In Which Cimorene Receives A Formal Call From Her Companions In Dire Captivity

Kazul slept late the following morning, and Cimorene was afraid that she would leave before

Cimorene had a chance to ask about the dragons' after-dinner conversation. To her relief, Kazul called

her in as soon as she was thoroughly awake and asked Cimorene to bring in the brushes for cleaning her

scales.

"What was that crystal your friend mentioned last night?" Cimorene asked as she laid out the brushes.

"The one she thought King Tokoz could use somehow to find out what the wizards are doing?"

"The King's Crystal?" Kazul said. "It's one of the magical objects that belongs to the King of the

Dragons."

"But what does it do? And why did Woraug think that King Tokoz wouldn't want to use it?"

"Using the crystal is difficult and tiring, and Tokoz is getting old," Kazul replied. "Zareth was right to

say that the crystal ought to be used, but it will take more evidence than we have right now to persuade

the King of that. As to what it does, the crystal shows things that are happening in other times and

places. It's useful, but it can be very difficult to interpret correctly."

"Oh, a crystal ball," Cimorene said, nodding. She tapped Kazul's side, and the dragon bent her elbow

so that the scales were easier to reach.

"The court wizard at Linderwall had one, but I had to stop my magic lessons before he got a chance to

show me how to work it."

"The King's Crystal is more like a plate, but the principle is the same," Kazul said.

"A crystal plate?" Cimorene blinked. "No wonder nobody talks about it much. It just doesn't sound

right."

Kazul shrugged. "The King's Crystal is much more accurate than an ordinary crystal ball, and if

'crystal plate' sounds odd to most people, it means that fewer of them will try to steal it."

"Was that what the silver-green dragon meant when he said that if the wizards started wandering

through the mountains you'd lose half your magic in no time? I never heard that wizards stole magic

rings and swords and things."

"Not magic things," Kazul said. Wizards steal magic. That's where their power comes from."

"How can a wizard steal magic?" Cimorene said skeptically. She climbed on a stool and began

working at the ribs of Kazul's wings.

"Wizards' staffs absorb magic from whatever happens to be nearby," Kazul said, stretching out her left

wing so Cimorene could get at the base.

"That's why they're always hanging around places like the Mountains of Morning and the Enchanted

Forest. The more magic there is in the area, the more their staffs can soak up."

"What would happen if someone stole a wizard's staff?. Would the wizard still be able to use it?"

"The wizard wouldn't be able to work any magic until he got it back," Kazul said. "Most of them have

a great many anti-theft spells on their staffs for exactly that reason. Of course, it happens anyway, now

and then. And as long as the wizard and the staff are separated, the staff doesn't absorb."

"It doesn't sound like a very good arrangement to me," Cimorene said.

"I can think of half a dozen ways a staff could be lost or forgotten or stolen or something. It doesn't

seem sensible for a wizard to depend so much on anything that's so easy to mislay."

Kazul shrugged. "They seem to like it."

"I can see why you don't want them in your part of the mountains."

"Can you? Do you have any idea how unpleasant it is to have part of your essence sucked out of you

without so much as a by-your-leave? Not to mention the side effects."

"Side effects?" Cimorene said, puzzled. "There! Turn around, and I'll do your other side."

"Roxim isn't the only dragon who's allergic to wizards," Kazul said dryly as she shifted her position.

"Or rather, to their staffs. We all are.

Roxim's just a little more sensitive than most. That's why we made the agreement with them in the first

place."

"The dragons have an agreement with the wizards?"

Kazul nodded. "To be precise, the King of the Dragons has an agreement with the head of the Society

of Wizards: the wizards stay out of our portions of the Mountains of Morning, and we allow them partial

access to the Caves of Fire and Night. At least, that's the way it's supposed to work.

King Tokoz is getting old and forgetful, and lately wizards have been turning up in all sorts of places

they aren't supposed to be."

"Like that wizard Zemenar I met on the path," Cimorene said. "Do you think he really was the same

Zemenar that's the head of the Society of Wizards?"

"I doubt that anyone, even another wizard, would dare impersonate him," Kazul said. "He has a nasty

reputation."

Cimorene remembered the hard black eyes and sharp features of the wizard she had met. He had

certainly looked nasty enough, even when he was pretending to be nice. He was sneaky, too, or he

wouldn't have tried to trick her. And he had been very annoyed when Cimorene got off the ledge without

his help. Cimorene frowned.

"I wonder what he wanted, really," she mused. "Do you suppose he'll stop by the way he said he

would?"

"I almost wish he would try," Kazul said. There was an angry glint in her eye, and her claws made a

scratching sound against the stone floor of the cave as she flexed them.

"Don't wiggle," Cimorene said. "If Zemenar is as tricky as everyone says, he won't come while you're

here. He'll wait until you've gone somewhere and I'm alone."

"True." Kazul frowned. Then she looked at Cimorene, and her eyes took on a speculative gleam. "He

probably thinks you're as silly as most princesses, so he'll be hoping to trick you into giving him

whatever it is he's after. And if he does-" "Then maybe I can fool him instead," Cimorene finished. "And

once we know what he's after, we can decide what to do about it."

Kazul and Cimorene discussed this idea while Cimorene finished brushing the dragon's scales. There

was very little they could do to prepare since they did not know when Zemenar might show up at the

cave or what he might do when he arrived. Then Kazul went off to inspect the ledge where Cimorene

had met the wizard, to see whether bits of it were still invisible.

When Kazul had gone, Cimorene went into the library to hunt through all the books and scrolls of spells. The behavior of the dragons at dinner the previous evening had made a considerable impression

on her, and she wanted to see whether she could find a spell to fireproof herself.

Until then she hadn't realized that when a dragon lost his temper, he started breathing fire. Not that she

was planning to do anything to irritate Kazul-or any other dragon, for that matter-but the dragons at

dinner had been too annoyed to be careful, and she didn't want to get burned by accident, no matter how

sorry the dragon might be afterward.

At first Cimorene didn't have much luck. She hadn't had time to do much organizing in the library, and

most of the books and scrolls were lying in haphazard, dust-covered piles. Some had even fallen onto

the floor, and there were spiders everywhere. Cimorene realized that if she wanted to find anything, she

was going to have to do some more cleaning first. With a sigh she went to get a bucket of water, some

cloths for washing and dusting, and a handkerchief to tie over her hair.

She worked for several hours, dusting books and manuscripts, wiping off the dusty bookshelves, and

putting the books back in neat rows when the shelves were dry. She found two books and five old scrolls

that looked as if they might be interesting. These she set on one of the tables to look at later.

She had just pulled a stained and yellowed stack of papers out of the back of the second-to-last

bookshelf when she heard someone hallooing outside.

"Now what?" she muttered crossly. She set the papers on the table with the rest of the books she was

planning to look at later and went out to see who was there.

To her surprise, the noise was coming from the back entrance, not from the mouth of the cave. She

hurried into the passage, rounded the corner, and found herself facing three beautiful, elegantly dressed

princesses. They were all blonde and blue-eyed and slender, and several inches shorter than Cimorene.

The first one wore a gold crown set with diamonds, and her hair was the color of sun-ripened wheat.

The second wore a silver crown set with sapphires, and her hair was the color of crystallized honey.

The last wore a pearl-covered circlet, and her hair was the color of ripe apricots. They looked rather

taken aback by the sight of Cimorene in her dust-covered dress and kerchief.

"Oh, bother," Cimorene said under her breath. Then she smiled her best smile and said, "Welcome to

the caves of the dragon Kazul. May I help you with anything?"

"We have made the perilous journey through the tunnels to see the Princess Cimorene, newly come to

these caverns, to comfort her and together bemoan our sad and sorry fates," the first princess said

haughtily.

"Tell her we are here."

"I'm Cimorene," Cimorene said. "I don't need comforting, and I'm not particularly sad or sorry to be

here, but if you'd like to come in and have some tea, you're welcome to."

The first two princesses looked as if they would have liked to be startled and appalled by this

announcement but were much too well bred to show what they were feeling. The princess with the pearl

circlet looked surprised and rather intrigued, and she glanced hopefully at her companions.

They ignored her, but after a moment the first princess said grandly, "Very well, we will join you,

then," and swept past Cimorene into the cave.

The other princesses followed, the one with the pearl circlet giving Cimorene a shy smile as she

passed. Cimorene, wondering what she had gotten herself into, brought up the rear. The princesses

stopped when they reached the main cave, and the ones in the gold and silver crowns looked a bit

disgruntled. The one in the pearl circlet stared in unabashed amazement.

"My goodness," she said, "you certainly do have a lot of space."

"Alianora!" the gold-crowned princess said sharply, and the princess with the pearl circlet flushed and

subsided, looking unhappy.

"This way," Cimorene said hastily, and led the three princesses into the kitchen. "Do sit down," she

said, waving at the bench beside the kitchen table.

The gold-crowned princess looked at the bench with distaste, but after a moment she sat down. The

other two followed her example. There was a brief silence while Cimorene filled the copper teakettle

and hung it over the fire, and then the gold-crowned princess said, "I am remiss in my duties, for I have

not yet told you who we are. I am the Princess Keredwel of the Kingdom of Raxwel, now captive of the dread dragon Gornul. This"-she nodded toward the princess in the silver crown-"is the Princess Hallanna

of the Kingdom of Poranbuth, now captive of the dread dragon Zareth. And this"-she waved at the girl

in the pearl circlet-"is the Princess Alianora of the Duchy of Toure-on-Marsh, now prisoner of the dread

dragon Woraug."

"Pleased to meet you," Cimorene said. "I am Princess Cimorene of the Kingdom of Linderwall, now

princess of the dragon Kazul. What sort of tea would you like? I have blackberry, ginger, chamomile,

and gunpowder green. I'm afraid I used the last of the lapsang souchong this morning."

"Blackberry, please," Keredwel said. She gave Cimorene a considering look. "You seem to be most

philosophic about your fate."

"Would that I had so valiant a spirit," Hallanna said in failing accents.

"But my sensibility is too great, I fear, for me to follow your example."

"if you don't like being a dragon's princess, why don't you escape?"

Cimorene asked, remembering that Kazul had said that three princesses in a row had run away from

the yellow-green dragon, Moranz.

Keredwel and Hallanna looked shocked. "Without being rescued?"

Hallanna faltered. "Walk all that way, with dragons and trolls and goodness knows what else hiding in

the rocks, ready to eat me? Oh, I couldn't!"

"It isn't done," Keredwel said coldly. "And I notice that you haven't tried it."

"But I'm enjoying being Kazul's princess," Cimorene said cheerfully.

"I suppose I might have been upset if I'd been carried off the way you were, but I can hardly complain

as it is, can I?"

Alianora leaned forward. "Then you really didn't volunteer to be Kazul's princess?"

Keredwel and Hallanna turned and stared at their companion. "Where did you get that ridiculous idea,

Alianora?" Hallanna said.

"W-Woraug said-" Alianora faltered.

"You must have misunderstood," Keredwel said severely. "No one volunteers to be a dragon's

princess. It isn't done."

"Actually, Alianora's quite right," Cimorene said as she set the teacups in front of her visitors. "I did

volunteer." She smiled sweetly at the thunderstruck expressions on the faces of the first two princesses.

"I got tired of embroidery and etiquette."

Keredwel and Hallanna seemed unsure of how to take this announcement, so they made polite

conversation about the tea and asked Cimorene questions about the current fashions. Alianora didn't say

very much, and the few times she tried either Keredwel or Hallanna jumped on her.

Cimorene felt rather sorry for Alianora.

The princesses swept off at last, still somewhat puzzled by Cimorene's attitude. Cimorene gave a sigh

of relief and set about cleaning up the kitchen. She was just rinsing the last of the cups when she heard

someone hesitantly clearing her throat behind her. Cimorene turned and saw Alianora standing timidly

in the doorway.

"Hello again," Cimorene said. "Did you forget something?"

"Not exactly," Alianora said. "I mean, I told Keredwel I did, but actually I just wanted to get away

from them for a while. I hope you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all as long as you don't expect more hospitality," Cimorene assured her. "I have to get

back to work on the library."

"What are you doing?" Alianora asked. She seemed really interested, so Cimorene explained about the

fireproofing spell.

"It sounds like a wonderful idea," Alianora said when Cimorene finished.

"The dragons are careful around us, but it would be nice not to have to depend on them not to lose

their tempers." She hesitated. "May I help?" don't think Kazul would mind, Cimorene said. "But you'd

better change clothes first. The library isn't very clean, I'm afraid." Alianora looked down at her silk

gown, which was embroidered heavily with silver and pearls, and giggled. Cimorene took her into the

bedroom and found a plain, serviceable cleaning dress in the magic wardrobe. It took two tries before the wardrobe figured out that she wanted a dress for someone else, but once it caught on, it provided a

splendid selection in Alianora's size. Then they went to the library and got to work.

Cleaning was much more enjoyable with Alianora for company. By the time they finished dusting and

straightening the last bookcases, the two girls were fast friends, and Alianora was comfortable enough to

ask Cimorene straight out how it was that she had come to volunteer for a dragon.

"It's a long story," Cimorene said, but Alianora insisted on hearing it.

So Cimorene told her and then asked how Alianora had happened to be carried off by Woraug.

To her surprise, Alianora flushed. "I think it was the only thing left that they could think of," she said,

not very clearly. "My family, I mean."

"I don't understand," Cimorene said.

"It's because I'm not a very satisfactory princess," Alianora said. "I tried, I really did, but .... It started

when the wicked fairy came to my "She put a curse on you?"

"No. She ate cake and ice cream until she nearly burst and danced with my Uncle Arthur until two in

the morning and had a wonderful time. So she went home without cursing me, and Aunt Ermintrude

says that that's where the whole problem started."

"Lots of princesses don't have christening curses," said Cimorene.

"Not if a wicked fairy comes to the christening," Alianora said positively.

"And that was only the beginning. When I turned sixteen, Aunt Ermintrude sent me a gold spinning

wheel for my birthday, and I sat down and spun. I didn't prick my finger or anything."

Cimorene was beginning to see what Alianora was getting at. "Well, if you didn't have a christening

curse…"

"So Aunt Ermintrude told Mama to put me and a spinning wheel in a room full of straw and have me

spin it into gold," Alianora went on. "And I tried! But all I could manage was linen thread, and whoever

heard of a princess who can spin straw into linen thread?"

"It's a little unusual, certainly."

"Then they gave me a loaf of bread and told me to walk through the forest and give some to anyone

who asked. I did exactly what they told me, and the second beggar-woman was a fairy in disguise, but

instead of saying that whenever I spoke, diamonds and roses would drop from my mouth, she said that

since I was so kind, I would never have any problems with my teeth."

"Really? Did it work?"

"Well, I haven't had a toothache since I met her."

"I'd much rather have good teeth than have diamonds and roses drop out of my mouth whenever I said

something," Cimorene said. "Think how uncomfortable it would be if you accidentally talked in your

sleep! You'd wake up rolling around on thorns and rocks."

"That never occurred to me," Alianora said, much struck.

"Was that everything?" Cimorene asked.

"No," Alianora said. "Aunt Ermintrude persuaded one of her fairy friends to give me a gown and a pair

of glass slippers to go to a ball in the next kingdom over. And I broke one before I even got out of the

castle!"

"That's not so surprising," Cimorene said. "Glass slippers are for deserving merchants' daughters, not

for princesses."

"Try telling Aunt Ermintrude that," Alianora said. "I think she was the one who found out that Woraug

was going to ravage a village just over the border and arranged for me to go and visit on the right day so

I could be carried off. She didn't even warn me. I suppose she thought that if I knew, I'd mess it up

somehow."

"I don't think I would get along very well with your Aunt Ermintrude," Cimorene commented

thoughtfully.

"Oh, it wasn't so bad, at least at first," Alianora said. "Woraug ignored me most of the time, especially

after he found out I can't cook, and it was a real relief not to have Aunt Ermintrude around any more.

Only then Gornul brought Keredwel and Zareth brought Hallanna, and…"

"And they've been making life miserable for you ever since," Cimorene finished. "Why don't you stand up to them?"

"I tried, but you don't know what they're like," Alianora said, sighing.

"Keredwel goes on and on about correct behavior, and Hallanna dissolves in tears as soon as it looks

like she's losing an argument. And they've both had dozens of knights and princes try to rescue them.

I've only had two."

"How do you do it?" Cimorene asked. "I've had nine already, and they're a dreadful nuisance."

Alianora stared at Cimorene, then began to giggle. "What's so funny?" Cimorene demanded.

"Keredwel bragged for a week because two knights and a prince tried to rescue her the first month she

was here," Alianora explained between giggles. "She said it was some kind of record. You've barely

been with Kazul for four weeks, and you've had nine, and you didn't even mention it when Keredwel

was here. She's going to be furious when she finds out."

"If she wants them, she can have them," Cimorene said. Her expression grew thoughtful. "Maybe

they'd be easier to get rid of if I sent them along to another princess, instead of just trying to get them to

go home."

"Oh!" said Alianora, and went off into gales of laughter again.

Cimorene gave her a questioning look. "It's the idea of Keredwel being-oh, my-being rescued by a

secondhand knight," Alianora gasped.

"Oh, dear?"

Cimorene's eyes began to dance. "I could take a good look at them first, to make sure they're worthy of

her before I sent them on," she suggested.

This was too much for either of them, and they both collapsed in laughter. "You wouldn't, really,

would you?" Alianora said when she began to recover.

"Send the knights to rescue someone else? I certainly would," Cimorene said emphatically. "I meant it

when I said they were a nuisance. I wouldn't want to upset Keredwel, though. I'll have to think about the

best way of handling it. It's a good thing there probably won't be any more of them for a few weeks. I

should have plenty of time to figure something out."

"How do you know that?" Alianora asked. Cimorene explained about the sign and Therandil and her

"sprained ankle." Alianora was impressed and promised to help if she could. "I'll tell Hallanna that

you've twisted your ankle. I know she'll tell the next knight who comes to rescue her, and then it won't

matter if your Prince Therandil doesn't tell anybody."

This settled, the two girls sat down and began looking through the books and scrolls Cimorene had

piled on the table. Alianora, having been brought up as a proper princess despite the tiny size of her

country, did not read Latin, so Cimorene had to examine those scrolls herself. There was a sizable stack

of books left, however, and Alianora waded into them with a will. It was Cimorene, however, who

finally found the spell they were searching for.

"I think this is it!" she said, looking up from an ancient, crumpled scroll. "'Being a Spell for the

Resisting of Heat and Flames of All Kinds, in Particular Those Which Are the Product of Magical

Beasts,'" she read.

"Yes, there's a list and it includes dragons."

"I would think dragons would be at the top," Alianora said. "Is it difficult?"

"It doesn't look hard," Cimorene said, studying the page. "Some of the ingredients are pretty rare, but

it says you only need them for the initial casting. After that, you can reactivate the spell just by throwing

a pinch of dried feverfew in the air and reciting a couplet."

"That's not bad," Alianora said. She came around the table and peered over Cimorene's shoulder at the

faded ink. "Is it Latin?"

"No, it's just an ornate style of writing," Cimorene assured her.

"It's not hard to read, once you get the hang of it. See, there's the couplet.

"Power of water, wind and earth, Turn the fire back to its birth."

"It's a variation on a dragon spell," Cimorene added thoughtfully.

"How do you know that?" Alianora asked.

"The court wizard at home mentioned it when he was teaching me magic," Cimorene replied, studying the directions.

"Then maybe it really will work on dragon fire. Can we get all the ingredients for the initial casting?"

"I think so, but it'll take a while," Cimorene said. "I don't have any wolfsbane, and I'm not at all sure

about unicorn water. Come on, let's check and see what we need to get."

They took the scroll into the kitchen and began hunting through the shelves and supplies. They found

more of the ingredients than Cimorene had expected, and she began to wonder whether one of Kazul's

previous princesses might have studied magic. They did not, however, find any wolfsbane or unicorn

water, nor were they able to locate any white eagle feathers. Alianora discovered a very cobwebby jar

labeled "POWDERED HEN'S TEETH," but it was quite empty.

Cimorene made a list of the ingredients they still needed, while Alianora changed back into her pearlembroidered

dress. Alianora took a copy of the list and went back to her quarters, much excited, to see

whether she happened to have anything useful in the dusty, disused corners of her dragon's kitchen.

Cimorene doubted that she would find anything, but there was no harm in letting her look.

As soon as Alianora left, Cimorene tidied up the kitchen and put all but two of the books back on the

shelves in the library. One was the scroll of spells in which she had found the fireproofing spell, because

she wanted to take a more careful look at some of the other charms and enchantments it described. The

other book was a fat volume bound in worn leather, with the words Historia Dracorum in cracked and

flaking gold leaf on the cover.

Cimorene had decided it was time she really got to work on her Latin.