"I-grandchildren?"
Cimorene smiled. "I know. I was taken aback when I found out about them, too. You just don't think of the King of the Dragons as a doting grandmother, but she is. In fact, I suspect she took longer than she had to about the negotiations with the Frost Giants up there, just so she'd have an excuse to stay a few more days. Anyway, she was planning to spend a couple of days with them and then swing through the Enchanted Forest on her way home."
"She was coming to see me?" Mendanbar asked, surprised.
"Not exactly." Cimorene hesitated. "We'd heard that someone was growing dragonsbane in one of the valleys along the border, and she wanted to see whether it was true. You can see why I'm worried."
"Growing dragonsbane-you mean, deliberately planting it? There have always been a few patches of the stuff here and there."
"The way we heard it, this was an entire valley full. That's hardly accidental." Cimorene lifted the lid of the teapot and peered inside, then poured a cup for each of them. "Kazul wanted to check for herself, quietly, before any of the younger dragons heard about it.
Some of them are…impulsive. She didn't want someone tearing off in a fury to burn down the Enchanted Forest with no more reason than a rumor."
"Oh, lord." Mendanbar pushed his hair backward off his forehead and grimaced at his tea. "I'll bet that's what happened. I wish she'd sent word to me."
Cimorene studied her cup with unnecessary thoroughness. "She was afraid you might be the one doing it."
"Me?"
"The King of the Enchanted Forest . You haven't been particularly friendly since she took over, you know." She frowned suddenly. "Why'd you turn up today, anyway? And what did you mean, 'that's what happened'? Don't tell me somebody really has started setting fire to the Enchanted Forest !"
"Almost," Mendanbar said. He explained about the dead area and the dragon scales he had found. "Morwen said that they were all from the same dragon, but they had been enchanted to look as if they came from several different dragons. I was hoping King Kazul would tell me which dragon they belonged to, and maybe let me ask him a few questions."
"Let me look at them," Cimorene said.
Mendanbar took the scales out of his pocket and spread them out on the table.
Cimorene made a face. "I can tell you whose scales they were, all right, but I'm afraid it won't help much. Woraug isn't around any more."
"It's a start," Mendanbar said. "You're sure these are his?"
"Very sure. But I'm afraid you won't be able to ask him any questions." Cimorene smiled, as if at some private joke.
"Why not?"
"Because the reason Woraug isn't around any more is that he got turned into a toad about a year ago. Do you know how the King of the Dragons is chosen?"
"By a test," Mendanbar replied, a little puzzled by the question.
"When a king dies, the crown goes to whichever dragon can carry Colin's Stone from the Ford of Whispering Snakes to the Vanishing Mountain."
"Yes. Well, Woraug poisoned the old King of the Dragons. Then he arranged with the Society of Wizards to rig the test so he'd be the next King," Cimorene said matter-of-factly. "It was mostly luck that we found out in time to stop them. When we did, Woraug turned into a toad because of his un-dragonlike behavior." She sipped at her tea. "I think a snake ate him," she added thoughtfully.
There were so many things Mendanbar wanted to say in response to this disturbing summary that for a moment he couldn't say anything at all.
He took a large swallow of tea, which gave him an extra minute to think. "Is that why the wizards have been banned from the Mountains of Morning?" he managed at last.
"Of course," Cimorene answered. "Kazul couldn't do anything more.
Even though we knew it was all their idea, it was Woraug who actually poisoned the King. Didn't Morwen tell you about it? She was there."
"No," Mendanbar said. "It didn't come up." He shook his head. "No wonder Zemenar didn't want to talk about why the dragons don't want wizards in the mountains anymore."
Cimorene nodded. "The wizards don't talk about it because their scheme didn't work out, and the dragons don't talk about it because the wizards came so close that the dragons are embarrassed to admit it.
And Morwen is too discreet to spread the story around when the dragons would rather she didn't."
"I see." Mendanbar saw considerably more than that. The disagreement between the dragons and the Society of Wizards was not a minor matter, as Zemenar had led him to believe. And Kazul's princess-or rather, Chief Cook and Librarian, he reminded himself-was nothing like the sneaky, manipulative girl Zemenar had hinted she was, either. It looked very much as if Zemenar had been deliberately trying to cause trouble between Mendanbar and the dragons, or at least get Mendanbar off to a bad start with their King. He wondered what Zemenar would have said about Morwen if her name had come up.
"It wouldn't surprise me if the Society of Wizards was behind this, too," Cimorene said, waving her hand at the scales. "It's exactly the kind of twisty scheme they'd come up with."
"It's possible," Mendanbar acknowledged, "but why would they want to bring the Enchanted Forest into their argument with the dragons?"
"Maybe they think you'll clean the dragons out of the mountains, or at least reduce their numbers enough so that the wizards will be able to come through without getting eaten."
Mendanbar shook his head. "If it came to a fight, the Enchanted Forest and the Mountains of Morning would be very evenly matched. A war would cut the wizards off from both places as long as there was any fighting, and it would probably drag on for ages. Zemenar must know that. He'd have to have an awfully good reason to start something like that."
"Maybe he does."
"Maybe, but I can't think what it could be. Can you?"
"No," Cimorene admitted. "But if I figure it out, I'll let you know."
"Meanwhile, is there anyone else who could have done this?"
Mendanbar asked, waving at the line of scales on the table.
"There aren't many people who can get hold of even one dragon scale, much less five from the same dragon," Cimorene said, scowling at the table.
"Woraug's princess might have kept one or two as a souvenir, but I don't think she'd have had this many, and anyway she doesn't know any magic."
Suddenly she looked up. "Wait a minute! When Woraug turned into a toad, a whole batch of scales fell off and scattered."
"What happened to them?"
"We just left them at the ford," Cimorene said with a shrug. "Nobody thought it was important. Most of them are probably still there.
Dragon scales last a long time."
"At the Ford of Whispering Snakes?" Mendanbar asked. Cimorene nodded, and he grimaced. "Then anyone who walked by could have picked up these scales any time in the past year. That doesn't narrow things down much."
"I'm as sorry about that as you are," Cimorene said.
Mendanbar's face must have shown his surprise, because she gave him an exasperated look and went on, "Hadn't it occurred to you that we'd want to know who's plotting to get dragons blamed for their mischief?.
Especially if it turns out not to be the Society of Wizards."