Talking to Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede Page A

“All hail the Holder of the Sword!” The words echoed hollowly around me as the fountain vanished.
    Shiara and the Princess were both staring at me, wide eyed. All of us were dripping. The sword was standing upright in front of me, in the middle of a pool of water about four feet across. It was about halfway out of the sheath, and the blade shimmered in the sun.
    The Princess burst into tears. “I knew not that this weapon was of such potency,” she said between sobs. “Alas! For I cannot hold the sword, and who now will be my help? Alas, and woe is me!”
    â€œYou mean you don’t want the sword anymore?” Shiara demanded.
    The Princess nodded. She was weeping too hard to say much.
    â€œAnd Daystar can have it back now?”
    The Princess nodded again. She was still weeping.
    I sighed and dug out my handkerchief. It was wet. I squeezed it out and offered it to the Princess anyway. She took it without thanking me and cried some more.
    â€œWhat am I to do?” she kept saying. “Who now will be my help? Alas! For I am in great distress!”
    â€œOh, help yourself,” Shiara said crossly. “Daystar, are you going to take that stupid sword?”
    I hesitated, then reached out and took hold of the hilt. The blade flashed once, and a brief shock ran through me as the hilt came to rest. I ignored the feeling and pulled at the scabbard. It came free almost at once, and the water closed silently behind it. I took a closer look at the bottom part of the sheath. I wasn’t even surprised when I saw that it wasn’t wet.
    I looked up. The Princess had just about stopped crying. I looked at the sword. Then I looked back at the Princess. “Are you sure you don’t want this?” I asked finally.
    â€œDaystar!” Shiara sounded like she wasn’t sure whether to be mad or horrified.
    The Princess didn’t seem to hear her at all. “I cannot take it!” she cried. “Oh, indeed, I cannot! Alas! That I am so helpless in my time of need!”
    â€œWell, if you didn’t want the sword, why did you ask for it in the first place?” Shiara said angrily.
    â€œI fear I have deceived you,” the Princess said tragically. “Yet I myself have been misled. Alas! I beg of you, forgive me! For indeed, I am—I am in great distress.”
    â€œDistress? Ha!” said Shiara. “You better tell us the truth, right now, or you’ll find out what distress is.”
    â€œShiara—” I began.
    Shiara turned. “You shut up. You obviously don’t know anything about handling princesses, so let me do it. Now,” she said to the Princess, “explain. And it better be good.”
    â€œI am a king’s daughter,” the Princess said. “My father would have me wed the prince of a neighboring kingdom, to bring us wealth. Yet I could not, for I love not him but another. My father listened not, for all my pleading, so my love and I fled into the forest. We wandered far, and great was our suffering, yet were we happy, for we had each other. But I, being unused to travel, became tired, and my love at last set me here and bade me wait for him. And here have I stayed these two long days, and I fear me some evil may have befallen him. Alas! That we are parted!”
    â€œWhat,” said Shiara, “does all this have to do with Daystar’s sword?”
    The Princess sighed again. “I was seated here, as you see me, bewailing my bitter fate, when lo! a man appeared, most wise and powerful of aspect. He told me my love was imprisoned by a mighty sorceress, and at that news I wept bitterly. Then he bade me desist from my grief, for the means of delivering my love was at hand, to wit, a sword most magical. And he himself made promise of aid, if I would but attain the sword. And this have I attempted, and I have failed. Alas, and woe is me!”
    â€œI don’t think I understand,” I said. “Why