Wrede, Patricia C - Enchanted Forest 1 - Talking to Dragons

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Talking to Dragons
Patricia C. Wrede
Copyright 1985 by Patricia C. Wrede
1
MOTHER TAUGHT ME to be polite to dragons. Particularly
polite, I mean; she taught me to be ordinary polite to every-
one. Well, it makes sense. With all the enchanted Princesses
and disguised wizards and transformed Kings and so on
wandering around, you never know whom you might be
talking to. But dragons are a special case.
Not that I ever actually talked to one until after I left
home. Even around the edge of the Enchanted Forest, drag-
ons aren't exactly common. It's the principle that matters,
though; always be polite to a dragon. It's more difficult
than it sounds; dragon etiquette is incredibly complicated,
and if you make a mistake, the dragon eats you. But I was
well trained.
Dragon etiquette wasn't the only thing Mother taught
me. Reading and writing are unusual skills for a poor boy,
but I learned them. Music, too, and fighting. Don't ask me
where Mother learned to use a sword; she wouldn't tell me.
Until I was thirteen, I didn't even know we had one in the
house. I even learned a little magic. Mother wasn't exactly
pleased, but growing up on the edge of the Enchanted Forest
I had to know some things.
Mother was tall and slender, and very impressive when
1
2 Patricia C. Wrede
she wanted to be. Most of the time she wore her hair in
two black braids wound around and around her head, but
when she really wanted to impress someone she let it hang
straight to her feet. A lot of the disguised Princes who
stopped at our cottage on their way into the Enchanted Forest
thought Mother was a sorceress or something. You can't
really blame them. Who else would want to live right at the
edge of a place like that?
Sometimes I thought they were right. Mother always
knew exactly what kind of directions to give them, even if
they didn't tell her what they were looking for. I never saw
Mother do any real magic, though, so I never thought about
it much. Until the day the wizard found us.
I knew right away he was a wizard. He had the same
sort of feel of magic that the unicorns and griffins have,
when you catch a glimpse of them farther on in the forest.
I was a little surprised; we didn't get too many wizards.
Most of them preferred to go into the forest through the
Gates of Mist and Pearl at the top of the Crystal Falls, or
through the Caves of Fire and Night. The few that bothered
to walk would never think of stopping at our cottage. But
this one was unusual.
He turned off the road and walked right past me without
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saying anything; I thought that was a little strange. He went
straight to the door of our cottage and banged the head of
his staff against it. The door splintered and fell apart. I
decided that I didn't like him much.
Mother was cooking rabbit stew in the big black pot over
the chimney fire. She didn't even look up when the door
fell in. The wizard stood there for a minute, and I sneaked
a little closer so I could see better. He was frowning; some-
how I got the impression he wasn't used to being ignored.
Mother kept stirring the stew.
"Well, Cimorene, I have found you," the wizard said at
last.
"It took you long enough," Mother said without turning.
"You're getting slow."
"You know why I am here."
Mother shrugged. "You won't get what you want; you're
sixteen years too late. I told you, you're getting slow."
4 Patricia C. Wrede
"Hah! I can take the sword now, and the boy as well.
There is nothing you can do to stop me this time," the wizard
said. I could tell he was trying to sound menacing, but he
didn't do a very good job.
Mother finally turned around. I took one look at her face
and backed up a couple of steps. She looked at the wizard
for a minute and started to smile. "Nothing, Antorell? Are
you sure?"
The wizard laughed and raised his staff. I backed up
another couple of steps. I mean, I wanted to see what was
going on, but I'm not stupid. He paused a moment—for
effect, I think—and Mother pointed at him.
He screamed and started to collapse in on himself. "No!
Not again!" He shrank pretty quickly, all but his head. He
was shouting nearly the whole time. "I'll get you, Cimorene!
I'll be back! You can't stop me! I'll—" Then his head
collapsed and there was nothing left but a little puddle of
brown goo and his staff.
I stared at the puddle. All I could think was, I never
knew Mother could do that. Mother let me stand there for
a while before she told me to clean it up. "Be sure you don't
touch the staff," she reminded me. "And don't forget to
wash your hands before you come to dinner." I went to get
a bucket; when I came back, the staff was gone and Mother
was stirring the stew as if nothing had happened. She didn't
mention the wizard again until the next morning.
I was out by the remains of our door, trying to find some
way of fixing it. I didn't think my chances were very good.
I was trying to nail a couple of pieces together when I looked
up and saw Mother walking out of the Enchanted Forest. I
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was so surprised I dropped the hammer and nearly smashed
my foot. Mother never went into the Enchanted Forest.
Never. Then I saw the sword she was carrying, and if I'd
still been holding the hammer, I'd have dropped it again.
Even from a distance, I could tell it wasn't an ordinary
sword like the one I usually practiced with. This one was
about the same size and shape as mine, but it shone a little
too brightly and looked a little too sharp to be ordinary.
Mother carried it carefully; she wasn't wearing a sheath, so
there wasn't anything else she could do with it. She brought
Talking to Dragons 5
it over to me and set it down on top of the boards I'd been
working on. "Don't touch it," she said, and went on into
the house.
I had a hard time following Mother's instructions. The
more I looked at the sword, the more I wanted to pick it
up and try a few of the passes Mother had taught me. It
was such a beautiful weapon! Just thinking about it made
me shiver. But Mother always had good reasons for the
things she told me to do, so I waited.
I didn't have to wait long; Mother came back almost
immediately. She had a swordbelt and a sheath with her
that I'd never seen before. They were old—so old the brown
leather was turning grey—and very, very plain. I was a
little disappointed; I'd expected something a little more im-
pressive.
Mother went straight to the sword and put it in the sheath.
She seemed to relax a little then, as if she'd been worried
about something. I started wondering just what that weapon
did. Mother almost never worried. I didn't have much time
to think about it, though; as soon as she had sheathed the
sword, Mother turned and gave me her you're-not-much-
but-you'11-have-to-do look. I started to wony.
Mother picked up the swordbelt. "This is for you, Day-
star." I reached for it, but she shook her head. "No, I'll do
it this time. Hold still." She bent down and buckled the belt
around my waist, then hung the sheathed sword on the belt.
I felt a little strange letting her do it, and my elbows kept
getting in the way. Finally she straightened up.
"Now, Day star, I have a few things to tell you before
you leave."
"Leave?" I was shocked. Mother had never mentioned
leaving before. It occurred to me that she'd said "you," not
"we." I swallowed hard. "By myself?"
"Of course. You're sixteen; it's time you left, and I'm
certainly not coming with you. Now pay attention." She
gave me one of her sharp looks. I shut up and paid attention.
"You have a sword, and you know nearly as much as I
can safely teach you. I don't want to see you back here
again until you can explain to me why you had to leave.
Do you understand?" I nodded. Mother went on, "You
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6 Patricia C. Wrede
should probably start with the Enchanted Forest; one way
or another, things will happen more quickly there. Don't
lose your sword, and don't take it out unless you need to
use it. Oh, and watch out for Antorell. He may try to make
trouble again, but it'll be a couple of days before you have
to worry about that. It'll take that long for him to get himself
back together and find out where I put his staff. All right?"
"But you haven't explained anything!" I blurted. "Why
did that wizard come here yesterday, anyway? Why should
he want to make trouble for me? And if he's so dangerous,
why are you sending me—"
"Daystar!" I stopped in midsentence. Mother glared at
me. "What happened to the manners I've tried to teach you?"
"I—I'm sorry. Mother," I said. "I was upset."
"Being upset is no excuse for rudeness," Mother said
sternly. "If you're going to be rude, do it for a reason and
get something from it." I nodded. Mother smiled. "I know
it's hard, and it's rather short notice. This will probably be
the best chance we get, though, and I can't waste it just to
give you time to get used to the idea of leaving home."
I was more confused than ever, but I could see Mother
wasn't going to tell me anything more. She looked at me
for another moment, then turned and walked toward the
cottage. At the door. Mother stopped and looked back.
"Good luck, Daystar. And stop wasting time. You don't
have much of it." Before I could say anything, she disap-
peared inside.
I started off toward the Enchanted Forest. Mother's ad-
vice was always good; besides, I was afraid she'd melt me
or something if I hung around very long. I didn't bother to
follow the road; I just headed for the forest. The road isn't
particularly useful, anyway. It disappears as soon as you
get past the outer edge of the forest, or at least, it usually
does. At any rate, I wanted to stick to the part of the En-
chanted Forest I knew, to start with.
The Enchanted Forest comes in two parts, the Outer
Forest and the Deep Woods. Most people don't know that.
I'd gone herb gathering in the Outer Forest; it's relatively
safe, if you know what you're doing. I'd never been much
more than an hour's walk from our cottage, but I had to
start somewhere.
I felt the little tingle on my skin that marked the border
between the ordinary woods, where our cottage was, and
the outer part of the Enchanted Forest. Some people have
trouble getting in and out of the Enchanted Forest, but I
never had. I was feeling excited and adventurous, and maybe
a little scared. I mean, for years I'd watched all those Princes
and heroes and so on go into the forest, and now it was my
turn. I looked back over my shoulder to see if Mother was
watching. The cottage was gone.
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That shook me. You just don't expect the place you've
lived in for sixteen years to vanish like that. I looked around.
None of the woods looked familiar, either. The trees were
huge, much larger than the ones by our cottage. I couldn't
reach more than a quarter of the way around the trunk of
the smallest one. The ground was covered with deep green
moss, which ran right up to the bases of the trees and stopped
short. I could see a couple of bushes, one that had three
different colors of flowers on it. Everything felt very dark
and green and alive.
I shivered. This wasn't the Outer Forest. This was the
Deep Woods.
I stood and waited for a couple of minutes, but nothing
much happened. Somehow, I wasn't reassured. Being lost
in the Enchanted Forest is not conducive to peace of mind.
There wasn't really anything I could do about it, though.
After a while I started walking, feeling considerably less
adventurous and considerably more scared.
I walked for a long time. After a while I quit being scared,
at least mostly. Finally I started looking for a place to rest;
my feet hurt and I was getting very tired. I was careful,
though; I didn't want to sit on a flower that used to be
somebody important or anything like that. After about fif-
teen minutes I found a spot that looked all right, and I started
to sit down. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten I was wearing the
sword; it got tangled up in my legs and I sort of fell over.
Somebody giggled. I looked around and didn't see any-
one, so I decided to get untangled first. I straightened my
8 Patricia C. Wrede
legs out and sat up, making sure the swordbelt was out of
the way this time. Then I took a second look around. I still
didn't see anyone, but the same somebody giggled again.
"Sir or madam or—" I stopped. What was the proper
honorific for something that wasn't male or female? I was
pretty sure there was one, but I couldn't remember it.
"Oh, don't bother," said a high squeaking voice. "I never
cared much for all that fancy stuff."
I still didn't see anyone. "Forgive my stupidity, but I
can't seem to find where you are," I said.
The giggle came again. "Down here, silly."
I looked down and jumped. A little gold lizard was sitting
right next to my hand. He was about twice as long as my
middle finger, and half of that was tail. "Hey, watch it!"
he said. "You might hurt someone if you keep jumping
around like that. Me, for instance. You big people are so
careless."
"I'm very sorry," I said politely.
The lizard lifted his head. "You are? Yes, you are! How
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amazing. Who are you, anyway?"
"My name is Daystar," I said, bowing slightly. It was a
little awkward from a sitting position, but I managed. Being
polite to a lizard felt peculiar, but there are only two rules
of behavior in the Enchanted Forest: Don't take anything
for granted, and be polite to everyone. That's if you don't
live there; the inhabitants have their own codes, which it's
better not to ask about.
"You're Daystar?" The lizard did something very tangled
very quickly and ended up balanced on his tail. "So you
are! Well, my goodness. I hadn't expected to see you around
here for a while yet."
"You were expecting me?"
"Of course." The lizard looked smug. "I know everything
that goes on in the Enchanted Forest. Absolutely everything!
I know you from your little forays in the Outer Forest; it
was only a matter of time before you got this far. I thought
it would take longer, though. I'm Suz, by the way."
"Pleased to meet you," I said.
"You are?" The lizard leaned forward and almost lost
his balance. "Yes, you really are! How positively extraor-
Talking to Dragons 9
dinary. Whatever are you doing in the Enchanted Forest?"
"I don't know," I said.
"You don't know!" The lizard did a backflip and scurried
up onto a fat tree root, where he would have a better view.
He balanced on his tail again and looked at me thoughtfully.
"If you don't know what you're doing, why are you here?"
I thought for a moment. "Do you really know everything
that happens in this forest?"
"Of course I do." Suz looked offended. An offended
lizard is an interesting sight.
"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything," I said
hastily. "I just wondered if you could tell me where this
came from." I touched the sword Mother had given me.
The lizard squinted in my general direction. "What? It's
on the wrong side of you, silly; bring it over where I can
see it. If it came from the Enchanted Forest, I can tell you
about it."
I lifted the sword, sheath and all, and twisted around so
the sword was on the same side of me as Suz. The lizard
promptly fell over backward.
"Oh dear me my gracious goodness my oh," he squeaked.
"Do you know what this is?"
"I wouldn't have asked you if I knew," I said. "It's a
sword; I think it's magic."
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"It's a sword! He thinks it's magic!" Suz ran around
twice in a small circle, then did the tail-balancing trick
again. "Where did you get it?" the little lizard demanded.
"My mother gave it to me; she got it out of the Enchanted
Forest somewhere," I said. I was getting a little tired of
this. "Are you going to answer my question?"
"Your mother gave it to you. The Sword of the Sleeping
King, that everyone in the world has been looking for for
fifteen or twenty years, and your mother gave it to you."
The lizard got so agitated he fell over again. "That isn't
right. That isn't reasonable. My dear boy, that simply isn't
done! Even in the Enchanted Forest there is a proper order
for these things! Someone will have to notify Kazul im-
mediately. Oh, dear, what a stir this will cause!"
"I'm sorry; I didn't know. What's the Sword of the Sleep-
ing King?" I'd never heard of it before, which rather sur-
10 Patricia C. Wrede
prised me. After Mother made me memorize all those pages
of names and titles and peculiar weapons, I'd thought I
knew the name of every magic sword in the world. It sur-
prised Suz, too.
"You don't know?" The lizard froze in the middle of
getting back up on his tail. He looked like a golden pretzel.
"No, you don't! Oh, my. You'd better go to the castle at
once. Kazul will know what to do with you. I'd better go
there myself, right away." Suz untwisted and darted off into
the undergrowth.
"Wait!" I shouted. "What castle? Who is Kazul? And
why—"
The lizard looked back. "I don't have time for that! And
even if I did, I couldn't tell you. You have to find out
yourself; magic swords always work that way. Don't you
know anything?"
"Do you want me to recite the names of the Four Hundred
Minor Swords of Korred the Spellsmith? I know lots of
things; I just don't know about this. How do I find out?"
"Follow the sword, silly," Suz said, and disappeared
among the leaves.
I DIDN'T TRY to chase the lizard. For one thing, there wasn't
much point in it; Suz was small enough to hide practically
anywhere. For another, I didn't want to go running through
me Enchanted Forest. People get killed that way, or en-
chanted, or other unpleasant things. And besides, I wanted
to think.
I settled back against the tree and looked down at the
sword, a little unhappily. "Follow the sword," Suz had said.
But Mother had told me not to take it out unless I meant
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to use it, and I didn't flunk "following" it was the kind of
use she meant. Besides, I wasn't sure I wanted to draw a
magic sword in the middle of the Enchanted Forest, espe-
cially one I didn't know anything about. I decided to try
something else.
I stood up and looked around. Over on my right there
was a little gap in the trees, not enough to call a clearing,
just a place where me trees were farther apart. I went over
to the middle of it and stood there while I tried to unfasten
the sheath. It was a lot more complicated than it looked;
finally I had to take the whole belt off. I wrapped the belt
around the sheath and set the whole thing down in the middle
of the open space. I backed up a couple of steps and sat
11
12 Patricia C. Wrede
down on the ground with the hilt of the sword closest to
me and the end of the sheath pointing away from me.
The woods had gone very, very quiet. I didn't like that,
but I would have felt stupid if I'd gotten up and picked up
the sword without doing anything. Besides, leaving things
half-finished can be awfully dangerous. I took a deep breath
and spoke as steadily as I could.
"Sword of the Sleeping King,
I conjure thee:
By stream and starlight,
By sun and shadow,
By song and stormwind,
Show me thy tale!"
It was the simplest spell I knew; almost the only one, in
fact. It's supposed to let the spell-caster know more about
the nature of whatever object is named in the first line of
the chant. I didn't think the spell would work quite the same
way on a magic sword, but it shouldn't do any harm, and
I was hoping to find out something useful. I finished the
spell, and everything was quiet for about two heartbeats.
Fast heartbeats; I was nervous. Then the world turned over.
That's what it felt like. The ground started shaking, and
the part under the sword pushed up until it made a mound
taller than I was. I didn't have much of a chance to look at
it; I was being rolled all over the open space and trying to
grab hold of something. Then everything went dark, and I
was falling, and a huge, deep voice said solemnly, "All hail
the Bearer of the Sword!"
And then it was over. I was lying on the ground in the
Enchanted Forest, trying to dig my way through the moss.
I stopped and waited. Nothing else happened, so I sat up
and looked around. I was still sitting in the same not-quite-
a-clearing, with the sword and sheath in the middle. The
sword...
The sword was standing upright, half-buried in a knee-
high mound that hadn't been there before. The blade was
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about a handspan out of the sheath, and it glittered when
the sun got through the trees enough to hit it. I stood up
Talking to Dragons 13
and walked out. The mound was covered with moss, just
like the rest of the forest floor; it could have been there
forever. I shivered, wondering how I was going to get the
sheath out of the ground.
I put one hand on the hilt of the sword, intending to
shove it back down into the sheath. When my hand touched
the sword, my whole arm started to tingle. I jerked my hand
away and stared at the sword. It just sat there. I reached
out again, this time for the sheath.
As soon as I touched it, the sheath slid out of the ground.
The belt was still wrapped around it, and there wasn't any
dirt clinging to either of them. I touched the hilt again. It
still made my arm tingle, but this time I was ready for it,
and I shoved it back into the sheath. Then I stuffed the
swordbelt under my arm and started walking. I was sure
somebody must have noticed what had just happened, and
I didn't want to be around when they came to find out what
was going on.
I didn't stop again until midaftemoon. By then I was
hungry as well as tired; I'd forgotten to bring any food with
me, and I certainly couldn't go back for it now. I sighed
and sat down under another tree to rest and think some
more, but I didn't get much thinking done. Mostly, I stared
at the sword.
Finally, I gave up. Sitting under a tree wasn't going to
teach me anything. I stood up and buckled on the swordbelt.
As I adjusted it, my hand touched the hilt of the sword
again. Three little tingles ran up my arm before I pulled my
hand away. I looked at the sword for a moment, then shrugged
and reached for the hilt with my right hand, as if I were
going to draw it.
As soon as my hand touched the hilt, I felt the tingling.
This time I didn't let go; I concentrated on the way it felt
instead. I got three distinct impressions. One was a low,
sort of background vibration, like a kitten purring in its
sleep; one was a deep rumbling feeling; and one was a bright
buzz like a bee in a jar. Almost as soon as I figured them
out, they started to fade. In another minute they were com-
pletely gone, and they didn't come back.
I took my hand off the sword's hilt, then put it back. I
14 Patricia C. Wrede
didn't feel anything. I tried a couple more times, but what-
ever it was had stopped. I finally gave up and started walking
again. I wasn't getting anywhere trying to figure out the
sword, and I had to find somewhere to spend the night.
At least I didn't have to worry about giants; they live
farther east, by the Mountains of Morning. It occurred to
me suddenly that I didn't know where I was; I might be in
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the Mountains of Morning for all I knew. It wasn't a par-
ticularly cheerful thought. I started walking more quietly.
I'd been walking for nearly half an hour when I realized
that I knew where I was going. Unfortunately, I didn't know
where I'd be when I got there. It was very odd, and I was
a little uneasy until I realized that I didn't have to go that
direction. I could just as easily turn around and walk the
other way, or go sideways. In fact, I did for a while, just
to prove I could.
After that I felt better, so I stopped avoiding whatever
it was and. started walking toward it again. I wasn't going
to get anywhere if I kept avoiding things; I might miss
something important. Besides, there isn't any way you can
avoid everything in the Enchanted Forest. This way, at least
I knew something was coming.
I was still walking very quietly when I heard the noises;
it sounded like somebody crying. I headed toward the sound,
wondering what I was getting myself into. You can't just
ignore something like that, especially in the Enchanted For-
est. On the other hand... I stopped, staring at a thick,
prickly hedge. It was taller than my head, and impossible
to see through, much less shove through. The crying was
coming from the other side.
I bent over. The bushes were much too close together
for me to crawl through them. I could make out sunlight
and long red hair and a brown tunic on the other side, but
not much else. I stood up and walked to one side, looking
for a thin spot in the hedge. It wasn't long before I realized
I was going in a circle. Terrific, I thought. I bet it goes all
the way around without breaking. I kept walking anyway,
just in case.
It didn't take long to make the full circle. I bent over
and peered through the bushes again. Suz might be able to
Talking to Dragons 15
get through, but I never would. I stood up and tapped lightly
on the outside of the bushes.
"Excuse me, please, but would you mind letting me
through?" I said as politely as I could.
The bushes rustled and pulled apart. I stared at them for
a minute; I hadn't really thought it would work. The bushes
rustled again; somehow they managed to sound impatient.
"Ah, thank you very much," I said, and stepped through.
The hedge closed behind me with a prim swish, and I
looked around. The inside of the hedge was a circular clear-
ing full of sunlight and the feel of magic. A red-haired girl
in a brown tunic was lying at one side of the clearing; she
sat up as I came in, and her face was tearstained.
"Who are you?" she demanded fiercely as soon as she
saw me. "And what do you want?" She looked about my
age, but I never was very good at guessing how old people
are.
file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/...0Forest%201%20-%20Talking%20to%20Dragons.txt (10 of 165) [2/24/2004 10:59:46 PM]
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file:///D|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Desktop/New%20Folder...de%20-%20Enchanted%20Forest%201%20-%20Talking%20to%20Dragons.txtTalkingtoDragonsPatriciaC.WredeCopyright1985byPatriciaC.Wrede1MOTHERTAUGHTMEtobepolitetodragons.Particularlypolite,Imean;shetaughtmetobeordinarypolitetoevery-one.Well,i...

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