Wrede, Patricia C - Enchanted Forest 01 (16 page)

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Cimorene watched the festivities with mixed feelings. She was very glad that Kazul was the new King of the Dragons, but she couldn’t help wondering what effect Kazul’s coronation would have on her own position. The King of the Dragons certainly wouldn’t need a princess as a mark of status, and there would be plenty of younger dragons eager to cook and clean for their King, if only as a way of getting a start at the court.

Her preoccupation stayed with her for the rest of the day, through the entire coronation picnic and the flight back to the Mountains of Morning. Cimorene and Alianora rode on the back of a very large dragon whose scales were such a dark green that they looked almost black. Alianora would have preferred to ride with the stone prince, but none of the dragons were willing to take on a second passenger if the stone prince was the first. All of the dragons had paid their respects to Kazul at the coronation, so the cave was empty when the dragon dropped Cimorene off. When Cimorene said good-bye to Alianora, she promised to come over and help her pack the following morning. Then she went in and waited for Kazul to come home.

Kazul did not arrive until very late. She was still wearing the iron crown, and she looked very tired.

“Thank goodness that’s over,” she said, taking the crown off and throwing it across the cave. It hit the wall and bounced off with a harsh clang.

“You shouldn’t treat your crown like that. Your Majesty,” Cimorene said, retrieving the iron circlet.

“Of course I should,” Kazul said. “It’s expected. That’s why we made it out of iron instead of something soft and bendable. And don’t start calling me ‘Your Majesty.’ I’ve had enough of that for one day.”

Cimorene began to feel a little better. “What happens next?”

“Tomorrow we start moving,” Kazul said and sighed. “It will probably take weeks. It’s too bad there’s no way of warning a new king in time to pack everything up before the work starts.”

“Everything?” Cimorene said in tones of dismay. “Even the library and the treasure vaults? But I’ve only just got them organized!”

“Everything,” Kazul said. “And if you think straightening out things here was difficult, wait until you see the mess the official vaults are in.”

“Oh, dear,” said Cimorene. “Is it very bad?”

Kazul nodded. “I’ve just come from looking at it. You’ll see for yourself tomorrow. There’s a smallish cave next to the library that I think will do nicely for you, but I’d like you to look at it before we start hauling things around.”

“You mean you want me to stay?” Cimorene blurted. “But I thought the King of the Dragons didn’t need a princess!”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Kazul said. “How am I going to get my cherries jubilee if you don’t stay? And you haven’t even started cataloguing the library, and how else am I going to get the King’s treasure vaults arranged so I can find things?
I’m
not going to have time to do it.”

“Won’t the rest of the dragons object?”

Kazul snorted. “I’m the King. One of the advantages of being King is that nobody objects to whims like keeping a princess when you’re not supposed to need one. If it bothers you, we’ll give you a different title: King’s Cook and Librarian, maybe. Stop worrying and go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day for both of us.”

Cimorene smiled and went off to her rooms with a light heart. She slept soundly and was up early next morning. Kazul was already awake and supervising three of the younger dragons, who were packing up the treasure and the library. Since Cimorene was pressed into service at once, it was several hours before she could get away to keep her promise to Alianora.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Cimorene apologized when she arrived at Woraug’s cave at last. “But it didn’t occur to me that Kazul would be moving, too, and she wanted me to help.”

“It’s all right,” Alianora assured her. “It wasn’t as big a job as I’d expected, and the prince helped. I’m almost finished.” She gestured at an almost-full suitcase lying open on the floor. On the other side of the room, the stone prince was stacking the empty drawers from Alianora’s bureau.

“Well, at least I got here in time to say good-bye,” Cimorene said.

“You’re staying with the dragons, then?” the stone prince asked, straightening with a frown. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Of course she’s sure,” Alianora said. “Kazul’s going to need her even more than she did before, and Cimorene wouldn’t be happy in a normal kingdom.”

“How did you know that?” Cimorene said, staring at Alianora.

“It’s obvious. Linderwall is about as normal a kingdom as you can get. If you ran away from there, you certainly wouldn’t be happy anywhere like it.”

“I didn’t mean that part,” Cimorene said, reddening slightly. “I meant about Kazul wanting me to stay.”

“That was obvious, too,” Alianora said. “You’re the only one who was worried about it.” She studied Cimorene for a minute and shook her head. “I wouldn’t like being princess for the King of the Dragons, but it will suit you down to the ground.”

“I think it will,” Cimorene said, smiling.

“Then maybe you can tell me something,” the stone prince said. “What’s being done about the wizards?”

“They’ve been banned from the Mountains of Morning, and there are a hundred or so dragons out checking to make sure they’ve gone,” Cimorene replied. “They haven’t had much luck, I’m afraid. Most of the wizards left after the first few got eaten.”

“That’s all?” asked the prince.

“What else can the dragons do? The wizards didn’t actually poison King Tokoz; Woraug did that. So there’s no justification for an all-out attack on the headquarters of the Society of Wizards, even if all the dragons agreed that they wanted to do it. Which they don’t.”

“I suppose you’re right,” the prince said. “But you’d better tell Kazul to keep a close eye on them. Those wizards will make more trouble just as soon as they figure out a way to do it.”

“I don’t know about that,” Cimorene said. “I think Zemenar was behind most of it, and you melted him.”

“That’s it!” Alianora said, and snapped her fingers. “I almost forgot to tell you. Morwen and I talked for a long time yesterday, and she says that melting a wizard isn’t permanent.”

“You mean they’ll all come back?” Cimorene asked.

Alianora nodded. “It will take them a while, though. And Morwen said for you to come and visit soon. She thinks that in a few days she’ll have figured out a way of melting wizards without dumping soapy water over them. ‘A method that’s a little less sloppy’ was the way she put it.”

“That will be useful if the wizards start making trouble again,” Cimorene said thoughtfully.

“Is this everything, Alianora?” the stone prince asked, gesturing at the suitcase.

“Yes, I think so.” Alianora pulled the top of the suitcase over, and the stone prince set one foot very gently in the middle of it and pushed until the latch clicked.

“Where are you going first?” Cimorene asked. “His kingdom or yours?”

“Neither,” Alianora said, smiling. “We’re going to Morwen’s. She said she could change him back from stone to normal. We asked Kazul last night if we could go out through the Caves of Fire and Night, and she said yes, so ...”

“I don’t know, Alianora,” the stone prince said. “I’m beginning to get used to myself this way. And there are certain advantages.”

“There are disadvantages, too,” Alianora said, blushing slightly.

Cimorene began to giggle.

Alianora’s blush deepened. “I mean—uh—how are you going to get rid of that chip in your sleeve if you can’t change clothes?”

“I think I see what you’re getting at,” the stone prince replied, eyeing Alianora meditatively. “And you’re quite right. There’s no comparison. We had better see Morwen as quickly as possible.”

Alianora and Cimorene looked at each other and burst into unstoppable giggles.

The stone prince blinked at them. “It’s not funny!” he said indignantly, which only made them giggle harder. Shaking his head, he waited for them to stop, then picked up Alianora’s suitcase. “Shall we go?”

Cimorene walked with them to the iron gate that led into the Caves of Fire and Night. A purplish dragon was waiting to guide them through the caves. Kazul was taking no chances on Alianora and the stone prince getting lost. Cimorene hugged them both and wished them a safe journey.

“And I hope you both live happily ever after!”

“I hope you do, too!” Alianora called back as she and the stone prince followed the dragon through the gate.

Cimorene watched until they were out of sight, then started back toward Kazul’s cave. She thought about Morwen, and the wizard-melting spell, and about Zemenar and Antorell and the other wizards who would somehow be back soon. She thought about Kazul, and about straightening out the treasure vaults that belonged to the King of the Dragons, and about all the hundreds of books in the King’s library, and of all the problems that the King of the Dragons would have to deal with. She thought about Alianora’s last words and smiled.

Happily ever after?
Cimorene wasn’t sure about that, though she was certainly hoping to enjoy herself. She was positive, however, that life with the dragons would be interesting and busy, and in Cimorene’s opinion that would go a long way toward making her happy.

“Happily ever after? I don’t think it’s quite what you meant, Alianora,” Cimorene murmured to the empty tunnel, “but one way or another, I rather think I will.”