Dealing with Dragons

When she wasn't working on collecting the ingredients for the fire-proofing spell, Cimorene read the Historia Dracorum. It was very difficult at first. After all, it had been a long time since her last Latin lesson. She kept working at it until she started to remember the right endings for the declensions and conjugations and cases. Shortly after that she realized that she was not having to look up quite as many words as she had at the beginning.
From then on, her progress was rapid. It helped that she found the book fascinating. Dragon history was not a subject commonly taught to princesses in Linderwall. But as she was now a dragon's princess, she had personal reasons to be interested. Besides, the history of the dragons was very exciting. Every page was full of descriptions of dragons ravaging villages, carrying off princesses, defeating knights and princes (and occasionally being defeated by them), and fighting with wizards, giants, and each other. When the book wasn't describing battles, it was describing famous dragons' hoards and peculiar draconian customs.
Cimorene was in the library with the Historia Dracorum in front of 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 the kitchen. Don't you think so? There's not very much room."
"We'll manage," Zemenar said.
Cimorene hadn't really expected to get the wizards to let go of their staffs, but it had been worth a try. She shrugged and smiled and led them on into the kitchen, where she made a point of bumping into the staffs or tripping over them every time she went by. Finally Antorell turned his sideways and stuck it under the table. Zemenar hung onto his with a kind of grim, suspicious stubbornness that made Cimorene wonder whether she was fooling him at all with her pretended silliness.
The wizards made uncomfortable conversation about the weather and the size of the kitchen for several minutes while Cimorene fixed the tea and poured it. "Are the rest of Kazul's caves this large?" Zemenar asked as Cimorene handed him his teacup. She had given him the one with the broken handle, even though he was a guest, because she didn't trust him.
"Oh, yes," Cimorene said. She was beginning to think she was never going to find out anything. The two wizards seemed perfectly happy to sit at the kitchen table and talk about nothing whatever for hours.
"Remarkable," said Antorell in an admiring tone. "You know, we wizards don't often get to see the inside of a dragon's cave."
I'll bet you don't, thought Cimorene as she gave him a puzzled smile.
"That's too bad," she said aloud.
"Yes, it is," Zemenar said. "Perhaps you'd be willing to show us around?"
Cimorene thought very rapidly. It was obvious that she wasn't going to learn anything if the wizards just sat at the kitchen table and drank tea, so she decided to take a chance. "Well," she said in a doubtful tone, "I suppose it would be all right as long as I don't take you into the treasure rooms."
"That's fine," Antorell said, a little too quickly.
"You won't touch anything, will you?" Cimorene said as they stood up.
"Kazul is so particular about where things are kept…"
"Of course not," Zemenar said, smiling insincerely.
Cimorene smiled back and led the way out into the hall. She watched the wizards carefully as she took them through the large main cave, the general storage caverns, and the big cavern where Kazul visited with other dragons. Zemenar made polite noises about the size and comfort of everything, but neither he nor Antorell seemed very interested.
"And this is the library," Cimorene said, throwing the door open.
"I am impressed," Zemenar said, and Cimorene could tell that this time he meant it. She stepped sideways, so that she could keep an eye on both of the wizards at the same time.
"A remarkable collection," Antorell commented. He began walking around the room, admiring the bookshelves and scanning the titles of the books.
"What's this?" Zemenar said, bending over the table. "The Historia Dracorum? A surprising choice for light reading, Princess." His eyes met Cimorene's, and they were hard and bright and suspicious.