'The castle landed in my clearing sometime around noon,' Telemain said dryly. 'I was understandably curious as to why someone would go to all the trouble of making a castle invisible and then drop it on top of a magician who can't help noticing it.'
'It's not there now,' Shiara said.
'Of course not! What would I want with an invisible castle? When I found no one home, I cleaned the place up a bit and got rid of it.'
'Cleaned it up?' I said, puzzled.
'The most recent owner had a number of unattractive habits,' Telemain said even more dryly than before. 'In addition to casual petrification of passersby, she indulged in seven varieties of involuntary metamorphosis, as well as necromancy and demonology. I don't believe you would be at all interested in the technical details.'
'Oh.' He was right; I didn't really want to know about it.
Telemain looked at Shiara again. 'I owe you an apology,' he said.
'I knew that the castle was the property of a fire-witch, and I'm afraid that when you showed up, I thought you had some connection with it.'
'Well, I don't, but I suppose I can see why you might have gotten mad.'
Shiara sounded a lot friendlier than she had before. I think she would have been friendly to anyone who didn't like that other fire-witch.
Then she frowned. 'How did the castle get into your clearing, anyway?'
Telemain shrugged. 'As far as I can tell, the unit transportation spell operated on a set of totally random parameters, both in terms of time and location.'
'What does that mean?' said the dragon.
'The castle was designed to move around the Enchanted Forest more or less randomly. It's a rather unusual spell to put on a building, particularly an invisible one, because if you happen to be outside when it moves, you get left behind.'
'Then why on earth would anyone put a stupid spell like that on a castle?'
'Presumably this fire-witch didn't expect to have any problems finding the castle again. I don't believe it occurred to her that someone else might find it first.' He smiled. 'I left a few surprises for her. I doubt that she'll be pleased.'
'Oh, that's all right,' the dragon said. 'Daystar got rid of her.'
Telemain looked at me. 'Really. How did you manage that?'
'She threw some sort of spell at me, but Nightwitch scratched her, so she missed,' I said. 'And after that, I had the sword out.'
'You used the Sword of the Sleeping King on a fire-witch?'Telemain said. He sounded somewhere between shocked and horrified.
'I couldn't think of anything else that might work,' I said apologetically.
'And it did work, sort of. I mean, it got rid of the fire-witch.'
'She went up in smoke,' the dragon said with considerable satisfaction.
'I watched.'
'She went up in smoke,' Telemain repeated in tones of fascination.
'And what were you doing while this was going on?'
'I was trying to hang on to the sword,' I said. 'It was glowing red, and my hands felt like they were burning or something, so it was sort of hard to do. But as soon as the fire-witch was gone, it stopped.'
'You are extremely fortunate,' Telemain said. 'You might have gotten yourself killed and ruined everything. I don't recommend that you try that again. Stick to wizards. That's what the sword was meant for.'
'It was?' said Shiara. 'How do you know? What else does it do?'
Telemain looked at her. 'Magicians know many kinds of magic.' He turned back to me. 'Please, continue.'
I was curious about what the sword did, too, but Telemain obviously didn't want to talk about it, so I didn't ask. Instead, I explained about fixing Shiara and not finding the castle and meeting the second elf. Telemain listened carefully, then shook his head.
'So the war is beginning again,' he said, half to himself. 'I had best make my own preparations. I wonder why no one let me know?'
'War?' Shiara and I said together.
Telemain looked up, almost as if he had forgotten we were there. 'The war between the dragons and the wizards,' he said in the tones of someone trying to be patient.
The dragon, who had been falling asleep, suddenly came awake. 'War with the wizards?'
'It is obvious,' Telemain said a trifle crossly. 'The elves are choosing sides, the dragons are restless, the wizards are coming into the Enchanted Forest in large numbers, and the Sword of the Sleeping King has returned.
What more do you need to know?'
'What does the Sword of the Sleeping King have to do with a war between the dragons and the wizards?' I asked before the dragon could take offense.
'The sword is what started the war in the first place,' Telemain said, and then he refused to say any more. 'If Cimorene didn't see fit to explain, I certainly won't,' he said. 'When you meet Kazul, I am sure she will tell you whatever you need to know. I'm afraid I don't have time at the moment. I must see to things at once, if we are to win this war at last.'
'Who do you mean, 'we'?' Shiara asked suspiciously.
'The dragons,' Telemain said, 'and the rest of us who follow the sword.
Now, if you will excuse me?' He rose and started for the stairs.
'Wait a minute!' Shiara said. 'What about us?'
'What? Oh, of course,' Telemain said. He waved his hand again and muttered something, and suddenly the table was full of plates and bowls of food. I jumped. Telemain didn't seem to notice. 'Help yourselves while I am gone,' he said. 'I don't expect to be long.' He turned away and went up one of the iron staircases.
Shiara and I looked at each other. 'Now what do we do?' Shiara said.
'I'm going to eat,' I said. 'Would you like something?'
Shiara snorted, but she reached for one of the bowls. There was plenty for all of us, including Nightwitch and the dragon. About the time we finished, Telemain came back.
'I was right,' he said to no one in particular. Then he looked at me.
'You'd better stay here for the night. It will be much safer for everyone, and it will give me time to look into things a little more.
You've been extremely lucky so far, but there's no reason to take any more chances until you must.'
I started to nod, then looked at Shiara. Shiara looked at me, then at Nightwitch, who was curled into a small ball on Telemain's chair. She shrugged. 'Let's stay.'
'You will find rooms upstairs, on the second floor,' Telemain said.
'Just pick one and go in.' He turned to the dragon. 'I think you'll be more comfortable down here.'
'I think you're right,' said the dragon, eyeing the iron staircases a little dubiously.
'And thank you very much for your hospitality,' I said.
Telemain nodded. Shiara and I started for the stairs. Shiara got there ahead of me and started climbing, but she didn't get anywhere.
'What's the matter?' I asked.
'There's something wrong with this stupid staircase!' Shiara said. 'I keep trying to climb up, but I don't go anywhere?'
Telemain, who had been talking quietly to the dragon, turned. 'I'm sorry; I should have warned you. You'll have to take the other staircase.
That one incorporates a unidirectional matrix focused groundward.'
'Say that again, in English,' Shiara said.
'That stairway just works going down.'
'That's ridiculous?' said Shiara. 'How can a staircase only work going in one direction?'
