"I got a breath of the smoke when the plant in your hand burned," Kazul said as she settled to the floor just inside the entrance. "Lucky it was only a breath. I'll need a few days of rest, but that's better than being dead."
Cimorene stared at her, appalled. "What was that plant?"
"Dragonsbane," said Kazul. Her eyes closed and she slept.
Kazul continued to sleep for most of the next three days. She woke only long enough for Cimorene to pour a couple of gallons of warm milk mixed with honey down her throat from time to time before she lapsed back into unconsciousness. Cimorene was very worried, but there wasn't much that she could do. Sick dragons are too large and heavy for normal nursing to be of much use.
On the afternoon of the third day, Kazul woke up completely for the first time since her collapse.
"Thank goodness!" said Cimorene as Kazul shook her head experimentally and sat up. "I was beginning to think you were going to sleep for a month."
"I might have if I'd gotten more than a whiff of that smoke." Kazul stretched her neck in one direction and her tail in the other, trying to work out some of the kinks.
"If I'd known it was so dangerous, I'd never have brought any of that purple plant back with me," Cimorene apologized. "You might have done worse than sleep for a month. You might have-" She stopped, unwilling to complete the thought.
"I might have died?" Kazul said. "Unlikely. If a dragon isn't killed outright by something in the first five minutes, recovery is only a matter of time. That applies as much to dragonsbane as to a knight's magic sword."
"Then why did you want that goo in the green jar?" Cimorene asked.
"The antidote? I wanted it because I didn't like the idea of spending a month recuperating when I didn't have to. And since-" A fit of coughing interrupted Kazul in mid-sentence.
Cimorene skipped backward out of the way. Frowning worriedly, she tossed a pinch of feverfew into the air and recited the verse from the fire-proofing spell in case Kazul should lose control of her flame again. "Maybe you won't need a month to recover, but three days obviously isn't enough," she said to the dragon. "You'd better lie back down before you choke."
"I can't," Kazul said. "I have to warn the King. If the wizards have had dragonsbane for three days already-" She started coughing again and had to stop talking.
"You stay here," Cimorene said in a firm tone. "I'll warn the King."
"Tokoz won't listen to you," Kazul said, but she settled back to the ground. "Roxim will, though. Start with him."
"Roxim?" Cimorene said doubtfully. She was afraid the gray-green dragon would want to go charging out after the wizards as soon as he heard they were up to something.
"He'll listen to you, and the King will listen to him," Kazul said.
"It's not ideal, but it's the best we can do."
"All right, I'll go see Roxim. You stay here and sleep."
"When you get back-" "I'll wake you and tell you what he said," Cimorene promised. "Now, go to sleep."
Kazul smiled slightly and closed her eyes. Cimorene caught up a lamp and almost ran to the exit at the back of the cave. She was afraid that Kazul would think of something else and start talking again, and she didn't think talking would be good for her.
In the tunnel outside, Cimorene paused, trying to remember the directions to Roxim's cave. She had memorized a map in the library that showed most of the twists and turns of the dragon's tunnels, but she knew from experience that in the miles of gray stone corridors it was difficult to keep track of where she was.
"Left, left, fifth right, past the little chamber, right again, on past the iron gate, two lefts to the third cave down," she muttered to herself. "I wish Roxim's cave were closer." Still muttering, she started off.
Though she was being very careful, Cimorene had to backtrack twice during the first part of her trip when a mistake in counting corridors led her to a dead end. When she finally saw the iron gate that led into the Caves of Fire and Night, she sighed in relief. The tricky part was over, and the rest of the trip would be easy. She held her lamp up and quickened her step, hoping to make up some of the time she had lost on her detours. Then, as she reached the bars that blocked the entrance to the Caves of Fire and Night, she stopped short. There was someone sitting on the ground on the other side of the gate.
Cimorene had almost missed seeing him, and no wonder. His clothes, though well cut, were the same dark gray as the stone of the tunnel walls, and he was curled into a lumpy, dejected ball. He looked like a large rock. If he hadn't moved his hand as she passed, Cimorene would never have realized he was alive.
The man on the other side of the bars raised his head, and Cimorene saw with shock that his hair and skin were the same dark, even gray as his clothes. His eyes, too, were gray, and their expression was apologetic.
"Forgive me for startling you," the man said, climbing ponderously to his feet. "I didn't see you coming." He made a stiff, formal bow.
"Who are you?" Cimorene demanded. "And what are you doing in there?"
"I'm a prince," the man said in a gloomy tone, "and I'm reaping the rewards of my folly."
"What folly?"
The prince sighed. "It's a long story."
"Somehow they always seem to be long," Cimorene said. "You haven't come to rescue me from the dragons, have you? Because if you have, I'm not going to let you out of there. I haven't got time to spend an hour arguing today."
"I have no interest whatever in dragons, I assure you," the prince said earnestly. "And if you would let me out, I'd be extremely grateful.
Um, who are you, by the way?"
"Cimorene, princess of the dragon Kazul," Cimorene said. She studied the prince for a moment and decided that he looked trustworthy. "All right, I'll let you out. Turn around and put your fingers in your ears."
"What?" the prince said, looking considerably startled.
"It's part of the spell to open the gate," Cimorene said. She wasn't about to let him overhear the words Kazul had used to unlock the door, even if he did look trustworthy.
The prince shrugged and did as she directed. Quickly, Cimorene recited: 'By night and flame and shining rock Open thou thy hidden lock.
Alberolingarn!"
For an instant nothing happened, and Cimorene was afraid she had not remembered the charm correctly. Then the iron gate swung silently open.
The prince, whose back was to the gate, did not notice. Cimorene touched his shoulder to get his attention, and his eyes widened.
"Oh!" she said as he turned. "You're-you're stone."
"I know," the prince said. "It's part of that long story I mentioned earlier. I haven't gotten used to it yet." He stepped through the gate, and it closed noiselessly behind him.
"I'm afraid I don't have time to listen to stories just now," Cimorene said politely. "I have a rather urgent errand to run, so if you'll excuse me-" "Can't I come with you?"
Cimorene stared at him. "Why do you want to do that?"
The stone prince looked down at his feet with an embarrassed expression.
"Um, well, actually, I'm lost. And you seem to know your way around down here." He glanced hopefully at Cimorene's face, then sighed. "I suppose I can just wander around some more. I'll have to find a way out eventually."
"You'll run into a dragon and get eaten."
"I don't think it will hurt stone," the prince said. He sounded almost cheerful, as if he had only just realized that being made of stone might have some advantages.
"Maybe not, but you're sure to give the dragon indigestion," Cimorene said. "Bother! I don't have time for this!"
"I could wait here if you're coming back this way," the stone prince suggested.