"Antorell and Zemenar!" Cimorene said. "And they were talking to a dragon?"
The stone prince nodded.
"Then they wouldn't have been carrying staffs. Dragons are allergic to them. Did you hear what they said?"
"Something about a contest," the stone prince said. "The wizards were going to fix it so this dragon would win. It sounded like a kind of cross-country race, and the wizards were going to hide along the path and-and help the dragon out somehow. I'm afraid I'm not very clear about that part.
Spells aren't my specialty. I'm much better at hopeless causes."
Alianora and Cimorene exchanged appalled glances.
"The trials with Colin's Stone to pick the new King!" Alianora said.
"Which dragon?" Cimorene asked urgently. "Do you know which dragon they were talking to?"
"I only heard the name once," the prince said. He sounded apologetic and a little embarrassed. "And I don't think I got it right. It's too silly."
"Tell us!" Cimorene commanded.
"Well, it sounded like 'wart hog,' "the prince said in an even more apologetic tone than before.
"Could it have been Woraug?" Cimorene asked.
"That's it!" the prince said. "I knew it couldn't really have been wart-hog."
"What a pity you remembered," said a voice from the entrance into the banquet hall.
Cimorene whirled. Antorell stood in the doorway, staff in hand, watching them with an intolerably smug expression.
13
In Which Alianora Discovers an Unexpected Use for Soap and Water, and Cimorene Has Difficulty with a Dragon
Antorell looked past Cimorene and Alianora as if they were not there and spoke directly to the stone prince. "I told Father someone was listening. He won't be happy when he finds out I was right, but he'll feel better when I tell him I've taken care of things. He might even let me have the first look in the King's Crystal, once Woraug gives it to us."
"So that's what you're after!" Cimorene said.
Antorell favored her with a superior smile. "Quite right, Princess Cimorene. The King's Crystal will show us the whereabouts of every piece of useful and interesting magic in the world. All we'll have to do is go out and pick them up."
"Somehow I don't think it will be that easy," Cimorene murmured.
"We knew Tokoz would never give it to us, but Woraug will, as soon as he's King of the Dragons. He'll have to, or we'll tell everyone how we were the ones who made sure he was the new king. Of course, we can't afford to have anybody around who might make… awkward revelations. I doubt that dragons will listen to a couple of hysterical princesses, but he"-Antorell pointed at the stone prince-"will have to go."
"What are you going to do?" Alianora demanded. She was plainly frightened, and Cimorene could see that her knuckles were white with the force of her grip on the handle of the scrub bucket.
"Oh, gravel seems appropriate, don't you think?" Antorell said. "No one will notice a few more rocks around here."
"Ought I to be taking this person seriously?" the stone prince said in a rather doubtful tone.
"You'd better if you don't want to end up as a lot of little pebbles," Alianora answered. She still sounded frightened, but she seemed to be getting a grip on herself. "He's a wizard."
"You wouldn't be talking about gravel if you were the one who had to sweep the floor," Cimorene said to Antorell. She stepped forward as she spoke, hoping to get between Antorell and the stone prince before Antorell noticed what she was doing. She didn't think Antorell was a good enough wizard to do any real harm, but there was no point in taking chances.
"Stay where you are, Princess Cimorene," Antorell commanded. "I'll deal with you in a moment."
"Must you be so theatrical?" Cimorene said.
"Theatrical? You think I'm being theatrical?"Antorell said furiously.
"I am simply showing a proper respect for the importance of this moment?"
"You're showing off," Cimorene said flatly. "And you're not doing it very well."
"He doesn't sound much like a wizard to me," the stone prince said.
"Is he always like this?"
"Enough!" Antorell cried, and raised his staff. Light shimmered along its length and began to gather at the lower end. Grinning wolfishly, the wizard tilted the staff, aiming it toward the stone prince.
"Stop that? Alianora said. Antorell ignored her. "I said, stop it!"
Alianora shouted, and threw her bucket at Antorell's head.
Alianora's aim was off. The bucket hit Antorell's shoulder. A bolt of fire shot from the end of his staff and whizzed between Cimorene and the stone prince to strike the far wall with a whumping noise and a shower of sparks. Antorell staggered, slipped in the cascade of soapy water, and fell over the bucket, dropping his staff in the process.
Cimorene darted in and kicked Antorell's staff out of his reach. He stared up at her from a mound of soggy silk and soapsuds. "You can't do this to me!" he shrieked.
Something in his voice made Cimorene and her friends look at him more closely. Alianora's eyes went wide, and Cimorene blinked in surprise.
"He's-he's collapsing," Alianora said in a stunned voice.
"He's melting," Cimorene corrected her.
"I can't be melting!" Antorell cried. "I'm a wizard! It's not fa-" His head disappeared into a small brown puddle, and his cries stopped.
There was a moment of astonished silence. "I thought it was witches who melt when you dump water over them," the stone prince said at last.
"It is, usually," Cimorene said. "What on earth did you put in that bucket, Alianora?"
'Just water and soap, and a little lemon juice to make it smell nicer," Alianora said.
"Um," said Cimorene, thinking hard. "I'll bet there's a simpler way of melting wizards, but we don't have time right now to figure out what it is.
How many buckets can you get hold of in a hurry?"
"Buckets?" Alianora said. "Two, counting this one. And I suppose I could borrow one from Hallanna; that's three."
"And I've got two in the kitchen, and I expect the iron kettle is big enough. That's six altogether; two for each of us. You will help, won't you?"
Cimorene added, turning to the stone prince.
"Of course," the prince assured her. "Help with what?"
"Stopping those wizards," Cimorene said. "We can't let them make Woraug the next King of the Dragons by trickery."
"I don't see how we can stop them," Alianora said. "We can't possibly get to the Ford of Whispering Snakes before the trials start, and even if we could, we don't know where the wizards will be hiding."
"If we tell the dragons that Woraug's trying to cheat, they'll stop the trials," Cimorene said with more confidence than she felt. "That will give us time to find the wizards. And I've got a way to get us to the ford. You go start collecting buckets. I'll meet you at your place after I get the things I'll need from Kazul's."
"What about…" Alianora gestured with distaste at the wet, messy lump of robes in the center of the puddle that was all that remained of Antorell.
"We'll clean it up when we get back," Cimorene said. "This is more important."
Alianora nodded, and the three left the banquet room. The stone prince decided to accompany Alianora since he was not a fast walker and Cimorene had farther to go. Cimorene left them when they reached the main tunnel and ran back to Kazul's cave. There she went straight to her room and opened the drawer where she kept odds and ends. In the back left-hand corner, carefully wrapped in a handkerchief, were the three black feathers she had taken from beneath the left wing of the bird she had killed in the Enchanted Forest. She shoved the whole packet into her pocket without bothering to unwrap it and went on to the kitchen to collect her buckets.
Then she hurried through the tunnels to Woraug's cave, where Alianora and the stone prince were waiting.
When Cimorene arrived, she found the stone prince pumping water to fill Alianora's third bucket while Alianora mixed soap and lemon juice into the second. Cimorene set her pots and pails next to the pump and went to help Alianora.