Talking to Dragons - Wrede Patricia Collins - Страница 24

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."

"What does that have to do with us?" I asked.

"If i knew that, I wouldn't have to follow you," the elf said reasonably.

"But the Darkmorning Elves have been very active in this part of the woods for the past few days, and we thought it might be you they were interested in. And of course, if they're interested, so are we."

"Who do you mean by 'we'?" I said.

"The Goldwing-Shadowmusic Elves," Janril said with a touch of pride.

"We are on the side of the King, even if he is missing right now. We follow the sword."

"What does that mean?" Shiara demanded. "And how many kinds of elves are there?"

"Quite a few," said Janril. "But the only ones you have to watch out for are the Darkmorning Elves and the Silverstaff Elves. Fortunately, the Silverstaff Elves don't know the sword is back yet, but I doubt that your luck will hold much longer."

"How do you know these Silverstaff Elves don't know about Daystar's sword?" Shiara asked.

"My dear girl, if they did, you'd have wizards all over the place. The Silverstaff Elves are in league with them. Undiscriminating, that's all I can call it."Janril looked prim. A prim elf is almost as odd looking as a dignified lizard. I found myself wishing Suz were still around so I could compare them.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Shiara said.

"I suppose you don't," the elf said cheenqally. "But it doesn't really matter. We'll still be glad to help you."

Shiara snorted. "The last elf who said he was going to help us almost got Daystar killed."

"I'm sorry about that," Janril said politely. "But I simply can't take responsibility for the Darkmorning Elves. Now, I must be going; I have to let the rest of the Goldwing-Shadowmusic Elves know what's going on.

We'll see you at the castle."

'Just a minute!" Shiara said. "What makes you think we're going to let you go?"

"Can you think of anything else we could do with him?" I said.

"I could eat him, I suppose," the dragon said dubiously. "I don't think I want to, though. Elves don't taste very good."