There was a moment of silence. "Mendanbar, what did you do?" Cimorene said at last.
"Nothing," Mendanbar said. "I wasn't quick enough. I'm sorry. I should have expected him to try to get away."
Telemain walked over to the spot where the wizard had been standing.
"Interesting," he muttered. "Very interesting-ah!" He bent over, and when he straightened up he was holding the wizard's staff in one hand.
"Here's your bucket," Jack said from the door of the house. "What's all this about wizards?"
"It doesn't matter now," Cimorene said. "He's gone."
"Then you won't be needing this?"Jack said, lifting the bucket.
"Don't throw it out," Mendanbar said hastily. "We might want it later.
In case he comes back."
"I seriously doubt that it is necessary to worry about his return," Telemain said as he rejoined them. "Wizards depend a good deal upon their staffs. Without his, our recent visitor is unlikely to be much of a problem."
He sounded very satisfied with himself, and his fingers stroked the staff lightly as he spoke.
"Then he's sure to come back for it," Cimorene pointed out.
"Yes, but how long will it take him to get here?" Telemain responded.
"I assure you, he didn't transport himself anywhere close by. We'll be long gone by the time he makes his way back."
"We?" said Mendanbar.
"Of course." Telemain smiled. "I've been trying to get my hands on one of these"-he lifted the wizard's staff-"for years. You've managed to get hold of one in a few seconds. You don't think I'm going to miss an opportunity like this, do you?"
"If that's all you want, keep it," Mendanbar said. "I haven't any use for a wizard's staff."
"Neither have I," Cimorene agreed.
Telemain bowed. "Thank you both." He paused. "I would still like to join you, if you are willing. There are other matters I find intriguing about you."
Completely at sea, Mendanbar stared at the magician.
Cimorene sighed. "Mendanbar, your sword is at it again, worse than ever. I'll bet that's what he means."
"Oh." Mendanbar put his sword back in its sheath and inspected Telemain for a moment. The magician was still something of a puzzle, but he had been very helpful so far. And it was clear from the wizard's behavior that magicians and wizards did not get along, which was another point in Telemain's favor. "I can't promise I'll let you study my sword, but it's all right with me if you come along." He glanced at Cimorene.
"It's fine with me, too," Cimorene said. "But you'd better hear the whole story before you make up your mind. You might not want to come with us after all."
"If you're all done out here, come in and eat," Jack said. "Supper's ready, and if you're sure there won't be any more wizards, I'll just use this water for the dishes afterward."
13
In Which They Return to the Enchanted Forest at Last
They told Telemain and Jack the whole story over dinner and discussed it late into the night. Telemain was intrigued by their description of Kazul's imprisonment.
"You say these wizards have an enchantment capable of confining a dragon?" he said eagerly. "Are you sure?"
"That's certainly what it looked like," Cimorene said, pouring herself a cup of hot chocolate. The stew and the dinner dishes had long since been cleared away and were piled in the bucket of soapy water waiting for someone to have the time or the inclination to wash them.
Mendanbar wondered idly whether a bucket of soapy water plus lemon juice plus dishes would be as good for melting a wizard as one without dishes, and what effect the dishes would have on the process. Being melted was probably not very comfortable, but being melted while cups and plates and forks were falling on your head was likely to be even less so.
"I knew I was right to join you," Telemain said, smiling. "I might not have heard about this enchantment at all, if I hadn't. It sounds like a simple modulation of the upper frequencies of a standard reptilian restraint spell, but on an enormously increased scale. I wonder where they're getting the power."
"I don't care how they did it," Cimorene snapped. "I care about getting Kazul out of it as soon as possible."
"A trivial detail, once the construction of the spell is properly understood," Telemain said confidently.
"Trivial?" Mendanbar said. "Aren't you forgetting about the wizards? I don't think they'll just let us walk in and take their spell apart."
"And goodness knows what they'll do to Kazul in the meantime," Cimorene muttered.
"Nonsense," Telemain said. "I comprehend your concern, but it is highly unlikely that this episode will prove more than a minor inconvenience so far as your dragon friend is concerned."
Cimorene did not look convinced, so Telemain launched into a lecture on the political implications of the situation, the main point of which was that it would be stupid for the Society of Wizards to hurt Kazul and that wizards were not stupid. Privately, Mendanbar thought that it had been stupid of the wizards to kidnap Kazul in the first place, but saying so would not reassure Cimorene, so he kept quiet.
After a while, Telemain finished his lecture. He did not wait for Cimorene to respond, but turned at once to Mendanbar and asked about his sword. Like Cimorene, the magician could feel the sword spilling magic "like a beacon on a mountaintop," and he was amazed-and completely fascinated-to learn that Mendanbar noticed nothing unusual.
"I don't understand why I didn't spot it at once," Telemain said, shaking his head over his cup of chocolate (which looked to Mendanbar as if it had gone cold during his long speech about the relative intelligence of wizards.
"You mean when you met us?" Cimorene said. "Mendanbar's sword wasn't spraying magic all over right then. He'd just used up most of it on the rock snakes."
"It seems to recover very quickly," Telemain said with a sidelong look at the sword. "Is it always like this?"
"How should I know?" Mendanbar said, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "I can't tell when it's doing it, much less when it isn't."
"Yes, you said that before." Telemain sipped at his chocolate, staring absently into space. "I shall have to think about this for a while," he said at last, as though making a profound announcement. "It's a pity you haven't time to visit my tower for a few tests-" "Absolutely not?" Mendanbar interrupted.
"We have to rescue Kazul from the wizards," Cimorene put in quickly.
"Before this business turns into more than a minor inconvenience.
Before those wizards decide she's too much trouble to keep around and feed her some dragonsbane."
Telemain considered this for a moment. "An excellent idea," he said at last with evident sincerity.
Mendanbar and Cimorene stared at him.
"If the Society of Wizards poisons the King of the Dragons, there is certain to be a war," Telemain explained. "Wars are very distracting.
I don't like being distracted; it interferes with my work. So it would be a very good thing if we made sure there was no war."
"I'm so glad you think so," Cimorene said. Her voice sounded a little strange.
The discussion continued for a little longer, but it was getting late and everyone was tired. Finally, Jack suggested that they go to bed.
"It's all very well for you adventurous types to sit around jawing until past midnight , but some people have work to do in the morning," he said pointedly.
"I am not an 'adventurous type," "Telemain said with dignity. "I am in research."
"Fine, fine," Jack said. "So go research my second-best bed. You and the King, here, take the room on the right, Princess Cimorene gets the one on the left, and I get to bunk under the kitchen. Good night, everybody."
That settled things for the evening, but the conference continued the next morning over a breakfast of flapjacks and honey.
"It seems very likely to me that you are correct about Kazul's location," Telemain said. "She is probably being held somewhere in the Enchanted Forest. Our first task, therefore, must be to find her."