The Witch, the Cathedral

make a series of courses in technical magic a required part of the curriculum, rather than an elective option. Because I’ve never found that kind of magic congenial myself, I’m afraid I haven’t pushed for it, but in modern times all young wizards really should know modern magic.”

“But what’s happened?” I demanded. “Where are you?”

“I’m not sure. We’re in the royal castle of-” Someone behind him provided a name. “I think we’re about a thousand miles north of the City.”

“You and all the teachers?”

“Just three of us are here; the rest are spread out over hundreds of miles. It didn’t take us long, once we’d heard that something was wrong with the phone at the watch-station, to guess that the weak attempt of a very small dragon to fly south was a feint and that something much worse would soon follow. So we tried to telephone to the watch-station at once-and got through. We could always phone him, which was why we hadn’t realized there was a problem.”

Zahlfast wiped the sweat off his brow. I almost danced with impatience. “As I’m sure you already guessed,” he went on, “a whole horde of dragons had just flown up over the mountains and started south. Maybe a hundred of them.”

I froze in horror. This was even worse than I expected. “Were they heading for Yurt?”

“No. They were heading for the City.”

“And that’s why all the teachers went.”

“The dragons scattered when they met us,” Zahlfast continued. “One did come close to Yurt-it was finally killed a quarter mile from the cathedral city of Caelrhon.”

Then those waiting to protect Joachim’s cathedral from danger had seen something worth waiting for. I paused. “All of you overcame them all, I assume?”

“Well, yes,” said Zahlfast, with a flicker of a smile. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be talking to you. Thank you again.”

“Wait, before you hang up! I have to ask you something. This spring when I left the school, you gave me a warning. You said that priests hated and feared the wizards and sought to destroy them. I know we’ve never gotten along well with the Church, but this was different. You were trying to keep me out of the affairs of the cathedral of Caelrhon. You have to tell me: had Sengrim, the royal wizard of Caelrhon, given you that warning before he died?”

“Yes, he did,” said Zahlfast in surprise.

“He must have had an apprentice,” I said grimly, “someone none of us even knew existed. Find him. He might be here in Yurt, or he could be anywhere. He’s the one who disabled the telephone, and he’s the one who summoned the dragons.”

For one of the few times since I’d known him, Zahlfast looked shocked. I hung up and ran back outside. Even if the hundred dragons had not been successful in destroying Yurt or the school-or both-they had effectively kept me from having any help here from another wizard for at least another day.

Theodora waited by the motionless lizards. I had grown to despise the sight of them. “Come on,” I said. “I’m going down to the tournament grounds to make an announcement. Thank God, the worst that I’d feared is not going to happen.”

“Daimbert, listen to me,” she said desperately.

“Tell me in a minute. The bishop and Paul and probably a lot of the others know I’ve been expecting an attack of dragons or worse, and I have to reassure them it won’t happen.”

The knights had now finished riding at the ring and had begun the jousts, the heart of the tournament. One joust had just ended; neither rider had been unhorsed, and they were waiting for the judges’ decision. The queen came up to me with a rather quizzical smile as we reached the lists. “Vincent’s been telling me about a very odd conversation the two of you had,” she began.

But I couldn’t take time to listen to her right now any more than I could listen to Theodora. “I have an announcement!” I called, then realized no one could hear me. There was a spell to amplify one’s voice; it took me a moment to find and apply it. “I have an announcement!” I tried again.

This time my voice boomed out gratifyingly loudly. The queen and Theodora, who had been standing on either side of me, both took a quick step back. The riders readying themselves for the next jousts had trouble reining in their startled horses.

“I’ve just been talking to the wizards’ school,” I said to a rapt audience, “and I wanted to tell you all that an attack on Yurt has just been averted!” It was in fact an attack on the school instead, but I didn’t have time to go into detail. “A hundred dragons were summoned from the land of magic by an evil wizard. But the masters of the school were able to overcome them all.”

There was a rapid buzz of conversation at this unexpected announcement. The bishop looked as though he had known all along that I was an excellent wizard. The riders, including Paul on his red stallion, had their mounts under control again. The young king settled his plumed helmet over his head.

“Daimbert, you must listen!” Theodora tried again. I turned toward her. “I’ve found the wizard. He’s right here. He’s been hiding from both of us.”

The pit of my stomach felt as though it had turned to ice. I grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her toward me. “Where? Where is he?”

“We should have known!” she cried in despair. “The old magician, the man we never worried about. He’s the wizard in disguise!”

He had been hiding right under my nose. And I had just told him, as well as everybody else, that his most elaborate plot had failed.

“But where-” I needn’t have asked. There was a crack and a flash like lightning, a burst of blue smoke, and he appeared directly before me.

The wizard’s disguise of ragged robes and heavy eyebrows were gone. His white beard whipped in the wind from his spell. And I recognized him now, the renegade who had eluded me for months. It was Sengrim, the wizard everyone had thought was dead.

Theodora and the queen retreated rapidly in opposite directions. Behind the wizard I could see several horses rearing straight up at the smoke and lightning. For a second even Sengrim was unimportant. Paul’s stallion had reared higher than any other horse and was going over backwards. But before I could seize him with a lifting spell, Prince Vincent had leaped forward to grab the dangling reins. With a sharp tug at the head, he steadied the stallion enough that Bonfire was able to find his balance and come back down safely. The king kicked his feet free of the stirrups and sprang off, and he and Vincent gave each other triumphant slaps on the back.

I swung my attention back to the wizard before me. “So you think you and your school are safe now, Daimbert,” said Sengrim in cold fury. “But my magic is much stronger than yours!”

Behind me, I heard a strange hissing and honking sound. My head jerked around, and I saw that the red lizards, which I had been busily watching for hours, were now free of the paralysis spell and had started toward us.

Everyone in the lists seemed as paralyzed as the lizards had been a second ago, and for one horrible moment I thought the spell had been transferred to them. But they were not held prisoner by a spell, only by shock. They stared in horror from the lizards to the commanding figure before them.

And one person was moving, Paul. He had his sword out, the only real sword in the tournament. He very slowly advanced toward the wizard from behind.

I didn’t dare motion toward him. All I could do was to give him a quick stare that I hoped was a warning-if he could even see it through his visor.

“You’re so sure of yourself that you even tried to patronize me when we met in Caelrhon,” the wizard said grimly.

“But I thought you were just an old magician!” I protested. If I could keep him talking for a few more minutes, I thought, desperately trying to put a spell together, I might have a chance.

“Can you cast a spell like this?” cried Sengrim. Where he had been standing there was suddenly not a wizard but a pillar of fire, twenty feet high. Enormous eyes glared down from the top, and an enormous laugh rang out from the flames. Paul had the sense to back up rapidly.

Sweet Jesus, he was good. I had never seen anything like this.