Free Wrede, Patricia C - Enchanted Forest 01 by Dealing, Dragons Page B

her and her Latin dictionary on the table beside her left hand when she heard someone calling from the front of the cave. She had hoped it would be at least a little longer before the knights started coming back, so she couldn’t help sighing as she stuck a leather bookmark in the book and closed it. Then she went out to argue with whoever it was until they went away.
    Two wizards were standing just outside the mouth of the cave. Cimorene saw their wooden staffs first, before she was close enough to see their faces. As she came nearer, she recognized the one on the left as Zemenar. The one on the right was taller and younger; his brown hair and beard showed no trace of gray. His blue and brown robes were identical to the older wizard’s, except for the colors. His eyes were the same bright black as his companion’s, and he looked at Cimorene in a way that made her feel uneasy.
    “Good morning to you. Princess Cimorene,” Zemenar said. “I thought I would take you up on your kind invitation to visit. I hope we haven’t come at an inconvenient time?”
    “Not at all,” Cimorene said, thinking hard. She had promised Kazul that she would try to find out what Zemenar was after if he showed up, and here he was. Maybe if she convinced him that she was as silly as her sisters, he would be careless enough to let something slip.
    “I thought perhaps we might have since it took you so long to come out,” Zemenar said mildly, but Cimorene thought there was a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
    “I must not have heard you right away,” Cimorene said, batting her eyes innocently, the way her next youngest sister did whenever she had done something particularly foolish. “Kazul has quite a large set of caves, and I was in one of the ones at the back. I’m so sorry.”
    “Ah.” Zemenar stroked his beard with his left hand. “That would make it difficult for you. Perhaps we could set up a spell for you, one that would let you know whenever anyone comes to visit. It would be more pleasant for visitors, too, if they didn’t have to shout. What do you think, Antorell?”
    “Like the one at the headquarters of the society,” the second wizard said, nodding. “We could do it in two or three minutes, right from here. It’d be easy.”
    Zemenar shot a dark look at his companion. Cimorene was sure that he’d wanted to pretend he was inventing a difficult new spell, so that he would have an excuse to wander around Kazul’s caves. “Quite so,” said Zemenar. “Well, Princess?”
    “Oh, dear, I don’t know,” Cimorene said, doing her best to imitate the way her eldest sister behaved whenever anyone wanted her to decide anything. “It sounds very nice, but Kazul is so picky about where things go and how things are done ... No, I couldn’t, I simply couldn’t let you do anything like that without asking Kazul first.”
    “What a pity,” Zemenar said. His companion coughed and shuffled his feet. “Ah, yes. Allow me to present my son, Antorell. I hope you don’t mind my bringing him along?”
    “Of course not,” Cimorene said politely.
    “I am pleased to make the acquaintance of such a lovely princess,” Antorell said, bowing.
    Cimorene blinked. This wasn’t getting anywhere. Maybe if she brought them inside they’d relax a little. “Thank you,” she said to Antorell. “Won’t you come in and have some tea?”
    “We would be delighted,” Zemenar said quickly. “If you’ll lead the way. Princess?”
    “This way,” Cimorene said. She stopped just inside the mouth of the cave and gave the wizards her sweetest and most innocent smile. “You can leave your staffs right here. Just lean them up against the wall.”
    Antorell looked considerably startled, and Zemenar frowned. “Is this, too, something your dragon requires?” he said.
    “I don’t know,” Cimorene said, wrinkling up her forehead the way her third-from-eldest sister did whenever she was puzzled (which was often). “But they’ll be so awkward in