Talking To Dragons Read online

  “All right, but you’ll have to keep the lamp,” I said, digging the key out of my pocket again. I still wasn’t sure that the key didn’t belong to the quozzel, but the more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed. And if it did have something to do with the sword, I wanted to hang on to it. “I don’t think I can manage the sword and the things Morwen gave us and the lamp, and still hold the key.”

  “You wouldn’t have to until we started walking again, anyway,” Shiara said, but she kept the lamp.

  Just then the dragon looked up. “I’m done,” it said. “Where do we go now?”

  16

  WE CLEANED UP the remains of the dragon’s meal and started walking again. I don’t know how far we went or how long it took us. The tunnel forked and we went right, then it forked again and we went left. We went through a large cave with walls like black mirrors, and a damp one that dripped water on our heads, and an unpleasant slimy one with grey moss on the walls. I was very glad that Telemain had told us which way to go; we would have gotten very lost very quickly without his directions.

  A few times I thought I heard squishing noises behind us, but I wasn’t sure enough to say anything. I was also worrying a lot more about remembering all the things Telemain had told us than I was about the quozzel. I was beginning to think we had taken a wrong turn somewhere, when we came to another cavern.

  This one was long and narrow, and the floor was about a hundred feet straight down. It was full of orange light and very hot. A narrow path ran along one wall from where we stood to a dark opening on the other side.

  “Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Shiara said, eyeing the path dubiously.

  “I am now,” I said. “This was the last cave Telemain mentioned; once we’re on the other side, it shouldn’t take long to get to the castle.”

  “We have to get to the other side first,” Shiara pointed out. “That doesn’t look very safe.”

  “The Caves of Chance aren’t supposed to be safe,” I said. “I’m surprised we haven’t run into something a lot more dangerous than the quozzel.”

  “I suppose— Nightwitch!” Shiara shouted a minute too late; the kitten was already halfway across the narrow path. Shiara sighed. “Well, now we have to go across.”

  Shiara insisted on going first, because Nightwitch was her cat. I didn’t argue much. I went next, and the dragon came last. I had to hug the wall to keep from losing my balance and falling, which was hard to do with the key in one hand, Morwen’s bundle in the other, and the sword under one arm. The dragon didn’t seem to have as much difficulty as I did, even though it was a little too large for the ledge. It just dug its claws into the rock and kept coming.

  When we finally made it to the other side, Shiara and I were covered with black rock dust. We took turns brushing each other off, while Nightwitch sat far enough back to avoid getting any of it on her and the dragon looked superior. Evidently rock dust doesn’t cling to dragon scales, which was very nice for the dragon but didn’t do much to improve Shiara’s temper.

  “How much farther is it?” Shiara asked as we started off.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “But it shouldn’t take much longer.”

  “I hope not,” said the dragon. “I don’t like this tunnel.”

  “Why not?” Shiara asked.

  “It isn’t finished,” the dragon said.

  I looked around. The tunnel was a lot rougher than the others we’d come through, and there were rocks sticking out at odd angles from the walls and the roof and even the floor. Every now and then it narrowed into a crooked little passage; if the dragon had been much bigger, it wouldn’t have been able to fit through some of them. We still saw side passages once in a while, but they seemed smaller and farther apart than they had in the first part of the tunnel.

  “It does look sort of incomplete,” I said. “I think—”

  “Daystar, look out!” Shiara yelled. A large rock fell out of the ceiling, just missing my head, along with a shower of pebbles that didn’t. I heard a creaking noise and felt more pebbles.

  “Get back!” I shouted. I dropped Morwen’s bundle and shoved Shiara. “Run!”

  Shiara stumbled backward. Nightwitch yowled and made a tremendous leap right onto the dragon’s nose. The dragon jerked in surprise, and Nightwitch made another jump and vanished into the darkness behind it. I heard more rumblings, and I shoved Shiara again, just as the roof came down on top of us.

  When I woke up, it was very dark. Somehow I’d managed to keep hold of the sword and the key. I could feel them, one halfway under me and the other digging into my palm. I could feel other things, too; I ached all over. I tried to move, but my legs were pinned under something heavy, and I couldn’t drag them free. I pushed myself up a little and tried to stare into the darkness. “Shiara? Nightwitch? Dragon?”

  No one answered. They couldn’t all have gotten caught in the cave-in; I’d been the farthest forward, and I was just at the edge of it. I started wishing I had the lamp, and then I remembered that the key glowed when I touched the Sword of the Sleeping King. I felt around for the hilt, and something very moist and heavy hit me in the middle of my back.

  I slammed back into the floor and almost lost consciousness again. I heard something above me bubbling, “The k-k-key! Let go, drop it, gug-give it to me!” Instinctively, I grabbed for the sword.

  My fingers touched the hilt, and the key started to glow. It wasn’t quite as good as the lamp, but at least I could see. I heard a muffled shriek, and the weight left my back very suddenly. An instant later, I saw the quozzel bending over my hand, and I tightened my grip on the key.

  The quozzel bounced angrily. “You’re still alive! I don’t want you alive. I want that k-k-key. That’s why I fixed the rocks.”

  I shook my head to clear it. “You made the tunnel cave in? Just to get a key?”

  “Of c-c-c-course!” the quozzel spluttered. “I’m supposed to take c-care of it. I’ll get it, too. All I need is m-m-more rocks.”

  The quozzel wobbled forward, toward the caved-in part of the tunnel. I twisted, trying to see what it was doing, and a medium-sized rock came crashing down beside me. The quozzel made an angry whistling noise. “H-hold still!”

  “So you can drop rocks on me?” I said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a long pile of something that seemed to end in a tangle of red hair. Shiara hadn’t been buried under the rocks, then. Unfortunately, she didn’t look like she would be able to help me with the quozzel any time soon, and I still didn’t know where Nightwitch or the dragon were. I shifted the key into my left hand and started trying to get the Sword of the Sleeping King out of its sheath with my right, in case the quozzel decided to try coming closer.

  There was a sizzling noise from somewhere behind me, and a dozen or so rocks of assorted sizes came rolling down on top of me. I yelled; some of them hit places that had already been battered by the cave-in. The quozzel bubbled happily, and a few more rocks went by on one side. I shoved myself up on my hands as far as I could and yanked the sword out of the sheath and out from under me at the same time. I twisted around just as two more large rocks came rolling down at me.

  I swung at the rocks with the flat of the sword, trying to deflect them a little. There was a bright flash as the sword hit them, and the rocks went flying toward the far wall of the tunnel. I heard a low humming sound that changed suddenly into a rumble, and the light in the cave went out. For some reason, I thought of the clearing where I’d said the spell at the Sword of the Sleeping King, when everything had gone dark and the voice had called me the Bearer of the Sword.

  This time I didn’t hear any voice, but the rumbling got louder and louder, and suddenly I realized that my legs were free. I curled them up under me, so I wouldn’t be trapped again if the quozzel managed to start another cave-in or something. The rumbling started to die down, and I heard faint shouts mixed in with it, and the bubbling noise that the quozzel made, and someone groaning. Then the rumbling stopped, and I could
see again.

  I stood up and looked around. I could still hear the shouting; it sounded faint and far away, and after a moment it faded completely. Shiara was the person who had groaned. She was starting to move a little, and suddenly I felt a lot better about things generally. Then I heard squishing noises from in back of me, and I whirled.

  Behind me, the tunnel was completely blocked by a sloping pile of rocks and dirt. At the base of the pile, where I had been trapped, was an empty space that looked as if something had sliced cleanly through the rocks and lifted them out of the way. Midway up the slope was the quozzel. It was wobbling hastily toward the tunnel floor. I pointed the Sword of the Sleeping King at it, and it stopped abruptly.

  “Just a minute, you!” I said. “You have some questions to answer.”

  “I d-d-d-didn’t know,” said the quozzel. “I still don’t. K-k-keep the k-key. Nice to m-m-meet you. Glug-gug-goodbye.”

  “Oh, no you don’t,” I said. I stepped in front of it, so that if it wobbled forward any more, it would get stuck on my sword.

  “I’m gug-gug-gug-going,” said the quozzel. It seemed to be stammering a lot more than it had before. I found myself hoping it was even more nervous than it looked.

  “You aren’t going anywhere until you explain why you want this key so badly,” I said. “And maybe not then. I don’t think I ought to leave something as sneaky and treacherous as you running around loose.” I tried to sound intimidating, even though I had no idea what I was going to do with the quozzel. I didn’t think I could just kill it, and I certainly didn’t want to bring it along with me. I wasn’t about to tell the quozzel any of that, though; after what it had tried to do, it wouldn’t hurt it to worry a little.

  “Daystar?” Shiara’s voice distracted me from the quozzel, which was bubbling and popping worriedly to itself. “Daystar, what happened?”

  “The quozzel made the tunnel cave in,” I said. “It was trying to kill me so it could get the key. Are you all right?”

  “Of course I’m— Yow!” said Shiara. I looked quickly around and saw her sitting up very carefully. She looked a little pale. “I think I broke my arm,” she said.

  “Can I do anything to help?” I said.

  “You can keep that stupid quozzel away from me!” Shiara said. “I’m all right as long as I don’t move much.”

  I didn’t believe her, but I couldn’t have done much to help anyway. I didn’t know anything about setting broken arms, except that you can make things a lot worse if you don’t know what you’re doing. I decided not to say anything; if Shiara wanted me to keep watching the quozzel instead of trying to help her, she would probably get mad if I didn’t. Besides, I didn’t want the quozzel to get away and try dropping the roof on us again.

  “Where’s Nightwitch?” Shiara said after a while. “And the dragon?”

  “I don’t know,” I told her. “I haven’t seen them since the tunnel fell in.”

  “You miserable little blob!”

  I looked around in surprise and was very relieved to see Shiara glaring at the quozzel and not at me.

  “If anything’s happened to Nightwitch because of your stupid cave-in, I’ll, I’ll melt you into a puddle!” she went on.

  “You’d better not try,” the quozzel said, starting to bounce. “The w-w-wizard will gug-get you if you do!”

  “What wizard?” I said.

  The quozzel bubbled unhappily. “I can’t tell you.”

  “Oh, no?” Shiara said. She stood up slowly and came over beside me, holding her right arm carefully in her left one. “I guess I’d better just melt you, then, and save some time.”

  “N-n-no!” said the quozzel. Little ripples ran over it, and it seemed to shrink a little.

  “Then you’d better tell us what wizard you’re talking about,” I said.

  “The one who gug-gave me the key,” the quozzel said unwillingly. “He told me to take care of it until he came back for it.”

  “How long ago was that?” I asked, ignoring Shiara, who was rubbing her bruises and muttering to herself.

  “A long time,” the quozzel said. “He never came back, so it’s still m-m-my responsib-b-bility.”

  “Not if I melt you, it isn’t,” Shiara said, and the quozzel subsided very suddenly.

  “What is it the key to?” I said. “And why did the wizard leave it here?”

  “D-d-don’t know,” the quozzel said sullenly. “He said people would come look for it and try to take it. That’s why he wanted m-m-me to look after it. You aren’t supposed to take it. No one’s supposed to take it b-b-but the wizard!”

  “What did this wizard look like?” I said. I had an unpleasant feeling that I knew already, and I was therefore extremely relieved when the quozzel described someone who didn’t sound at all like Antorell. Shiara didn’t recognize the description, either, but she wasn’t as relieved as I was.

  “How do we know this stupid thing isn’t lying?” she said. “I think we should—What’s that?”

  I could hear something from far down the tunnel, but it echoed too much for me to be able to tell what it was. It seemed to be getting louder. “I think something’s coming,” I said to Shiara, then, “You stay where you are!” to the quozzel, who had been trying to wobble a little closer to the bottom of the rock pile.

  The quozzel froze again, and Shiara gave me a disgusted look. “I know something’s coming, but what is it?”

  I didn’t answer. The noise came closer, and I saw a flickering light partway down the tunnel. I shifted position so I could watch the quozzel and still see some of the rest of the tunnel. The light got brighter, and a moment later about a dozen people came through one of the side passages. They were all short and sort of squashed-looking, bigger than the elves we’d met, but considerably shorter than a normal person. Most of them were carrying picks or shovels or long, pointed iron poles; a couple of them had torches. They seemed to be following something, but they were too far away and the light was too bad for me to be sure.

  “Dwarves!” I said. They must have heard the echo, because two of them looked up and saw us. One of them shouted something, but I couldn’t make out the words.

  “Terrific!” Shiara muttered as they started in our direction. “What’d you have to do that for?”

  “They’d have seen us anyway,” I said. “I mean, we’d be sort of difficult to miss, with the key lighting up the tunnel like this.”

  “I suppose so,” Shiara said. She squinted into the dark part of the tunnel between us and the dwarves. “What’s that in front of them?”

  I didn’t have to answer, because a second later Nightwitch came bounding out of the darkness with her tail held very high. She looked extremely proud of herself. She went straight to Shiara and started rubbing against her legs and purring.

  “I’m glad to see you, too,” Shiara said. She started to bend over and winced. “Sorry, kitten; I’m afraid you’ll have to wait to get petted until somebody does something about this stupid arm.”

  Nightwitch stopped rubbing and looked up. “Mmrew?”

  “Well, I said I was sorry,” Shiara said. “I didn’t ask to break it.”

  The dwarves had reached the edge of the key’s glow, and the whole tunnel was lit up by their torches. It made things a lot more cheerful. I could see the dragon in back of the dwarves, looking almost as smug as Nightwitch had.

  “Look!” it said when it got close enough to talk without shouting. “I found a whole lot of dwarves!”

  “I see that,” I said. I bowed to the dwarves as well as I could while trying to watch the quozzel at the same time. “My name is Daystar, and that’s Shiara. We’re very pleased to meet you.”

  “They’re going to dig through the part of the tunnel that came down,” the dragon said.

  “Hold on just a minute!” one of the dwarves said. “I didn’t say I’d help. Not exactly. I said I’d look at this cave-in of yours.”

  “Me too,” said another. “Proper mess it looks, too.”<
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  “Not natural,” said a female dwarf. She looked at Shiara and me suspiciously.

  “How do you know?” Shiara said belligerently.

  “We made this tunnel,” still another dwarf said. “And dwarf-made tunnels don’t just fall in.”

  “Not ever,” agreed the first one.

  “Of course not,” I said. “The quozzel made the tunnel cave in; it was trying to stop us from getting out of the Caves of Chance.”

  “The quozzel?” the dragon said, looking interested. “That dessert thing is back again?”

  “You can’t eat it until we find out if it knows anything else,” I said. “Besides, you had plenty of lunch.”

  The dragon sighed. “I suppose so. All right, I’ll wait.”

  I looked at the dwarves. “We’d be very much obliged to you if you would help us get through this, or show us a way around it, or something,” I said.

  “Now, why should we do that?” one of them said.

  “I don’t see any reason,” said another.

  “Lot of work for nothing,” added a third.

  “And I don’t like dragons!” said a voice from the middle of the group. The dragon glared, but it couldn’t pick out the dwarf who’d spoken.

  “Could you at least set Shiara’s arm?” I said.

  One of the female dwarves started to reply, but she was cut off by a yell from Shiara. “Daystar! Behind you!”

  I raised the sword and spun around just as the quozzel bunched itself together and jumped at me. It came flying through the air, and I ducked. Something dark and purple shot out of it toward me, and I slashed at it with the sword. I got most of the purple stuff and part of the quozzel as well. I heard it shriek, and then it had landed and launched itself again, straight for the wall of the tunnel.

  “I’ll kill all of you!” it whistled angrily. “Key stealers! Cannibals! I’ll kill you d-d-dead!”

  I lunged for it, but I was too late. The quozzel hit the tunnel wall, and instead of bouncing, it vanished into the rock like water being absorbed by a sponge, only faster. An instant later a shower of rocks fell out of the roof of the tunnel, and I heard the walls creaking ominously.