Patricia Wrede - Talking to Dragons

All of them were sure that the wizards had put a spell on the King, and they were just as sure that the sword could break the spell.

Unfortunately, the sword could only be used by one of the Kings of the Enchanted Forest or his children, and then only when the earth, air, and water of the Enchanted Forest and the fire of the sword itself had recognized the person holding it as a rightful heir. And the only way to be recognized was to go out in the Enchanted Forest and hope you would do the right things at the right times.

So the dragons put their own shield up around the castle, to keep the wizards from sneaking inside, and after a while Mother had me. About that time Antorell found her. He blamed her for his father's death, because she'd taken the sword, and he tried to kill her. Mother had to melt him again.

After that, Mother decided that she'd better find somewhere to hide until I was old enough to use the sword. As long as it stayed inside the Enchanted Forest, the sword was invisible to wizards' magic.

Mother, however, wasn't. If she stayed in the Enchanted Forest, one of the wizards' spells would find her. On the other hand, she couldn't take the sword out of the forest and still keep it hidden, any more than the wizards could.

So Mother hid the sword inside the forest, then left and never went back until the day she gave the sword to me. She put up some good spells to keep Antorell from finding us, then waited. She taught me all the right spells and manners and history and things, without ever telling me anything about the sword or the King of the Enchanted Forest or the war with the wizards.

That way, I would have a chance of being recognized by the sword and reaching the castle without getting caught by one of the wizards' spells.

"I'm afraid it was rather hard on you, Daystar," she said. "But we couldn't think of anything else that had a chance of working."

"Well, I think we were lucky," Shiara said.

The King smiled at me. "Kings of the Enchanted Forest are supposed to be lucky."

Shiara blinked. "You weren't very lucky, were you? What did those wizards do to you, anyway?"

The King shook his head. "Zemenar and about ten others broke into the castle during the battle. I got a couple of them, but without the sword I was outnumbered a little too badly. They wanted to kill me, but they couldn't do it inside the castle without the sword, and they couldn't take me outside the castle because of the dragons. So Zemenar decided to put me in storage, in a manner of speaking, while he went back for the sword. The simulacrum was a decoy, in case someone managed to get into the castle while he was gone."

"But where were you for seventeen years?" Shiara said.

"There are… places that can be reached through the proper doors, places that can't be gotten into or out of except through such a door.

Some of them are very large; some aren't. Zemenar found one that suited him and put me in it, then hid the door. Without the sword or the key, I couldn't get out until someone put the door back up." His smile was a little crooked. "I'm lucky that one doesn't need to eat in those places, or I wouldn't have lasted seventeen years."

"But I still don't understand about Antorell. He acted as if he wanted to do something to Daystar a lot more than he wanted the sword."

"Antorell never knew what the sword was," Mother said. "Zemenar, the Head Wizard, was the only one who knew the whole story, and after the way Antorell failed to guard the sword, the new Head Wizard wouldn't tell him anything."

"Ha!" said Shiara. "Served him right. But what did Daystar do to Antorell, anyway? And how? He never did anything like it before."

"He couldn't do it before," Father said. "The Kings of the Enchanted Forest can use the magic of the forest directly, but only after the sword has acknowledged them. Daystar wasn't acknowledged until he put the sword into the fire."

"Oh." Shiara sat back, looking thoughtful.

There was a moment's silence, then I thought of something else I wanted to ask about. "Mother, do you know anything about fire-witches' magic?"

"Yes, of course," she said. "Why do you want to know?"

"Could you teach Shiara how to do things?" I said. "That's why she came to the Enchanted Forest in the first place. She helped me a lot, and I think she ought to have some sort of reward."

"I didn't do very much," Shiara objected. "You kept me from staying a statue, and I think you saved my life when the roof of the Caves of Chance fell in. You're the one who deserves a reward."

"I think," Mother broke in before I could answer Shiara, "that it is time you told us what you have been doing these past few days. I have a general idea, but I would like a few more details, and Mendanbar hasn't heard anything about it yet."

I looked at Father, and he nodded, so Shiara and I went through our story again. I did most of the talking, with Shiara putting in a comment now and then when she thought I was leaving something out. I finished by explaining about Shiara's magic. Both Mother and the King looked rather startled, and then the King began to smile.

"A polite fire-witch," he said thoughtfully. "Very unusual."

"I don't want to have to be polite to people? Shiara said angrily.

"Why not?" I asked. "You're getting much better at it."

"Especially not to you!" Shiara said.

"I can understand that," Father said. "It's his fault, after all."

"What?" Shiara and I said together.

"It's Daystar's fault that you have to be polite," Father repeated.

"His and the sword's. One of the things the sword does besides control wizards is unlock people's talents, particulary magical talents. When you met Daystar, both of you touched the sword at the same time. You wanted to use your magic and Daystar wanted you to be more polite. I think the sword did the best it could, under the circumstances."

"I knew it!" Shiara glared at me. "I said it was that stupid sword's FAULT!"

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't know. But at least you can use your magic now, sometimes. Isn't that better than not being able to use it at all?"

"no!" said Shiara. "It's worse! I have to go home and be NICE to people, and it probably won't work most of the time, because I have to mean it, and how can I mean it if I'm always thinking about being able to do magic? And it's BORING at home, and people will still keep expecting me to do things I can't do. I don't even know anyone who could teach me about magic even if I could get it to work all the time.

I'll never learn anything?"

Little flickers of flame started running down Shiara's cheeks. It took me a minute to realize that she was crying fire, and when I did, I didn't know what to do about it.

"That is quite enough of that," Mother said while I was still thinking.

Shiara looked up. "You don't know what it's like! It's horrible."

"On the contrary, I know quite well what it's like," Mother said. "And the solution is obvious. In fact, it's the same one I used."

"what?" Shiara blinked, and the flame tears stopped running down her face. "What do you mean?"

"You can become Kazul's princess," Mother said. "She doesn't have one at the moment. It would have a great many advantages on both sides.

You will learn considerably more about magic, dragons, and the Enchanted Forest than you WOULD anywhere else, and Kazul will get a princess who can't be accidentally roasted if one of the other dragons gets out of hand.

And you'll be living nearby, which will give Daystar and Mendanbar a chance to figure out how to reverse that ridiculous politeness spell."

"But I'm not a princess!" Shiara said.

"If Kazul says you are a princess, then you are a princess," Mother said firmly. "No one is going to argue with the King of the Dragons.

Besides, it will be excellent experience for you later."