"The dragons are careful around us, but it would be nice not to have to depend on them not to lose their tempers." She hesitated. "May I help?" don't think Kazul would mind, Cimorene said. "But you'd better change clothes first. The library isn't very clean, I'm afraid." Alianora looked down at her silk gown, which was embroidered heavily with silver and pearls, and giggled. Cimorene took her into the bedroom and found a plain, serviceable cleaning dress in the magic wardrobe. It took two tries before the wardrobe figured out that she wanted a dress for someone else, but once it caught on, it provided a splendid selection in Alianora's size. Then they went to the library and got to work.
Cleaning was much more enjoyable with Alianora for company. By the time they finished dusting and straightening the last bookcases, the two girls were fast friends, and Alianora was comfortable enough to ask Cimorene straight out how it was that she had come to volunteer for a dragon.
"It's a long story," Cimorene said, but Alianora insisted on hearing it.
So Cimorene told her and then asked how Alianora had happened to be carried off by Woraug.
To her surprise, Alianora flushed. "I think it was the only thing left that they could think of," she said, not very clearly. "My family, I mean."
"I don't understand," Cimorene said.
"It's because I'm not a very satisfactory princess," Alianora said. "I tried, I really did, but .... It started when the wicked fairy came to my "She put a curse on you?"
"No. She ate cake and ice cream until she nearly burst and danced with my Uncle Arthur until two in the morning and had a wonderful time. So she went home without cursing me, and Aunt Ermintrude says that that's where the whole problem started."
"Lots of princesses don't have christening curses," said Cimorene.
"Not if a wicked fairy comes to the christening," Alianora said positively.
"And that was only the beginning. When I turned sixteen, Aunt Ermintrude sent me a gold spinning wheel for my birthday, and I sat down and spun. I didn't prick my finger or anything."
Cimorene was beginning to see what Alianora was getting at. "Well, if you didn't have a christening curse…"
"So Aunt Ermintrude told Mama to put me and a spinning wheel in a room full of straw and have me spin it into gold," Alianora went on. "And I tried! But all I could manage was linen thread, and whoever heard of a princess who can spin straw into linen thread?"
"It's a little unusual, certainly."
"Then they gave me a loaf of bread and told me to walk through the forest and give some to anyone who asked. I did exactly what they told me, and the second beggar-woman was a fairy in disguise, but instead of saying that whenever I spoke, diamonds and roses would drop from my mouth, she said that since I was so kind, I would never have any problems with my teeth."
"Really? Did it work?"
"Well, I haven't had a toothache since I met her."
"I'd much rather have good teeth than have diamonds and roses drop out of my mouth whenever I said something," Cimorene said. "Think how uncomfortable it would be if you accidentally talked in your sleep! You'd wake up rolling around on thorns and rocks."
"That never occurred to me," Alianora said, much struck.
"Was that everything?" Cimorene asked.
"No," Alianora said. "Aunt Ermintrude persuaded one of her fairy friends to give me a gown and a pair of glass slippers to go to a ball in the next kingdom over. And I broke one before I even got out of the castle!"
"That's not so surprising," Cimorene said. "Glass slippers are for deserving merchants' daughters, not for princesses."
"Try telling Aunt Ermintrude that," Alianora said. "I think she was the one who found out that Woraug was going to ravage a village just over the border and arranged for me to go and visit on the right day so I could be carried off. She didn't even warn me. I suppose she thought that if I knew, I'd mess it up somehow."
"I don't think I would get along very well with your Aunt Ermintrude," Cimorene commented thoughtfully.
"Oh, it wasn't so bad, at least at first," Alianora said. "Woraug ignored me most of the time, especially after he found out I can't cook, and it was a real relief not to have Aunt Ermintrude around any more. Only then Gornul brought Keredwel and Zareth brought Hallanna, and…"
"And they've been making life miserable for you ever since," Cimorene finished. "Why don't you stand up to them?"
"I tried, but you don't know what they're like," Alianora said, sighing.
"Keredwel goes on and on about correct behavior, and Hallanna dissolves in tears as soon as it looks like she's losing an argument. And they've both had dozens of knights and princes try to rescue them.
I've only had two."
"How do you do it?" Cimorene asked. "I've had nine already, and they're a dreadful nuisance." Alianora stared at Cimorene, then began to giggle. "What's so funny?" Cimorene demanded.
"Keredwel bragged for a week because two knights and a prince tried to rescue her the first month she was here," Alianora explained between giggles. "She said it was some kind of record. You've barely been with Kazul for four weeks, and you've had nine, and you didn't even mention it when Keredwel was here. She's going to be furious when she finds out."
"If she wants them, she can have them," Cimorene said. Her expression grew thoughtful. "Maybe they'd be easier to get rid of if I sent them along to another princess, instead of just trying to get them to go home."
"Oh!" said Alianora, and went off into gales of laughter again.
Cimorene gave her a questioning look. "It's the idea of Keredwel being-oh, my-being rescued by a secondhand knight," Alianora gasped.
"Oh, dear?"
Cimorene's eyes began to dance. "I could take a good look at them first, to make sure they're worthy of her before I sent them on," she suggested.
This was too much for either of them, and they both collapsed in laughter. "You wouldn't, really, would you?" Alianora said when she began to recover.
"Send the knights to rescue someone else? I certainly would," Cimorene said emphatically. "I meant it when I said they were a nuisance. I wouldn't want to upset Keredwel, though. I'll have to think about the best way of handling it. It's a good thing there probably won't be any more of them for a few weeks. I should have plenty of time to figure something out."
"How do you know that?" Alianora asked. Cimorene explained about the sign and Therandil and her "sprained ankle." Alianora was impressed and promised to help if she could. "I'll tell Hallanna that you've twisted your ankle. I know she'll tell the next knight who comes to rescue her, and then it won't matter if your Prince Therandil doesn't tell anybody."
This settled, the two girls sat down and began looking through the books and scrolls Cimorene had piled on the table. Alianora, having been brought up as a proper princess despite the tiny size of her country, did not read Latin, so Cimorene had to examine those scrolls herself. There was a sizable stack of books left, however, and Alianora waded into them with a will. It was Cimorene, however, who finally found the spell they were searching for.
"I think this is it!" she said, looking up from an ancient, crumpled scroll. "'Being a Spell for the Resisting of Heat and Flames of All Kinds, in Particular Those Which Are the Product of Magical Beasts,'" she read.
"Yes, there's a list and it includes dragons."
"I would think dragons would be at the top," Alianora said. "Is it difficult?"
"It doesn't look hard," Cimorene said, studying the page. "Some of the ingredients are pretty rare, but it says you only need them for the initial casting. After that, you can reactivate the spell just by throwing a pinch of dried feverfew in the air and reciting a couplet."
"That's not bad," Alianora said. She came around the table and peered over Cimorene's shoulder at the faded ink. "Is it Latin?"
"No, it's just an ornate style of writing," Cimorene assured her.
"It's not hard to read, once you get the hang of it. See, there's the couplet.
"Power of water, wind and earth, Turn the fire back to its birth."
"It's a variation on a dragon spell," Cimorene added thoughtfully.