"It's a good thing you like cats," Cimorene said.
"Yes, it is." Morwen looked at Cimorene, and her smile faded.
"You're avoiding the real subject, which is, What are you going to do now? It will be a long time before Daystar is old enough to use Mendanbar's sword, and if the Society of Wizards is looking for him-" "I don't think they are," Cimorene said. "I don't think they even know Daystar exists. Mendanbar and I hadn't officially announced it before they attacked, and afterward it seemed like a good idea to keep quiet about it. So they haven't heard, and they're not looking for Daystar.
They're looking for the sword, and they're looking for me."
"It amounts to the same thing," Morwen said. "And doesn't Antorell know about Daystar, if he found you this morning?"
Cimorene snorted. "Antorell was so mad at me that he didn't notice anything else. He walked right by the sword and tripped over Kazul's tail before I melted him."
"Still, if he found you, it's only a matter of time before the rest of the Society does, too. Isn't it?"
"Not quite." Cimorene glanced sideways at Kazul and took a deep breath. "I've thought about this a lot, and I have an idea how to outsmart them. I want to know what you think of it."
"You know what I think of it," Kazul rumbled. "I don't like it one bit.
The idea of-" "Hush, Kazul, you'll upset Daystar. It's like this, Morwen: The Society of Wizards knows I've brought Mendanbar's sword back to the Enchanted Forest, because they can't swallow big chunks of the forest's magic anymore and they know that the sword is what keeps them from doing that. So they're poking around here, looking for me and the sword. If I leave the forest-" "But you can't take the sword out of the Enchanted Forest or the Society of Wizards will start destroying it again," Morwen said. "Or else the sword will leak all the magic out of the forest, which amounts to the same thing."
"I'm not going to take the sword out of the Enchanted Forest," Cimorene said. "I'm going to hide it in here, and then I'm going to take Daystar and settle down outside the forest somewhere. Not with the dragons; the wizards will expect that."
Morwen frowned, forcing herself to consider the proposal carefully.
"So the Society of Wizards will look for you inside the Enchanted Forest, because they'll expect you to be with the sword and they'll know that the sword is still inside the forest. And since you'll be outs' the forest, you and Daystar will be relatively safe. And things won't get any worse inside the forest, because the sword will keep the wizards from destroying new bits.
Very neat. But what if they find the sword?"
Experiment with a wizard's staff, and he says that as long as the sword is inside the Enchanted Forest, it's invisible to wizards' magic. If I hide it well, they'll have to search the whole forest, inch by inch, on foot, in order to find it."
"And I doubt any of them have the patience for that. But are you sure that the wizards won't think up a way to get around it?"
"Telemain says that the only way a wizard could use magic to find the sword would be to use a spell that finds the person who's carrying it.
And for that to work, the person carrying it has to know that what he's got is Mendanbar's sword. That's why I can't give it to you or Telemain."
"I see. So by the time the wizards think of casting that type of spell, if they ever do, the sword will be hidden and you'll be outside the forest."
Cimorene nodded. "I'd like to have you or Telemain check on the sword once in a while to make sure it's all right, but if the wizards start looking for someone who knows what it is-" "That shouldn't be a problem as long as we don't try to carry it."
Morwen's right hand tingled, remembering the way it had burned when she held it. "And I certainly don't intend to try!"
"Oh, that only happens outside the Enchanted Forest," Cimorene said, then frowned. "At least, I'm fairly sure that's what Telemain meant when he explained. Inside the Enchanted Forest, the sword does different things."
"Well, I'm not giving it the chance to do them to me," Morwen said.
"If you want to be certain the wizards won't catch us checking, I'll send one of the cats."
"That should work. Not too often."
"No, we wouldn't want to lead the Society of Wizards right to it."
Morwen shook her head. "I don't like it any more than Kazul does, but it sounds as if it will work. As far as it goes."
"As far as it goes? What do you think I've forgotten?"
"The Society of Wizards put up that shield spell. What if they decide to pull it down in a year or two and take over the castle? We can't keep a guard on it for the next sixteen or twenty years. Not an effective one, anyway."
"Speak for yourself," Kazul said. "Sixteen or twenty years of guarding a castle is nothing to a dragon."
"And Kazul and Telemain have already solved that problem anyway," Cimorene said. "You must not have come by the castle, or you'd have seen it."
"Seen what?" said Morwen.
"The second shield spell, the one the dragons put up." Cimorene's eyes sparked. "Telemain analyzed the wizards' shield spell, and then Kazul got all the dragons to duplicate it. It works the same way the Society's spell does: only the people who put it up can take it down."
Morwen pursed her lips. "So we can't get at the castle because of the wizards' spell, and the wizards can't get at their spell because of the dragons' spell. You do seem to have thought of everything."
"'Thank you," said Kazul. "Now convince Cimorene that she'll be safe in the Mountains of Morning with the rest of us, and we'll be all set."
"I don't think I can do that," Morwen said. "In the first place, Cimorene is stubborn as a pig when she wants to be, and in the second place, she's right. As soon as the Society of Wizards figures out she's not in the Enchanted Forest, they'll look for her with dragons.
And they're sneaky enough to find her, and that would ruin everything."
She sighed. "When do you intend to leave, Cimorene?"
"This afternoon, as soon as I hide this." Cimorene picked up the sword. "It's a pity I can't put it in a sheath, but Telemain says that with Mendanbar… unavailable, a sheath would obstruct some of the sword's spells that interfere with wizards."
"Would you like some help?" Morwen said.
"It can't hurt. Kazul, will you watch Daystar for an hour or two?"
"I suppose so. Since you seem determined."
"Good." Cimorene patted the dragon's shoulder. "And thank you.
Bye, Daystar."
As she bent forward to kiss him, the flash of light on the blade of the sword caught the child's attention, and he reached for it with both hands.
"Ah-ah-ah!" he demanded.
"No, Daystar," Cimorene replied gently. "Not now. This is for later, when you're older."
"Ah-ah-ah?" said Daystar emphatically.
"When you're older," Cimorene said again. "Come on, Morwen, let's get started." Together they walked through the trees to find a place to hide the sword against the time when Daystar would be old enough to use it.