left.'
'That's probably why they took it,' Cimorene said.
'No, no,' Telemain put in. 'The sword is only one of the primary loci.
Its physical removal does not invalidate…' He paused, glanced at Kazul, and cleared his throat. 'Ah, that is, the King's sword just helps maintain the spell. Taking the sword out of the forest doesn't destroy the whole spell. It just weakens it. That's why the dead spots Morwen showed me didn't fill in right away. But the spell is still strong enough to keep the wizards from gobbling up large chunks of the forest.'
'Does that mean that if we recover the sword, the forest will be fully protected again?' Mendanbar asked.
Telemain nodded.
'Good. Give me a minute or two to explain to Willin, and I'll be ready to go.'
'Go?' Telemain blinked. 'But-' With a huff of air, Mendanbar vanished.
'But what?' asked Cimorene.
'Mendanbar shouldn't go anywhere right now,' Morwen said. 'It's bad enough that the sword's missing, but no one will know about that for a while unless we tell them. But if the King of the Enchanted Forest goes tearing off on a quest while mysterious things are happening in the forest, people are bound to notice.'
'There's more to it than that,' Telemain said. 'Mendanbar can't go after the sword, not if he wants to keep what's left of the antiwizard spell working. He's the other main focus.'
'Oh, dear.' Cimorene looked back toward the castle, and her lips twitched. 'He's not going to like that at all.'
'I'm certain that Morwen, Telemain, and I will be able to handle it,' Kazul said.
Cimorene frowned. 'Don't you start fussing at me, Kazul. I'm perfectly capable of-' 'I'm sure you are,' Morwen said. 'But the Queen of the Enchanted Forest shouldn't go tearing off any more than the King should. You have responsibilities.'
'Bother my responsibilities!'
'If I thought you meant that, I'd be worried.'
'Retrieving the sword is much more important than anything else I have to do right now. Thank goodness it won't be hard to find.'
Morwen frowned, puzzled. 'Why do you say that?'
'Well, the wizards have taken it out of the forest, haven't they? Otherwise Telemain's antiwizard spell would still be working.'
Cimorene smiled briefly at Telemain. 'The last time that sword was outside the forest, it started leaking magic the minute it crossed the border.'
'Leaking magic?'
Cimorene shrugged. 'I don't know what else to call it. And it gets worse and worse the longer the sword is outside the forest. By the end of the week, anyone with any magical ability at all will be able to find that sword with his eyes closed.'
'I don't think we can afford to wait that long,' Telemain said slowly.
'What? Why not?' Cimorene looked at the magician in alarm. 'You don't think the Society of Wizards will try to destroy it, do you?'
'It's not that.' Telemain began to pace up and down beside Kazul.
'It's the magic leakage. I'd forgotten about it, and of course it didn't matter as long as the sword was inside the forest, but now-' 'Now the wizards have it,' Morwen said. 'And wizards' staffs absorb magic. If they absorb all the magic the sword leaks, and the leak keeps growing, it won't be long before they're more than we can handle.'
'That, too,' Telemain said, nodding. 'But the real problem is the source of the magic the sword leaks.'
'The source-oh. Oh, dear.' Morwen looked at Telemain. 'You mean the Enchanted Forest itself?'
Slowly, Telemain nodded again. 'I'm afraid so. Mendanbar and I linked the sword directly to the heart of the forest's magic. The defensive enchantment will inhibit the, er, leakage for a while, but after a few days-' '-the pressure will build up and the sword will start leaking.
And all the magic of the Enchanted Forest will drain out of the sword,' Morwen finished.
'But that will kill the forest? Cimorene said. 'We have to get that sword back right away.'
'Not quite,' Kazul said. A thread of smoke continued to trickle angrily out of the corner of her mouth, but otherwise she seemed to be in complete control of herself again. 'From what Telemain said, it will take another day or two for the sword to start leaking. Right?'
Telemain nodded. 'As near as I can tell.'
'Then we don't have to learn to fly by jumping off a cliff. There are still a few things I want to know before we go chasing off.'
'Such as?' Morwen asked.
'How the Society of Wizards got inside the castle to steal the sword without anyone noticing, whether they're likely to be back soon, and what we can do about it if they are.'
Morwen, Telemain, and Cimorene looked at each other. Then Telemain looked at Kazul. 'Commendably methodical. And now that you mention it, I'd better teach all of you the wizard-liquefying spell before we leave.'
'You mean you've come up with a better way of melting wizards than soapy water with lemon juice in it?' Cimorene's smile was only a little forced. 'Wonderful!'
'I don't know that it's better,'Telemain said. 'However, it appears to have the same effect, requires far less preparation, and is considerably more portable.'
'He melted Antorell with it,' Morwen said.
Kazul shook herself and stood up. 'Enjoy the lesson. I'm going to ask your cook to pack us something for dinner.'
'Don't you want to know how to melt wizards?' Cimorene said.
'No.' Kazul smiled fiercely, showing all her sharp, silver teeth. 'If I run into any wizards, I'm going to eat them.'
'Then why are you bothering about dinner?' Telemain asked, frowning.
Kazul's smile broadened. 'That's for the rest of you,' she said, and glided off.
7
In Which Killer Rises in the World
Mendanbar returned just as Telemain began his explanation of the wizard-melting spell. 'You'll want to know this, too, Mendanbar,' Telemain said, and went right on with his lecture. The enchantment was typical of the magician's spare spells: it required a lot of preparation and a complicated ritual to set it up, but once that had been done, you could use it several times simply by pointing and saying a trigger word. According to Telemain, you didn't even have to say the trigger word aloud.
'Theoretically, a mental recitation would be just as effective,' Telemain said. 'This theory, however, remains unverified, as no opportunity for experimentation has-' 'Telemain, if you don't stop babbling gobbledygook, I'm going to bring Kazul back to listen,' Morwen said. 'Mendanbar and I know what you're saying, but Cimorene hasn't the slightest idea what you're talking about.'
'Yes, and I'd appreciate it if somebody would translate that last bit,' Cimorene said. 'It sounded important.'
'Just thinking the trigger word ought to be as good as saying it,' Mendanbar explained. 'But he doesn't know for sure because he hasn't had a chance to test it on a wizard yet.'
'Well, you'll probably get one soon,' Cimorene said. 'Have we got all the ingredients you need for the ritual? Because I think everyone ought to be prepared to melt wizards before anyone goes sword hunting.
It's all very well for Kazul to say she'll eat them, but if they have any dragons-bane…'
