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oversized wings for the rest of my life?" Killer wailed.
"Count your blessings," said Scorn. "At least you're not insubstantial "And you're not a rabbit," Trouble
pointed out. "That's a plus."
"But I'm supposed to be a rabbit!"
"Quiet," Morwen told them sternly. "As I was saying, undoing the spells is next to impossible. But
moving them& "
"... is elementary magic," Telemain said, nodding. "We won't even need any special equipment. But
who were you thinking of moving them to?"
Morwen smiled. "Cimorene, would you ask Willin to bring Arona Michaelear Grinogion Vamist over
here for a moment, please? This won't take long, and then we can relax and have lunch."
For a moment, Cimorene and Telemain stared at Morwen, and then they began to smile, too. "It will be
my pleasure," Cimorene said, and called Willin over. A short time later, Vamist appeared, flanked by
Brandel and Amory.
"What do you want now?" Vamist asked. "I demand that you send me home at once."
"In a minute," Morwen said. "Stand over here by Killer. Trouble, Scorn-" "Right here," Scorn purred.
"Go ahead whenever you're ready."
"Good." Morwen raised her left hand, palm up, then flipped it over.
"Front to back, White to black, Young to old, Silver to gold."
As she finished speaking, Killer began to glow green. The glow pulsed once, brightly, far enough for
the edge to touch Vamist. "Whoops!" said Vamist, and "Eek!" said Killer, and then an ordinary brown
rabbit with a few faded patches of white-dyed fur dropped to the ground next to an oversized blue
floating donkey with wings.
"Look," said Scorn. "He's got a little bald patch between his ears."
"What-eee-augh!" said Vamist. "No! You can't do this to me!"
"Want to bet?" said Trouble.
"Goodness, he looks silly," said Killer, twitching his nose. "Is that really what I was like?"
"Except for the bald patch," said Scorn.
"You can't mean to leave me like this? Vamist cried. "You wouldn't make me stay a donkey?"
"You're not just a donkey," Morwen said, letting her smile grow.
"You're a seven-foot bright blue floating donkey with oversized wings.
And as far as I'm concerned you can stay that way for the rest of your life.
Telemain, have you got enough energy left to send him to the main square in his hometown?"
"I believe I can manage that," Telemain said.
"No! I'll be the laughingstock of the whole countryside! And how will I get people to pay attention to
what I say?"
"You won't," Brandel said with considerable relish. "No one will listen to someone who looks that silly.
Morwen, it's perfect."
"It certainly is," Cimorene said. "How on earth did you think of it?"
"It came to me a while back, when Scorn said he was 'as dumb as that rabbit." Now all that's left is the
problem of what to do about the castle."
But though they discussed it over lunch, after lunch, and through the afternoon until dinner, no one
could think of anything that might work.
Telemain spent an hour studying the shield spell, but he could not find any way to get rid of it. The
dragons could not get close to it because the spell was too similar to the one on the wizards' staffs and
made them sneeze. The fire-witches' magic just bounced off. In desperation, Cimorene even tried to stick
Mendanbar's sword into the spell, but it stopped at the edge of the glow and refused to penetrate it.
"I think we're going to have to wait for the baby," Telemain said finally.
"I'm not giving up yet," Cimorene said. "There's got to be some way to get in, or to get Mendanbar
out."
"Don't be so sure," Morwen said. "Barrier spells frequently come with a time delay, rather than any
specific sort of key. I believe a hundred years is the usual period, though that normally applies to hedges
of briars, not glowing magic shields. Still& "
"I'm not giving up," Cimorene repeated. "And I'm certainly not waiting a hundred years!"
And she didn't. For the next two months, while Telemain and Morwen disposed of Vamist the donkey
and sent Killer the rabbit back to his clover patch, while the dragons combed the Enchanted Forest for
stray wizards, while the fire-witches finished helping out and went home (or, in some cases, built new
homes in the Enchanted Forest), Cimorene tried everything anyone could think of to get herself through
the wizards' shield. She had dwarves dig runnels and birds dive at the top of the shield; she sprayed it
with soapy lemon water and sprinkled it with powdered dragon scales (donated for the purpose by
Kazul); she cast spells alone at midnight and at noon in combination with Morwen, Telemain, all of the
fire-witches, and several dragons.
Nothing made any difference.
Kazul left a squad of dragons to keep watch for wizards near the castle, and she herself visited
frequently. Eventually, she persuaded Cimorene to slow down, at least until the baby was born. Since
none of the other attempts had shown any sign of success, Cimorene's child seemed more and more to
be their best hope of getting into the castle, rescuing Mendanbar, and defeating the wizards once and for
all. Rumors began circulating, each purporting to give the real truth about the battle and the whereabouts
of King Mendanbar.
The Society of Wizards was too busy with its own affairs-choosing a new Head Wizard and recovering
from the unexpected onslaught of dragons and fire-witches-to make new trouble for the time being. So
the pause in the fighting stretched out longer and longer until it became a sort of uneasy, unofficial peace.
And everyone waited.
EPILOGUE
Which Hints at Things to Come
Motherhood suits Cimorene, Morwen thought as she watched the Queen of the Enchanted Forest and
the King of the Dragons making peculiar noises over the infant Prince Daystar, aged two months, six
days, and some-odd hours. On the moss beside them, at the foot of an ancient and enormous willow, lay
Mendanbar's unsheathed sword.
"Telemain says he melted another wizard in the eastern part of the forest yesterday," Morwen said
aloud. "They're getting bolder."
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