She retrieved the handkerchief, grimaced, and tied it into a tight bundle, which she stowed in her belt pouch. "There. Now, let's get out of here."
"Why such a hurry?"
"We still have to rescue Kazul. And besides-do you want to fight more rock snakes?" Cimorene asked. "That's what we'll be doing if we stay.
We've cleaned out this part pretty well, but there's sure to be several other colonies around." She pointed at a dark ridge a couple of hundred feet farther on. "There, for instance. Or there." She gestured in the opposite direction, at a wrinkled cliff.
"I don't see how we can get past them on foot," Mendanbar said, frowning.
"Well, we can't stay here. They'll slither over as soon as the last of the light goes. We'll have to take the carpet."
"I wouldn't recommend it," said a new voice.
Together, Mendanbar and Cimorene turned. The voice belonged to a dark-haired man who stood calmly next to the magic carpet, watching them with interest. He was several inches shorter than Mendanbar, with bright blue eyes and a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. He wore tall black boots, dark gray leggings, a loose-sleeved, high-necked shirt in pale gray, and an open knee-length black vest covered with pockets of all shapes and sizes. Under the vest, his wide black belt was hung with strangely shaped pouches and sheaths. The air around him crackled with magic.
"Who are you?" Cimorene asked. "And why don't you want us to use the carpet?"
"My name is Telemain," said the man, bowing, "and I have a considerable familiarity with the basic mechanics of carpets. Magic ones, that is.
And this carpet"-he gestured left-handed, and three silver rings glinted in the fading light-"is plainly defective."
"Defective?" Mendanbar said suspiciously. Telemain didn't look like a wizard, but that didn't necessarily mean much. Wizards could wear disguises as well as anyone else.
"Oh, it will probably operate, after a fashion," Telemain said. "But not well, and not for long. I'm surprised you got this far on it."
"We didn't, exactly," Mendanbar said. "And we have had some trouble with it. What do you suggest?"
The sound of a pebble bouncing down a series of rocks echoed along the narrow canyon. "I suggest we talk somewhere else," Telemain said, glancing toward the sound. "This isn't a safe place, even with my defensive enchantments fully erected."
"And how do you suggest we get there?" Cimorene asked.
"Like this." Telemain raised a hand and made a circle in the air with his forefinger. As he did, he muttered something, then clapped both hands together.
The canyon flowed and melted into a sloping meadow halfway up a mountainside. "Much better," Telemain said. "No rock snakes, trolls, ogres, or other dangerous wildlife. I guarantee it."
Mendanbar was inclined to believe him. Trolls and ogres liked places where they could jump out from behind things or pop out from under rocks. An open meadow didn't have enough cover. Besides, Telemain was no longer surrounded by the hum of magic, which meant he had dropped his guarding spell.
"Now," Telemain went on, "how did the two of you get into a ravine full of rock snakes with a defective magic carpet? Having rescued you, I think I am entitled to some explanation."
"We were on our way to the Enchanted Forest ," Cimorene said carefully, pushing wisps of loose hair out of her face. Mendanbar noticed with approval that she said nothing about Their reasons for wanting to go there.
"How did you happen to come by at such a convenient moment?"
"I was-looking for some people I thought might be in this area," Telemain said. "By the way, what are your names?"
"This is Cimorene and I'm Mendanbar," Mendanbar said. "Who were you looking for?"
"You, I think," Telemain said, smiling. "That is, if you're the same Cimorene and Mendanbar who visited Herman the dwarf earlier today."
"That was us," Cimorene said cautiously.
"Good! Then I can settle this quickly and get back to my work. How did you-" "Excuse me," Mendanbar interrupted. "But how do you know Herman? And how did you find us?"
"I know Herman because he bought his house from me," Telemain said. He was beginning to sound irritated. "I also maintain certain defensive enchantments, which are especially designed to prevent incursions by noxious creatures, around the house and neighboring areas for him.
When someone demolished the scrying spell I had established on the attic window, I felt obliged to investigate. Herman was in the middle of an explanation about visitors and dragons when I sensed an extremely interesting sorcerous flare to the northwest."
"I knew that dratted sword was going to get us in trouble," Cimorene muttered.
"Before I had time to locate it precisely, there was another burst of magic, which I recognized as a transportation spell," Telemain continued.
He frowned disapprovingly. "A rather confused one. It has taken me all afternoon to disentangle the traces and discover your whereabouts.
Does that satisfy you?"
"I think so," Mendanbar said. "I'm sorry if we seem overly suspicious, but we've already had some trouble with one wizard and we've reason to expect more. So you see…"
"I am not a wizard," Telemain said emphatically. "I'm a magician.
Can't you tell?"
"No," Cimorene said. "what's the difference?"
"A magician knows many types of magic," Telemain said. "Wizards only know one, and they're very secretive about it. I've been researching them for years, trying to duplicate their methodology, but I still haven't managed a workable simulation."
"What?" said Cimorene, looking puzzled.
"He's been trying to figure out how the wizards work their spells," Mendanbar explained, "but he hasn't done it yet."
"Why do you want to know that?" Cimorene asked Telemain with renewed suspicion.
"Because that's what I do!" Telemain said. "I just told you that.
And if you'll answer a few questions for me, I can go back to doing it.
How did you shatter that window?"
"We asked it to show us something," Mendanbar said. "It couldn't, so it broke."
Telemain shook his head. "Impossible! That particular glass was enchanted to reveal anything, anywhere, even in the Enchanted Forest .
If it couldn't discover the object of your inquiry, the viewing plane would display an empty information buffer."
"What does he mean?" Cimorene asked, frowning.
"He means that if the window couldn't find what we were asking about, it should have just stayed blank," Mendanbar explained.