Everyone turned to look at Alianora. “I think that would have worked quite well, Princess,” Kazul said. “Why do you ask?”

“Because Woraug had something like that with him when he went to see King Tokoz the night before the King was killed,” Alianora said. “I saw it.”

An angry muttering ran through the crowd of dragons.

“Lies!” Woraug snarled. “They’re all lies!”

“Are they?” Kazul said coldly. “I don’t think so. You must have wanted to be King very badly indeed.”

“I—” Woraug darted a glance around the circle of dragons. What he saw did not appear to reassure him. “No!”

“Consorting with wizards, killing the King, and plotting to cheat in the trials with Colin’s Stone,” Kazul said as if Woraug had not spoken. “Hardly proper behavior for a dragon.”

The crowd muttered agreement. Cimorene looked from Woraug to Kazul and back. Woraug appeared to be terrified of something, but Cimorene could not tell what it was. He crouched and seemed to shrink away from Kazul, drawing his wings in close and making himself as small as possible. Cimorene blinked. It was remarkable how much smaller Woraug could make himself look. In fact . . .

“He’s shrinking!” Cimorene exclaimed.

“No!” Woraug cried again, but it was much too late. He shrank faster and faster, his wings melting into ridges along his back and his claws retracting. He was barely as tall as Cimorene’s shoulder. Then, with a sudden shiver, he collapsed in on himself. A small rain of scales pattered to the ground. A moment later, an extremely warty toad with angry red eyes crawled clumsily out of the center of the pile.

“Is that—is that Woraug?” Alianora asked in a hushed tone.

The toad turned and glared at her, and she stepped back a pace. The stone prince put a protective arm around Alianora’s shoulders and glared back at the toad.

“Behave, or I’ll step on you,” he said.

“Yes, it’s Woraug,” Kazul said. She sounded almost sad. “That’s what happens when a dragon stops acting like a dragon.”

The toad turned his glare in Kazul’s direction, then hopped off and disappeared among the stones along the riverbank.

Alianora shuddered. Kazul studied her for a moment. “You were Woraug’s princess, weren’t you? I’m sorry about all this, but it couldn’t be helped. It won’t take long to find you another dragon.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about finding her another dragon,” Cimorene said. She had been watching Alianora and the stone prince, and an idea had occurred to her.

“What? Why not?” said Kazul.

“Because the stone prince fought with Woraug, and Woraug certainly didn’t win. Doesn’t that mean that he gets to rescue Woraug’s princess?”