Talking To Dragons

by Patricia C. Wrede

  “I don’t understand,” Shiara said as we came back to pick up Nightwitch and Morwen’s bundles. “Where did it go?”

  “Maybe the fire-witch moved it while she was talking to me,” I said.

  “A whole castle? That fast? Besides, didn’t Suz say it was still in the way? It must have moved since he left.” Shiara stopped, and her eyes widened. “Daystar, you don’t think she could still be around, do you?”

  “She isn’t around anywhere,” the dragon said positively. “She went up in smoke; I saw her.”

  “Good,” Shiara said savagely. I must have looked awfully surprised, because Shiara glared at me and added, “She deserved it. You don’t know what she had to do to make that castle invisible.”

  “What was it?” the dragon said curiously.

  Shiara glared at it, too. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Why not?” said the dragon.

  “Because she tortured people to death!” Shiara shouted. “It was part of the spell, and I know how to do it, and I don’t want to think about it!”

  “I told you she wasn’t a nice person,” the dragon said.

  Shiara snorted. She picked up Nightwitch and her bundle and started walking. After a couple of seconds, the dragon and I followed her. We went straight across the clearing; I sort of hoped we’d find the castle again, because I felt bad about the statues, but it still wasn’t there.

  Once we got across the clearing, the dragon took the lead again. Nobody said much for the rest of the morning, which was fine with me; I still felt like someone was watching me, and I didn’t like it. Finally even the dragon noticed.

  “You look a little strange,” it said. “Is something wrong?”

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “I just feel like someone’s watching me.”

  “I think you’re imagining things,” Shiara said. “I’ve been looking since you told me about it this morning, and I haven’t seen anyone.”

  “Someone’s following us?” the dragon said. It blinked at me, then turned in a slow circle, eyeing the trees. “You’re right,” it said finally. “Someone is following us. That’s not polite.”

  Before Shiara or I could say anything, the dragon’s head shot out toward one of the trees. I’d never seen anything move so fast. There was a loud yell from someone who wasn’t the dragon; then the dragon yelped and a bunch of leaves came drifting down to the ground. I heard a couple of crashing noises and another, louder yell, and then the dragon reappeared. Dangling by the seat of his pants from the dragon’s mouth was an elf.

  I stared for a minute, trying to decide whether this was the same elf we’d met before. He looked the same, but all elves look alike. Besides, he was yelling and kicking, and every now and then the dragon would shake its head, which made it hard to get a good look at the elf.

  I almost laughed; the dragon looked a lot like a very large cat with a small mouse. Nightwitch evidently thought so, too; she eyed the wriggling elf with some interest, then looked at me. “Mrrow?” she said.

  “I’m afraid he’s too big for you,” I said.

  “He certainly is!” yelled the elf. “Put me down! Let me down at once!”

  “Mrof!” said the dragon through a mouthful of cloth.

  “I don’t think he wants to,” I said to the elf. “Why were you following us?”

  “Hey!” said Shiara. “Are you the elf we ran into before? Because if you are, I want to talk to you.”

  The elf stopped struggling and looked down at Shiara. Then he twisted around and looked at the dragon. “On the other hand, maybe I’m better off up here,” he said.

  “Mmnuf!” said the dragon, and shook its head violently.

  “Yow!” said the elf. “Help! I surrender!”

  “Really?” Shiara said skeptically.

  “Really!” said the elf. “Absolutely! Completely and without question. Will you put me down?”

  “Maybe you should,” I said to the dragon. “I don’t think he can get away from all of us, and it will be a lot easier for you to talk.”

  The dragon looked at me for a minute, then slowly lowered its head and dropped the elf in a heap in front of us. The elf lay there breathing hard while Shiara and the dragon and I closed in around him. As soon as we stopped moving, he bounced to his feet and spun rapidly in a circle, bowing to each of us. Then he sat down cross-legged and looked up at us with bright black eyes.

  “Now,” said the elf, “what can I do for you?”

  12

  WE LOOKED AT each other and then at the elf. “What you can do,” said Shiara, “is answer some questions.”

  “My dear lady, I would be delighted,” the elf said. “What do you want to know?”

  “Why were you following us?” the dragon rumbled.

  “I thought she was asking the questions,” said the elf.

  “We’re all asking questions,” Shiara told him. “So you can just stop dodging and answer that one.”

  “What one?” the elf said. The dragon growled and made a snapping motion at the elf, who jerked back hastily. “Yes, ah, of course,” he said. “That question. I was, um, looking for information.”

  “Information? Ha!” said Shiara. “What kind of information?”

  “Who you are, where you’re going, and what you’re going to do when you get there,” the elf replied promptly. He was pointedly not looking at the dragon.

  “That’s all?” Shiara said sarcastically. “It sounds a lot like what we want to know about you.”

  “How nice,” the elf said, beaming. “We have something in common.”

  “Excuse me,” I broke in. “But who exactly are you?”

  The elf looked at me with a pained expression. “I’m an elf.”

  “I can see that,” I said politely. “But would you mind telling me your name? I mean, I’d sort of like to know to whom I’m speaking.”

  “My dear boy, I would be delighted.” The elf rose and bowed with a flourish. “My name,” he said, “is Janril.” He sat down again and looked at me expectantly.

  “Pleased to meet you, Janril,” I said. “This is Shiara, that’s Nightwitch...” I hesitated a moment. Dragons don’t pick their names until they’re old enough to pick what sex they’re going to be, too, and I wasn’t quite sure how to introduce one. I couldn’t leave it out, though. “This is a dragon—”

  “Somehow I guessed,” the elf muttered.

  “—and I’m Daystar,” I finished.

  Shiara was frowning at me, but before she could say anything the elf bounced to his feet and said, “Daystar! Not Cimorene’s son? My dear boy, I can’t tell you how glad I am you’ve finally come. It’s about time things got straightened out a little.”

  “I don’t trust elves,” Shiara said. “And why should we listen to you, anyway?”

  “My dear girl, if you expect me to answer questions, you’re going to have to listen to me,” said the elf. “Otherwise there’s no point in it. Why don’t you trust elves?”

  Shiara didn’t want to tell the elf anything. I was beginning to like him, though, and I didn’t see what difference it would make, so I told him about the first elf and the wizard’s staff. When I finished, Janril nodded solemnly.

  “That,” he said, “explains everything. I am afraid you ran into one of the Darkmorning Elves; they’re a rather disreputable lot. They’ve been running wild since the King disappeared, so of course they’d cause you trouble.”

  “Why ‘of course’?” said Shiara suspiciously. “And what King are you talking about?”

  “The King of the Enchanted Forest,” the elf said. “The Darkmorning Elves don’t want him to come back; they like the way things have been run since he left. Since you have his sword, of course they would want to get rid of you. If they could,” he added thoughtfully. “Personally, I don’t think they really know what they’re doing.”

  “How do you know about Daystar’s sword?” Shiara asked suspiciously.

  “My dear girl, everyone who lives in the E
nchanted Forest knows something about the Vanished King’s Sword,” Janril said. “It—”

  “Wait a minute!” I said. “I only have one sword, and I thought it was called the Sword of the Sleeping King.”

  “Sleeping, vanished, run away—what difference does it make?” Janril said. “He’s gone.”

  “I don’t care about the sword,” the dragon said. “I want to know why you were following us.”

  The elf looked annoyed. “My dear... ah... dragon,” he said, “I told you already, I wanted to find out more about you. I believe that’s the usual reason for following people around.”

  “But that doesn’t explain anything,” the dragon complained.

  Shiara’s eyes narrowed suddenly. “All right, then, why did you want to know more about us?” she said.

  Janril considered for a moment, then grinned reluctantly. “Because I’m trying to find out what the Darkmorning Elves are up to.”

  “What does that have to do with us?” I asked.

  “If I knew that, I wouldn’t have to follow you,” the elf said reasonably. “But the Darkmorning Elves have been very active in this part of the woods for the past few days, and we thought it might be you they were interested in. And of course, if they’re interested, so are we.”

  “Who do you mean by ‘we’?” I said.

  “The Goldwing-Shadowmusic Elves,” Janril said with a touch of pride. “We are on the side of the King, even if he is missing right now. We follow the sword.”

  “What does that mean?” Shiara demanded. “And how many kinds of elves are there?”

  “Quite a few,” said Janril. “But the only ones you have to watch out for are the Darkmorning Elves and the Silverstaff Elves. Fortunately, the Silverstaff Elves don’t know the sword is back yet, but I doubt that your luck will hold much longer.”

  “How do you know these Silverstaff Elves don’t know about Daystar’s sword?” Shiara asked.

  “My dear girl, if they did, you’d have wizards all over the place. The Silverstaff Elves are in league with them. Undiscriminating, that’s all I can call it.” Janril looked prim. A prim elf is almost as odd-looking as a dignified lizard; I found myself wishing Suz were still around so I could compare them.

  “How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Shiara said.

  “I suppose you don’t,” the elf said cheerfully. “But it doesn’t really matter. We’ll still be glad to help you.”

  Shiara snorted. “The last elf who said he was going to help us almost got Daystar killed.”

  “I’m sorry about that,” Janril said politely. “But I simply can’t take responsibility for the Darkmorning Elves. Now, I must be going; I have to let the rest of the Goldwing Shadowmusic Elves know what’s going on. We’ll see you in the castle.”

  “Just a minute!” Shiara said. “What makes you think we’re going to let you go?”

  “Can you think of anything else we could do with him?” I said.

  “I could eat him, I suppose,” the dragon said. He looked dubiously at the elf. “I don’t think I want to, though; elves don’t taste very good.”

  I decided not to ask how the dragon knew that. “I really don’t think you have to eat him,” I said. “I think we should just let him go.”

  “But Daystar—” Shiara stopped and thought for a moment, biting her lip. “Oh, all right. If you want to let him go, let’s do it.”

  “Are you sure?” I said, surprised. “I thought you didn’t like the idea.”

  “I don’t,” Shiara said, glaring at me. “But we’ll be here all day if we start arguing. Besides, it’s your sword.”

  I wasn’t quite sure what that had to do with anything, but I didn’t ask. “All right,” I said to the elf, “I think you can go. But I don’t really think you’d better follow us around anymore.”

  “But of course!” said the elf. He bounced to his feet again, bowed to each of us including Nightwitch, and whisked off. Shiara scowled after him and opened her mouth, then apparently decided not to say anything.

  “Well, let’s go,” I said after a minute. We picked up our bundles and started walking again. The dragon and I both watched the trees for a while, but the elf apparently kept his promise to quit following us.

  Shiara walked just behind the dragon, looking thoughtful. “Do you really believe that elf?” she finally asked me.

  “I’m not sure,” I said. “I don’t think it makes much difference, though. I’d still be going to see Kazul, no matter what he said. I want to find out about this sword and what it does and what’s really going on around here.”

  I must have sounded sort of annoyed, because Shiara frowned at me and said, “What’s the matter with you?”

  “I’m getting sort of tired of people chasing my sword,” I said. “I’d like to know why they want it so badly.” I was also beginning to realize that I didn’t know nearly as much about the Enchanted Forest as I thought I did, which made me very nervous. I wasn’t going to mention that to Shiara just yet, though.

  “Oh.” Shiara looked thoughtful again. “Well, you could—”

  The dragon looked backward over its shoulder. “You’re slowing down,” it said. “Can’t you talk and walk at the same time?”

  We started walking faster, which really did make it harder to talk. I kept watching for elves or wizards, but I didn’t see any. In between, I thought about the sword, but I didn’t come up with anything new.

  We made fairly good time for the rest of the afternoon, and we were just beginning to think about stopping for the night when we came to the clearing. The dragon stopped right at the edge of it, very abruptly. Fortunately, Shiara and I were back far enough to stop before we ran into it or stepped on its tail or something. Bumping into a dragon is not a particularly good way to end a day.

  “What’s the matter now?” asked Shiara.

  “This looks just like that last clearing,” the dragon said. “The one that had the castle in it.”

  “You mean we’ve been going in circles?” Shiara said.

  “No!” said the dragon. “I know my way around the Enchanted Forest better than that! I just don’t like this.”

  “I don’t see why you’re worried,” Shiara said. “You’re not the one who got turned into a statue.”

  “Well, if you think it’s fun to go banging into something you can’t see, you go first,” said the dragon.

  I put my hand on the hilt of my sword, and felt a nice, strong rumble, like a cart full of bricks on a bumpy road. There was definitely something in the clearing, or at least close by. I said so.

  “If it’s invisible, I don’t want anything to do with it,” Shiara said decidedly. “Can’t we just go around?”

  “No,” said the dragon grumpily. “I want to know who’s putting all these invisible things in my shortcut. If there’s another one here, I’m going to find out about it.” It stalked cautiously out into the clearing, heading straight through the middle.

  Nothing happened. The dragon walked all the way across, then turned and looked at us. “Are you sure there’s something here? I can’t find anything.”

  I touched the sword again. “It feels like there is,” I said. I looked at Shiara. She looked dubiously across the clearing. “Hurry up,” said the dragon.

  I sighed and started forward. I kept one hand on the hilt of my sword, just in case, and I walked across the same part of the clearing the dragon had. Shiara shook her head and started around the edge of the clearing.

  I got about five steps. Then there was a whooshing noise and a wall of flames shot up around me, very hot and bright. I yelled, because I couldn’t see where I was going anymore, and I yanked at my sword. I think I had some vague idea that the sword might be able to keep me from burning to death; I certainly couldn’t see to fight anything.

  Something hit me in the middle of my back just as the sword came out of its sheath. I felt something from the sword; it wasn’t a tingle, it was more like a wave of anticipation followed very closely by a
surge of disappointment. I was so surprised I nearly dropped it. Then I realized that it wouldn’t matter if I did drop it, because I was lying on the ground. I was also much cooler man I had been a minute ago, and someone was pounding on me.

  “Stop it!” I said. The someone sat back, and I saw that it was Shiara.

  “Are you all right?” Shiara said.

  “I think so,” I said. “Why were you pounding on me?”

  “Your clothes were on fire,” Shiara said. “I was trying to put them out. If I’d known you were going to fuss about it, I’d have let them burn.”

  I apologized and thanked her, then looked around. Shiara and I were sitting on the ground just inside a ring of fire. In the center of the ring was a short, round building with a pointed roof; it wasn’t quite tall enough to call a tower, but it wasn’t short enough to call a house, either. I moved away from the flames, which were uncomfortably warm, and looked at Shiara. “What happened?”

  “How should I know? One second you were walking across the clearing, and the next second there was all this fire and you were yelling,” Shiara said. “And when I tried to shove you out of it, we both got in here instead, and that thing was sitting there.” She waved at the not quite tower.

  “At least it isn’t invisible,” I offered. Shiara gave me a disgusted look, but she didn’t say anything.

  “Hello?” called the dragon’s voice from the other side of the wall of fire. “Are you there?”

  “We’re here,” I called back “Both of us.”

  “How did you do that?” the dragon shouted.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “And I don’t think I want to stay here to find out.” I picked myself up off the ground and put the sword back in its sheath. “I think maybe we’d better go,” I said to Shiara. “Before something comes out of that house.”

  “It isn’t a house,” Shiara said. “But I think I agree with you.”

  “Achoo!” said the dragon from the other side of the fire.

  “Just a minute, here!” a voice said behind me.