The knight coughed, moaned, and opened his eyes. "I say, Isabelle," he said weakly, "that really is a bit uncomfortable."
The Princess sat up and started weeping all over his face. It didn't seem to make him much more comfortable.
The dragon was still peering. "That was a very good fight," it said to the knight. "Except for the last part. My tail still stings. I think I may have sprained it. Is armor always that hard?"
The knight tried to answer and started coughing instead. The Princess cried harder, until Shiara said pointedly, "I don't think all that water is doing him much good." The Princess stopped crying and glared at Shiara for a minute, then turned back to the knight. Somehow, she looked a lot more unhappy now that she wasn't crying. I felt sorry for her.
Finally the knight managed to get his coughing under control. He looked up at the dragon and said, "I do believe I agree with you about the fight. That trick with the tail is quite good. I don't recall seeing it before. I really must remember it."
"Actually, it was something of an accident," the dragon said modestly.
"But I think I could do it again if I tried. Did you really think it was good?"
"Oh, quite," the knight said. I got the feeling that he would have tried to bow if he hadn't been lying on his back. "I think perhaps you broke one or two of my ribs."
"I'm sorry," said the dragon. "Is that bad?"
"It is certainly a bit uncomfortable," the knight said. "I don't really blame-" A coughing spasm interrupted him. The Princess looked alarmed, but she didn't start crying. I saw Shiara watching the Princess with a surprised look on her face, and right about then Nightwitch sprang up onto the knight's chest.
"What is this? Go hence, and leave my love in peace!" cried the Princess.
"You let my kitten alone," Shiara warned.
The Princess stopped in midreach and looked over at Shiara. "And shall I neglect aught that may bring comfort to my love in his hurt?" she said.
"Nightwitch isn't going to hurt-" Shiara started, then paused. "I guess it doesn't matter. Go ahead."
I stared at Shiara in surprise, but she was watching the Princess and Nightwitch. The Princess got scratched a couple of times before she finally managed to pick the kitten up and move her. By then, the knight wasn't coughing quite so hard anymore, but he still didn't seem up to talking.
Shiara frowned at him. "You don't sound very good," she said.
The dragon stuck its head farther over my shoulder. "If you can't fix him, can I eat him?" it asked hopefully.
Nightwitch hissed. The knight looked alarmed and tried to say something, but all that came out was more coughing. The Princess said, "No!" very loudly and looked as if she wanted to throw herself on top of the knight again.
"Of course not," Shiara said. "You promised."
"It wouldn't be polite," I added. "After all, that was why you had the tourney."
The dragon looked hurt. "I was just asking."
"Ah, what are we going to do about them?" I asked hastily, waving at the Princess and the knight. "They can't stay here, not when the knight's been injured like that."
"It's not so bad, really it isn't," the knight said, looking at the dragon nervously. He started coughing again right away, but it didn't sound as bad as it had before and he stopped fairly quickly.
"I suppose you could come with us," I said after a minute.
"That's frightfully kind of you," the knight said. He looked uncertainly at the dragon. "Very kind, to invite us to come with you.
All of you?"
"I don't know," I said. "I haven't asked the dragon about its plans yet.
But you're quite welcome to join us, if you want to."
"Yes," said Shiara. "I'm sure you'll be very useful when the wizard comes back."
"Wizard?" said the knight. He was so alarmed he almost started coughing again. "What wizard?"
"Well, actually, there are several of them," I said. "Every now and then one of them shows up and tries to do something to us. The last one left when the dragon showed up."
"I'm sure he'll be back in a little while," Shiara said. "Or one of the others will They've been chasing us all over the Enchanted Forest."
"You know," the knight said, "I really don't believe it would be a good idea for me to join you. I should almost certainly be a bit of an inconvenience, you see. Wet armor rusts, and with that and the ribs I'm afraid I'd be a little slow. Thank you terribly, all the same."
"If you don't come with us, what will you do?" I asked.
"Mrow," said Nightwitch.
"Morwen!" Shiara said. "They can go to Morwen! She'll know what to do for them." Nightwitch started purring loudly, sort of like a pepper grinder with rocks in it.
I thought about it for a minute. "It sounds like a good idea, but will she want to?"
"Morwen seems to like helping people," Shiara said. "And I'm sure she can take care of both of them."
"You know Morwen?" said the dragon. "I like her. She gives me apples out of her garden."
I tried to imagine a dragon eating apples and failed. I could imagine Morwen giving them to a dragon, though.
"Who is this Morwen?" asked the Princess, clasping her hands in front of her. "Think you that she could help my love, indeed?"
"Morwen's sort of a friend of ours," I explained. "She lives back that way, with a lot of cats, and her house has kind of a strange door."
"I didn't have any trouble with it," Shiara said. "And she has nine cats.
She told me while you were asleep."
"Nine cats?" said the Princess, looking puzzled. "But what has that to do with my love, who is so grievously hurt?"
"I said it wasn't that bad, Isabelle," said the knight uncomfortably.
"Really, I wish you wouldn't make such a fuss. I shall be quite all right in a little, I'm sure."
"If this woman with the many cats can help you, then we shall go to her," the Princess declared with more spirit than she had shown about anything else. "For you are my love, and I will have you whole and well."
"Oh, but really, Isabelle-" "I'm sure Morwen won't mind," Shiara put in. "She fixed Daystar up just fine. She's even good with wet swords."
The Princess looked thoroughly confused, but the knight brightened a little. "Are you quite sure? Because I'm frightfully wet, sword and armor and everything, and it would be very nice if I could keep it all from rusting.
It's rather expensive, you see."
"I'm sure she could manage that," Shiara said. "Of course, you don't have to go. You could stay here and wait for the wizard to come back."
The knight didn't argue. I don't think he liked the idea of staying around the dragon, especially if a lot of wizards were going to show up any minute. As soon as he agreed, the Princess started telling him how wise and brave and wonderful he was. Shiara looked disgusted, but the knight seemed to like it. He sat up and even managed not to cough very much.
Shiara and I gave the knight directions back up the stream and through the woods to Morwen's house. He and the Princess said good-bye and started off.
"That's a relief!" Shiara said when they were out of earshot. "For a while I thought you were going to make us go with that stupid princess.
It was bad enough having to listen to her here without following her around."
I blinked at her. "But I thought you changed your mind about her! You were being a lot nicer to her after the knight got hurt."
Shiara snorted. "So I feel sorry for her. She really cares about that klutz in the tin can. I could tell. That doesn't mean I like her! I still think she's dumber than you are, but I'm glad they're going to see Morwen."
I wasn't sure whether Morwen would object or not, but I didn't say anything else about it. By then, the knight and the Princess were completely out of sight anyway. I turned around to see where I'd put the bundle of food and things Morwen had given me. The dragon was staring at me.
"Why," it said, "do you have wizards chasing you?"