“Oh, yes!” I averred. (I’m fond of that word, averred.)
“The Dark Queen is most dreadfully afraid of Fizban,
here. He’s a great and powerful wizard.”
Fizban blushed and took off his hat and twirled it
around in his hands. “I do my best,” he said modestly.
“Why did you send for me?” Owen asked, and he still
seemed suspicious.
Fizban appeared somewhat at a loss. “Well, I… you
see . . . that is . . .”
“I know! I know!” I cried, standing on my tiptoes and
raising my hand in the air. Of course, anyone who’s ever
been a child knows the reason, but maybe knights were
never children or maybe he didn’t have a mother to tell
him stories like my mother told me. “Only a true knight
can break our enchantment!”
Fizban breathed a deep sigh. Taking off his hat, he
mopped his forehead with his sleeve. “Yes, that’s it. True
knight. Rescue damsels in distress.”
“We’re not damsels,” I said, thinking I should be
truthful about all this, “but we are in considerable distress,
so I should think that would count. Don’t you?”
Owen stood beside Huma’s bier, eyeing us, and he still
seemed confused and suspicious – probably because we
weren’t damsels. I mean, I could see how that would be
disappointing, but it wasn’t our fault.
“And there’s these dragonlances,” I said, waving my
hand at them, where we’d dropped them, on the floor at
the back of the temple. “Only they don’t – ”
“Dragonlances!” Owen breathed, and suddenly, it
was like Solinari had dropped right down out of the sky
and burst on top of the knight. His armor was bright,
bright silver and he was so handsome and strong-looking
that I could only stare at him in wonder. “You have found
the dragonlances!”
He thrust his sword in its sheath and hurried over to
where I’d pointed. At the sight of the two lances, lying on
the floor in the moonlight, Owen cried out loudly in words
I didn’t understand and fell down on his knees.
Then he said, in words I could understand, “Praise be
to Paladine, These are dragonlances, true ones, such as
Huma used to fight the Dark Queen. I saw the images,
carved on the outside of the Temple.”
He rose to his feet and came to stand before us. “Now
I know that you speak the truth. You plan to take these
lances to Lord Gunthar, don’t you, Sir Wizard? And the
Dark Queen has laid an enchantment on you to prevent it.”
Fizban swelled up with pride at being called Sir
Wizard and I saw him look at me to make certain I
noticed, which I did. I was very happy for him because
generally he gets called other things that aren’t so polite.
“Why, uh, yes,” he said, puffing and preening and
smoothing his beard. “Yes, that’s the ticket. Take the
lances to Lord Gunthar. We should set out right AWAY”
“But the lances don’t – ” I began. ” – shine,” said Fizban.
“Lances don’t shine.” Well, before I could mention that the
lances not only didn’t shine but didn’t work either, Fizban
had upended one of my pouches, causing my most
precious and valuable possessions in the whole world to
spill out all over the floor. By the time I had everything
picked up and resorted and examined and wondered where
I’d come by a few things that I didn’t recognize, Fizban
and Owen were ready to leave.
Owen Glendower was holding the lances in his hand –
did I mention that he was very strong? I mean, it took
Fizban and me both to carry them, and here this knight
was holding two of them without any trouble at all.
I asked Fizban about this but he said it was reverence
and thankfulness that gave the knight unusual strength.
“Reverence and thankfulness. But we’ll see about that
as we go along,” muttered Fizban, and I thought he looked
cunning again.
Owen Glendower said good-bye to Huma and was
very unhappy over leaving the Tomb.
“Don’t worry,” I told him. “If you haven’t broken the
enchantment, we’ll be back.”
“Oh, he’s broken it, all right,” said Fizban, and we all