"Because she tortured people to death!" Shiara shouted. "It was part of the spell, and I know how to do it, and I don't want to think about it!"
"I told you she wasn't a nice person," the dragon said.
Shiara snorted. She picked up Nightwitch and her bundle and walked straight across the clearing. After a couple of seconds, the dragon and I followed.
Once we got across the clearing, the dragon took the lead again.
Nobody said much for the rest of the morning, which was fine with me; I still felt as if someone was watching me, and I didn't like it.
Finally even the dragon noticed.
"You look a little strange," it said. "Is something wrong?"
"I don't think so," I said. "I just feel like someone's watching me."
"You're imagining things," Shiara said. "I've been looking since you told me about it this morning, and I haven't seen anyone."
"Someone's following us?" the dragon said. It blinked at me, then turned in a slow circle, eyeing the trees. "You're right," it said finally.
"Someone is following us. That's not polite."
Before Shiara or I could say anything, the dragon's head shot out toward one of the trees. I'd never seen anything move so fast. There was a loud yell from someone who wasn't the dragon. Then the dragon yelped and a bunch of leaves came drifting down to the ground. I heard a couple of crashing noises and another, louder yell, and then the dragon reappeared.
Dangling by the seat of his pants from the dragon's mouth was an elf.
I stared for a minute, trying to decide whether this was the same elf we'd met before. He looked the same, but all elves look alike.
Besides, he was yelling and kicking, and every now and then the dragon would shake its head, which made it hard to see the elf clearly.
I almost laughed; the dragon looked a lot like a very large cat with a very small mouse.
Nightwitch evidently thought so, too. She eyed the wriggling elf with some interest, then glanced up at me. "Mrrow?" she said.
"I'm afraid he's too big for you," I said.
"He certainly is!" yelled the elf. "Put me down! Let me down at once!"
"Mrof!" said the dragon through a mouthful of cloth.
"I don't think he wants to," I said to the elf. "Why were you following us?"
"Hey!" said Shiara. "Are you the elf we ran into before? Because if you are, I want to talk to you."
The elf stopped struggling and looked down at Shiara. Then he twisted around and looked at the dragon. "On the other hand, maybe I'm better off up here," he said.
"Mmnuf!" said the dragon, and shook its head violently.
"Yow!" said the elf. "Help! I surrender?"
"Really?" Shiara said skeptically.
"Really!" said the elf. "Absolutely! Completely and without question.
Will you put me down?"
"Maybe you should," I said to the dragon. "I don't think he can get away from all of us, and it will be a lot easier for you to talk."
The dragon looked at me for a minute, then slowly lowered its head and dropped the elf in a heap in front of us. The elf lay there breathing hard while Shiara and the dragon and I closed in around him. As soon as we stopped moving, he bounced to his feet and spun rapidly in a circle, bowing to each of us. Then he sat down cross-legged and looked up at us with bright black eyes.
"Now," said the elf, "what can I do for you?"
12
In Which They Ask Many Questions
We looked at each other and then at the elf. "What you can do," said Shiara, "is answer some questions."
"My dear lady, I would be delighted," the elf said. "What do you want to know?"
"Why were you following us?" the dragon rumbled.
"I thought she was asking the questions," said the elf.
"We're all asking questions," Shiara told him. "So you can just stop dodging and answer that one."
"What one?" the elf said. The dragon growled and made a snapping motion at the elf, who jerked back hastily. "Yes, ah, of course," he said. "That question. I was, um, looking for information."
"Information? Ha!" said Shiara. "What kind of information?"
"Who you are, where you're going, and what you're going to do when you get there," the elf replied promptly. He was pointedly not looking at the dragon.
"That's all?" Shiara said sarcastically. "It sounds a lot like what we want to know about you."
"How nice," the elf said, beaming. "We have something in common."
"Excuse me," I broke in. "But who exactly are you?"
The elf looked at me with a pained expression. "I'm an elf."
"I can see that," I said politely. "But would you mind telling me your name? I mean, I'd sort of like to know to whom I'm speaking."
"My dear boy, I would be delighted." The elf rose and bowed with a flourish. "My name," he said, "is Janril." He sat down again and looked at me expectantly.
"Pleased to meet you, Janril," I said. "This is Shiara, that's Nightwitch…" I hesitated a moment. Dragons don't pick their names until they're old enough to pick what sex they're going to be, too, and I wasn't quite sure how to introduce one. I couldn't leave it out, though.
"This is a dragon-" "Somehow I guessed," the elf muttered.
"-and I'm Daystar," I finished.
Shiara was frowning at me, but before she could say anything the elf bounced to his feet and said, "Daystar! Not Cimorene's son? My dear boy, I can't tell you how glad I am you've finally come. It's about time things got straightened out a little."
"I don't trust elves," Shiara said. "And why should we listen to you, anyway?"
"My dear girl, if you expect me to answer questions, you're going to have to listen to me," said the elf. "Otherwise there's no point in it. Why don't you trust elves?"
Shiara didn't want to tell him anything, but I was beginning to like him. Also, I didn't see any good reason not to explain, so I told him about the first elf and the wizard's staff. When I finished, Janril nodded solemnly.
"That," he said, "makes your position entirely understandable. I'm afraid you ran into one of the Darkmorning Elves. They're a rather disreputable lot. They've been running wild since the King disappeared, so of course they'd cause you trouble."
"Why 'of course?" said Shiara suspiciously. "And what king are you talking about?"
"The King of the Enchanted Forest," the elf said. "The Darkmorning Elves don't want him to come back. They like the way things have been run since he disappeared. Since you have his sword, of course they want to get rid of you. If they can," he added thoughtfully.
"Personally, I don't think they really know what they're doing."
"How do you know about Daystar's sword?" Shiara asked suspiciously.
"My dear girl, everyone who lives in the Enchanted Forest knows something about the Vanished King's Sword," Janril said. "It-" "Wait a minute?" I said. "I only have one sword, and I thought it was called the Sword of the Sleeping King."
"Sleeping, vanished, run away-what difference does it make?" Janril said. "He's gone."
"I don't care about the sword," the dragon said. "I want to know why you were following us."
The elf looked annoyed. "My dear… ah… dragon," he said, "I told you already, I wanted to find out more about you. I believe that's the usual reason for following people around."
"But that doesn't explain anything," the dragon complained.
Shiara's eyes narrowed suddenly. "All right, then, why did you want to know more about us?" Janril considered for a moment, then grinned reluctantly. "Because I'm trying to find out what the Darkmorning Elves are up to."