"Watched?" Shiara looked at the trees quickly. "Who's watching us?"
"I don't know," I said. "I'm not even sure someone is. I just feel uncomfortable."
"You're being a little slow," the dragon called back over its shoulder, and Shiara and I stopped talking and ran to catch up. We didn't have a chance to discuss it again, but I noticed Shiara looking uneasily at the forest from time to time. Even Nightwitch seemed to notice something wrong; she stopped jumping at leaves and stayed close to Shiara. In fact, Shiara almost stepped on her once. After that, Shiara carried her.
In spite of all the worrying, nothing happened until late that morning.
The dragon was moving on through the forest, ignoring all the little branches and things that happened to be in its way. Suddenly it gave a smothered yelp and stopped. Shiara and Nightwitch and I ran forward to see what was the matter.
The dragon was sitting back, rubbing its nose and glaring at a large open space in front of it. I looked around, but I didn't see anything else.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I ran into something," the dragon said, glaring at me for a minute instead of the open space.
"But there isn't anything-Ow!" Shiara had started to wave toward the clearing, but her hand stopped about halfway through the wave, as if it had hit something. She rubbed her fingers, then put out her hand more cautiously.
It stopped in midair, right where it had before. Nightwitch hissed and backed away.
I reached out, very carefully. It was a little strange to feel something where I couldn't see anything. It was cool and smooth, like stone, and it went up as far as I could reach. "It's an invisible wall," I said.
"No, it's an invisible castle," Shiara said. Then she jerked her hand away and stared at the air in front of her as if she could make herself see something by trying hard. "Hey! How do I know that?"
"I don't know," I said. "When did you figure it out?"
"I didn't! I was just standing here, wanting to know what it was, and all of a sudden I did."
"That sounds like fire magic!" I said.
"I don't care what it is," the dragon said crossly. "I want to know where it came from. It wasn't here last time I came this way."
"No, I mean what Shiara did sounds like fire magic."
"Really?" The dragon looked at Shiara. "Then use your fire magic to find out what this invisible thing is doing in the middle of my shortcut."
Shiara looked doubtful, but she put her hand back on the castle. "It's an invisible castle, all right. Hey, I even know how to do it!"
"Do what?" asked the dragon. "Put your hand on a castle?"
"No, no, how to make things invisible," Shiara said.
"I don't want to know how to make things invisible," the dragon snapped. "What's it doing here?"
For once, I wasn't paying much attention to the dragon. I was staring at Shiara. Analyzing spells is hard. "You figured out how to turn a castle invisible just by touching it?"
"No, you have to do a lot of other things to it." Shiara's face changed, as if she had just remembered something she didn't like, and she stared at the open area for a minute. Then she swallowed so hard I could see it.
"Let's leave, Daystar. I don't think I want to meet anyone who would live in an invisible castle."
I looked at Shiara, then at the open space. I looked back at Shiara and opened my mouth to ask another question, but I stopped before I said anything. Shiara looked a little white, and a little sick, and a lot scared. I hadn't seen Shiara look like that before, not even when the wizard tried to catch us with his snaky water monster. Especially not then.
"All right," I said. "Let's go."
"But I want to know what it's doing in the middle of my shortcut," the dragon complained.
"We can talk about it somewhere else," I said.
Shiara was already backing into the trees, her eyes fixed on the open space where the castle would be if we could see it. I glanced back at the dragon. It shrugged. "Oh, all right. But I don't see what all the fuss is about."
Right then Shiara gave a half yell that stopped in the middle. I whirled around. There was a woman standing where Shiara had been. She was very tall, and she had long hair that was so red it was almost black. She was dressed in something green and shining and elegant that hung from a deep red jewel at her throat, and she was very beautiful.
More beautiful than the Princess, even. I didn't care.
"Where's Shiara?" I said.
She smiled, the same way a very satisfied cat smiles, except that cats don't look evil. Well, most cats don't. "Shiara-is that your little friend's name? She's right here, my dear." She stepped aside, and I went cold.
Behind her, where it had been hidden until she moved aside, was a gray stone statue that looked exactly like Shiara.
"That can't be Shiara!" I said. I was too upset to even think about being polite. "Shiara's a fire-witch, and fire-witches are immune to magic!"
The woman smiled another unpleasant smile. "Not to the magic of another fire-witch. I've been waiting a long time for someone like her to come by. I need her for something."
"How is turning her into a statue going to help?" I asked. I was hoping I could talk her into changing Shiara back. Then maybe I could do something to keep Shiara that way.
The fire-witch glanced at the statue. "It's an excellent way of storing people until you need them. I have quite a number in my garden. They're ornamental as well as useful."
"That doesn't sound nice," the dragon said.
The woman seemed to see it for the first time, which I thought was a little odd. After all, dragons aren't exactly easy to overlook. "I am not concerned with being nice," she said.
"Why not?" I asked.
The fire-witch turned and looked at me. Suddenly her eyes narrowed.
"Who are you, boy?" she asked sharply.
"My name is Daystar," I said, "and I would appreciate it if you would change Shiara back."
"No," she said flatly. "Why should I?" She was still staring at me, as if she were trying to figure something out. "You're very interesting, Daystar," she said abruptly. "I think perhaps I'll let you go. I haven't done anything like that in a long time. It might be an interesting experience. I think you had better leave before I change my mind."
"I'm sorry, but I'm not leaving until you turn Shiara back," I said.
"Then I am afraid you will grow rather bored." The woman looked at me thoughtfully for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I don't have any use for you, and I can't be bothered storing things that aren't useful. Pity; you'd make a nice fountain." She lifted one hand and snapped her fingers.
I had just enough time to realize that I hadn't drawn my sword. I grabbed for it and pulled, knowing I wasn't going to make it. There was something like an explosion just in front of me, and a wave of heat, and then I was holding the Sword of the Sleeping King up in front of me and watching the fire-witch cursing and stamping at something.
She didn't look at all elegant anymore.
Suddenly I realized why the fire-witch had missed. "Nightwitch!" I yelled. A small bundle of black fur darted out from under the witch's skirts and vanished under a bush. The fire-witch glared after the kitten, then turned back to me. "You'll suffer for-" Right next to me there was a sound like someone blowing out several very large candles all at once, and a stream of fire shot out and enveloped the fire-witch. She laughed.
"Fire, to harm me? Even a dragon should know better! I'll see to you in a moment. Or do you think I am fool enough to grow a garden without dragonsbane?"
The dragon shuddered, and the fire-witch laughed again. Then she looked at me, and her eyes glittered. "I want you first, though.
Now!" She pointed at me, and I raised the Sword of the Sleeping King a little higher, holding on to the hilt with both hands and hoping it could handle fire-witches as well as it handled wizards.
Something hit the sword, and pain ran through my whole body. It felt a little like the shock I'd gotten when Shiara and I had tried to pick up the sword at the same time, except it went on and on. The Sword of the Sleeping King began to get hot. I felt as if boiling lead were running down the sword and into my arms. I think I screamed; I know the fire-witch did, because I heard her.