Wrede, Patricia C - Enchanted Forest 01

by Dealing

  “Ah.” Zemenar stroked his beard with his left hand. “That would make it difficult for you. Perhaps we could set up a spell for you, one that would let you know whenever anyone comes to visit. It would be more pleasant for visitors, too, if they didn’t have to shout. What do you think, Antorell?”

  “Like the one at the headquarters of the society,” the second wizard said, nodding. “We could do it in two or three minutes, right from here. It’d be easy.”

  Zemenar shot a dark look at his companion. Cimorene was sure that he’d wanted to pretend he was inventing a difficult new spell, so that he would have an excuse to wander around Kazul’s caves. “Quite so,” said Zemenar. “Well, Princess?”

  “Oh, dear, I don’t know,” Cimorene said, doing her best to imitate the way her eldest sister behaved whenever anyone wanted her to decide anything. “It sounds very nice, but Kazul is so picky about where things go and how things are done ... No, I couldn’t, I simply couldn’t let you do anything like that without asking Kazul first.”

  “What a pity,” Zemenar said. His companion coughed and shuffled his feet. “Ah, yes. Allow me to present my son, Antorell. I hope you don’t mind my bringing him along?”

  “Of course not,” Cimorene said politely.

  “I am pleased to make the acquaintance of such a lovely princess,” Antorell said, bowing.

  Cimorene blinked. This wasn’t getting anywhere. Maybe if she brought them inside they’d relax a little. “Thank you,” she said to Antorell. “Won’t you come in and have some tea?”

  “We would be delighted,” Zemenar said quickly. “If you’ll lead the way. Princess?”

  “This way,” Cimorene said. She stopped just inside the mouth of the cave and gave the wizards her sweetest and most innocent smile. “You can leave your staffs right here. Just lean them up against the wall.”

  Antorell looked considerably startled, and Zemenar frowned. “Is this, too, something your dragon requires?” he said.

  “I don’t know,” Cimorene said, wrinkling up her forehead the way her third-from-eldest sister did whenever she was puzzled (which was often). “But they’ll be so awkward in the kitchen. Don’t you think so? There’s not very much room.”

  “We’ll manage,” Zemenar said.

  Cimorene hadn’t really expected to get the wizards to let go of their staffs, but it had been worth a try. She shrugged and smiled and led them on into the kitchen, where she made a point of bumping into the staffs or tripping over them every time she went by. Finally Antorell turned his sideways and stuck it under the table. Zemenar hung onto his with a kind of grim, suspicious stubbornness that made Cimorene wonder whether she was fooling him at all with her pretended silliness.

  The wizards made uncomfortable conversation about the weather and the size of the kitchen for several minutes while Cimorene fixed the tea and poured it. “Are the rest of Kazul’s caves this large?” Zemenar asked as Cimorene handed him his teacup. She had given him the one with the broken handle, even though he was a guest, because she didn’t trust him.

  “Oh, yes,” Cimorene said. She was beginning to think she was never going to find out anything. The two wizards seemed perfectly happy to sit at the kitchen table and talk about nothing whatever for hours.

  “Remarkable,” said Antorell in an admiring tone. “You know, we wizards don’t often get to see the inside of a dragon’s cave.”

  I’ll bet you don’t, thought Cimorene as she gave him a puzzled smile. “That’s too bad,” she said aloud.

  “Yes, it is,” Zemenar said. “Perhaps you’d be willing to show us around?”

  Cimorene thought very rapidly. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to learn anything if the wizards sat at the kitchen table and drank tea, so she decided to take a chance. “Well,” she said in a doubtful tone, “I suppose it would be all right as long as I don’t take you into the treasure rooms.”

  “That’s fine,” Antorell said, a little too quickly.

  “You won’t touch anything, will you?” Cimorene said as they stood up. “Kazul is so particular about where things are kept ...”

  “Of course not,” Zemenar said, smiling insincerely.

  Cimorene smiled back and led the way out into the hall. She watched the wizards carefully as she took them through the large main cave, the general storage caverns, and the big cavern where Kazul visited with other dragons. Zemenar made polite noises about the size and comfort of everything, but neither he nor Antorell seemed very interested. “And this is the library,” Cimorene said, throwing the door open.

  “I am impressed,” Zemenar said, and Cimorene could tell that this time he meant it. She stepped sideways, so that she could keep an eye on both of the wizards at the same time.

  “A remarkable collection,” Antorell commented. He began walking around the room, admiring the bookshelves and scanning the titles of the books.

  “What’s this?” Zemenar said, bending over the table. “The Historia Dracorum? A surprising choice for light reading. Princess.” His eyes met Cimorene’s, and they were hard and bright and suspicious.

  “Oh, I’m not reading it,” Cimorene said hastily, opening her eyes very wide. “I just thought it would make the library look nicer to have a book or two sitting out on the table. More—more lived-in.”

  Zemenar nodded, looking relieved and faintly contemptuous. “I think it works very well. Princess,” he said. “Very well indeed.” Then he looked over at the other side of the room and said sharply, “Antorell! What are you doing?”

  Cimorene turned her head in time to see Antorell put out a hand and deliberately tip several books off one of the shelves. “Stop that!” she said, forgetting to sound silly.

  “I’m very sorry. Princess,” Antorell said. “Will you help me put them back where they belong?”

  Cimorene had no choice but to go over and help him. It took several minutes to get everything back in place because Antorell kept dropping things. Cimorene got quite annoyed with him and finally did it all herself. As she started to turn back to the center of the room, she caught a glimpse of Zemenar hastily closing the Historia Dracorum. Cimorene pretended not to notice, but she made a mental note that he had been looking at something near the middle of the book.

  “That was dreadfully careless of you,” Cimorene said, frowning at Antorell.

  “Very clumsy,” Zemenar agreed.

  “I don’t know what Kazul will say when she finds out about it,” Cimorene went on. “Really, it is too bad of you. I did ask you not to touch anything, you know.”

  “Yes, you did,” Zemenar said. “And I wouldn’t like to think that we had gotten you in trouble. Perhaps it would be best if you didn’t mention to Kazul that we were here at all.”

  “I suppose I could do that,” Cimorene said in a doubtful tone.

  “Of course you can,” Antorell said encouragingly. “And I’ll come back in a few days, to make sure everything’s all right.”

  “I think it’s time we were on our way,” Zemenar said, giving his son a dark look. “Thank you for showing us around. Princess.”

  * * *

  Cimorene escorted them out of the cave and made sure they had left, then hurried back to the library. She spent the next several hours poring over the middle parts of the Historia Dracorum, trying to figure out what Zemenar had been looking at. She was still there when Kazul arrived home and called for her.

  “That wizard Zemenar finally came, and he brought his son along with him,” Cimorene said as she came out of the library.

  “I know,” said Kazul. Her voice sounded a little thick, as if she had a cold. “I could smell them the minute I came in.”

  “Is that why you sound so odd?” Cimorene asked. “You’re not going to sneeze, are you?”

  “I don’t think so,” Kazul replied. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll have plenty of time to turn my head away.”

  “I wish I could get hold of some hens’ teeth,” Cimorene said, frowning. “That fireproofing spell—”
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  “Have you looked in the treasure rooms?” Kazul asked.

  “No,” Cimorene replied, startled. She remembered seeing a number of jars and bottles of various shapes and sizes when she had been organizing the treasure, and none of them had been labeled. “I didn’t think of it and besides, it’s your treasure.”

  “You’re my princess, at least until someone rescues you or I decide otherwise,” Kazul pointed out. “Go ahead and look, and if you find any hens’ teeth, use them. Be careful when you’re checking the jars, though. There are one or two with lead stoppers that shouldn’t be opened.”

  “Lead stoppers,” Cimorene said. “I’ll remember.”

  “Good. Now, what did those wizards want?”

  “I’m not sure.” Cimorene explained everything that had happened, including how she had seen Zemenar closing the history book as she turned and how the two wizards had been perfectly willing to leave right after that. “But just before they disappeared, Antorell said he might come back another time,” Cimorene concluded. “So I don’t know whether they found what they were looking for or not.”

  “Do you know which part of the Historia Dracorum Zemenar was reading?” Kazul asked.

  “Somewhere in the middle, a little past my bookmark,” Cimorene replied. “I was just looking at it when you came in. It’s the part about how the dragons came to the Mountains of Morning and settled into the caves and chose a king.”

  ‘That’s the section where the Historia describes the Caves of Fire and Night, isn’t it?” Kazul said.

  Cimorene nodded. “There was a whole page about somebody finding a stone in the caves so that the dragons could pick a king. It didn’t make much sense to me.”

  “Colin’s Stone,” Kazul said, nodding. “We’ve used it to choose our king ever since the first time. When a king dies, all the dragons go to the Ford of Whispering Snakes in the Enchanted Forest and take turns trying to move Colin’s Stone from there to the Vanishing Mountain. The one that succeeds is the next king.”

  “What if there are two dragons strong enough to move it?” Cimorene asked curiously.

  “It’s not a matter of strength,” Kazul said. “Colin’s Stone isn’t much larger than you are. Even a small dragon could carry that much weight twice around the Enchanted Forest without any trouble at all. But Colin’s Stone has an aura, a kind of vibration. When you carry it, you can feel it humming through your claws, and the humming gets stronger the farther you go until your bones are shaking. Most dragons have to drop it or be shaken to pieces, but there’s always one who is ... suited to the stone. For that dragon, the stone’s humming is just a pleasant buzz, so of course it’s easy to get it to the Vanishing Mountain.”

  “You sound as if you’ve had experience,” Cimorene said.

  “Of course,” Kazul responded matter-of-factly. “I was old enough to participate in the tests when the last king died.” She smiled reminiscently. “I got farther than anyone expected me to, though I wasn’t one of the top ten by any means.”

  Cimorene tilted her head to one side, considering. “I think I’m glad you didn’t win.”

  “Oh? Why is that?” Kazul sounded amused.

  “Because you wouldn’t have had any use for a princess if you were the Queen of the Dragons, and if you hadn’t decided to take me on, that yellow-green dragon Moranz would probably have eaten me,” Cimorene explained.

  “You mean, if I were the King of the Dragons,” Kazul corrected her. “Queen of the Dragons is a dull job.”

  “But you’re a female!” Cimorene said. “If you’d carried Colin’s Stone from the Ford of Whispering Snakes to the Vanishing Mountain, you’d have had to be a queen, wouldn’t you?”

  “No, of course not,” Kazul said. “Queen of the Dragons is a totally different job from King, and it’s not one I’m particularly interested in. Most people aren’t. I think the position’s been vacant since Oraun tore his wing and had to retire.”

  “But King Tokoz is a male dragon!” Cimorene said, then frowned. “Isn’t he?”

  “Yes, yes, but that has nothing to do with it,” Kazul said a little testily. “ ‘King’ is the name of the job. It doesn’t matter who holds it.”

  Cimorene stopped and thought for a moment. “You mean that dragons don’t care whether their king is male or female; the title is the same no matter who the ruler is.”

  “That’s right. We like to keep things simple.”

  “Oh.” Cimorene decided to return to the original topic of conversation before the dragon’s “simple” ideas confused her any further. “Why would the wizards be interested in Colin’s Stone if it’s only used for picking out the kings of the dragons?”

  “I doubt that they are,” Kazul replied. “However, Colin’s Stone was found in the Caves of Fire and Night, and wizards have always been interested in the caves. But the dragons control most of them, and all the easy entrances are ours, so the wizards have never been able to find out as much as they would like. The Historia Dracorum is one of the few books that talks about the caves at all, and there aren’t many copies. I’ll wager Zemenar would have stolen it outright if he’d thought he could get away with it.”

  “I thought the dragons let wizards into the Caves of Fire and Night,” Cimorene objected. “Why would Zemenar be poking through history books looking for information if he can just go and look at them whenever he wants to?”

  “We don’t let wizards visit the caves whenever they want,” Kazul said. “If we did, they’d be running in and out all the time, and nobody would be able to breathe without sneezing. No, they’re limited to certain days and times, and if they want to visit the Caves of Fire and Night otherwise, they have to use one of the entrances we don’t control. Few of them try. The other ways of getting into the caves are very dangerous, even for wizards.”

  “Maybe they’re looking for an easier way in.”

  “Mmm.” Kazul did not seem to be paying much attention. She thought for a moment, then turned toward the cave mouth. “I’m going to go see Gaurim. Roxim said a book had been stolen from her library, and I want to know which one. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

  “I think I’ll go look at the Historia Dracorum again while you’re gone,” Cimorene said thoughtfully. “If there is something useful in it about the Caves of Fire and Night, maybe I can find it, now that I know what I’m looking for.”

  * * *

  Cimorene spent the rest of the afternoon carefully translating the chapter that talked about the caves. She was disappointed to find that there was very little about the caves themselves, though what was there was interesting. The book told how the dragons had discovered the back way into the caves and described some of the things they had found in them—caverns full of blue and green fire, pools of black liquid that would cast a cloud of darkness for twenty miles around if you poured three drops on the ground, walls made of crystal that multiplied every sound a thousandfold, rocks that spurted fire when they were broken. Most of the rest of the chapter was about Colin’s Stone, and how it was taken out of the caves by the first King of the Dragons.

  Kazul returned just before dinner, and she and Cimorene compared notes. Cimorene told Kazul what she had learned from the chapter on the Caves of Fire and Night, and then Kazul explained what she had learned from Gaurim.

  “The stolen book was The Kings of the Dragons, and the entire first section was about Colin’s Stone and the Caves of Fire and Night,” Kazul said. “And only a wizard could have gotten past the spells and safeguards Gaurim puts on her library. I think that settles it. The wizards are definitely collecting information about the Caves of Fire and Night.”

  “Then why do they keep looking at books of dragon history?” Cimorene asked. “It seems like a roundabout way of finding out whatever it is that they want to know.”

  “There isn’t any other way to do it,” Kazul said. “Nobody but dragons has ever had much to do with the caves, and no one has written much about them except in dragon histories. Even the wi
zards weren’t particularly interested in them until a few years ago, except as a reliable route into the Enchanted Forest.”

  “But from what I’ve been reading in the Historia Dracorum, the caves sound fascinating,” Cimorene said. “You mean to say that no one has ever written anything about the Caves of Fire and Night except dragons?”

  “That’s—” Kazul stopped suddenly, and her eyes narrowed. “No, that’s not right. There was a rather rumpled scholar who talked his way into the caves a century or so back, and after he left he wrote an extremely dry book about what he found there. I’d forgotten about him.”

  “Do you have a copy?” Cimorene asked hopefully.

  “No,” Kazul said. “But I don’t think the Society of Wizards does, either. There weren’t very many of them printed, and a lot of those were lost in a flood a few years later. Some hero or other shoved a giant into a lake to drown him. The silly clunch didn’t realize that if he put something that big into a lake, the water would have to go somewhere.”

  “Well, that doesn’t do us much good,” Cimorene said. “It’s nice that the Society of Wizards doesn’t have a copy of that book, but if we can’t get hold of one either—”

  “I didn’t say that,” Kazul said. “I don’t have a copy myself, but I know who does.”

  “Who?” Cimorene said impatiently.

  “Morwen. I’m afraid you’re not going to be able to work on that fireproofing spell of yours tomorrow. We’re going to take a trip to the Enchanted Forest instead.”

  7

  In Which Cimorene and Kazul

  Make a Journey Underground

  Cimorene was surprised to hear that Kazul intended to take her along on the visit to Morwen, and she was not entirely sure she liked the idea. She had heard a great deal about the Enchanted Forest, and none of it was reassuring. People who traveled there were always getting changed into flowers or trees or animals or rocks, or doing something careless and having their heads turned backward, or being carried off by ogres or giants or trolls, or enchanted by witches or wicked fairies. It did not sound like a good place for a casual, pleasant visit.