Talking to Dragons (28 page)

Kazul wasn't King of the Dragons then. She and Mother got along very well, and after a while, Kazul started teaching her dragon magic. And then the wizards helped someone poison the old King of the Dragons, and all the dragons went to the Ford of Whispering Snakes to try and move Colin's Stone, and Kazul was the one who did.

Practically the first thing Kazul did after she became King was to kick the wizards out of the Mountains of Morning, which made the wizards plenty mad. So they decided to start a war by getting the dragons to attack the Enchanted Forest.

That was how Mother met my father. He came to see Kazul about some burned parts of the forest, and he found Mother instead. Then the two of them went searching for Kazul, who'd been kidnapped by the wizards, and by the time they got her free, they had decided to get married. Kazul was mother's matron-of-honor.

The wizards didn't make any more trouble for almost a year, but when they finally did, they made up for the wait. They stole Father's sword right out of the castle armory.

“They'd figured out that the sword was the main thing keeping them from absorbing magic in the Enchanted Forest,” Father said, “and they thought that if they got rid of it, they could soak up the whole forest and use all that extra magic to wipe out the dragons. They didn't realize, at first, that even without the sword I could use the magic of the forest against them.”

“Well, then what good was the stupid sword, anyway?” Shiara asked. “If you didn't need it to stop the wizards—”

“I
did
need it,” Father said. “I can deal with one or two wizards at a time, but not the whole Society of Wizards at once. And I can't be everywhere. The sword is connected directly to the magic of the Enchanted Forest, so it protects the whole forest and not just the area where it happens to be. If you want the technical details, ask Telemain. He helped me set it up.”

With the sword gone, Father had to stay in the Enchanted Forest to keep the wizards out. Kazul and Morwen and Telemain all volunteered to go steal the sword back, but there was a problem. When the sword is outside the Enchanted Forest, only the King of the Enchanted Forest or a member of his family can stand to hold it for more than a few seconds. And Mother was the only other member of Father's family then.

Father wasn't too pleased about this, because Mother was going to have a baby—me—but they didn't really have any other choice. So Mother and the rest left to find the sword, and Father stayed in the Enchanted Forest to fight off the wizards. They didn't expect the whole Society of Wizards to attack the castle the day after they left, but that's what happened. Fortunately, Mother had a feeling something was wrong, and she sent Kazul back to check. When Kazul saw all the wizards attacking the castle, she flew back to the Mountains of Morning and ordered all the dragons to come help.

Meanwhile, Mother and the others found the sword, with Antorell guarding it. He was the son of Zemenar, the Head Wizard of the Society of Wizards, and Mother didn't like him much. So when he tried to keep them from taking the sword back, Mother melted him.

Unfortunately, by the time they got back to the castle, the battle was over and the wizards had put their shield up. Kazul sent some dragons out to look for wizards who had gotten away, and then she and Mother and Morwen and Telemain had a long talk about what to do next.

All of them were sure that the wizards had put a spell on the King, and they were just as sure that the sword could break the spell. Unfortunately, the sword could only be used by one of the Kings of the Enchanted Forest or his children, and then only when the earth, air, and water of the Enchanted Forest and the fire of the sword itself had recognized the person holding it as a rightful heir. And the only way to be recognized was to go out in the Enchanted Forest and hope you would do the right things at the right times.

So the dragons put their own shield up around the castle, to keep the wizards from sneaking inside, and after a while Mother had me. About that time Antorell found her. He blamed her for his father's death, because she'd taken the sword, and he tried to kill her. Mother had to melt him again.

After that, Mother decided that she'd better find somewhere to hide until I was old enough to use the sword. As long as it stayed inside the Enchanted Forest, the sword was invisible to wizards' magic. Mother, however, wasn't. If she stayed in the Enchanted Forest, one of the wizards' spells would find her. On the other hand, she couldn't take the sword out of the forest and still keep it hidden, any more than the wizards could.

So Mother hid the sword inside the forest, then left and never went back until the day she gave the sword to me. She put up some good spells to keep Antorell from finding us, then waited. She taught me all the right spells and manners and history and things, without ever telling me anything about the sword or the King of the Enchanted Forest or the war with the wizards. That way, I would have a chance of being recognized by the sword and reaching the castle without getting caught by one of the wizards' spells.

“I'm afraid it was rather hard on you, Daystar,” she said. “But we couldn't think of anything else that had a chance of working.”

“Well,
I
think we were lucky,” Shiara said.

The King smiled at me. “Kings of the Enchanted Forest are supposed to be lucky.”

Shiara blinked. “You weren't very lucky, were you? What did those wizards do to you, anyway?”

The King shook his head. “Zemenar and about ten others broke into the castle during the battle. I got a couple of them, but without the sword I was outnumbered a little too badly. They wanted to kill me, but they couldn't do it inside the castle without the sword, and they couldn't take me outside the castle because of the dragons. So Zemenar decided to put me in storage, in a manner of speaking, while he went back for the sword. The simulacrum was a decoy, in case someone managed to get into the castle while he was gone.”

“But where were you for seventeen years?” Shiara said.

“There are . . . places that can be reached through the proper doors, places that can't be gotten into or out of except through such a door. Some of them are very large; some aren't. Zemenar found one that suited him and put me in it, then hid the door. Without the sword or the key, I couldn't get out until someone put the door back up.” His smile was a little crooked. “I'm lucky that one doesn't need to eat in those places, or I wouldn't have lasted seventeen years.”

“But I still don't understand about Antorell. He acted as if he wanted to do something to Daystar a lot more than he wanted the sword.”

“Antorell never knew what the sword was,” Mother said. “Zemenar, the Head Wizard, was the only one who knew the whole story, and after the way Antorell failed to guard the sword, the new Head Wizard wouldn't tell him anything.”

“Ha!” said Shiara. “Served him right. But what did Daystar do to Antorell, anyway? And how? He never did anything like it before.”

“He couldn't do it before,” Father said. “The Kings of the Enchanted Forest can use the magic of the forest directly, but only after the sword has acknowledged them. Daystar wasn't acknowledged until he put the sword into the fire.”

“Oh.” Shiara sat back, looking thoughtful.

There was a moment's silence, then I thought of something else I wanted to ask about. “Mother, do you know anything about fire-witches' magic?”

“Yes, of course,” she said. “Why do you want to know?”

“Could you teach Shiara how to do things?” I said. “That's why she came to the Enchanted Forest in the first place. She helped me a lot, and I think she ought to have some sort of reward.”

“I didn't do very much,” Shiara objected. “You kept me from staying a statue, and I think you saved my life when the roof of the Caves of Chance fell in. You're the one who deserves a reward.”

“I think,” Mother broke in before I could answer Shiara, “that it is time you told us what you have been doing these past few days. I have a general idea, but I would like a few more details, and Mendanbar hasn't heard anything about it yet.”

I looked at Father, and he nodded, so Shiara and I went through our story again. I did most of the talking, with Shiara putting in a comment now and then when she thought I was leaving something out. I finished by explaining about Shiara's magic. Both Mother and the King looked rather startled, and then the King began to smile.

“A polite fire-witch,” he said thoughtfully. “Very unusual.”

“I don't want to have to be polite to people!” Shiara said angrily.

“Why not?” I asked. “You're getting much better at it.”

“
Especially
not to
you!
” Shiara said.

“I can understand that,” Father said. “It's his fault, after all.”

“What?” Shiara and I said together.

“It's Daystar's fault that you have to be polite,” Father repeated. “His and the sword's. One of the things the sword does besides control wizards is unlock people's talents, particularly magical talents. When you met Daystar, both of you touched the sword at the same time. You wanted to use your magic and Daystar wanted you to be more polite. I think the sword did the best it could, under the circumstances.”

“I knew it!” Shiara glared at me. “I
said
it was that stupid sword's fault!”

“I'm sorry,” I said. “I didn't know. But at least you can use your magic now, sometimes. Isn't that better than not being able to use it at all?”

“
No!
” said Shiara. “It's worse! I have to go home and be
nice
to people, and it probably won't work most of the time, because I have to mean it, and how can I mean it if I'm always thinking about being able to do magic? And it's
boring
at home, and people will still keep expecting me to do things I can't do. I don't even know anyone who could teach me about magic even if I could get it to work all the time. I'll never learn anything!”

Little flickers of flame started running down Shiara's cheeks. It took me a minute to realize that she was crying fire, and when I did, I didn't know what to do about it.

“That is
quite
enough of that,” Mother said while I was still thinking.

Shiara looked up. “You don't know what it's like! It's horrible.”

“On the contrary, I know quite well what it's like,” Mother said. “And the solution is obvious. In fact, it's the same one I used.”

“What?” Shiara blinked, and the flame tears stopped running down her face. “What do you mean?”

“You can become Kazul's princess,” Mother said. “She doesn't have one at the moment. It would have a great many advantages on both sides. You will learn considerably more about magic, dragons, and the Enchanted Forest than you would anywhere else, and Kazul will get a princess who can't be accidentally roasted if one of the other dragons gets out of hand. And you'll be living nearby, which will give Daystar and Mendanbar a chance to figure out how to reverse that ridiculous politeness spell.”

“But I'm not a princess!” Shiara said.

“If Kazul says you are a princess, then you are a princess,” Mother said firmly. “No one is going to argue with the King of the Dragons. Besides, it will be excellent experience for you later.”

I opened my mouth to ask what Mother meant by that, but Shiara asked, “But are you sure Kazul would be willing to do it?”

“Kazul will have no objection whatsoever to training the next Queen of the Enchanted Forest,” Mother said calmly. “You don't need to worry about that.”

I closed my mouth very quickly and looked at the floor, feeling my face getting hot. I heard Shiara say, “Oh,” in a small voice, and then the King laughed.

“Cimorene, you're going a little fast,” he said, still chuckling. “If Shiara wants to go live with Kazul, I'm sure we can make the arrangements, but there's no reason to hurry. She can stay here until she decides. There's plenty of room. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to go back outside. Kazul was going to talk to Willin about a feast, and I haven't had a good meal in seventeen years. As a matter of fact, I haven't had
any
meals in seventeen years.”

Mother didn't object, so the King moved us all to the feast with another wave. Everyone was there: dwarves and dragons and elves and cats, and even a few wizards who had been on the King's side. Morwen was there, too, but she spent quite a bit of time popping back to the castle to make sure Telemain wasn't doing anything she disapproved of.

Mother and the King sat at one end of a long table, and Kazul sat at the other. The elf Willin scurried up and down making sure everyone had enough to eat and plainly having a wonderful time. Shiara and I sat at the middle of the table, and the people sitting next to us kept changing. All of them wanted to hear about how Mother had stolen the sword back, and how Shiara and I had gotten into the castle and broken the spell.

“I'm getting tired of this,” Shiara whispered to me while some of the people next to us were changing seats. “Let's go someplace else for a while, and let them tell each other about the stupid wizards.”

“I'm tired of it, too, but I don't think we should leave,” I said.

“You don't? No, of course you don't. How very irksome,” said a squeaky voice from the ground by my left foot.

“Suz!” I said, looking down. “Where did you come from?”

“The forest, of course.” The lizard ran up the leg of the table in a thin gold streak, then stopped and looked around nervously. “Is that—that
kitten
anywhere close by?”

“No, she's inside,” said Shiara. “I don't think she likes the crowd. Why?”

The lizard looked at her. “If you'd ever been jumped on by something four times as big as you are, and been rolled around until you were dizzy, not to mention bruised, you wouldn't have to ask.” He balanced on his tail and peered over the edge of a bowl of nuts.