Elves move very quickly.
'What was that about?' Shiara demanded.
'I don't know about that elf,' I said slowly. 'I think something funny is going on. He was trying too hard to get us to take that staff.'
'Well, we have to do something with it,' Shiara said.
'Why?' I said. 'We didn't break it. And I don't want to mess with a wizard's staff, even a broken one.'
Shiara frowned. I made a gesture toward the pieces and realized that I was still holding the sword in my hand. I started to put it back in its sheath, then stopped. The sheath was as wet as everything else I was wearing. I couldn't put the sword in that. I mean, not all magic swords are rustproof, and even if you have one that is, putting your sword away without cleaning it is a bad habit to get into. I checked my pockets, just in case, but even my handkerchief was wet.
'Shiara, do you have anything-no, you wouldn't, you were in the middle of that stream, too.'
'What? What are you mumbling about?' Shiara said.
'I need something to dry off my sword,' I said. 'Everything I have is soaked. But you're just as wet as I am…' My voice trailed off, because right then I really looked at her, and she wasn't. Wet, I mean. Her shoes were steaming a little, but her hair and her clothes weren't even damp.
'Fire-witches dry off fast,' Shiara said in a smug tone.
'Then can you give me something to clean my sword?' I asked.
'Everything I have is soaked.'
'What does that have to do with the wizard's staff?. Oh, give it here.
I'll fix it.' She held out her hand a little reluctantly. I could see she didn't really want to take the sword. After what had happened the last time she'd touched it, I couldn't blame her.
'That's all right, I'll do it,' I said. 'It's my job. All I need is something dry to wipe it with.'
Shiara glared at me. 'All I have is my tunic, and I am not going to take it off just so you can dry your stupid sword! If you won't give it to me, it can rust.'
My face got very hot. 'I, um, I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I mean, I 'Oh, shut up and give me the sword.'
I held it out. Shiara took it a little gingerly, but neither of us felt anything unusual. While she wiped it dry on the front of her tunic, I walked over to the stream. I was pretty sure, now, that the water was safe to drink.
I'd swallowed some of it when the wizard's wave hit me, and nothing had happened to me yet. I bent over and took a drink.
The water was clean and cold, with just a hint of lime. It tasted awfully good, though I prefer lemon- flavored streams myself. I think I like lemon because Mother and I got most of our drinking water from a lemon- flavored stream just inside the forest. It was much nicer than the well water we used for washing, even if it was more work to haul the buckets that far.
Shiara came over just as I finished. She looked at me for a minute, then handed me the sword. 'Here.' I took it, and she sat down and started trying to drink out of her cupped hands. Most of the water ran out, but she kept trying.
I stood holding the sword and wondering what I was going to do with it.
I mean, walking through the Enchanted Forest with a sword in your hand is just looking for trouble. On the other hand, I couldn't put it away until the sheath dried out, and that would probably take hours.
Shiara finished drinking and sat up. 'Now, what are we going to do about that wizard's staff?'
Neither one of us wanted to take it with us. Shiara suggested hiding the pieces before we left, and finally I agreed. We walked back over to the tree. I started to put my sword down, then changed my mind.
One of the easiest ways of losing important things in the Enchanted Forest is to put them down while you do something else. Then you have to go to all the bother of finding whoever took your things before you can get on with whatever you really want to do. I shifted the sword into my left hand and looked around for the nearest piece of staff.
'Daystar! Come see!' Shiara was waving a piece of the staff to attract my attention.
'You really shouldn't do that,' I said as I walked over. 'You might set off a spell or something. This used to be a wizard's staff, remember? We ought to at least try to be careful.'
'Yes, but look what it did,' Shiara said, pointing. I looked down.
There was a brown patch in the moss, just the size and shape of the stick Shiara was holding. I bent over and looked more closely. The moss was so dry and brittle that it turned to powder when I touched it.
'But this is the Enchanted Forest,' I said to no one in particular.
'You aren't supposed to be able to do things like this.'
'Well, this wizard's staff did,' Shiara said. 'I bet it'll do it again, too.'
Before I could stop her, she laid the stick down on the moss. She picked it up almost immediately. The moss underneath it was brown and dead.
I stared. 'I don't like this,' I said. There aren't very many things you can be sure of in the Enchanted Forest, but I'd never seen a dead plant there, not even in the Outer Forest. The whole place felt too alive to put up with that sort of thing. 'I wonder if all wizards' staffs do that.'
'I don't know about other staffs, but we can check the other pieces of this one,' Shiara said. She walked toward one of the other two sticks.
I sighed and started for the last one.
'This one's the same,' Shiara reported after a minute. 'What about yours?'
'Just a minute,' I said. I bent over and picked it up in my right hand ....
When I woke up, Shiara was dripping water on my face. 'You can stop now,' I said. 'I'm wet enough already.'
Shiara shook her head. 'Are you all right? I mean, you're not enchanted or anything, are you?'
I thought about it for a moment. 'I don't think so, but if I am, we'll find out pretty soon.' I sat up and realized I'd been lying on the moss at the foot of the tree. 'What happened?'
'How should I know? One minute you were standing there with that sword, and then there was some kind of explosion and when I turned around you were lying here and that piece of the wizard's staff was over there, burning. I don't think anyone's going to put that staff back together again. It was the middle piece.' Shiara scowled. 'But I think you were right about that elf.'
'Where's my sword?' I asked. All of a sudden I was sure someone had taken it while Shiara and I weren't paying attention.
'In your hand,' Shiara said. She sounded a little exasperated. 'You wouldn't let go of it.'
I looked down. My left hand was still clenched around the hilt. When I relaxed my hand, the fingers started to tingle. I'd been holding on so tightly that my hand had fallen asleep.
Well, at least I hadn't lost it. I started to shift the sword back to my right hand, then stopped and swallowed hard. The hand was burned black.
I couldn't even feel it. I looked away, feeling sick. Shiara was staring, too.
'Daystar, I didn't notice, I was so worried about waking you up I didn't even see-' She stopped. She tilted her head back until she was looking up the tree trunk, and her eyes flashed. 'I'm going to find somebody who can fix this,' she said grimly. 'And then I'm going to find that stupid elf and make him sorry he ever mentioned that wizard's staff.' The way she said it made me very, very glad I wasn't an elf, particularly the elf she'd be looking for.
'It doesn't really hurt or anything,' I offered. As soon as I said it, my arm started to throb. Not the hand; it was my wrist and arm that hurt. As far as I was concerned, that was more than enough.
'That's bad,' Shiara said. She looked worried. 'I know a little about burns, from the times when I… Are you sure you can't feel anything?'
'Not in my hand,' I said. 'And I'd really rather not talk about it.
It might help me not notice the way my arm feels.'
'Well, let me look at it, then, and I won't have to ask questions,' Shiara said.
I stuck my right hand out in her direction and stared at my sword for a couple of minutes. I didn't succeed
