he said to no one in particular. Then he looked at me. “You'd better stay here for the night. It will be much safer for everyone, and it will give me time to look into things a little more. You've been extremely lucky so far, but there's no reason to take any more chances until you must.”

I started to nod, then looked at Shiara. Shiara looked at me, then at Nightwitch, who was curled into a small ball on Telemain's chair. She shrugged. “Let's stay.”

“You will find rooms upstairs, on the second floor,” Telemain said. “Just pick one and go in.” He turned to the dragon. “I think you'll be more comfortable down here.”

“I think you're right,” said the dragon, eyeing the iron staircases a little dubiously.

“And thank you very much for your hospitality,” I said.

Telemain nodded. Shiara and I started for the stairs. Shiara got there ahead of me and started climbing, but she didn't get anywhere. “What's the matter?” I asked.

“There's something wrong with this stupid staircase!” Shiara said. “I keep trying to climb up, but I don't go anywhere!”

Telemain, who had been talking quietly to the dragon, turned. “I'm sorry; I should have warned you. You'll have to take the other staircase. That one incorporates a unidirectional matrix focused groundward.”

“Say that again, in English,” Shiara said.

“That stairway just works going down.”

“That's ridiculous!” said Shiara. “How can a staircase only work going in one direction?”

“He's a magician,” I said.

We didn't have any trouble getting up the other stairway. Telemain's tower really was a lot taller than it looked from the outside; the stairs kept going after they got to the second floor. Shiara and I didn't climb any farther, though. We got off on the landing at the second floor and looked around.

We were standing on a narrow circle of wooden floor around the hole where the two staircases came through. Around the edge were six identical wooden doors.

“Well, he said to just go in,” Shiara said.

Each of us picked a door and opened it. The rooms were all the same and very comfortable looking. They each had a bed, a table, a lighted lamp in a bracket on the wall, a padded chair, and a small set of drawers with a mirror above it. Shiara looked thoughtful. “I wonder if he keeps lights going in all these rooms?”

“He might,” I said. “I mean, he
is
a magician. Does it matter?”

Shiara glared at me and went into the room she'd picked, slamming the door behind her. I stood there for a moment, wondering whether to knock on the door and apologize. In the end I decided to wait until morning to talk to her, since by then she probably wouldn't be mad anymore, and anyway I wasn't sure what I should apologize for.

I kept the Sword of the Sleeping King with me all night. It was a little uncomfortable sleeping that way, but I felt better knowing where it was. It wasn't that I didn't trust Telemain. I was just getting more and more worried about the sword. Everyone I met seemed to know about it, or want to know about it, or just want to get hold of it. I spent a lot of time thinking instead of sleeping.

Telemain served breakfast the next morning on his magic table. He was very quiet while we were eating, but as soon as we finished he looked at me and said, “I have watched the Enchanted Forest all night, and there are some things you should know, but I do not wish to detain you against your will.”

“What things?” Shiara demanded.

Telemain smiled slightly. “I fear you will have some difficulty in reaching the castle,” he said. “I found no less than twelve wizards searching the area between it and you.”

“Oh, great,” Shiara said disgustedly. “Just what we need—more wizards!”

“I don't think it's very good,” the dragon said. “Why do you?”

“I don't,” Shiara said.

“Then why did you say so?”

“What can we do about them?” I asked Telemain.

“I think you can avoid them if you go through the Caves of Chance,” Telemain replied.

W
E ALL STARED
. “Ha!” Shiara said finally. “The Caves of Chance are even more dangerous than the wizards!”

“I don't think so,” Telemain said. “I have been through them, and they're not as bad as most people think. Furthermore, there is an entrance to the caves within half a day's travel, and an exit that is very close to the castle. And once you are inside the caves, the wizards will not be able to find you.”

“Why not?” Shiara asked.

“The Caves of Chance do not welcome wizards' magic.”

“Can you give us directions?” I asked.

Telemain nodded and pulled a large map out of his sleeve. Most people don't even
try
making maps of the Enchanted Forest because things change so fast that an ordinary map is only good for a few days, so I'd never seen one before. This map must have been magical, because it seemed fairly accurate. At least, all the things Shiara and I had seen were in the right places.

Telemain showed us where his tower was and where the castle was, and he pointed out several places he'd found wizards. Then he showed us the entrance to the caves. It really did look a lot closer and safer than trying to get by all those wizards. Even Shiara looked less doubtful.

Then Telemain turned the map over, and on the back was a map of the Caves of Chance. He went over the routes from the entrance to the exit we wanted and what to do about some of the things we might run into inside. It was very interesting. I knew that trolls are allergic to milk, but I hadn't known that rock snakes like mirrors enough that they'll stop squeezing someone in order to look at their reflections. He also told us to hold anything we really didn't want to lose in one hand until we were out of the caves.

When Telemain was satisfied that we knew our way, he rolled the map up and put it back in his sleeve. We went outside to say goodbye.

“When you meet Kazul, tell her I will be coming for the battle,” Telemain said. “I called her last night on the magic mirror to let her know that you're on your way, so she's expecting you.”

“I'll remember,” I said. “And thank you again for your help.”

“Yes,” said Shiara. I looked at her, a little surprised, but she was watching Telemain with an odd look on her face. “I think I ought to apologize to you,” she said finally. “I wasn't very nice last night.”

This time I really did stare, but she didn't seem to notice. Telemain bowed. “Neither of us was blameless,” he said. “I shall forget it, if you will.”

Shiara nodded and turned to me. “Let's go, then.”

I shut my mouth and picked up the bundle Morwen had given me. Shiara already had hers. We waved goodbye to Telemain and started off into the forest again.

Nothing much happened all morning. Shiara and I were both nervous anyway, thinking of all those wizards ahead of us. The dragon didn't seem bothered, though, and Nightwitch certainly wasn't. We found the first few landmarks Telemain had told us about, and we were fairly close to the entrance to the Caves of Chance when the dragon stopped and demanded lunch.

As soon as the dragon mentioned food, Shiara and I realized that we were hungry, too. We started looking for a good place to sit down and eat. Almost immediately, we found a huge tree lying on the ground in the middle of a small clearing.

The dragon wrapped itself around a medium-sized tree in front of us; it said it was much more comfortable that way. Nightwitch wandered around investigating the interesting holes and crannies around the fallen tree. Shiara and I sat down and passed out gingerbread and meat pies from Morwen's bundles.

“How much farther is it to the castle?” Shiara asked the dragon, handing it a slice of gingerbread.

“Oh, not very far,” the dragon said. “About another day, if we weren't going through the caves. I've never been in the caves, so I don't know how long that will take.”

“I thought you said this was a shortcut,” Shiara said.

“It
is
a shortcut,” the dragon said in a hurt tone. “How was I supposed to know a fire-witch was going to get in the way? Not to mention an elf and a magician.”

“Do you think Kazul will tell us anything about the sword?” I asked. Nobody else seemed willing to explain, and I didn't see why Kazul should be any different.

“I'm sure she will,” the dragon said reassuringly. “That is, if you're polite to her. Kazul is very particular about . . . about . . .
ahh
. . .
ach
. . .”

Shiara and I dropped our lunches and ducked hastily to either side.

“Achoo!”
said the dragon. A large spurt of flame shot across the clearing, just missing us, and the dragon's tree shook. “
Achoo!
Oh, bother.
Achoo!
”

“Daystar!” Shiara shouted. “Over here!”

I ran around behind the dragon, who was now sneezing almost continuously. I pulled out my sword as I went. When my hand touched the hilt, I felt the same jangling that I'd gotten from Antorell earlier. Then I came around the tree, and even before Shiara pointed, I saw the wizards.

There were two of them right in front of Shiara, leaning on their staffs and looking from Shiara to the dragon and back.

“Hurry up,” one of them said nervously. “We don't want this to get out of hand.”

“I'm afraid you'll have to wait,” another voice said from behind him. The first wizard jumped, and Antorell stepped out of the bushes. His beard and hair were several inches shorter than they had been, and his staff had a scorched streak near the top, but getting caught in the little dragon's fireball didn't seem to have done much to him otherwise. He smiled and went on, “You see, I want him, too.”

“Um, can't we discuss this somewhere else?” said the nervous wizard, eyeing the dragon.

“Oh, you needn't worry about that,” Antorell said, following his gaze. He smiled nastily. “I came prepared.” He held up his free hand so that all of us could see the spray of spiky, saw-edged purple leaves he was holding. “Dragonsbane,” he said unnecessarily.

The other wizards relaxed a little. “Such forethought,” murmured the tall one. He exchanged glances with his companion, then bowed to Antorell. “Under the circumstances, we will be happy to split the reward with you.”

“I am afraid that is out of the question,” Antorell said over the dragon's sneezes. “The boy and his sword are mine.”

“The boy!” said the nervous wizard. “But—” The tall one frowned at him, and he stopped.

The tall wizard turned back to Antorell. “As you say, the boy is yours. I trust you have no objection if we take the girl?”

Antorell frowned. He turned toward Shiara and stared at her for a minute, then shrugged. “She's no use to me. Of course I have no objection.”