As he did, the doorway behind him melted back into leaping flames, which faded quickly until there was nothing there except the brazier and the glowing coals. The room was utterly silent. I looked up at the King of the Enchanted Forest for a moment, then turned to the brazier and reached for the hilt of the Sword of the Sleeping King. The sword wasn't even warm from the fire, but the blade shone even more brightly than it had the day Mother brought it out of the Enchanted Forest and gave it to me. I looked at it for a minute, then turned back to the King and held it out.
"I've come to return your sword, Father," I said.
21
In Which the battle Ends and Antorell Makes Trouble Again
For a long moment the King of the Enchanted Forest looked at me over the hilt of the sword. Then he reached out and took it. He held it up for a moment, then turned and brought it down hard on the edge of the brazier.
The brazier split and fell apart, scattering embers. As soon as it hit the floor, it started to melt and vanish, and in a few seconds there was nothing left of it except the key. The King bent and picked it up, then turned back to me and smiled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," I said automatically. Then I noticed Shiara sitting on the floor, where she had dived when the wizards started throwing spells around. She was looking from me to the King and back, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Oh, I'm sorry," I said.
"Shiara, this is the King of the Enchanted Forest. Father, this is my friend Shiara. She's a fire-witch."
Father bowed. Shiara looked at him and cleared her throat, then cleared it again and said, "Hey, tun, are you really Daystar's father?"
The King smiled slightly and nodded. "Of course. Only the Kings of the Enchanted Forest can use the sword." He raised it so that the light flashing from the blade filled the room, then in one fluid motion he sheathed it in the empty scabbard at his side. He looked at me and smiled again.
Shiara blinked, then turned her head and glared at me. "Why didn't you tell me the King of the Enchanted Forest was your father?" she demanded.
"I'm sorry, but I didn't know it myself until just now," I said.
"Ha!" said Shiara. "Why-" Before she could finish her sentence, Nightwitch pounced on her.
"Nightwitch!" Shiara sounded relieved. "Where did you come from?"
"I believe she came with them," Father said, nodding toward the doorway.
Shiara and I turned. A dozen wizards were sprawled on the floor in a tangled pile. Some of them were wrapped in vines, some of them seemed to be frozen, and some of them had elves and cats sitting on them. As soon as we turned to look at them, the elves all got up and bowed, then sat down again quickly before the wizards could get up and do anything.
The cats just sat and blinked at us.
"I don't think you need to be quite so careful," the King said to the elves. "If you'll let them up one at a time, I'll decide what to do with them!"
The elves nodded, and one of them stood up and bowed politely to the King. Father walked over to the wizard the elf had been sitting on and started asking him questions. The wizard didn't answer. Finally, Father shrugged and waved a hand. The wizard disappeared, and Father went on to the next one.
As soon as they got off the wizards, the elves started gathering up the staffs into a big bundle. Most of the cats just sat down and washed their paws. None of the wizards would say anything to Father, and he didn't waste much time on any of them. In a few minutes, there were only three wizards left. I was watching them when Shiara poked me.
"Daystar, where's Morwen?" she asked when I turned around. "Those are her cats; she has to be around somewhere."
"I don't know," I said. "I remember seeing her right before Father showed up, and Telemain was with her." I looked toward the door, where the last few wizards were, and blinked. "Shiara, where's Antorell?"
"Didn't he disappear already?"
"No, he didn't. I was watching," I said. Shiara and I looked at each other for an instant, then headed for the doorway.
No one tried to stop us. One of the elves gave us an odd look, but another elf grabbed his arm and whispered something to him, and he only bowed deeply as we passed. It made me feel almost as uncomfortable as I felt when the dwarves bowed to me.
Outside in the hallway we found Morwen kneeling on the floor beside Telemain and wrapping long strips of black cloth around his right shoulder.
Pieces of odd-looking plants littered the floor, and a little way down the hall was a puddle of something dark and slimy. The puddle had a wizard's staff lying across it, and a wizard's robe was sort of crumpled up under the staff.
"Morwen!" Shiara said. "What happened? Can I help?"
"What happened was a battle," Morwen said. "I should think that would be obvious enough."
"But how did-" Shiara stopped because Telemain was stirring. A moment later he opened his eyes and looked up at all of us.
"What was that?" he asked rather hazily.
"That," said Morwen, "was a sword. They are long, pointed, and very sharp. You're lucky it didn't take your head off."
Telemain started to shake his head, then winced. "A plain sword. No wonder I couldn't block it. I thought it was a spell."
Morwen snorted. "You may be one of the greatest magical theoreticians in the world, but you don't have a particle of common sense," she said acidly. "Why, in heaven's name, didn't you duck?"
"I did duck?" Telemain said, looking startled and indignant. "He was aiming for my chest, not my shoulder. And if you think I'm going to put up with you and your-" "You," Morwen said firmly, "are going to put up with me until that shoulder is healed. Which, may I remind you, means that I will have to put up with you for the same period of time.
Fortunately, it shouldn't take very long-a few days, at most."
"A few days? Telemain said. "Are you mad? It'll take at least a week!"
"Not if I change the herbs twice a day," Morwen said in an irritated tone. "I should know. It's my field."
"Well, it's my shoulder?"
"I'm so glad you noticed," Morwen said. "Stop fussing, or you'll make things worse and I will have to put up with you for a week."
"If I have to continue lying on this floor-which is cold, hard, and extremely uncomfortable-you'll have to put up with me a lot longer than that!"
Morwen got a peculiar look on her face. "I'll consider the idea carefully.
Meanwhile"-she looked past Shiara and me-"Mendanbar, can you provide a room for this stubborn… magician?"
"Easily," said the King of the Enchanted Forest, from the doorway behind us. "Which room do you want?"
"The brown one," Morwen said before Telemain could answer. "He'll need a firm bed to support that shoulder."
Father laughed. "Of course." He started to lift his hand, and I cleared my throat.
"I would like to ask them something before they go," I said when father turned toward me. He nodded, and I looked at Morwen. "Did you notice what happened to the wizard who was halfway around the brazier when you came in? I didn't see him afterward."
"You mean Antorell?" Yes, I thought I saw him," Morwen said. "I'm afraid I don't recall. He wasn't the one I melted, if that's what you're ask "Could he have gotten away?" Shiara asked.
Morwen glanced at the King. "If you will allow me, I can find out fairly quickly." Father nodded, and Morwen made a chuckling sort of sound. Two of the cats poked their heads around the corner of the door frame.
"Daystar wants to know what's become of one of the wizards," Morwen said to the cats. "The one named Antorell."