"Wizards always do," the escort dragon said with a sigh. He studied the wizards' staffs that were lying around the clearing with a melancholy air.
"All right, I'll send someone back to keep an eye on things as soon as we get to the ford. Whatever was going on here, there certainly were wizards in it, and that's enough for me."
"Good," said Cimorene. "And thank you." She smiled at the startled expression on the dragon's face and started after the others.
15
In Which the Dragons Crown a New King, and Cimorene Gets a New Job
The walk to the Ford of Whispering Snakes took longer than Cimorene expected. The trees of the Enchanted Forest grew close together in many places, forcing the dragons to take a zigzag path instead of heading straight up the bank of the river. Woraug, who was in the lead, seemed to be deliberately setting a slow pace. Cimorene was sure he was hoping that the second shift of wizards would arrive at the blackberry clearing before the dragons at the ford had been warned.
She had no idea what would happen then, but she doubted that it would be good. The escort dragon was not interested in Cimorene's worries, however, and he refused to speed things up, so the group ambled on.
As they approached the ford at last, they heard cheering ahead of them.
Woraug flinched visibly, and Alianora and the stone prince were startled out of their quiet conversation.
"What's that?" Alianora said.
"Sounds to me as if we have a new King," the escort said with great satisfaction. "That means I can get you lot off my hands right away.
What a relief! I thought I was going to be stuck with you for hours."
Alianora looked faintly indignant at this unflattering opinion. Morwen was merely amused. Woraug's wings sagged momentarily, but then he seemed to pull himself back together, and he continued on as confidently as ever. Cimorene's concern deepened. What if Woraug managed to convince the new King that they were all lying?
They reached the edge of the cheering crowd of dragons. "Who did it?" the escort dragon asked. "Who's the new King?"
"How should I know?" the other responded. "I can't see a thing from way out here."
"You'll find out soon enough," the escort dragon said. Then he raised his voice and shouted, "Make way! Coming through! Prisoners for the King! Make way!"
The crowd of dragons parted reluctantly, and the escort dragon herded the group forward, still shouting. They made their way through the cheering dragons until they reached the edge of the river. "Stand away!" shouted someone in the crowd. "Stand away for the King!"
The nearby dragons drew back, leaving Woraug, the escort dragon, and Cimorene and her friends standing by themselves on the trampled moss.
As the dragons moved away, Cimorene caught sight of Kazul, lying comfortably beside the river. "Kazul!" Cimorene cried, and ran forward.
"Are you all right?"
A mottled dragon standing beside Kazul shifted and flicked his tail angrily at Cimorene. "You should say 'Your Majesty,'" he said with a warning scowl.
"Don't be ridiculous, Frax. She's my princess," Kazul said. "I'm quite all right, Cimorene. What are you doing here?"
"You're the new King of the Dragons?" Cimorene said in astonishment.
"But-but when you left this morning, you could barely fly! How did you get Colin's Stone all the way from here to the Vanishing Mountain?"
"Colin's Stone apparently does more than merely pick out the right King," Kazul said. "The minute I picked it up, I felt fine."
"This is impossible? Woraug said.
"Are you accusing me of fraud?" Kazul asked mildly.
"He'd better not," Cimorene said. "He's the one who was cheating, with the help of Zemenar and the rest of the wizards."
"Really," Kazul said in tones of great interest.
"It's all nonsense," Woraug declared. "The girl's just trying to attract attention."
"Really," Kazul said again, and smiled, displaying all her silver teeth.
"Oh, come now, Kazul. Surely you won't take a mere princess's word over mine," Woraug said.
"That depends entirely on what she says. Tell us about it, Princess," Kazul commanded.
So Cimorene told them. She brought the stone prince forward to explain what he had overheard the wizards and Woraug discussing in the banquet hall, and she made Alianora tell everyone about melting wizards with wash water and lemon juice. She told about getting to the Ford of Whispering Snakes on the first feather and being unable to convince any of the dragons to listen to her. She told about going to Morwen's house to find out where the wizards were, and about using the last feather to get to the wizards and melt them. She described Zemenar's unexpected appearance and subsequent melting, and the way Morwen had broken the wizards' spell, and she finished with an account of Woraug's futile attack.
"And then he landed"-Cimorene waved in the direction of the escort dragon-"and decided to bring us all back here. And I think somebody ought to go back to that clearing where the blackberries are before the next batch of wizards arrives. I don't know what they'll do when they find out what's happened, but…"
"Yes, I see," said Kazul. She turned to a pale green dragon beside her.
"Yes, Your Majesty," said the pale dragon with a fierce grin.
"Surely you don't believe this!" Woraug said.
Kazul stared at Woraug without saying anything, and the dragons around the edge of the circle rattled their scales.
"Ah-Your Majesty," Woraug added hastily.
"Why should I disbelieve it?" Kazul said, still watching Woraug.
"The whole thing is preposterous!" Woraug said. "How could wizards do anything to affect Colin's Stone? Your Majesty."
Kazul looked at Cimorene.
"I'm sorry, Kazul," Cimorene said, shaking her head. "I know what the wizards were trying to do, but I don't have the slightest idea how they were doing it."
"I believe I can explain that, Your Majesty," Morwen said. She stepped forward, tossing and catching the wizards' black rock casually in her right hand. "They were using this. I believe you'll find that it comes from the Caves of Fire and Night. From the King's Cave, in fact, where Colin's Stone was found. And one of the properties of the Caves of Fire and Night is that you can use one piece to cast spells which affect similar pieces."
'Just the way that impossible book says!" Cimorene exclaimed.
"DeMontmorency? Yes, I suppose he is fairly impossible," Morwen said.
"Is this sufficiently similar to Colin's Stone that the wizards could have affected the stone through it?" Kazul asked.
"Certainly, Your Majesty," Morwen said.
"This is-" Woraug began.
"-ridiculous, impossible, and unbelievable," Kazul said. "You've said that already. But I haven't heard you say anything particularly convincing in support of that attitude."
"Oh, really, Your Majesty!" Woraug said. "Next you'll be saying I poisoned King Tokoz!"
"It doesn't seem likely," Kazul admitted, "since Tokoz was poisoned with dragonsbane, and dragons can't get anywhere near the stuff without feeling the effects."
"What if Zemenar made a… a dragonsbane-proof packet for him to carry it in?" Cimorene said, thinking of the bag Antorell had been carrying when she and Alianora met him in the valley. "Something that would melt when he dropped it in the King's coffee."
"I suppose it's possible," Kazul said. "But there's no evidence at all that Zemenar did any such thing."
"What would it have looked like?" Alianora asked suddenly. "Would it have been something like a very large tea bag?"