Searching for Dragons - Wrede Patricia Collins (мир бесплатных книг TXT) 📗

No one said anything for a long moment. Then Telemain tore his gaze away from the restored forest and turned to Mendanbar.

"Could you do that again, slowly, so I can analyze it?" he asked.

Despite Telemain's urging, Mendanbar refused to repeat the spell immediately, though he did offer to let the magician watch when he went to clean up the barren area near the Green Glass Pool. Then Telemain wanted to stay and investigate the melted wizards some more, but Morwen and Cimorene insisted that this was a bad idea, and eventually he gave in. He was inclined to be sulky about it until Morwen pointed out that he had fourteen more wizards' staffs to study, including one that had belonged to the Head Wizard. It cheered him up enormously.

"You're quite right," he told Morwen. "Those wizards will get themselves back together before long, and once they do, they'll come looking for their staffs. If I don't examine the staffs before then, I'll lose my chance. I can always melt another wizard later and study the disintegration process then." He hurried back into the cave, reappearing a moment later with his arms full of wizards' staffs.

"Be careful with those!" Mendanbar said as Telemain came out onto the moss-covered ground.

"They are unlikely to be a source of difficulty without intelligent guidance," Telemain said reprovingly. "So long as the wizards are not in contact with them, they are merely passive instruments of assimilation. There's nothing to worry about."

"Yes, there is," Cimorene put in. "If you drop them, Mendanbar will have a lot of ugly brown marks on his nice new moss. And if they can do that, there's no telling what else they might do."

"Wizards store spells in their staffs," Morwen said, nodding. "You can't always be sure what will set one off."

Telemain looked at them with annoyance. "I suppose you'd rather I left them here. Have you no spirit of scientific investigation?"

"Not where wizards are concerned," Cimorene muttered.

"Nonsense," Morwen said. "I'm just as curious as you are, Telemain, but I never heard that a spirit of scientific inquiry precluded taking intelligent precautions."

"Oh, I see," said Telemain. "Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

While the others talked, Mendanbar studied the staffs, keeping a careful watch on the threads of Enchanted Forest magic that were nearest to Telemain. To his surprise, the threads showed no tendency to drift toward the magician or wind themselves into knots around the staffs he carried. Apparently, Telemain was right-the staffs would only be a minor nuisance as long as their wizards weren't carrying them. He resolved to mention this to Telemain later. Perhaps Telemain could even help him find a way to deal with the problems the staffs caused when they did have their wizards with them.

A few minutes later, when Kazul was satisfied that there were no wizards left in the area, Mendanbar took them all back to the castle with a quick spell. He was relieved that the wizards' staffs caused no trouble, and pleased to discover that transporting a dragon was no harder than transporting anyone else.

They materialized in the castle courtyard, just inside the moat.

Willin, who had apparently been watching for their arrival, came hurrying out to meet them.

"Welcome home, Your Majesty," the elf said with evident relief.

Mendanbar noticed that he'd dug up a formal uniform somewhere, all sky-blue velvet and dusty gold braid. "May I assume that your mission was a success?"

"Yes, you may," Mendanbar said. "Willin, this is Kazul, the King of the Dragons, and she's very hungry. See if you can scare up something in the kitchen that would do for a dragon-sized meal."

"At once, Your Majesty," Willin said, bowing. "And may I congratulate you and your companions on your great achievement and welcome King Kazul to the Enchanted Forest."

"The welcome I'm interested in is dinner," Kazul said with a smile that showed all her teeth.

Willin backed away hastily. "Of course, of course. I'll see about it immediately."

"I'd better come with you," said Cimorene. "I've been Kazul's Chief Cook for over a year, and I know what she likes."

The two of them left, heading for the other side of the castle, with Kazul trailing hopefully behind them.

Mendanbar wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or relieved. He wanted very much to talk to Cimorene, but he wasn't sure how to tell her what he wanted to say, and anyway they certainly couldn't discuss the things he wanted to talk about with all these other people around.

"Mendanbar, have you got somewhere I could work on these without being disturbed?" Telemain asked, nodding at the load of wizards' staffs he was carrying.

"I wouldn't mind examining them myself," Morwen said.

"The blue room would be best, I think," Mendanbar said. "The light is better in my study, but there's a gargoyle in the corner who can be, um, difficult."

"We'll take the study," Morwen said decisively. "Light is important, and once Telemain gets involved, he won't notice any distractions."

"What about you?" Telemain asked, nettled.

Morwen sniffed. "I can handle considerably more than a mere gargoyle."

"All right," Mendanbar said. "As long as you're sure."

He showed them to the study and helped them get settled, then went down to the kitchen to see how Cimorene and Kazul were doing. He found Kazul in the rear courtyard, eating an enormous kettle of stew that had been intended to be supper for the entire castle. Cimorene was in the kitchen, her arms covered in flour to the elbows, rolling out pie crust and giving orders to the cook. Mendanbar stayed long enough to make sure the cook would do whatever Cimorene told him to, and then Cimorene chased him away, saying that it was difficult enough to cook in a strange kitchen without people hovering over her.

"You don't have to cook anything," Mendanbar told her.

"I do if we want any dinner," Cimorene retorted. "Kazul is already eating everything that was ready for tonight, and she's going to want more as soon as she's finished. Your people aren't really prepared to cope with a visiting dragon."

"We've never had one before."

"Well, you have one now." Cimorene glanced toward the courtyard and lowered her voice. "I think We'll be staying for a few days at least, if that won't cause too many problems. Kazul needs to get her strength back before she tries to fly back to the Mountain of Morning."

"You can stay as long as you like," Mendanbar assured her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You can let me get back to making dinner!" Cimorene said. She was smiling, but she obviously meant what she had said.

"All right. Call me if you need anything." Mendanbar bowed and left, feeling a little put out.

He went to the castle library, since his study was occupied, and poked about in the scrolls for a few minutes. Then he decided to check on Prince Rupert and his nephew. He found the middle-aged prince quickly enough, but he had to send someone to retrieve the young Crown Prince from the dungeon.

"Did you enjoy your stay?" Mendanbar asked when Crown Prince Jorillam arrived at last.

"It was all right," Jorillam said. He looked rumpled and vaguely dissatisfied.

"But there weren't any rats. I thought there'd be rats. There wasn't a rack, either."

"Jorillam!" Prince Rupert said sharply. "It's not polite to complain about things like that. Where are your manners?"

"I don't understand,"Jorillam said, frowning. "If there were rats and a rack, I'd be expected to object, wouldn't I? So why can't I complain when they aren't there?"

"It's not the same thing," Rupert told him. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty," he went on, turning to Mendanbar. "He's used to getting his own way.

I'm afraid I haven't done a very good job of teaching him how to behave."