'Good idea,' Mendanbar said. 'What will we need?'
'I brought the rarer components with me,' Telemain said. 'If you have seven lemons, a book that's missing half its cover, and three pints of unicorn water, I can start working on it at once.'
Mendanbar pursed his lips. 'I don't think we have any unicorn water.'
'Yes, we do,' said Cimorene. 'It's in the cupboard by the buckets, in a jug marked 'Magic-Mirror Cleaner.' Don't look at me like that. It was the safest place I could think of. Ever since we put the gargoyle in charge of answering the mirror, nobody but me dares to clean it.'
Mendanbar laughed. 'I don't blame them.'
'Why don't you and Telemain check the library and start setting up in the Grand Hall?' Cimorene suggested. 'Morwen and I will get the other ingredients and meet you there.'
The two men agreed to this plan, and the group split up. As the castle door closed, Cimorene gave a sigh of relief.
'How do you stand it?' she asked Morwen.
'The way Telemain complicates things when he talks?' Morwen shook her head. 'I don't have to, much.'
'I thought you were old friends.'
'We are. That doesn't mean we see a lot of each other, though I'll admit that he drops by much more often now that he lives in the Enchanted Forest, too.'
'Even so…'
Morwen thought for a minute. 'The only thing you can do is avoid talking about magic with him;' she said at last. 'He's reasonably clear when it comes to normal conversation, but as soon as anyone mentions spells he gets technical. Or you could make sure Kazul is always with you.'
'Yes, I'd noticed that Telemain doesn't-' A distant bray interrupted Cimorene in mid-sentence. 'Good heavens,' she said. 'What on earth was that?'
'Killer,' Morwen said, walking more quickly. 'Unless you've acquired a donkey since the last time I was here.'
'A donkey? No, but-' As they rounded the last corner and came in sight of the kitchen, Cimorene stopped short. The cook stood in the half-open kitchen door, brandishing a copper frying pan to keep Killer from forcing his way inside, while Scorn and Jasper watched from the safety of a nearby window ledge.
Midway between the kitchen and the moat, Kazul sat on her haunches, smiling down at the terrified blue donkey in amusement. Since the smile showed a fair number of teeth, it wasn't helping Killer's state of mind at all.
'Killer,' Morwen said sternly. 'Stop that this instant.'
'But it's a dragon!' Killer wailed. 'And it's right there! Eee-augh!'
The cook glanced toward them, gasped, and dropped the frying pan.
'Your Majesty!'
Taking full advantage of the cook's distraction, Killer flung himself forward. He hit the door with a thud, shoving it wide and knocking the cook over backward. As his head and front feet disappeared inside the kitchen, a cat yowled loudly in surprise and pain.
'Fiddlesticks?' Morwen said. 'That does it.' She raised her arms.
'Sky and sea and whirling sands, Stop that creature where he stands!'
On the final word, she brought both hands down in a swift chopping gesture. Killer stopped moving and gave a startled bellow. An instant later, Fiddlesticks shot out from between the donkey's legs. Morwen breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
'He stepped on my tail!' Fiddlesticks said with great indignation. He sat down at Kazul's feet and began energetically washing the offended part.
'I'm surprised it wasn't your nose,' Scorn said. 'You poke it into enough peculiar places.'
'Help! Hee-eeau-elp!' Killer cried. 'I'm going to be eaten!'
'Get this creature out of my kitchen!' the cook yelled as he scrambled to his feet.
'Quiet, all of you,' said Cimorene, edging her way through the narrow gap between Killer's rear end and the door frame. Since Fiddlesticks seemed more or less unharmed, Morwen followed Cimorene inside. Killer continued to moan and whimper despite Cimorene's order, but he at least stopped braying.
Inside, Cimorene glanced around the kitchen, which was nearly as clean and tidy as Morwen's, and nodded to the cook. The cook bowed deeply.
Cimorene turned to Killer. 'Nobody is going to eat anyone here unless I say so. Now, how did this happen?'
'Just how you'd expect,' Scorn said from the window. 'Killer was being stupid again.'
'I'm not stupid,' Killer said. 'Eee-eeaugh! Oh, help!'
'I said quiet,' Cimorene said.
'But I can't move, and there's a dragon-' 'I can arrange it so you can't talk, either,' Morwen said. 'And if you don't start behaving yourself, I'll do it. Cimorene, this is Killer. He ought to be a rabbit of the usual size and color, but he's had some trouble with wizards lately. This is Cimorene, the Queen of the Enchanted Forest I think you should answer her question.'
Killer rolled his eyes and waggled his ears, managing to look foolish and terrified at the same time, but after a few more minutes of reassurance, coaxing, and stern commands, he calmed down enough to explain. He had been waiting for the castle cook to mix up his promised lunch, and hadn't noticed Kazul's arrival. When the cats pointed her out to him he had been nervous, but he hadn't really started to worry until Kazul asked the cook to pack provisions for a journey. What had really panicked him, though, had been the dragon saying, in answer to a question from the cook, that the provisions should be for human people only, because she would find her own meals.
'There, you see?' Scorn said, lashing her tail. 'He was being stupid.'
'I can see why it might make you nervous,' Cimorene said to Killer.
'Kazul can be a bit intimidating up close.' She considered for a moment.
'Kazul won't eat you once you've been properly introduced. Let him loose, Morwen, and I'll take him over and present him.'
'Are you sure?' Killer asked.
'Positive,' Cimorene told him. 'Dragons are very polite. Morwen?'
Since all the cats were out of danger and Killer seemed to have settled down, Morwen nodded agreement. Bringing her hands together at waist height, she said, 'Fire and cloud and rain and snow, Lift the spell and let him go!'
As she spoke, she raised her arms in a slow reversal of the movement she had used to freeze Killer where he stood.
For a long moment, nothing seemed to happen. Morwen frowned, wondering if the wizards' size-changing spell was interfering with her witchcraft.
Then a ripple ran across Killer's back, like heat rising from an iron stove. He shivered, shook himself, and pranced backward several steps, ducking his head to clear the top of the doorway.
'Thanks,' he said. 'Um, could we just sort of skip the part about presenting me to the dragon for now?'
'That wouldn't be a good-Killer, are you growing again?' Morwen asked.
'You look taller.'
Jasper yawned widely and jumped down from the window ledge. 'He's not taller,' the cat said, strolling forward. 'He's just farther up.'
Automatically, Morwen, Cimorene, and the cook glanced down, following Jasper's movement. Morwen blinked. Between Killer's front hooves and the flagstones of the courtyard stretched a long inch of empty air.
'I wonder if he'll still leave footprints?' Cimorene said, half to herself.
'What is it?' Killer asked nervously. 'What are you all staring at?'
He looked down and his ears stiffened. 'Eee-augh!' He pranced backward, out of sight, and Cimorene and Morwen hurried out after him.
With every step, he gained a little more height, until he was a good four inches above the ground. 'Help! I'm falling!'
