'It's impressive,' the wizard said, moving nearer. 'But with a spell this new, how can you be positive-Say, what's that?'
At their companion's change in tone, the wizards' heads swiveled to look at Kazul. For a frozen moment, no one spoke. Then a wizard at the back said, 'It's a cat.'
Mendanbar glanced sideways in time to see Morwen shake her head and take a firmer grip on her bucket of soapy water. He grimaced. They had only six buckets of soapy water among them, and there were already eleven wizards in the cave. If it came to a fight, they would be badly outnumbered.
'How did a cat get inside the shield?' another wizard asked. 'It wasn't there yesterday.'
'It wasn't there a few hours ago,' Dizenel said. 'Where did it come from?'
'Spread out and search the cave,' Zemenar commanded, rising. 'And bring in the dragonsbane. Someone's snooping.'
The wizards fanned out across the cavern and started toward the forest of pillars. There was no way Mendanbar and the others could get away without being seen, even if they had been willing to abandon Kazul to her fate. Mendanbar drew his sword. Soapy water or not, he felt better with a weapon in his hand.
As the first wizard reached the pillars, he jerked in surprise, then raised his staff. Before he could release whatever spell he had planned, a shower of soapy water drenched him from head to foot. The wizard shrieked loudly.
'Blast you six ways from next Wednesday!' he shouted as he began to melt. 'This is the second time you've liquefied me! May you and your pet dragon and your triple-cursed wash water turn purple with orange spots and fall down a bottomless pit!'
The other wizards stopped in their tracks. 'It's Cimorene!' one of them said nervously.
'That's Princess Cimorene, to you,' Cimorene said, stepping out from behind a pillar. She held her second bucket in plain sight, ready to throw.
'Stay back,' Zemenar ordered. 'Blast her from a distance.'
'Cowards!' Cimorene taunted, and ducked behind another of the stone columns. 'Come and get me!'
It wasn't going to work, Mendanbar told himself, taking a firmer grip on his sword. Zemenar was too clever to let his wizards chase Cimorene into the maze of stone. They would stay at a safe distance and throw bolts of power into the pillars until they destroyed the maze or killed everyone in it, or both.
Three more wizards came running in. Zemenar stopped them with a gesture. The rest of the wizards backed away from the pillars and lined up across the width of the cave.
'Now, then,' the Head Wizard said, lifting his staff and pointing it at the pillar Cimorene had ducked behind. 'Take this.'
Mendanbar felt magic swell around the end of the staff. An instant later, before he had time to reach for the magic himself, the spell shot forward and exploded, shattering the pillar and sending chips of rock flying in all directions.
'Ow!' Cimorene's voice cried from somewhere in the shadows.
Without thinking, Mendanbar stepped out from behind his pillar, bucket in one hand, sword in the other, into full view of the wizards. 'Over here!' he called. If he could distract them for a minute or two, perhaps Cimorene could get safely behind another column.
'Mendanbar!' For an instant, Zemenar looked thoroughly startled.
Then he smiled nastily. 'How nice to see you. I've been hoping you would turn up, so we could finish this little business at last.'
As he spoke, Zemenar stepped forward and shifted his staff to point at Mendanbar. Mendanbar raised his sword and stayed where he was. He felt magic building around the staff once more and decided not to wait to find out what Zemenar intended it to become. Instead, he reached out through the sword and touched the wizard's spell, the same way he touched the magic threads of the Enchanted Forest.
It was much easier to do here than it had been in the Mountains of Morning. The sword sopped up the spell in an instant. Mendanbar could sense the channels of power Zemenar had been using to feed his spell, and he touched those, too, and pulled. The sword obligingly drank them in.
'What are you doing?' Zemenar cried in astonishment, lowering his staff. His hair stood out around his head, as wild and tangled as the magical mess he'd left on the floor of Mendanbar's castle.
'I'm stopping you,' Mendanbar said. His whole arm tingled with the power the sword had absorbed. If he could just think of the right thing to do with it…
'And a good thing, too,' Morwen said from several pillars over.
'You're too greedy for your own good, or anyone else's, for that matter.'
'I am not greedy,' Zemenar protested angrily. 'I have every right to-' 'You're greedy, all right,' Cimorene said from just behind Mendanbar.
'And you wouldn't know what to do with all the power you want even if you got it. Just look at you! Your hair's like a bird's nest.'
Zemenar scowled. Mendanbar stared at him without really seeing him, trying to remember why Cimorene's words sounded familiar.
'The gargoyle!' he said suddenly. 'Why didn't I think of that before?'
'What gargoyle?' one of the wizards asked.
'Never mind him,' Zemenar said. 'He's only trying to distract us. All together, now: blast them?'
The line of wizards raised their staffs. Mendanbar grinned and twisted the mass of power in the sword, just as he had done two days earlier when he had grown tired of the gargoyle's complaints. Soapy water spurted out of the empty air in front of the wizards in a hard, fast stream, as if it were being pumped through an invisible hose. The foaming spray washed over the entire line, thoroughly soaking them all.
Puddles grew rapidly on the stones underfoot, and wizards shouted and slid on the suddenly slippery floor.
Several of them dropped their staffs to rub at their eyes, which had apparently gotten soap in them. None of them melted.
Mendanbar felt a moment of panic. He'd been sure that his magically created soapy water would work just as well as the buckets they had hauled with them from the castle, but it didn't seem to be doing anything. The wizards would get themselves together any minute, and what would he do then?
'Did you remember the lemon juice?' Cimorene said in his ear.
'Oh, right,' said Mendanbar. He twisted the power again, and another spray of soapy water (this time smelling strongly of lemon) squirted over the wizards. To Mendanbar's considerable relief, they collapsed into gooey puddles, one after another. In another moment, there were no wizards left in the cave at all, only staffs, soggy robes, and a great deal of water and soapsuds.
Mendanbar studied the puddles, then set his bucket of soapy water on the ground. It didn't look as if he'd be needing it anymore. He kept his sword out, however, since he didn't know how many more wizards might still be outside.
'Fascinating,' said Telemain. He moved forward and knelt at the edge of a puddle. 'This mess appears to be mainly the liquefying agent.'
'It does?' Cimorene asked.
'He means it's mostly soapy water,' Mendanbar said.
'And a good thing, too, or it would take forever to clean up,' Morwen said. 'Wizards are a nuisance even when they're gone.'
'It's a pity it isn't permanent,' Cimorene said. 'I'd like to get rid of that Zemenar once and for all.'
'Removing their staffs will delay their reappearance,' Telemain said.
'I suggest we do so before we leave.'
'Good idea,' Morwen said. She picked her way between puddles and began collecting the wizards' staffs. Telemain went back to studying the puddle.
Cimorene turned to Mendanbar. 'Now, if Kazul can just-oh, no!'
Mendanbar followed Cimorene's gaze. The glowing, golden shield spell still blocked half of the cavern, imprisoning Kazul.
There was a long silence. Then Cimorene said, 'Telemain, were those wizards right when they said they
