Talking To Dragons

by Patricia C. Wrede

  I shoved against it, but it didn’t budge. “It’s too heavy.”

  “Really?” said the dragon. “It doesn’t look so bad.”

  I looked down at the dragon, who was last on the stairs because neither Shiara nor I had wanted to be behind it if it slipped. “It probably isn’t too heavy for you. Why don’t you try it?”

  The dragon agreed, and Shiara and I squashed ourselves against the side of the stairs so it could climb past us. There were a couple of minutes of grunts, and the dragon’s tail whipped back and forth, which made Shiara and me retreat farther down the stairs. Finally there was a loud noise like extremely rusty hinges, and the dragon started moving upward. A moment later, it stopped. “Uh-oh,” it said.

  “What’s the matter?” Shiara called.

  The dragon didn’t answer, but it moved out of the way so we could climb up. Shiara and I got to the head of the stairs at almost the same time and looked around.

  We were standing at the top of a small rise. The sun was starting to set, but there was still enough light to see the castle clearly. It was quite close, not more than a few minutes’ walk from where I was, and it fascinated me. At first, I thought it was made of something shimmery, like mother-of-pearl; then I realized that it wasn’t the castle that was shimmering, it was something around the castle, like a giant soap bubble. I was still trying to figure out what it was when Shiara poked me, and I looked down. There were approximately two hundred dragons sitting on the ground around the little hill we were standing on. Watching us.

  18

  I SWALLOWED HARD, and for a moment I wished I were wearing my sword instead of carrying it under my arm. Every dragon in the Enchanted Forest had to be there, and quite a few from outside it. They were spread out in all directions, so that I couldn’t even see the ground, and I realized suddenly that there was a lot of open space around the castle. The forest circled the castle at a distance, and there seemed to be something wrong about it. I couldn’t tell what, though, and besides, I had other things to worry about right then. Two hundred dragons, for instance.

  I stepped forward and bowed carefully in all directions. One of the first things Mother taught me about dragons was that dragons expect a new arrival to make the first move. They always allow you one chance to convince them that you’re too polite or too important to eat. I was going to have to rely on being polite; I didn’t think I could convince two hundred dragons that I was particularly important, especially since I didn’t believe it myself. I took a deep breath.

  “Sirs and madams, I apologize most profoundly for intruding upon you in this fashion, and I hope we have not inconvenienced you in any way,” I said, trying to talk loudly enough for all the dragons to hear me and still sound polite.

  “Nevertheless, I offer you greetings in the name of myself and my companions, and I wish you good fortune in whatever endeavors are most important to you.”

  The dragons stirred briefly, then settled back again. After a moment, an old, grey-green male slid forward. “We greet you, and wish you well,” he said. “May we know your names?”

  I bowed again, the half bow of respect for a dragon of great age and uncertain status. “I thank you for your greeting,” I said. “I am called Daystar, and my companions are Shiara and Nightwitch.” I didn’t ask for the dragons’ names. It’s perfectly acceptable not to, and I didn’t feel like standing there through two hundred introductions, especially since the dragons would expect me to remember them all.

  “Well met, Daystar,” the old dragon rumbled. “We’ve been expecting you since early this afternoon; I’m glad you finally got here.”

  “I’m sorry if I kept you waiting,” I said. “We had problems with some wizards, and a cave-in, and a quozzel, and I didn’t really know you were waiting. I hope it hasn’t been long.”

  “Of course not; Telemain only told Kazul yesterday that you were coming. Silly way to do things, making everyone gather in such a hurry.” He looked at me for a minute, then I nodded approvingly. “Well, come along; no sense wasting any more time. You might as well bring the girl and the cat, too; this way.”

  Our dragon lifted its head. “What about me?” it demanded. It looked much smaller next to the full-grown dragons all around us, and it sounded considerably younger as well.

  “You had better keep quiet,” the older dragon said indulgently. “You’re in quite a bit of trouble already; I wouldn’t make it worse if I were you.”

  “I don’t have to keep quiet!” our dragon said. “I found a Princess, even if I did decide not to keep her, and I fought a knight and bit a wizard. I can talk if I want to!”

  The crowd of dragons shifted again, very slightly. Shiara , shivered and held Nightwitch closer; I thought about wiping my hands on my tunic, then decided it would be too noticeable. The older dragon ignored all of us; he just stood and stared at our dragon, which finally shook its head and settled back, watching the crowd below us with a sulky expression. The old dragon smiled slightly and turned his head. “What do you think?” he asked the crowd of dragons behind him.

  All of the dragons roared at once. I couldn’t tell what they were saying, or even if they were saying anything, but the old dragon nodded again and looked at the little dragon. “You’ll get your wish, then. Well, don’t just stand there.”

  I nodded and stepped forward as the old dragon turned. Shiara followed behind me, very closely, and our dragon came behind her. “Where are we going?” Shiara whispered to me.

  The old dragon looked back over his shoulder, and his eyes glinted with amusement. “You’re going to see Kazul.”

  “Oh,” Shiara said. We stepped down from the little hill, and there was a loud clattering and rumbling as the dragons moved out of our way. I stopped short in shock.

  The ground around the hill was dry and brown and bare. It looked even worse than it would have normally, because I’d spent several days looking at the rich moss in the Enchanted Forest. Then I remembered that we were still in the Enchanted Forest, and I started being worried as well as shocked. I knew from experience how fast the moss grew, and how hard it was to clear off even a small strip of ground;

  I didn’t like to think about what had stripped the moss from the area around the castle.

  Shiara poked me, and I started moving forward again. Fortunately, the dragon ahead of us hadn’t noticed my pause. A few of the ones at the edge of the crowd had, but they seemed more amused than anything. I decided not to worry about it and walked a little faster, trying to ignore the large shapes on either side of me. With two hundred dragons around, I could waste a lot of time worrying if I wasn’t careful.

  The old dragon led us toward the castle. As we got closer, I could see that there were two shimmerings in the air around the castle, one a few feet inside the other. The outer one looked like a shifting, green-and-silver veil, very thin and transparent. The inner one seemed to be a pale golden glow, but I couldn’t be sure because of the way the one on the outside shifted around; it seemed to interfere with my seeing the inner one clearly. After a few minutes, I gave up on trying to look at the shimmerings and tried looking through them instead.

  The shimmerings didn’t seem to get in the way at all; I discovered that I could see quite a bit of the castle. Part of the reason was that there was no wall around it, only the shimmerings and a water-filled moat just inside them. The castle itself was a wonderful, rambling-looking place, with about six towers of various sizes and large square windows and four balconies. I could see several stairways running up to oddly shaped doors or around the outside of the towers, and a lot of walls that seemed to be there just to confuse people. I was so busy studying the castle and the shimmerings that I almost didn’t notice when the dragon stopped; I was lucky not to step on his tail.

  We were about halfway around the castle, and there seemed to be fewer dragons around. I was trying to guess which one was Kazul, when the old dragon who had been leading us stepped a little to one side and bobbed his head respectfully. “King Kaz
ul, these are the travelers who wish to see you. That one’s Daystar, the other one’s Shiara, and the cat is Nightwitch.”

  Right away I bowed very deeply, and so did Shiara. I was relieved; I hadn’t been completely sure she would do any of the things I’d suggested. As I straightened up, I got my first look at Kazul.

  Even lying on the ground, she looked large for a dragon. Her scales were just beginning to turn grey around the edges, which surprised me; I’d expected someone older. Her eyes were hypnotic, green-gold ovals. She was the most dangerous-looking dragon I’d ever seen. Kazul smiled broadly. Dragons have a lot of teeth.

  “So,” she said, “you are the people Telemain sent through the Caves of Chance, and you have the Sword of the Sleeping King.”

  “Yes, Your Majesty,” I said. I took the sword out from under my arm and held it up so she could see it better. “Mother gave it to me a few days ago, and I was told you would want to know about it.”

  “Ahhhhhh.” Kazul’s eyes glowed as she looked at the sword. Literally; the light from them was a little like firelight, except it didn’t flicker. After a minute, she transferred her gaze to me. “And you got it here safely. Well done, Cimorene’s son.”

  “Thank you. Your Majesty,” I said. “You knew my mother?”

  Kazul smiled again. “Cimorene was the best Princess I ever had.”

  Shiara choked. My jaw dropped; the little dragon said, “That’s how she knew dragon magic!” in a pleased tone.

  I closed my mouth, swallowed hard, and bowed to Kazul. “Excuse me, Your Majesty. I was, um, startled. Mother is a Princess?”

  “She certainly was once,” Kazul said. She looked at the sword again. “I’m glad she managed to keep it safe. We didn’t have a lot of choice at the time, but it’s still worrying to have to take a risk like that.”

  I wasn’t certain what to say to that; Kazul didn’t seem to be talking to me, but it isn’t a good idea to ignore a dragon. I decided not to say anything and bowed again.

  Kazul looked up from the sword. “You needn’t bother being quite so formal,” she said. “I have a lot to tell you, and it will make the conversation a lot easier if you’re not quite so stiff.”

  Before I could reply, Kazul turned toward the old dragon, who was still standing beside me. “It will be tomorrow morning. Let everyone know; the preparations must be finished by then.”

  The old dragon nodded and left. Kazul looked back at us. “Come with me.” She started to rise.

  “What about me?” the little dragon demanded.

  Kazul sighed. “Yes, you may come, too.” She stood, which made her look twice as big as she had before, and started walking. Shiara and I looked at each other and followed. There wasn’t anything else we could do; after all, Kazul was King of the Dragons.

  By this time the sun was completely down, but there was still enough light in the sky that we could see where we were going. Kazul led us a little farther around the castle, then turned away from it. As we walked along, the other dragons would slide out of the way for Kazul and bow their heads respectfully to her; then Shiara and I would walk by and bow respectfully to the dragons. It kept us too busy to see much of where we were going.

  Kazul led us to what looked like a jumbled pike of rocks a little way from the castle. There was a dark opening at one side of the pile, and Kazul went right in. Shiara and the dragon and I followed.

  It was very dark inside, almost as black as the Caves of Chance. I stopped immediately; I didn’t want to step on Kazul’s tail in the dark or run into her accidentally. Shiara bumped into me, squeezing Nightwitch between us. Nightwitch said, “Mrowww!” in a complaining tone, and Kazul’s voice came out of the darkness.

  “I suppose you human people need some light.”

  “Only if it won’t be inconvenient,” I said hastily.

  “Not at all,” Kazul replied, and added about five hissing words.

  Silvery light sprang up all around us. I had to squint for a minute; then I blinked. The inside of the pile of rocks looked a lot like a cave. I looked for the source of the light and realized with a shiver that the light was coming from the rocks.

  That shook me. Dragons don’t usually do magic casually; they take it too seriously. In particular, the King of the Dragons wouldn’t normally work a spell just for a visitor’s convenience. I looked at Kazul, wondering exactly what was going on.

  “Sit down,” said Kazul, nodding toward a row of rocks. We did. The little dragon sat down by the entrance, looking half-sulky and half-defiant. Kazul ignored it.

  “I think you had better tell me your story first,” she said, looking at me intently. “Start at the beginning, when Cimorene gave you the sword.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ll start with the sword if you want me to, but I think the beginning is the wizard.”

  “Wizard?” said Kazul.

  “His name’s Antorell; he came to our cottage the day before Mother gave me the sword, and Mother melted him.”

  “Oh, him.” Kazul shook her head. “Sounds like he hasn’t learned anything since the last time he tangled with Cimorene. Yes, start with him, by all means.”

  So I told Kazul everything that had happened to me since Antorell had walked up to our cottage and knocked the door in. It took a long time, especially the part after Shiara and I met the dragon, because the dragon kept adding things. Finally, Kazul told it to either be quiet or go away. It looked terribly offended, but it quit talking.

  Kazul didn’t ask any questions at all. Once, when I mentioned finding the key in the Caves of Chance, she made a noise that sounded like an astonished snort, but she apologized for interrupting and told me to go on. I did, once I got over the shock of having the King of the Dragons apologize to me.

  When I finished, there was silence for a minute or two. Then Kazul stirred. “So. You have accomplished a great deal in a short time, Daystar.”

  “It doesn’t really seem like it to me,” I said.

  “A great deal,” Kazul repeated. She sounded as if she were talking to herself.

  Shiara shifted restlessly. “Are you going to explain about Daystar’s sword?” she demanded.

  “Shiara!” I said, horrified. Nobody talks to the King of the Dragons in that tone of voice.

  Except Shiara. “No,” said Kazul. “Or at least, I’m not going to tell you as much as you want to know. It’s one of the problems with that sword right now. The Society of Wizards has more than a hundred spells hunting for it, and all of them depend on finding someone who knows what he’s carrying; the sword itself is invisible to wizards’ magic. If Daystar knows too much about that sword too soon, we’ll be up to our wings in wizards right away. I don’t want that to happen yet.”

  “I don’t like wizards,” the little dragon said suddenly. “They make me sneeze.”

  Kazul’s head turned and she eyed the little dragon for a minute. “I think it is time you made yourself useful,” she said at last. “Go find Marchak and tell him to bring us dinner. Then go back to your teacher and apologize for running off, and after that you can start getting ready for tomorrow.”

  “What happens tomorrow?” the little dragon said suspiciously.

  “We have a war,” Kazul said. “Which you might manage to live through, if you’re ready for it. So go!”

  “Yes, ma’am!” The little dragon disappeared out the door of the cave.

  Kazul looked after it for a minute, then shook her head. “That is undoubtedly the most irritating grandchild I have.”

  “Who are you going to be fight— Grandchild?” said Shiara.

  “Yes, of course,” said Kazul, looking mildly surprised. “It’s an annoying youngster, but precocious children frequently are. I’m hoping it will grow out of it.”

  “Oh,” said Shiara. She stared out the entrance thoughtfully.

  “I enjoyed its company, most of the time,” I said honestly.

  “I’m glad,” Kazul said.

  “Um, if you wouldn’t mind telling us,
I’m sort of curious about whom you expect to be fighting tomorrow,” I said after another minute. I was also wondering whether Kazul thought Shiara and I were going to be included in this. I wasn’t particularly anxious to get involved in a war between dragons.

  Kazul smiled; I got the feeling she knew what I was thinking. “Wizards,” she said. “There will be a few elves, of course, and maybe some ogres and trolls, but mostly we’ll be fighting wizards.”

  “Oh,” I said. I was even less interested in getting involved in a war between dragons and wizards. Dragons alone might overlook Shiara and Nightwitch and me, but wizards certainly wouldn’t.

  “I’m afraid you already are involved,” Kazul said.

  “Because of the sword?” Shiara asked while I tried to remember whether I’d said anything out loud about not wanting to get involved.

  “Yes,” said Kazul. “The sword, and other things. It’s a long story; I hope you’re comfortable.”

  We both nodded, and Kazul smiled again. “Well, then. There are two types of magic in the world: the kind you’re born with, and the kind you get from something else. Dragons”—Kazul looked smug—“elves, unicorns, and fire-witches are born with magic, to name a few. Ordinary witches and magicians get their magic from objects or from rituals involving things that have magic; it works quite well and doesn’t upset things.

  “Wizards, on the other hand, get their magic from everything around them that happens to have magic. Those staffs of theirs absorb little bits of it constantly and it gets worse every time a wizard stores a new spell in his staff. That, by the way, is why dragons are allergic to them; whenever those staffs get near us, they start trying to soak up some of our magic. It creates other problems, too.”

  “You mean those stupid wizards have been grabbing my magic every time they come near me?” Shiara said indignantly.

  “Not yours,” Kazul said. “Wizards can’t use fire-witches’ magic; it’s too different. Their staffs explode if they try.”

  “Good!” said Shiara vindictively. Her face grew thoughtful. “I wonder if I could learn to do it on purpose?”