Patricia C. Wrede - Enchanted Forest 1 - Talking to Dragons.pdf - Patricia C. Wrede - margozap

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Talking to Dragons

Patricia C. Wrede

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

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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