"I don't, either," Cimorene agreed. "But what can we do about it?"
Kazul frowned and said nothing. For several minutes, the two sat and thought in silence. Then Kazul said, "We can't do anything until the new King has been chosen. Did Roxim say when the testing will be?"
"Tomorrow," Cimorene said.
"Tomorrow!" Kazul surged to her feet. "Why didn't you say so at once? If I'm to be at the Ford of Whispering Snakes tomorrow, I have to-" "Lie down!" Cimorene commanded. Kazul looked at her in surprise and collapsed in another fit of coughing. Cimorene waited until the dragon's coughing had subsided, then said sternly, "You're in no condition to go hauling rocks all over the countryside. I'd be surprised if you can even fly as far as the end of the pass. I think you're going to have to give up on the trials this time around."
Kazul made a choking noise. Cimorene looked at her in alarm, then realized that the dragon was laughing.
"It's not optional, Princess," Kazul said. "All the adult dragons in the Mountains of Morning are required to show up, no matter what condition they're in."
"But-" "There is no acceptable excuse for missing the testing of a new King,"
Kazul repeated. "None. And I have a great deal to do before I leave, so if you'll-" "If anything needs to be done around here, I'll do it," Cimorene said firmly. "If you don't rest, you won't be able to fly at all, and then how will you get to the ford?"
"A reasonable point," Kazul said, settling reluctantly back into place.
"Very well. The first thing I need is a coronation present for the new King.
There's a jeweled helmet on a shelf in the second storeroom that might do.
Bring it out so I can take a look at it."
Cimorene spent the rest of the evening running errands for Kazul.
Besides choosing a coronation gift (Kazul rejected the helmet and two crowns before deciding on a scepter made of gold and crystal), innumerable messages had to be delivered to various dragons who were in charge of arranging the trials. This one had to be informed of Kazul's ill health, so that it could be taken into account when the order of the testing was established; that one had to be told that Kazul would not be able to join the coronation procession. Substitutes had to be found to perform Kazul's various ceremonial duties, then their names had to be approved by a surly dragon in charge of protocol, and finally the substitutions had to be recorded on all the lists of all the dragons who were managing each of the events. It reminded Cimorene strongly of Linderwall and her parents' court.
By the time the last arrangement had been made and the last message delivered, it was very late and Cimorene was exhausted. She was also very glad she had not let Kazul do all the running around. The dragon, who had slept most of the time Cimorene was out, was looking much better, even in the dim light of Cimorene's lamp. Tired but satisfied, Cimorene went to her room and dropped into bed.
Cimorene was up early the next morning, stirring a dozen ostrich eggs in a large iron kettle for Kazul's breakfast. Kazul ate all of them, then slid out of the cave and prepared to leave for the Ford of Whispering Snakes.
"Don't fret, Princess," Kazul said. "The testing doesn't start until ten. I have plenty of time to get there, even if I stop to rest now and then." Her voice sounded much better than it had the day before, and it no longer seemed to rasp her throat. "While I'm gone, why don't you visit Woraug's princess? See if she's noticed anything odd these past few days. We need to know as much as we can before we talk to the new King about Woraug and the wizards."
"All right," Cimorene said. "As soon as I'm done with the dishes."
Kazul turned and leaped into the air, her wings churning clouds of dust from the dry surface of the ground. Cimorene squinted after her and shouted, "Good luck!" Kazul's wings dipped in answer before the dragon soared out of sight behind the shoulder of the next mountain.
Cimorene stood looking after Kazul, her forehead wrinkling in worry.
After a moment she shook herself and went inside. She had work to do.
Washing the dishes did not take long, and as soon as she was done, Cimorene set off to visit Alianora. The runnels and passageways were silent and empty, and Cimorene's footsteps echoed eerily through the darkness.
She began to wish she had taken the longer route along the outside of the mountain. She had not realized that the dragon city would seem so strange and lifeless with all the dragons gone.
"Psst! Cimorene!"
Cimorene jumped. She whirled in the direction of the voice, raising her lamp like a club, and Alianora stepped out of the adjoining tunnel and into the circle of light. In one hand she clutched a large bucket, three-quarters full of soapy water, and she looked rather pale.
"Alianora!" Cimorene said, lowering her arm. "What are you doing out here?"
"Shhh!" Alianora said. She looked nervously over her shoulder.
"Woraug told me to scrub off the table in the banquet room while everyone was away. And-and I heard someone moving around in there.
Even though everyone but us is gone. And I dropped my lamp, and-" "Oh, my goodness," Cimorene said. "The stone prince! I'd forgotten all about him."
"Who?"
"The stone prince." Quickly, Cimorene explained how she had found and hidden him the day before. "And I hadn't thought about it until now, but this is the perfect time to get him out of the mountains," she finished.
"All the dragons are gone and no one will see him. Come on, before I forget again."
Alianora nodded dubiously, and the two girls headed for the banquet room. When they arrived, Cimorene went in first, holding her lamp high.
"Prince?" she called. "Are you there? It's me, Cimorene."
"Yes, I'm here," said the stone prince, unfolding stiffly from a gray lump in the corner. "I'm glad you're back. Who's this you've brought with you?"
"Princess Alianora of the Duchy of Toure-on-Marsh," Cimorene said.
"She's the princess of the dragon Woraug just now."
"Does her father need a great service done for him?" the prince asked hopefully.
"Not that I know of," Cimorene replied. "Unless you're good at getting rid of aunts, but that would be more of a service to Alianora than to her father."
"I can think of nothing that would make me happier," the prince said with evident admiration as he bowed stiffly to Alianora. "Good afternoon, Princess. Or should it be 'good evening'? It's hard to tell without windows."
Alianora blushed and looked down at her bucket without answering.
"Actually, it's good morning," Cimorene told the prince. "I'm sorry it took me so long to come back for you, but… well, a lot has been going on."
Alianora looked up sharply. "You've been sitting here in the dark all night?" She shuddered. "You could at least have left him a candle, Cimorene."
"Thank you for the thought, Princess Alianora, but it's just as well she didn't," the stone prince said. "If I'd been sitting here with a lit candle, they'd have noticed me right away. And an unlit candle isn't much use in the dark, is it?"
"What do you mean?" Cimorene said. "Who would have noticed you?"
"The dragon and the two men he was talking to," replied the prince. "I think they were wizards."
"What?" said Cimorene and Alianora together.
"Well, they talked as if they were wizards," the prince said. "They weren't carrying staffs, though."
"What did they look like?" Cimorene said.
"They were both tall, and they both had beards. The older one's was gray and the younger one's was brown."