Dealing with Dragons - Wrede Patricia Collins - Страница 16

"I thought the dragons let wizards into the Caves of Fire and Night," Cimorene objected. "Why would Zemenar be poking through history books looking for information if he can just go and look at them whenever he wants to?"

"We don't let wizards visit the caves whenever they want," Kazul said.

"If we did, they'd be running in and out all the time, and nobody would be able to breathe without sneezing. No, they're limited to certain days and times, and if they want to visit the Caves of Fire and Night otherwise, they have to use one of the entrances we don't control. Few of them try. The other ways of getting into the caves are very dangerous, even for wizards."

"Maybe they're looking for an easier way in."

"Mmm." Kazul did not seem to be paying much attention. She thought for a moment, then turned toward the cave mouth. "I'm going to go see Gaurim. Roxim said a book had been stolen from her library, and I want to know which one. I'll be back in a few hours."

"I think I'll go look at the Historia Dracorum again while you're gone," Cimorene said thoughtfully. "If there is something useful in it about the Caves of Fire and Night, maybe I can find it, now that I know what I'm looking for."

Cimorene spent the rest of the afternoon carefully translating the chapter that talked about the caves. She was disappointed to find that there was very little about the caves themselves, though what was there was interesting.

The book told how the dragons had discovered the back way into the caves and described some of the things they had found in them-caverns full of blue and green fire, pools of black liquid that would cast a cloud of darkness for twenty miles around if you poured three drops on the ground, walls made of crystal that multiplied every sound a thousandfold, rocks that spurted fire when they were broken. Most of the rest of the chapter was about Colin's Stone, and how it was taken out of the caves by the first King of the Dragons.

Kazul returned just before dinner, and she and Cimorene compared notes. Cimorene told Kazul what she had learned from the chapter on the Caves of Fire and Night, and then Kazul explained what she had learned from Gaurim.

"The stolen book was The Kings of the Dragons, and the entire first section was about Colin's Stone and the Caves of Fire and Night," Kazul said. "And only a wizard could have gotten past the spells and safeguards Gaurim puts on her library. I think that settles it. The wizards are definitely collecting information about the Caves of Fire and Night."

"Then why do they keep looking at books of dragon history?"

Cimorene asked. "It seems like a roundabout way of finding out whatever it is that they want to know."

"There isn't any other way to do it," Kazul said. "Nobody but dragons has ever had much to do with the caves, and no one has written much about them except in dragon histories. Even the wizards weren't particularly interested in them until a few years ago, except as a reliable route into the Enchanted Forest."

"But from what I've been reading in the Historia Dracorum, the caves sound fascinating," Cimorene said. "You mean to say that no one has ever written anything about the Caves of Fire and Night except dragons?"

"That's-" Kazul stopped suddenly, and her eyes narrowed. "No, that's not right. There was a rather rumpled scholar who talked his way into the caves a century or so back, and after he left he wrote an extremely dry book about what he found there. I'd forgotten about him."

"Do you have a copy?" Cimorene asked hopefully.

"No," Kazul said. "But I don't think the Society of Wizards does, either. There weren't very many of them printed, and a lot of those were lost in a flood a few years later. Some hero or other shoved a giant into a lake to drown him. The silly clunch didn't realize that if he put something that big into a lake, the water would have to go somewhere."

"Well, that doesn't do us much good," Cimorene said. "It's nice that the Society of Wizards doesn't have a copy of that book, but if we can't get hold of one either-" "I didn't say that," Kazul said. "I don't have a copy myself, but I know who does."

"Who?" Cimorene said impatiently.

"Morwen. I'm afraid you're not going to be able to work on that fireproofing spell of yours tomorrow. We're going to take a trip to the Enchanted Forest instead."

7

In Which Cimorene and Kazul Make a Journey Underground

Cimorene was surprised to hear that Kazul intended to take her along on the visit to Morwen, and she was not entirely sure she liked the idea.

She had heard a great deal about the Enchanted Forest, and none of it was reassuring. People who traveled there were always getting changed into flowers or trees or animals or rocks, or doing something careless and having their heads turned backward, or being carried off by ogres or giants or trolls, or enchanted by witches or wicked fairies. It did not sound like a good place for a casual, pleasant visit.

On the other hand, it seemed unlikely that anything dreadful would happen to Cimorene if she were traveling with a dragon, and she was looking forward to seeing Morwen again. Besides, Cimorene was curious.

"And anyway," she said to herself, "Kazul says I'm going, and there's no point in worrying about it if I don't have any choice."

Nevertheless, she decided to take one of the smaller magic swords along with her, if Kazul said it was all right. Cimorene saw no point in taking unnecessary chances.

Kazul had no objection, so Cimorene picked out a small, plain-looking sword in a worn leather scabbard that made the wearer invincible, and they started off. Cimorene had assumed that Kazul would fly through the pass, but Kazul said no.

"It's not that easy to get into the Enchanted Forest," she explained.

"At least, not if you're trying to get in. Princes and youngest sons and particularly clever tailors stumble into it by accident all the time, but if one wants to go there on purpose, one has to follow the proper route."

"I didn't think dragons had that kind of problem," Cimorene said.

"Dragons don't," Kazul replied. "But you're not a dragon."

So instead of flying through the Pass of Silver Ice, Kazul led Cimorene through the runnels. Cimorene had to walk very quickly to keep up, even though Kazul was moving slowly. It was not long before she was wishing that the runnels were high enough for her to ride on Kazul's back. The route twisted around and up and back and forth and down and around again until Cimorene was thoroughly lost. Finally they came to a gate made of iron bars that completely blocked the passage. Cimorene studied it carefully, but she could see no sign of a handle or a lock.

"This is the entrance to the Caves of Fire and Night," Kazul said. "Be careful from here on, and don't wander away or you'll get lost."

Cimorene refrained from saying that as far as she was concerned, they were lost already. "How are you going to open it?" she asked instead.

"Like this," said Kazul.

'By night and flame and shining rock Open thou they hidden lock.

Alberolingarn!"

As the sound of Kazul's voice died away, the iron gate swung silently open. "That's a very unusual opening spell," Cimorene commented, impressed.

"It wasn't always that complicated," Kazul said. She sounded almost apologetic. "I believe the first version was very simple, just 'Open sesame,' but word got around and we had to change it."

Cimorene nodded and followed Kazul through the gate and into the Caves of Fire and Night. For the first hundred yards or so, the only difference Cimorene could see between these caves and the ordinary runnels on the other side of the gate was that the Caves of Fire and Night were warmer.

Then, very suddenly, her lamp went out, plunging everything into complete and utter blackness.