The Dwomorite sat back, contemplating the three, then asked sharply, “How big was this dragon? And what color?”
“It was blue-green, and, oh... what would you say, Peren? Sixty feet long?”
“About that,” Peren agreed.
“How did you kill it?” the chamberlain demanded.
“Magic,” Tobas answered.
Seeing that their questioner was not satisfied, Peren added, “Fire-magic. My companion here, the mighty wizard Tobas of Telven, blew its neck to pieces with a single spell.”
“Forgive me if I still have reservations,” the chamberlain said, polite once again and apparently at least partly convinced. “But how is it that you took so long to accomplish the task? You departed well over three months ago.”
Tobas shrugged. “We found other matters to occupy us for a time.” He gestured toward Karanissa and the tapestry that lay against one wall.
“Look,” Peren said in his most reasonable tone. “We don’t expect you to pay us here and now; get some wagons, and I’ll show your men where it is. Tobas and Karanissa will stay here in Dwomor as hostage for my good behavior; I’ll leave the tapestry and everything else with them.”
“I don’t know,” the chamberlain said. “You could intend to lead my men into a trap.”
“Arm them, then! And if I were planning any treachery, would my companions allow themselves to remain as hostages?”
The Dwomorite considered for another moment, then nodded. “I suppose not, not if they knew about it,” he said. “All right, then; we shall see if you have done what you say. Remember, though, if this is some sort of trick, that you did not see all of this castle during your previous stay here; there are dungeons enough for the three of you.”
“Your dungeons don’t concern us; we want nothing but what we have earned,” Peren said as he rose.
CHAPTER 31
The three of them were given the use of a suite of rooms on the second floor of the castle, around a corner from the princesses’ wing, consisting of a small, cozy sitting room, a small bedchamber Peren appropriated that had probably originally been intended for a valet, and a large and elegant chamber equipped with a magnificent canopied bed. Although Dwomor Keep was still well populated, the departure of dozens of dragon hunters had left the place with considerably more free space than when Tobas and Peren had last seen it; and as guests who might have actually won the right to marry princesses, they rated significantly better accommodations. As best anyone could recall, a prince had shared this suite with a lesser noble during those closing days of Summersend.
Peren stayed to rest for only one night before departing again, leading a caravan of wagons, soldiers, assorted workmen, and curiosity seekers into the hills, intent on bringing back proof of the dragon’s demise. Tobas and Karanissa watched him go from the battlements and then adjourned to their splendid bedchamber to make the best of his absence. Their rooms in Dwomor were far more suitable for a honeymoon than the open country or ruined cottage had been.
Despite their rather peculiar and uncertain status whenever they left their suite to roam the castle, the newlyweds thoroughly enjoyed their relative privacy for the first two or three nights after Peren left. By the time the fourth night came with no sign of his return, however, they began to worry somewhat. Their uneasiness grew steadily throughout the next day, as Peren still did not appear; quite aside from their own concern about their friend, the inhabitants of the castle, from King Derneth himself right down to the chambermaids, seemed to be treating them with mounting suspicion. They were officially still guests, but it was obvious that they were also now prisoners; guards eyed them closely any time either of them stepped out into the courtyard, and it was made plain, silently but unquestionably that they would not be permitted to leave the castle. No one spoke to them unnecessarily; on one occasion Tobas glimpsed the Princess Alorria being herded quickly away by the Lord Chamberlain, lest she might have spoken to the foreign wizard.
Alorria, judging by the expression Tobas thought he saw, was not at all happy to see him, though he was unsure whether that was because she believed him to be a fraud, because she was frightened by him, perhaps embarrassed somehow, or possibly, because she resented the fact that he had married someone else.
Tobas and Karanissa retired early that night, too worried to enjoy each other’s company properly. Simply being together in the great canopied bed was soothing, however; as an hour or two wore slowly by, though neither of them slept, they both calmed down considerably. Nonetheless, midevening of this fifth night after Peren’s party had gone to fetch the dragon’s head found them both still lying awake.
Shortly after their arrival they had hung the tapestry on one wall of their bedchamber, being extremely careful not to touch its surface. By unspoken mutual consent, both had wanted it hung, but neither of them intended to use it immediately. Once the hanging was securely in place, they had hidden it with the simple drapery that had covered that wall before their arrival, this concealment being necessary to prevent unwanted questions from servants or visitors and, far more importantly, to prevent anyone from accidentally touching it and winding up at the gates of their castle. Now, reaching out from the bed, Tobas had pulled the drapery back, and both of them were staring at the tapestry.
“I think I miss the place,” Karanissa admitted after a few moments of silent contemplation.
“I know I miss it,” Tobas replied. “It was all ours, with no chamberlains or kings to worry about, no princesses and peasants staring at me every time I go out. And the servants did what we told them without trying to beg for favors, constantly apologizing for everything, or acting as if obeying me were beneath their dignity. If I knew my way around here better and were welcome into the kitchens, I think I’d rather not bother the servants at all.”
“It’s not just the servants; everybody here is suspicious. They seem to think we’re here under false pretenses, as if there’s anything here we would bother defrauding them of!”
“I know. The castle in the tapestry, strange as it is, is finer than Dwomor could ever have been.”
“It was so lonely, though, before you arrived,” Karanissa said, snuggling closer to him under the quilts.
“It was never lonely for me,” Tobas answered, his arm encircling her shoulders. “You were always there.”
“Do you think we should go back?”
“I don’t know. We can get back out now, if we want to. Both tapestries are working.”
“But we can only get out way up there in the mountains, and it’s almost winter. The snows could come any day now.”
“We’ll need to go back some time, at least for a while; the only position they could possibly give me here is court wizard, and for that I’ll need the Book of Spells and some of the supplies and ingredients from Derithon’s study. I don’t think I’m going to find hair from unborn children or mummified bat wings here in Dwomor Keep.”
“Maybe I’m just being cowardly, wanting to slink back to my refuge instead of facing the World,” Karanissa said bitterly.
“No, that’s not it!” Tobas was shocked at her words. “You survived there alone for four hundred years; you’re no coward!”
Impulsively she hugged him, then nuzzled him silently for a moment. He returned her embrace. She smiled up at him, then said contemplatively, “You know, if I did go back, I’m sure that within a month or two, at most, I’d want to get out again, to see the sun and the moons and the stars and other people and green fields and trees and mountains and streams and all the rest of it.”
“Of course; so would I. There’s nothing wrong with that. Nobody wants to stay cooped up at home all the time.”
“It is really our home, isn’t it?” Karanissa’s tone was wistful.
“Yes, of course, you lived there for so long, how could it not be home?”
“But you didn’t live there very long!”
Tobas shrugged. “I haven’t got any other home; I got kicked out of the one I grew up in and burned down
