Wrede, Patricia C - Enchanted Forest 02 (18 page)

“You can leave me here, Uncle,” Jorillam said persuasively. “That’s abandoning me in the Enchanted Forest, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think so,” Mendanbar put in quickly. He didn’t want to think about the problems the young Crown Prince could cause if he stayed at the castle. “There are too many people here for it to count as abandonment.”

Prince Rupert nodded gloomily. “I’m afraid you’re right. And frankly, I’m not at all sure that abandoning him is the right notion. I just can’t think of anything else wicked to do on short notice.”

“But you
promised
you’d abandon me in the Enchanted Forest,” Jorillam protested. “And I want to be abandoned and have all sorts of adventures and come home covered in glory.”

“You’re a little young for that,” Mendanbar commented, studying the Crown Prince. He smiled suddenly as an idea came to him. “What you need is some proper training.”

“There isn’t time,” Jorillam said smugly. “Uncle has to do something wicked to me right away.”

“Ah, but that’s just the point,” Mendanbar said. He turned to Prince Rupert, ignoring Jorillam’s suddenly wary expression. “Abandoning Crown Prince Jorillam won’t do you any good, because he
wants
to be abandoned. Letting him have his own way isn’t terribly wicked, even if it isn’t good for him.”

“I’m afraid you’re right,” Rupert said sadly.

“But Uncle—”

“On the other hand,” Mendanbar went on, disregarding Jorillam’s interjection, “if you promised you’d abandon him, breaking that promise would certainly be wicked. And if you sent him off to a private school for princes—”

“I don’t want to go to school!”

“Oh, my.” Prince Rupert looked from Mendanbar to Jorillam—who now looked thoroughly alarmed—and back. “I think I see what you’re getting at. If he hates the idea, then it probably is wicked, even if it’s good for him. And there’s breaking the promise, too.”

“And you wouldn’t have to tell anyone at home what you’d done with him,” Mendanbar said. “You could rule the country just as if you really had abandoned him in the forest, and no one would know. Surely misleading all those people would be wicked enough for your society.”

“I think you’re right,” Prince Rupert said, smiling for the first time since Mendanbar had met him. “I really think you’re right.” His face fell suddenly. “But how am I going to find a good school before sunset tomorrow?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Mendanbar said reassuringly. “I know just the place. It’s up in the Mountains of Morning, where no one is likely to run across it, and it’s run by a dwarf named Herman. If you like, I’ll send a messenger off
right away to arrange things.”

“No!” said Jorillam.

“That would be wonderful,” said Prince Rupert with relief. “Ah, I don’t suppose this Herman person would be willing to write a letter to the Society explaining matters?”

“I don’t see why not,” Mendanbar said. “But what do you want it for?”

“Just to confirm that I’m fulfilling the requirements,” Prince Rupert explained. “It is a rather unusual arrangement, you see, and I want to be sure the Society will think I’ve been wicked enough.”

“I understand,” Mendanbar told him. “Don’t worry about it. If Herman won’t write you a negative enough letter, I’ll send one myself. I’ll bet even the Right Honorable Wicked Stepmothers’ Traveling, Drinking, and Debating Society will believe the King of the Enchanted Forest.”

F
or the next several days, Mendanbar was busier than he could remember being in a long, long time. Besides arranging for Crown Prince Jorillam’s schooling, a stream of messengers had to be sent to the dragons in the Mountains of Morning to explain where their King was and to warn them about the wizards.

Morwen and Telemain argued constantly about what they were finding out from the wizards’ staffs, and when they weren’t arguing, they were asking for obscure reference books and peculiar ingredients for their spells. Between the two of them, they kept the small castle staff busy hunting for things.

The wizards themselves seemed to have disappeared completely, but Mendanbar didn’t trust them
to stay gone. He spent several hours every day checking the entire network of magic that enveloped the Enchanted Forest, looking for the tangles that wizards with staffs always caused, so that he would know if any of them returned. In the process, he found several more burned-out areas where the wizards had stolen the magic of the forest. Fortunately, none of the charred spots were very big, but repairing them was not an easy task, and Mendanbar worried constantly about what would happen if a wizard sneaked into the forest and soaked up a larger patch before he could be melted.

He confided this worry to Cimorene on the third day after Kazul’s rescue.

“What you really need is a way to keep them from soaking up magic in the first place,” said Cimorene. “Then it wouldn’t matter if they sneaked in, because they wouldn’t be able to do any real harm.”

“They could still cause plenty of trouble,” Mendanbar said. “But you’re right, it would solve a lot of problems. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a way to stop them.”

“Well, of course you can’t,” Cimorene said. “You don’t know enough about wizards and that ridiculous magic-absorbing spell of theirs. Why don’t you ask Telemain?”

So Mendanbar went off to find Telemain, who was with Morwen, working on the last of the wizards’ staffs. At first, Telemain was a little annoyed at being interrupted, but when Mendanbar explained his problem, however, the magician nodded.

“An automatic spell to reroute any magical power should do the trick,” Telemain said. “That way, anything they try to grab will just slide back where it belongs, and there will never be any new holes to fix.”

Morwen looked at Telemain in mild surprise. “You’re slipping,” she said. “I actually understood that.”

“Can you make up an automatic spell for me?” Mendanbar asked quickly, before Telemain could take offense.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Telemain said. “It’ll need some sort of anchor, though, or you’ll have to keep checking to see if it’s still working. Any ideas?”

The three of them discussed it for a few minutes, and finally Morwen suggested tying the spell to the sword. This turned out to be an even better idea than it first appeared. Working through the sword, Mendanbar could manipulate the power of the Enchanted Forest directly, and with Telemain’s help he made the new spell an integral part of the forest’s magic.

“What does that mean?” Cimorene asked when he sought her out to tell her how well her idea had worked.

“It means that if any wizards come into the Enchanted Forest, their staffs won’t absorb any magic, ever, for as long as they stay,” Mendanbar explained. “I won’t even have to check the spell very often, because it’s tied to the sword. As long as the sword is anywhere in the forest, the wizards can’t do a thing.”

Cimorene frowned. “They could still use the spells they have stored in their staffs, couldn’t they? And
what if you have to leave the Enchanted Forest again?”

“I’ll have to take a different magic sword, that’s all,” Mendanbar said. “I ought to do that anyway, because of the way that one sprays magic around outside the forest. It’s not exactly inconspicuous.”

“Very true,” Cimorene said with a smile.

They were silent together for a moment. Then Cimorene shook her head. “Kazul will be ready to leave tomorrow. She thinks she’s ready today, but I told her not to push.”

“I—That’s good,” Mendanbar said. He hesitated, then said tentatively, “I suppose you’ll be going with her?”

“What else would I be doing?” Cimorene asked. She sounded more curious than sarcastic.

Mendanbar took a deep breath. “You could stay here. At the castle, I mean. With me.” This wasn’t coming out at all the way he had wanted it to, but it was too late to stop now. He hurried on, “As Queen of the Enchanted Forest, if you think you would like that. I would.”

“Would you, really?”

“Yes,” Mendanbar said, looking down. “I love you, and—and—”

“And you should have said that to begin with,” Cimorene interrupted, putting her arms around him. Mendanbar looked up, and the expression on her face made his heart begin to pound.

“Just to be sure I have this right,” Cimorene went on with a blinding smile, “did you just ask me to marry you?”

“Yes,” Mendanbar said. “At least, that’s what I meant.”

“Good. I will.”

Mendanbar tried to find something to say, but he was too happy to think. He leaned forward two inches and kissed Cimorene, and discovered that he didn’t need to say anything at all.

*
            
*
            
*

The first person they told was, of course, Kazul. Mendanbar was a little nervous about it, because from what he’d heard, dragons tended to get testy when their princesses ran off with someone, but Kazul didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Good for you,” she said to Mendanbar. “And congratulations to the pair of you.” Her eyelids lowered halfway, and she looked at Cimorene. “I’d been wondering how much longer you were going to stay.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Cimorene said indignantly. “I wasn’t
planning
to leave! This just sort of happened.”

“I know,” Kazul said. “But you’d have gone soon in any case. Now that you’ve gotten things organized, there isn’t really enough work to keep you busy in the Mountains of Morning. You wouldn’t have stayed long, once you started to get bored.”

“Living with dragons doesn’t sound boring to me,” Mendanbar said.

“That’s because you’ve never done it,” Kazul replied. “Being Queen of the Enchanted Forest will give Cimorene more scope for her talents.”

“Then you really don’t object?” Mendanbar asked.

“Why should I?” Kazul said. “You’re a nice enough person, as humans go, and you’ve been very polite about the whole thing. That doesn’t happen often. Normally, knights and princes just grab a princess and run. And most of the princesses don’t even bother to say good-bye, much less give proper notice.” She looked at Cimorene and sighed. “I’ll miss your cooking, though.”

“I can come back for a week or two, if you’d like, and train a replacement,” Cimorene offered.

“I may take you up on that, once I find one,” Kazul said thoughtfully.

“And in the meantime, you can come over for dinner a lot,” Mendanbar said, and both Cimorene and Kazul smiled at him.

*
            
*
            
*

When Willin heard about the engagement, he was delighted. The wedding of the King of the Enchanted Forest was just the sort of vast formal occasion the elf had been craving, and he threw himself into the preparations with enthusiasm. He didn’t even object when he learned that the bride wanted the King of the Dragons for her matron-of-honor and a witch for her bridesmaid.

“Kazul and Morwen are my best friends,” Cimorene explained. “Besides, if I have them, Mother won’t insist that my sisters be bridesmaids.”

“You have sisters?” Mendanbar asked, somewhat taken aback.

Cimorene nodded. “Six of them. They’re all perfectly lovely and sweet, and the sight of Kazul will probably scare them silly.”

“Typical princesses,” Mendanbar muttered, but without any active dislike. He didn’t seem to mind foolish princesses much anymore, as long as he didn’t have to marry one. It was amazing what a difference being engaged to Cimorene made.

“They aren’t as featherbrained as they sound,” Cimorene told him. “They just act as if they are.”

“I don’t think I like the sound of that,” Mendanbar said. “Are you sure they won’t want to be bridesmaids anyway? Maybe we should just elope.”

“No, it’s too late for that,” Cimorene told him. “Don’t worry about it, though. It will work out fine.”

“If you say so,” Mendanbar said, but he was not really convinced.

*
            
*
            
*

The note Cimorene’s mother sent to acknowledge the engagement only increased Mendanbar’s misgivings.
I
am delighted to hear that you are going to be properly settled at last, Cimorene dear,
ran the note.
I
am enclosing a list of relatives and family friends who ought certainly to be included in your wedding plans, however unconventional those may be. Your father wishes to know which half of the kingdom your betrothed would prefer, as he is anxious to get the paperwork out of the way as soon as possible.

“Half the kingdom?” Mendanbar asked cautiously.

Cimorene looked more than a little put out. “It’s the usual reward for rescuing a princess from a dragon. I hoped they’d forgotten about it, but I should have known better. Mother would never do anything so incorrect.”

“Well, I don’t want it. One kingdom is more than enough for me.”

“Then you’d better write them immediately and tell them so,” Cimorene advised. “Otherwise they’ll have all the forms and documents and records written out, signed by twenty noble witnesses, and sealed by every member of Father’s Council, and you’ll never be able to get rid of it.”

“I’ll see to it at once.”

“Good.” Cimorene picked up the long list of names that had been enclosed with the note. “I’ll take this in to Willin, so someone can start addressing the invitations.”

“Do we
have
to invite all of them?”

“We might as well,” Cimorene said. “We’re asking everyone else. And most of them are family.”

“I think it would be easier to elope,” Mendanbar said.

The guest list was enormous. Almost all the dragons were coming, and so were a great many of their princesses, past and present. After some initial misgivings, Cimorene’s entire family decided to attend, including all six of her sisters and their husbands, her fourteen nieces and nephews, her parents, three of her aunts, two uncles, seventeen cousins, and her fairy godmother. Queen Alexandra was also coming, along with all twelve of her daughters. Mendanbar couldn’t help feeling a little nervous about that, out of habit. All the kings and queens and princes and grand dukes who lived around the edges of the Enchanted Forest had had to be invited, and so had most of the odd and unusual people who lived inside the forest itself. Even the ogres and trolls had agreed to behave themselves if they were allowed to be present. In fact, the only people who
hadn’t
been invited were the wizards.

“This wedding will be the best and most prestigious event in years!” Willin said happily as the acceptances poured in.

“It’s certainly going to be the biggest,” Mendanbar said, gazing at the stacks of paper in mild amazement. “Where are we going to
put
them all?”

“You are not to worry about that, Your Majesty,” Willin told him sternly. “It is
my
job to oversee the preparations, and that includes arranging an appropriate place to hold the ceremony and the reception afterward.”

“I really think it would have been easier to elope,” Mendanbar grumbled.

*
            
*
            
*

In the end, they decided to hold the wedding in Fire-Flower Meadow. The gargoyle in Mendanbar’s study complained about the decision long and loudly, because it would obviously be unable to attend, but the meadow was the only open area in the entire Enchanted Forest that would be large enough for the enormous crowd of guests.

“I bet you think that makes it all right,” the gargoyle told Mendanbar and Cimorene several days before the wedding. “Just because
you
want to have hundreds and hundreds of people at
your
wedding,
I’m
supposed to smile and say I don’t mind being left out. Well, it isn’t all right and I won’t do it!”

“I wouldn’t expect you to smile about anything,” Mendanbar muttered.