Calling on Dragons - Wrede Patricia Collins - Страница 37

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"The Smoking Swamp," Morwen told him. "And this is Brandel. We were fortunate enough to find his tower in time to spend the night, or you'd be sleeping in mud."

"I appear to have done that already," Telemain said, picking flakes of dried mud from the left shoulder of his vest. Suddenly, he looked up, frowning.

"Spend the night?"

"You got an unusually heavy Dose of backshock when you lost control of the transportation spell," Morwen told him. "You've been unconscious all day."

"Ridiculous," said Telemain. "I did not lose control of the transportation spell, and I am not suffering from backshock."

"Well, this certainly isn't the edge of the Great Southern Desert," Cimorene said. "And something knocked you out for most of the day."

"I had to carry you," Killer said, bobbing his head up and down for emphasis. "You're heavy."

Morwen's eyes narrowed. "If it isn't backshock, what is it?"

"The opposite of backshock," Telemain said. "I don't believe there is a word for it."

"Explain."

"Backshock occurs when the accumulated magical energy contained within an enchantment-in-process rebounds upon the magician casting the spell due to his inability to maintain control," Telemain said.

"He's feeling better, all right," said Trouble, glancing up from the sardines.

"Mrrow vrow?" said Horatio.

"Yes," said Scorn. "Sometimes he's even worse."

"In this instance, both the disruption of the transportation spell and the prolonged unconsciousness that followed resulted from an expropriation of magical energy as a result of the partial absorption of my enchantment-inprocess by a similar but much more extensive enchantment."

"What?" said Brandel.

"You're sure?" Morwen said, frowning.

"Positive," said Telemain. "The sensation was quite unmistakable. And I must also point out that the normal secondary consequences of backshock are not in evidence."

"What does that mean?" Cimorene said.

"It means I'm starving," Telemain said, climbing to his feet. "Can we finish this discussion over dinner?"

"Most of us have eaten," Morwen said. "You can have dinner while the rest of us discuss. About this other spell-"

"What other spell?" Cimorene said. "Morwen, will one of you please explain what you're talking about?"

"Sorry," Morwen said. "Telemain said that he didn't lose control of the transportation spell. Somebody else was transporting at the same time-" "A very large somebody else," Telemain said, piling a plate with slices of roast boar and heaps of vegetables. "Or possibly someone moving a moderately large house."

"-and the second spell sucked up enough of Telemain's magic to break his spell right in the middle of things."

"Sucked up Telemain's magic?" Cimorene scowled. "That sounds an awful lot like wizards."

"Aren't you jumping to conclusions?" Brandel said. "I know wizards have a bad reputation, but they aren't thieves."

"They took Mendanbar's sword."

"And they've been stealing magic on a small scale for years," Morwen said. 'Just ask the dragons."

"But if it was wizards, where were they going?" Cimorene tapped her fingers nervously against the arm of her chair. "And what were they planning to do when they got there? Oh, I wish I'd been able to reach Mendanbar."

Telemain made a questioning noise, so Morwen explained about Brandel's magic mirror. "I thought the spell might be incompatible with the one in the castle," she finished. "Do you feel up to checking, once you're done eating?"

"I can certainly try," Telemain said. "If that's the problem, though, I doubt that I'll be able to do anything about it until tomorrow. It takes time to rebuild magical reserves."

But when Telemain examined the mirror, he shook his head. "It's an old universal-application single-unit enchantment. Quite an impressive antique, and I can see that it's been well maintained. The connective interface is pretty basic, therefore-" "Can you fix it to get through to Mendanbar or not?" Cimorene asked.

"I was getting to that." Telemain looked at the expression on Cimorene's face and sighed. "I'm afraid it doesn't need adjusting," he said with unusual gentleness. "There's nothing wrong with the spell, and it shouldn't be incompatible with the castle mirror. The problem is somewhere else."

"I knew it," Cimorene said. She rose and began to pace in front of the fireplace. "Something is wrong at home."

Both Morwen and Telemain agreed with Cimorene, at least in part, but even if they had wanted to, they could not have done anything that night.

Telemain was much too drained to cast another transportation spell, and they had no other way of getting back to the Enchanted Forest in a hurry.

Furthermore, there was not much point in going back without the sword.

"Mendanbar has all the magic of the Enchanted Forest to use against the wizards," Morwen said. "He doesn't need more magicians. He needs his sword, so he can stop all of the wizards at once instead of attacking them one or two at a time."

"Yes, but there are so many of them," Cimorene said. "And there's only one of him. And what if the sword has started draining magic out of the forest? The wizards will be getting more powerful and Mendanbar will be getting less."

"If the sword has started leaking Enchanted Forest magic, the best thing we can do is to get it back to the forest quickly," Morwen said.

"And anyway, there are only three of us," Telemain pointed out. "That wouldn't change the odds much."

"There are six of us," Trouble said indignantly. "What's the matter, can't he count?"

"I'll admit that the rabbit isn't good for much, even as a donkey," Scorn said. "We, however, are another matter entirely."

"Kazul will be far more help to Mendanbar than we would," Morwen told Cimorene. "Our job is to get hold of that sword. And you are the only one who can do that."

Cimorene sighed. "I know. I just wish I could be there with him."

"Then we had better stop worrying about what Mendanbar is doing and start figuring out how to find his sword in the shortest possible time, so we get back as soon as we can," Morwen said.

Everyone agreed that this was an excellent idea, but though they discussed the matter for another hour, no one had any suggestions.

Finally, Morwen put an end to the discussion. "We are all getting too tired to think," she said. "We will do much better in the morning."

Brandel supplied them each with a room and a warm bath-which the cats declined-and Morwen made certain that the others were settled in before she retired herself.

The following morning, Morwen rose early. Even so, Telemain was up before she was. She found him in the topmost room of the tower, sitting in front of the dead ashes of the fire and staring at Brandel's magic mirror with an expression of concentration on his face. On the far side of the room, Killer slept with his head down and his oversized wings flopped awkwardly across his back.

"Good morning," Morwen said as she climbed the last few stairs.

"How are your magic levels?"

"Much better," Telemain said absently. "Morwen, how much do you know about these old universal-application units?" He waved at the mirror.

"Using them or enchanting them?"

"Using them."

"(Quite a bit," Morwen said. "Forty years ago they were standard equipment for witches, and learning to use them is still considered part of a witch's basic education. Why?"

"How universal is the universal application?" Telemain asked.

"It depends on the mirror. Can't you figure it out from looking at the underlying enchantment?"

Telemain frowned. "Probably, but it's not a good idea to take a working antique apart unless you absolutely have to. They're old and fragile, and if I popped one of the main core links it could take days to repair."

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