Patricia Wrede - Searching for Dragons

"There isn't time," Jorillam said smugly. "Uncle has to do something wicked to me right away."

"Ah, but that's just the point," Mendanbar said. He turned to Prince Rupert, ignoring Jorillam's suddenly wary expression. "Abandoning Crown Prince Jorillam won't do you any good, because he wants to be abandoned.

Letting him have his own way isn't terribly wicked, even if it isn't good for him."

"I'm afraid you're right," Rupert said sadly.

"But Uncle-" "On the other hand," Mendanbar went on, disregarding Jorillam's interjection "if you promised you'd abandon him, breaking that promise would certainly be wicked. And if you sent him off to a private school for princes-" "I don't want to go to school!"

"Oh, my." Prince Rupert looked from Mendanbar to Jorillam-who now looked thoroughly alarmed-and back. "I think I see what you're getting at. If he hates the idea, then it probably is wicked, even if it's good for him. And there's breaking the promise, too."

"And you wouldn't have to tell anyone at home what you'd done with him," Mendanbar said. "You could rule the country just as if you really had abandoned him in the forest, and no one would know. Surely misleading all those people would be wicked enough for your society."

"I think you're right," Prince Rupert said, smiling for the first time since Mendanbar had met him. "I really think you're right." His face fell suddenly. "But how am I going to find a good school before sunset tomorrow?"

"Don't worry about that," Mendanbar said reassuringly. "I know just the place. It's up in the Mountains of Morning, where no one is likely to run across it, and it's run by a dwarf named Herman. If you like, I'll send a messenger off right away to arrange things."

"No!" said Jorillam.

That would be wonderful," said Prince Rupert with relief. "Ah, I don't suppose this Herman person would be willing to write a letter to the Society explaining matters?"

"I don't see why not," Mendanbar said. "But what do you want it for?"

'Just to confirm that I'm fulfilling the requirements," Prince Rupert explained. "It's a rather unusual arrangement, you see, and I want to be sure the Society will think I've been wicked enough."

"I understand," Mendanbar told him. "Don't worry about it. If Herman won't write you a negative enough letter, I'll send one myself. I'll bet even the Right Honorable Wicked Stepmothers' Traveling, Drinking, and Debating Society will believe the King of the Enchanted Forest."

For the next several days, Mendanbar was busier than he could remember being in a long, long time. Besides arranging for Crown Prince Jorillam's schooling, a stream of messengers had to be sent to the dragons in the Mountains of Morning to explain where their King was and to warn them about the wizards.

Morwen and Telemain argued constantly about what they were finding out from the wizards' staffs, and when they weren't arguing, they were asking for obscure reference books and peculiar ingredients for their spells.

Between the two of them, they kept the small castle staff busy hunting for things.

The wizards themselves seemed to have disappeared completely, but Mendanbar didn't trust them to stay gone. He spent several hours every day checking the entire network of magic that enveloped the Enchanted Forest , looking for the tangles that wizards with staffs always caused, so that he would know if any of them returned. In the process, he found several more burned-out areas where the wizards had stolen the magic of the forest.

Fortunately, none of the charred spots were very big, but repairing them was not an easy task, and Mendanbar worried constantly about what would happen if a wizard sneaked into the forest and soaked up a larger patch before he could be melted.

He confided this worry to Cimorene on the third day after Kazul's rescue.

"What you really need is a way to keep them from soaking up magic in the first place," said Cimorene. "Then it wouldn't matter if they sneaked in, because they wouldn't be able to do any real harm."

"They could still cause plenty of trouble," Mendanbar said. "But you're right, it would solve a lot of problems. Unfortunately, I can't think of a way to stop them."

"Well, of course you can't," Cimorene said. "You don't know enough about wizards and that ridiculous magic-absorbing spell of theirs. Why don't you ask Telemain?"

So Mendanbar went off to find Telemain, who was with Morwen, working on the last of the wizards' staffs. At first, Telemain was a little annoyed at being interrupted, but when Mendanbar explained his problem, however, the magician nodded.

"An automatic spell to reroute any magical power should do the trick," Telemain said. "That way, anything they try to grab will just slide back where it belongs, and there will never be any new holes to fix."

Morwen looked at Telemain in mild surprise. "You're slipping," she said. "I actually understood that."

"Can you make up an automatic spell for me?" Mendanbar asked quickly, before Telemain could take offense.

"It shouldn't be a problem," Telemain said. "It'll need some sort of anchor, though, or you'll have to keep checking to see if it's still working.

Any ideas?"

The three of them discussed it for a few minutes, and finally Morwen suggested tying the spell to the sword. This turned out to be an even better idea than it first appeared. Working through the sword, Mendanbar could manipulate the power of the Enchanted Forest directly, and with Telemain's help he made the new spell an integral part of the forest's magic.

"What does that mean?" Cimorene asked when he sought her out to tell her how well her idea had worked.

"It means that if any wizards come into the Enchanted Forest, their staffs won't absorb any magic, ever, for as long as they stay," Mendanbar explained. "I won't even have to check the spell very often, because it's tied to the sword. As long as the sword is anywhere in the forest, the wizards can't do a thing."

Cimorene frowned. "They could still use the spells they have stored in their staffs, couldn't they? And what if you have to leave the Enchanted Forest again?"

"I'll have to take a different marc sword, that's all," Mendanbar said.

"I ought to do that anyway, because of the way that one sprays magic around outside the forest. It's not exactly inconspicuous."

"Very true," Cimorene said with a smile.

They were silent together for a moment. Then Cimorene shook her head.

"Kazul will be ready to leave tomorrow. She thinks she's ready today, but I told her not to push."

"I– That's good," Mendanbar said. He hesitated, then said tentatively, "I suppose you'll be going with her?"

"What else would I be doing?" Cimorene asked. She sounded more curious than sarcastic.

Mendanbar took a deep breath. "You could stay here. At the castle, I mean. With me." This wasn't coming out at all the way he had wanted it to, but it was too late to stop now. He hurried on, "As Queen of the Enchanted Forest, if you think you would like that. I would."

"Would you, really?"

"Yes," Mendanbar said, looking down. "I love you, and-and-" "And you should have said that to begin with," Cimorene interrupted, putting her arms around him. Mendanbar looked up, and the expression on her face made his heart begin to pound.

'Just to be sure I have this right," Cimorene went on with a blinding smile, "did you just ask me to marry you?"

"Yes," Mendanbar said. "At least, that's what I meant."

"Good. I will."

Mendanbar tried to find something to say, but he was too happy to think. He leaned forward two inches and kissed Cimorene, and discovered that he didn't need to say anything at all.

The first person they told was, of course, Kazul. Mendanbar was a little nervous about it, because from what he'd heard, dragons tended to get testy when their princesses ran off with someone, but Kazul didn't seem to mind at all.