were the only ones who could take down that spell?'
'What's that?' Telemain said, looking up. 'Really, must you interrupt so constantly? I'm never going to get anything finished at this rate.'
'But think of all the interesting things you're finding out,' Mendanbar said. Kazul's shield, for instance. Have you ever seen anything like it before?'
'Now that you mention it, no,' Telemain replied, scrambling to his feet. 'Let me look at it.'
'That was the idea,' Cimorene muttered.
They all watched while Telemain examined the shield. He walked from one end to the other, then put a hand gingerly against the glow and pushed.
When nothing seemed to happen, he twisted one of his rings twice and touched it to the glow.
'Can you get rid of it?' Cimorene asked.
'I don't know yet,' Telemain said. 'I'm still checking the parameters of the primary enchantment.'
'Oh.'
The magician twisted a different ring and touched it to the glow. This time there was a spark. 'Ah!' Telemain said in a satisfied tone. 'I suspected as much.'
'Well, are you going to tell us about it?' Morwen said as she dropped a load of wizards' staffs in a pile against the wall.
'It's a self-sustaining barrier produced by a recirculation of the initial power input,' Telemain explained. 'Because of the rotation effect, most physical substances cannot pass through the shield in either direction. Unlike the majority of spells, this one needs no exterior energy source, so the usual procedures for dismantling such sorceries would be completely ineffective.'
'What does that mean?' Cimorene demanded.
'The spell keeps itself up, we can't get in or out, and we don't have any way of getting rid of it,' Mendanbar translated.
'Then how did the cat get in?' Cimorene asked, pointing at Morwen's large silver-and-cream cat, which had climbed onto Kazul's back and lay curled up between her wings.
'Cats are like that,' Morwen said. 'When he comes out, I'll ask him how he did it, if you want me to, but don't expect too much in the way of an answer. Cats enjoy being mysterious.'
'I don't care what they enjoy,' Cimorene said. 'We have to get Kazul out of there, and if that cat can help-' 'It is unlikely,' Telemain interrupted, stepping back from the glow.
'The cat's method of moving through the barrier is, in all probability, useless to anyone else. Fortunately, we have other resources.'
'We do?'
Telemain looked at Mendanbar. 'While I have not had a chance to make a thorough and complete examination of that extremely intriguing weapon you carry, I have observed enough to determine that its function is fundamentally antithetical to wizards and their magic. A straightforward penetration appears quite possible and would disrupt the recirculation effect, resulting in the collapse of the self-sustaining mechanism.'
'What?' said Cimorene.
'Really, Telemain, must you?' said Morwen.
'Right,' said Mendanbar. He took three steps forward and stuck his sword into the glowing spell.
A jolt of power ran up his arm and the globe of light flashed brighter than the sun. Mendanbar's eyes were dazzled by the flare, so he couldn't see anything except purple spots, but he heard a loud roar, the angry hiss of a cat, and the sound of scales on stone, so he was sure the barrier was gone.
'Kazul,' Cimorene called from behind him. 'It's all right. It's not wizards, it's us.'
'And about time,' a deep, unfamiliar voice said. 'Hello, Cimorene, Morwen. It's nice to see you again. Who are these others?'
'This is Mendanbar, the King of the Enchanted Forest,' Cimorene answered, and Mendanbar felt her hand on his shoulder. 'He's the one who let you out. Over there is Telemain. He's a magician, and he figured out how to do it.'
'Greetings, Your Majesty,' Mendanbar said, blinking. The purple spots began to fade at last, and he found himself staring into the green-gold eyes of an enormous female dragon. He only just managed to keep himself from backing up automatically. 'Pleased to meet you.'
'Under the circumstances, most definitely so am I,' said the dragon with a smile that showed a large number of sharp-looking silver teeth.
'How did you manage it?'
'Weren't you watching?' Cimorene asked.
'Watching what?' Kazul replied. 'I couldn't see a thing except what was inside that blasted bubble with me.'
'We could see you.'
'The shielding spell was unidirectional,' Telemain put in. 'The external absorptive effect would enhance its efficiency.'
Kazul gave Telemain a hard look and smiled again, this time showing a//of her teeth. 'What was that again?'
Telemain looked at Kazul. Then he looked at Mendanbar. He frowned in concentration, and finally he said carefully, 'The shield was a one-way spell. It soaked up everything that tried to get in from outside and used the energy to make itself stronger.'
'Very good,' Morwen said. 'I was beginning to think you were hopeless.'
'I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about,' Telemain said A yowl of complaint made them all turn their heads. The cream-and-silver cat was standing at the edge of the wet, soapy, lemon-scented area where the wizards had melted, shaking his front paws one at a time and eying the water with extreme disfavor.
'Too bad,' Morwen told the cat. 'If you hadn't sneaked in and attracted their attention, Mendanbar might not have had to be quite so extravagant with the spray. You'll have to get across it by yourself.
Where's Chaos?'
The cat blinked disdainfully and began washing his right paw. Kazul snorted softly. 'If you want a ride, climb up,' she told the cat.
'But you'd better hurry, because I'm leaving now.'
Kazul rose to her feet, shaking her wings. The cat looked up from his washing, then took two bounds and leaped from the top of a projecting rock. He disappeared behind Kazul's shoulder, and there was a brief sound of claws scraping against scales. Then the cat appeared on Kazul's back, riding comfortably between the dragon's wings and looking tremendously pleased with himself.
'Wait a minute,' Mendanbar said as the dragon started toward the other end of the cave. 'There may be more wizards out there.'
'Good,' said Kazul without slowing down at all. 'Four days is a long time to spend inside a blank bubble, and I owe them one. Besides, I'm hungry.'
'I should think so!' Cimorene said, following the dragon. 'Didn't they give you anything to eat?'
'No, and I wouldn't have taken it if they had,' Kazul said. Her voice became muffled as her head turned the corner at the far end of the cave.
'For all I knew, those mumble mumble could have mumble dragonsbane in everything. I mumble mumble end up like Tokoz.'
'But if there are more wizards-,' Mendanbar began, then gave up and hurried after Cimorene. Clearly, neither she nor Kazul was going to listen to him, and if there were more wizards outside it would be better if he-and his sword-were there to help.
17
In Which Mendanbar Grows Some Trees and Makes a Wicked Suggestion
There were, however, no wizards outside the cave. There was only an enormous stretch of barren land
