It was touchy work, for the invisible strands were thin and fragile, and he knew that if he missed even one he would have to begin all over again.
The task took a lot of concentration, for the sword accepted the threads with great reluctance. He was not at all sure he would have the strength to do it twice, so he worked with painstaking slowness.
When he was halfway through, the saplings began to shrink. Slowly at first, then faster and faster, the little trees grew shorter and more slender, until they disappeared into the green fuzz. For a moment, nothing more seemed to happen. Then the circle of green began to shrink. Like a drop of water being sucked up by a napkin, the green edge drew back toward the sword, leaving bare rock behind. In a moment, the retreating border was out of sight beneath the carpet.
Mendanbar continued feeding magic into the sword. There were only a few threads left, and he slowed down even more. A puddle the size of a wagon wheel was all that was left of the original circle. It shrank to the size of a dinner plate, then a pancake, then a penny. Then it was gone.
For a heartbeat longer, Mendanbar held his position, checking to be certain he had not missed anything. Finally he let go of the end of the spell and lifted the point of the sword from the ground. He felt much better than he had when he began. He looked up and smiled at Cimorene.
'That was extremely interesting,' Cimorene said. She eyed the bare ground around the carpet. 'Is that all of it?'
'I think so. Why?'
'Because if we don't want to spend the night here, we're going to have to leave quickly. It'll be getting dark soon.' Cimorene paused, then added, 'You'd better put that sword away. It's dripping magic again.'
'Sorry,' Mendanbar said. 'Why don't we-' With a rattle of small stones and a vicious hiss, a long, gray- black snake shot out of a crevice at the top of the nearest cliff and dropped toward Cimorene. Mendanbar jerked his sword up and sent a crackling bolt of power to meet the serpent. The hiss became a choking gurgle as the snake flared into a bright line of fire and disintegrated. Flakes of ash drifted the last few feet to fall around Mendanbar and Cimorene.
Three more snakes launched themselves from parts of the cliff, and another slithered from behind a boulder. From the corner of his eye, Mendanbar saw Cimorene yank her sword out of its sheath. He hoped briefly and intensely that she was good at fighting, and then he had no time or attention for anything except the snakes.
A second blast of magic disposed of two of the three in the air, and a single sword-stroke chopped the third in half. By then four new snakes were in the air, and Mendanbar could hear more hissing on all sides.
He sent another spell skyward, and another, then swung at two snakes that had leaped from a crack barely shoulder-high above the ground.
After that he lost track of how many he burned or blasted. He had no time for anything but fighting. He swung his sword until his arms were tired and his head hurt from concentration and spell-casting. And then, suddenly, there were no more snakes.
The ground was dusted with ashes and littered with pieces of snakes, and the air smelled of charred meat. Slowly, Mendanbar lowered his sword.
A few paces away, Cimorene was straightening up from a fighter's crouch with the same wary hesitation. Her sword was covered with dark blood, and there were quite a lot of dead snakes around her.
'Oh, wonderful,' Mendanbar said with heartfelt sincerity. 'I was hoping you were good with a sword.'
'You aren't bad with one yourself,' Cimorene replied a little breathlessly.
'It's a magic sword,' Mendanbar reminded her, but he felt absurdly pleased nonetheless.
Cimorene grinned. 'So is mine. I know a little about fencing, but not enough to do me any good against most of the things in the Mountains of Morning. That's why Kazul lets me carry this.' She lifted her sword, and a drop of snake blood fell from the tip. She frowned and began fishing in her pockets with her free hand. 'It's supposed to make the bearer impossible to defeat.'
'Sounds good to me,' Mendanbar said, looking at the bits of snake near Cimorene's feet. 'What's the catch?'
'Getting killed isn't the same as being defeated,' Cimorene said. She pulled a handkerchief from a pocket, smiled, and began cleaning the sword with it. 'Not always, anyway. And it doesn't keep you from getting hurt, either. So I still have to be careful. Do you want to use this?' She held out the stained handkerchief.
'Thank you,' Mendanbar said, taking the square of cloth. He wiped his sword carefully, resheathed it, and hesitated. 'Do you want it back? I'm afraid it's ruined.'
'That's all right,' Cimorene said. 'I always carry one or two extras.'
She retrieved the handkerchief, grimaced, and tied it into a tight bundle, which she stowed in her belt pouch. 'There. Now, let's get out of here.'
'Why such a hurry?'
'We still have to rescue Kazul. And besides-do you want to fight more rock snakes?' Cimorene asked. 'That's what we'll be doing if we stay.
We've cleaned out this part pretty well, but there's sure to be several other colonies around.' She pointed at a dark ridge a couple of hundred feet farther on. 'There, for instance. Or there.' She gestured in the opposite direction, at a wrinkled cliff.
'I don't see how we can get past them on foot,' Mendanbar said, frowning.
'Well, we can't stay here. They'll slither over as soon as the last of the light goes. We'll have to take the carpet.'
'I wouldn't recommend it,' said a new voice.
Together, Mendanbar and Cimorene turned. The voice belonged to a dark-haired man who stood calmly next to the magic carpet, watching them with interest. He was several inches shorter than Mendanbar, with bright blue eyes and a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. He wore tall black boots, dark gray leggings, a loose-sleeved, high-necked shirt in pale gray, and an open knee-length black vest covered with pockets of all shapes and sizes. Under the vest, his wide black belt was hung with strangely shaped pouches and sheaths. The air around him crackled with magic.
'Who are you?' Cimorene asked. 'And why don't you want us to use the carpet?'
'My name is Telemain,' said the man, bowing, 'and I have a considerable familiarity with the basic mechanics of carpets. Magic ones, that is.
And this carpet'-he gestured left-handed, and three silver rings glinted in the fading light-'is plainly defective.'
'Defective?' Mendanbar said suspiciously. Telemain didn't look like a wizard, but that didn't necessarily mean much. Wizards could wear disguises as well as anyone else.
'Oh, it will probably operate, after a fashion,' Telemain said. 'But not well, and not for long. I'm surprised you got this far on it.'
'We didn't, exactly,' Mendanbar said. 'And we have had some trouble with it. What do you suggest?'
The sound of a pebble bouncing down a series of rocks echoed along the narrow canyon. 'I suggest we talk somewhere else,' Telemain said, glancing toward the sound. 'This isn't a safe place, even with my defensive enchantments fully erected.'
'And how do you suggest we get there?' Cimorene asked.
'Like this.' Telemain raised a hand and made a circle in the air with his forefinger. As he did, he muttered something, then clapped both hands together.
The canyon flowed and melted into a sloping meadow halfway up a mountainside. 'Much better,' Telemain said. 'No rock snakes, trolls, ogres, or other dangerous wildlife. I guarantee it.'
Mendanbar was inclined to believe him. Trolls and ogres liked places where they could jump out from behind things or pop out from under rocks. An open meadow didn't have enough cover. Besides, Telemain was no longer surrounded by the hum of magic, which meant he had dropped his guarding spell.
'Now,' Telemain went on, 'how did the two of you get into a ravine full of rock snakes with a defective magic carpet? Having rescued you, I think I am entitled to some explanation.'
'We were on our way to the Enchanted Forest ,' Cimorene said carefully, pushing wisps of loose hair out
