'I'm not interested in eating you,' Kazul said. 'What I want is six gallons of Morwen's cider and a big helping of cherries jubilee.'
Morwen frowned. 'I thought you were full.'
'I'm never too full for dessert,' said the dragon. 'And chasing wizards is thirsty work.'
'I suppose we might as well,' Cimorene said. 'It doesn't look as if any of you will make much sense otherwise.'
'Does that mean someone is going to fix me?' said Killer.
'I thought you wanted to stay insubstantial,' Trouble said with a sly glance in Kazul's direction.
'Not if it means I can't eat.'
Since this was an eminently reasonable attitude, and since Killer had been very patient, all things considered, Telemain agreed to take a look at the spells afflicting Killer. While Kazul called in various dragons and fire-witches to set up lunch, Telemain unloaded a large number of peculiar-looking implements from his pockets and began stalking around the donkey, muttering under his breath. Morwen, after a moment's consideration, chose to help Telemain rather than assist with lunch. It gave her a fighting chance of keeping the magician from getting so absorbed in studying the interconnecting layers of enchantment that he forgot about removing them.
They were, it turned out, just in time. The various enchantments seemed almost to have taken on a life of their own, linking and intertwining with each other until there was no separating them.
Fortunately, Killer's insubstantiality had only just begun to be incorporated into the main mass, but even so it took the combined efforts of Morwen and Telemain to nullify it. The process was slow, and by the time they finished they stood in the center of a circle of interested observers attracted by the spectacle of a six-foot- something blue donkey with wings blinking on and off as bits of the spell came loose.
'Whew!' said Telemain when the last of the insubstantiality had been removed and canceled out. 'That was more of a job than I expected.'
'Can you stop now?' Cimorene asked. 'Lunch is ready. If you could leave the rest of the spells for afterward-' 'I think we're going to have to leave the rest of the spells for good,' Telemain said, stowing his implements back in their appropriate pockets.
'What?'
'Killer has so much magic stuck to him that the bottom layers have melted together,' Morwen said. 'It's practically impossible to undo the spells he's under. We were lucky to get the top layer off.'
'You mean I'm going to be a seven-foot, eleven-inch–counting the ears-bright blue floating donkey with oversized wings for the rest of my life?' Killer wailed.
'Count your blessings,' said Scorn. 'At least you're not insubstantial 'And you're not a rabbit,' Trouble pointed out. 'That's a plus.'
'But I'm supposed to be a rabbit!'
'Quiet,' Morwen told them sternly. 'As I was saying, undoing the spells is next to impossible. But moving them…'
'... is elementary magic,' Telemain said, nodding. 'We won't even need any special equipment. But who were you thinking of moving them to?'
Morwen smiled. 'Cimorene, would you ask Willin to bring Arona Michaelear Grinogion Vamist over here for a moment, please? This won't take long, and then we can relax and have lunch.'
For a moment, Cimorene and Telemain stared at Morwen, and then they began to smile, too. 'It will be my pleasure,' Cimorene said, and called Willin over. A short time later, Vamist appeared, flanked by Brandel and Amory.
'What do you want now?' Vamist asked. 'I demand that you send me home at once.'
'In a minute,' Morwen said. 'Stand over here by Killer. Trouble, Scorn-' 'Right here,' Scorn purred. 'Go ahead whenever you're ready.'
'Good.' Morwen raised her left hand, palm up, then flipped it over.
'Front to back, White to black, Young to old, Silver to gold.'
As she finished speaking, Killer began to glow green. The glow pulsed once, brightly, far enough for the edge to touch Vamist. 'Whoops!' said Vamist, and 'Eek!' said Killer, and then an ordinary brown rabbit with a few faded patches of white-dyed fur dropped to the ground next to an oversized blue floating donkey with wings.
'Look,' said Scorn. 'He's got a little bald patch between his ears.'
'What-eee-augh!' said Vamist. 'No! You can't do this to me!'
'Want to bet?' said Trouble.
'Goodness, he looks silly,' said Killer, twitching his nose. 'Is that really what I was like?'
'Except for the bald patch,' said Scorn.
'You can't mean to leave me like this? Vamist cried. 'You wouldn't make me stay a donkey?'
'You're not just a donkey,' Morwen said, letting her smile grow.
'You're a seven-foot bright blue floating donkey with oversized wings.
And as far as I'm concerned you can stay that way for the rest of your life.
Telemain, have you got enough energy left to send him to the main square in his hometown?'
'I believe I can manage that,' Telemain said.
'No! I'll be the laughingstock of the whole countryside! And how will I get people to pay attention to what I say?'
'You won't,' Brandel said with considerable relish. 'No one will listen to someone who looks that silly. Morwen, it's perfect.'
'It certainly is,' Cimorene said. 'How on earth did you think of it?'
'It came to me a while back, when Scorn said he was 'as dumb as that rabbit.' Now all that's left is the problem of what to do about the castle.'
But though they discussed it over lunch, after lunch, and through the afternoon until dinner, no one could think of anything that might work.
Telemain spent an hour studying the shield spell, but he could not find any way to get rid of it. The dragons could not get close to it because the spell was too similar to the one on the wizards' staffs and made them sneeze. The fire-witches' magic just bounced off. In desperation, Cimorene even tried to stick Mendanbar's sword into the spell, but it stopped at the edge of the glow and refused to penetrate it.
'I think we're going to have to wait for the baby,' Telemain said finally.
'I'm not giving up yet,' Cimorene said. 'There's got to be some way to get in, or to get Mendanbar out.'
'Don't be so sure,' Morwen said. 'Barrier spells frequently come with a time delay, rather than any specific sort of key. I believe a hundred years is the usual period, though that normally applies to hedges of briars, not glowing magic shields. Still…'
'I'm not giving up,' Cimorene repeated. 'And I'm certainly not waiting a hundred years!'
And she didn't. For the next two months, while Telemain and Morwen disposed of Vamist the donkey and sent Killer the rabbit back to his clover patch, while the dragons combed the Enchanted Forest for stray wizards, while the fire-witches finished helping out and went home (or, in some cases, built new homes in the Enchanted Forest), Cimorene tried everything anyone could think of to get herself through the wizards' shield. She had dwarves dig runnels and birds dive at the top of the shield; she sprayed it with soapy lemon water and sprinkled it with powdered dragon scales (donated for the purpose by Kazul); she cast spells alone at midnight and at noon in combination with Morwen, Telemain, all of the fire-witches, and several dragons.
Nothing made any difference.
Kazul left a squad of dragons to keep watch for wizards near the castle, and she herself visited frequently. Eventually, she persuaded Cimorene to slow down, at least until the baby was born. Since none of the other attempts had shown any sign of success, Cimorene's child seemed more and more to be their best hope of getting into the castle, rescuing Mendanbar, and defeating the wizards once and for all. Rumors began circulating, each purporting to give the real truth about the battle and the whereabouts of King Mendanbar.
The Society of Wizards was too busy with its own affairs-choosing a new Head Wizard and recovering from the unexpected onslaught of dragons and fire-witches-to make new trouble for the time being. So the pause in the fighting stretched out longer and longer until it became a sort of uneasy, unofficial peace.
And everyone waited.
