Searching for Dragons - Wrede Patricia Collins (чтение книг .txt) 📗

13

In Which They Return to the Enchanted Forest at Last

They told Telemain and Jack the whole story over dinner and discussed it late into the night. Telemain was intrigued by their description of Kazul's imprisonment.

"You say these wizards have an enchantment capable of confining a dragon?" he said eagerly. "Are you sure?"

"That's certainly what it looked like," Cimorene said, pouring herself a cup of hot chocolate. The stew and the dinner dishes had long since been cleared away and were piled in the bucket of soapy water waiting for someone to have the time or the inclination to wash them.

Mendanbar wondered idly whether a bucket of soapy water plus lemon juice plus dishes would be as good for melting a wizard as one without dishes, and what effect the dishes would have on the process. Being melted was probably not very comfortable, but being melted while cups and plates and forks were falling on your head was likely to be even less so.

"I knew I was right to join you," Telemain said, smiling. "I might not have heard about this enchantment at all, if I hadn't. It sounds like a simple modulation of the upper frequencies of a standard reptilian restraint spell, but on an enormously increased scale. I wonder where they're getting the power."

"I don't care how they did it," Cimorene snapped. "I care about getting Kazul out of it as soon as possible."

"A trivial detail, once the construction of the spell is properly understood," Telemain said confidently.

"Trivial?" Mendanbar said. "Aren't you forgetting about the wizards? I don't think they'll just let us walk in and take their spell apart."

"And goodness knows what they'll do to Kazul in the meantime," Cimorene muttered.

"Nonsense," Telemain said. "I comprehend your concern, but it is highly unlikely that this episode will prove more than a minor inconvenience so far as your dragon friend is concerned."

Cimorene did not look convinced, so Telemain launched into a lecture on the political implications of the situation, the main point of which was that it would be stupid for the Society of Wizards to hurt Kazul and that wizards were not stupid. Privately, Mendanbar thought that it had been stupid of the wizards to kidnap Kazul in the first place, but saying so would not reassure Cimorene, so he kept quiet.

After a while, Telemain finished his lecture. He did not wait for Cimorene to respond, but turned at once to Mendanbar and asked about his sword. Like Cimorene, the magician could feel the sword spilling magic "like a beacon on a mountaintop," and he was amazed-and completely fascinated-to learn that Mendanbar noticed nothing unusual.

"I don't understand why I didn't spot it at once," Telemain said, shaking his head over his cup of chocolate (which looked to Mendanbar as if it had gone cold during his long speech about the relative intelligence of wizards.

"You mean when you met us?" Cimorene said. "Mendanbar's sword wasn't spraying magic all over right then. He'd just used up most of it on the rock snakes."

"It seems to recover very quickly," Telemain said with a sidelong look at the sword. "Is it always like this?"

"How should I know?" Mendanbar said, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "I can't tell when it's doing it, much less when it isn't."

"Yes, you said that before." Telemain sipped at his chocolate, staring absently into space. "I shall have to think about this for a while," he said at last, as though making a profound announcement. "It's a pity you haven't time to visit my tower for a few tests-" "Absolutely not?" Mendanbar interrupted.

"We have to rescue Kazul from the wizards," Cimorene put in quickly.

"Before this business turns into more than a minor inconvenience.

Before those wizards decide she's too much trouble to keep around and feed her some dragonsbane."

Telemain considered this for a moment. "An excellent idea," he said at last with evident sincerity.

Mendanbar and Cimorene stared at him.

"If the Society of Wizards poisons the King of the Dragons, there is certain to be a war," Telemain explained. "Wars are very distracting.

I don't like being distracted; it interferes with my work. So it would be a very good thing if we made sure there was no war."

"I'm so glad you think so," Cimorene said. Her voice sounded a little strange.

The discussion continued for a little longer, but it was getting late and everyone was tired. Finally, Jack suggested that they go to bed.

"It's all very well for you adventurous types to sit around jawing until past midnight , but some people have work to do in the morning," he said pointedly.

"I am not an 'adventurous type," "Telemain said with dignity. "I am in research."

"Fine, fine," Jack said. "So go research my second-best bed. You and the King, here, take the room on the right, Princess Cimorene gets the one on the left, and I get to bunk under the kitchen. Good night, everybody."

That settled things for the evening, but the conference continued the next morning over a breakfast of flapjacks and honey.

"It seems very likely to me that you are correct about Kazul's location," Telemain said. "She is probably being held somewhere in the Enchanted Forest. Our first task, therefore, must be to find her."

"Our first task is to get back into the Enchanted Forest," Mendanbar corrected. "I don't even know which direction it's in anymore."

"It's over that way,"Jack said, waving at the large mountain in back of the house. "Not far if you're flying, but a long way to walk. You have to go around, you see. Now, I've got a nice broomstick that'll get you there in a jiffy. It's extra long, so it'll seat all three of you very comfortably, and it's hardly been used at all."

"No, thank you, Jack," Telemain said firmly. "Broomsticks are only reliable transportation for witches. We will manage this ourselves.

Pass the flapjacks, please."

"Here," said Cimorene, handing him the plate. "Do you mean that you're going to take us to the Enchanted Forest the same way you brought us here? I thought it would be harder than that."

"Actually, it is," Telemain said. "The Enchanted Forest is unique, magically speaking, and therefore the interface between the forest and the rest of the world is equally unique. Penetrating that interface requires a specific application."

"What's that mean, when it's at home?" said Jack.

"You need a special spell to get into the Enchanted Forest , because it's different from everywhere else," Mendanbar translated.

Telemain looked irritated. "That's what I just said."

"Is that why Mendanbar's spell dropped us into the ravine with the rock snakes instead of in the forest?" Cimorene asked.

"Possibly." Telemain frowned. "It seems unlikely, however.

Mendanbar's magic is of the same variety as that of the forest. It should have worked perfectly well, assuming it worked at all."

"Well, why didn't it?" Mendanbar asked crossly. He was getting tired of puzzles, especially puzzles connected with his sword, his magic, and his forest.

"I'm afraid I can't answer that from your description," Telemain replied, his frown deepening. "I can think of half a dozen things that might have gone wrong, but without seeing it myself I don't know which of them it was."

"So do it again, and watch it this time," Jack said. "Hand me the honey, would you, Your Majesty?"

Mendanbar picked up the honey pot, which was shaped like a fat purple bear. Resisting the urge to throw it at Jack's head, he handed it over and said mildly, "I don't think I like the idea of repeating the spell.

Last time it knocked me out for four hours, and I'm not willing to do that again just so Telemain can find out why."

"Oh, that's easy enough to fix," Telemain said. "A few wards, properly set, and there won't be any backlash worth worrying about."