He paused. 'At least, I presume he is unexpected.'
'Don't frown at me like that,' Mendanbar said. 'I certainly didn't expect anyone. If I had, I'd have told you.'
'So I had assumed,' Willin said, relaxing a little more. 'And since Your Majesty is not forgetful, in the normal way of things, I felt sure you would not have, ah, left the palace so precipitously if you had had an appointment.'
'Who is it?' Mendanbar asked. 'Not another complaint from the Darkmorning Elves, I hope? If it is, you can tell them I won't see them. I've had enough of their whining, and I've got more important things to attend to right now.'
'No,' Willin said. 'It's Zemenar, the Head Wizard of the Society of Wizards.'
'Oh, lord,' Mendanbar said. He had only met the Head Wizard once before, at his coronation three years earlier, and he hadn't liked the man much then. Still, the Society of Wizards was a powerful group, and its members were not the sort of people it was a good idea to offend.
He ran a hand distractedly through his hair. 'How long has he been waiting? What does he want?'
'He's only been here for a few minutes,' Willin reassured him. The elf frown returned. 'He refused to tell me his business, Your Majesty. He said it was a matter for Your Majesty's ears alone.'
'He would,' Mendanbar muttered. 'As I recall, he's got an exaggerated idea of his own importance.'
'Your Majesty?' said Willin, clearly shocked by such plain speaking.
'-e certainly thinks so,' Mendanbar said. 'Oh, don't worry, I won't say anything improper when I'm talking to him. Where is he?'
'I asked him to wait in the main audience chamber.'
'Good. I'll go see what he wants. You take these down to the kitchen.'
Mendanbar handed Morwen's jugs of cider to Willin. The elf blinked in puzzled surprise. Before Willin had time to collect himself, Mendanbar grabbed a handful of magic and twisted hard.
The courtyard faded into white mist. An instant later, the mist evaporated, leaving Mendanbar standing in the middle of his study. The wooden gargoyle in the corner immediately began shouting at him.
'You! You've got a lot of nerve, waltzing in as if nothing's happened.
I bet you thought that trick with the soapy water was funny! You'll be sorry for it when the wood up here starts to rot from the damp, you wait and see.'
'That's why you're there,' Mendanbar said as he set the book Morwen had given him on the desk. 'You're supposed to let us know if the wood starts to go bad or gets termites, so we can fix it before the castle falls apart.'
'And look at the thanks I get,' the gargoyle complained. 'Water in my ears and soap in my eyes. How do you expect me to do my job if I can't see?'
Mendanbar listened with half an ear while he rummaged through the desk.
The gold circlet he wore for official business was in the bottom drawer under a pile of old envelopes and out-of-date invitations to balls, dinners, birthday parties, cricket games, and teas. As he put the circlet on, Mendanbar frowned at the drawer, wondering why he was saving all that useless paper. He resolved for the hundredth time that week to clean everything out someday soon, shoved the drawer closed, and glanced around to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything.
'Are you listening to me?' the gargoyle yelled.
'Of course not,' Mendanbar said. 'I never do when you're being insulting.
'Insulting? You want insulting? I'll give you insulting. You always dress funny! You've got feet like an elephant! Your nose is too big and your ears stick out!'
'Not much, compared to yours,' said Mendanbar cheerfully as he crossed to the door. 'Stop grousing; if you can see my nose from up where you are, there's nothing wrong with your eyes.'
'Your hair is a bird's nest!' the gargoyle shouted just before the door closed behind Mendanbar. 'A bird's nest, do you hear me?'
Mendanbar rolled his eyes and headed down the corridor toward the main audience chamber. He supposed he would have to apologize to the gargoyle sooner or later, unless he could figure out a way to muffle the noise while he worked. Maybe he could enchant a pair of earplugs to keep out the gargoyle's voice and nothing else. A spell that specific would be tricky, but it would be worth it just to see the gargoyle's face when it realized Mendanbar didn't mind its chatter.
Mendanbar smiled and pushed open the rear door of the audience chamber.
Zemenar turned as Mendanbar entered, and the blue and gray robes he wore flared out around him. His face was just as sharp and angular as Mendanbar remembered. Giving Mendanbar a long, appraising look, Zemenar bowed his head in greeting. 'Your Majesty.'
'Welcome, Head Wizard,' Mendanbar said, bowing slightly in return.
Something tugged gently at his mind, distracting him. The strands of magic, which were always particularly plentiful inside the castle, were drifting slowly toward the staff Zemenar carried. In another minute or two, they would begin winding around Zemenar's staff like thread winding onto a spool. Before long, the wizard's staff would absorb them, leaving a tangled knot in the orderly net of magic, and Mendanbar would have to spend hours straightening it out later.
It happened every time a wizard came to the Enchanted Forest, and it was very inconvenient. Mendanbar had gotten tired of asking wizards to keep their staffs from soaking up magic. They hardly ever understood what he was talking about, and if he did manage to make it clear, they generally got upset and indignant. He didn't want to upset the Head Wizard of the Society of Wizards, but he didn't want to spend his afternoon cleaning up a magical mess in the middle of his castle, either. He reached out with a mental hand and nudged the invisible cords away from the staff.
Zemenar did not seem to notice. 'I have come to see you about a matter of much urgency to the Society of Wizards,' he said, stroking his long gray beard portentously. 'I hope you will be willing to assist us.'
'That depends on what kind of help you're asking for,' Mendanbar replied. 'There are some things I won't do, and a few that I can't.
I'm sure you understand.'
'Entirely,' Zemenar said, though he sounded a little put out, as if he had hoped to get Mendanbar to agree quickly, without asking any awkward questions.
Mendanbar felt like rolling his eyes in exasperation. Everybody who lived in the Enchanted Forest knew better than to make a promise without knowing what they were promising. Did this wizard think that Mendanbar was stupid just because he was young?
'We in the Society of Wizards have been having a great deal of difficulty recently with the dragons in the Mountains of Morning,' Zemenar went on. 'That is the root of the problem.'
'I don't think I can help you with the dragons,' Mendanbar said. The strands of magic were drifting toward the wizard's staff again. He gave them another nudge. 'The Mountains of Morning aren't part of the Enchanted Forest, so I can't just order the dragons to behave. If you were having trouble with elves, now, I might be able-' 'Naturally, we don't wish to involve you in our dispute,' Zemenar interrupted smoothly. 'However, one of the results of our quarrel is that the King of the Dragons has cut off the Society's access to the Caves of Fire and Night.'
'I still don't see-' 'The caves are the source of many of the ingredients we use in our spells,' Zemenar broke in once more. 'They are also the only place it is possible to make certain items we need for our research.' He paused and blinked, fingering his staff with one hand as if he thought there might be a rough spot somewhere along it and he was trying to find it without attracting attention. 'We-the Society of Wizards-must have some way of entering the caves.'
'Go on.' Mendanbar tried not to sound as irritated as he felt. He did not like Zemenar's lecturing tone, he was tired of being interrupted, and he still did not see what the Society's dispute with the dragons had to do with him. On top of that, the invisible threads of magic were moving toward Zemenar's staff again, almost as if something were sucking them in.
Mendanbar yanked at them hard, wishing he could do the same to the Head Wizard.
'That is where you come in, Your Majesty,' Zemenar said. He sounded vaguely confused, as if he were trying to concentrate on two things at once. 'You, ah, could be of great use… that is, you could help us
