“And then he landed”—Cimorene waved in the direction of the escort dragon—“and decided to bring us all back here. And I think somebody ought to go back to that clearing where the blackberries are before the next batch of wizards arrives. I don’t know what they’ll do when they find out what’s happened, but . . .”

“Yes, I see,” said Kazul. She turned to a pale green dragon beside her. “Take five or six of the younger dragons—the ones who’ve been talking about starting a wizard-hunt—and go have a look at this blackberry clearing.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the pale dragon with a fierce grin.

“Surely you don’t believe this!” Woraug said.

Kazul stared at Woraug without saying anything, and the dragons around the edge of the circle rattled their scales.

“Ah—Your Majesty,” Woraug added hastily.

“Why should I disbelieve it?” Kazul said, still watching Woraug.

“The whole thing is preposterous!” Woraug said. “How could wizards do anything to affect Colin’s Stone? Your Majesty.”

Kazul looked at Cimorene.

“I’m sorry, Kazul,” Cimorene said, shaking her head. “I know what the wizards were trying to do, but I don’t have the slightest idea how they were doing it.”

“I believe I can explain that, Your Majesty,” Morwen said. She stepped forward, tossing and catching the wizards’ black rock casually in her right hand. “They were using this. I believe you’ll find that it comes from the Caves of Fire and Night. From the King’s Cave, in fact, where Colin’s Stone was found. And one of the properties of the Caves of Fire and Night is that you can use one piece to cast spells which affect similar pieces.”

“Just the way that impossible book says!” Cimorene exclaimed.

“DeMontmorency? Yes, I suppose he is fairly impossible,” Morwen said.

“Is this sufficiently similar to Colin’s Stone that the wizards could have affected the stone through it?” Kazul asked.

“Certainly, Your Majesty,” Morwen said.

“This is—” Woraug began.

“—ridiculous, impossible, and unbelievable,” Kazul said. “You’ve said that already. But I haven’t heard you say anything particularly convincing in support of that attitude.”

“Oh, really, Your Majesty!” Woraug said. “Next you’ll be saying I poisoned King Tokoz!”

“It doesn’t seem likely,” Kazul admitted, “since Tokoz was poisoned with dragonsbane, and dragons can’t get anywhere near the stuff without feeling the effects.”

“What if Zemenar made a . . . a dragonsbane-proof packet for him to carry it in?” Cimorene said, thinking of the bag Antorell had been carrying when she and Alianora met him in the valley. “Something that would melt when he dropped it in the King’s coffee.”

“I suppose it’s possible,” Kazul said. “But there’s no evidence at all that Zemenar did any such thing.”

“What would it have looked like?” Alianora asked suddenly. “Would it have been something like a very large tea bag?”