Talking to Dragons

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Talking to Dragons is a young adult fantasy novel, the fourth and final book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, it is told in first person, from the point of view of sixteen-year-old Daystar, son of Cimorene, a woman who lives at the edge of the Enchanted Forest.

[edit] Plot

Daystar is raised simply by his mother and taught bits and pieces of lore about the Enchanted Forest, swordsmanship, spells, and magical protocols such as how to talk to dragons. One day the two are visited - or rather assaulted - by Antorell, one of the Society of Wizards who seems to have a grudge against Cimorene. After Daystar see his mother melt Antorell with a word, he has a thousand questions, but Cimorene merely goes into the forest to retrieve a sword, gives it to Daystar, and sends him off into the forest telling him not to come back until he can "tell her why he had to leave". When he enters the forest, he meets a talking golden lizard named Suz. Suz tells Daystar that the sword is the Sword of the Sleeping King and runs off the tell Kazul about it. Daystar, wondering who Kazul is, is instructed by Suz to "follow the sword". Trying to find a place to spend the night, he enters the middle of a ring of hedges and finds a young fire-witch names Shiara. Shiara has a nasty temper and can set her hair on fire, but can't do any other fire magic. The wizards heard about this and kidnapped her to test spells on her. She then burned the Head Wizard's staff and ran to the Enchanted Forest and got caught in the middle of the hedges. Daystar tells her about his "quest" and shows her the sword. When they touch it together, they both feel a jolt and are surprised. In the morning, the bushes let Daystar out, but refuse to allow Shiara to leave until she asks nicely. Daystar warns Shiara to be more polite to people after she escapes. Shiara tells Daystar she's sorry. Later, they are attacked by a wizard who is after Shiara. He makes a river turn into a water monster. Shiara attempts to burn it, but it doesn't work. The wizard and monster suddenly disappear, leaving nothing but a broken wizard's staff behind. An elf who is nearby tells Daystar to help himself to the staff. Shiara realizes that the staff pieces turn the moss brown and dead. When Daystar picks up the middle piece to see for himself, it explodes, causing his arm to become burnt. Shiara helps him and with the help of a cat, they find Morwen's house. Morwen heals Daystar, gives them each a magic bundle of food, and gives Shiara a kitten named Nightwitch. Morwen then tells them to travel up the river to find the castle. As they leave, Daystar touches the sword and feels three separate vibrations: One that leads him to Shiara, one to Morwen, and one in the direction of the castle. As they travel up the river, they meet a princess who asks for Daystar's sword. After some questioning, the princess tells them that a wizard told her to take the sword to save a knight she loved. The wizard shows up and turns out to be Antorell. He tries to attack Daystar, but is interrupted and forced to leave by the arrival of a young dragon. Daystar is polite to the dragon, who is looking for a princess, but Shiara isn't. The dragon is annoyed at Shiara and tells her to bring him a princess. Shiara offers him the princess they just met, who fainted when she saw the dragon. Before the dragon could take her, the knight the princess loves shows up. The two decide to have a tourney for fun (the knight doesn't really want to fight the dragon) but in the middle, the dragon is surprised by a small tree that pops up suddenly. In his surprise, the dragon accidentally hits the knight with his tail, which makes the princess hysterical. Shiara is nice to the princess, since she feels a little sorry for her and Daystar tell the two to see Morwen for help. The dragon decides to travel with Shiara and Daystar and insists on leading them on a "shortcut" to the castle. As they pass through a clearing, they are stopped by an invisible wall. Shiara touches the wall and is able to know that it's actually an invisible castle. She also somehow learns how to make things invisible, which makes her panick. As they try to pass the caste, an evil sorceress firewitch turns Shiara into stone. Daystar fights her and stabbs her with her sword and shouts a poem that his mother taught him. The fire witch dies, but Shiara is still stone. Suz shows up and suggests that Daystar kiss her. The kissing works, although it annoys Shiara. Suz, meanwhile, is being "attacked" by Nightwitch. Shiara pulls Nightwitch away and apologizes for the kitten's behavior. The castle, meanwhile, has somehow disappeared. The next clearing they come to has a strange tower-house that belongs to Telemain. After some misunderstandings, Telemain allows them to stay the night and advises them to travel through the Caves of Chance. When the group travels through the Caves, Daystar finds a small key. He is then confronted by a strange, jelly-like creature called a Quazzle who insists that the key is its responability. The dragon, thinking that the Quazzle isn't polite and reminds him of dessert, tries to eat it but it gets away. At the end of the caves, the Quazzle causes a cave-in that doesn't kill anyone, although Shiara's arm is broken. Daystar hits the Quazzle with the sword and it leaves. Meanwhile, some dwarfs that the dragon found are amazed by the sword. They call Daystar "the Lord" for weilding it and unblock the tunnel and put Shiara's arm in a cast. Exiting the caves, the group finds the castle, completely surrounded by dragons. They are taken to Kazul, who tells them to enter the castle and find the king and disenchant him. She recognizes the key as the master key of the castle, and realizes that the wizards did something to it. Shiara touches the key and says that it "feels like fire". Meanwhile, Daystar realizes that Shiara somehow is able to use magic whenever she is honestly polite to people. The next morning, all of the dragons and their allies, including the young dragon, prepare to battle the wizards. Daystar, Shiara, and Nightwitch are to enter the castle alone. When the dragons take down their shield, Daystar uses the sword to break the wizard's shield. Inside the castle, they enter the main hallway, where they find a bazaar, which has a fire lit in it, and a bed with a man who they assume is the king asleep on it. The wizards show up and freeze Daystar, but Shiara hides and is spared. They then attempt to kill the king, but find out that the figure on the bed is a decoy. Several of the wizards leave to find the king. The freezing spell wears off and Daystar begins to fight the wizards. Shiara sets Antorell on fire and Daystar sticks the sword into the bazaar, shouting the spell his mother taught him. He was then able to see the magical network of the forest and uses it to disable the wizard's ability to use magic. This leaves the wizards with just stored spells and swords. Daystar then throws the key into the fire and the king is able to come out. Daystar hands him the sword and realizes that the king is his father. The wizards are defeated, but Anteroll escapes. Mendabar, the king, and his wife Cimorene are reunited outside. The young dragon shows up with Anteroll, but the wizard hurts the dragon with dragon'sbane and summons a demon to attack Cimorene. Daystar uses magic to send the demon, Anteroll, and the dragon'sbane back to where the demon came from. Shiara becomes Kazul's newest princess, and Mendabar promises to try to remove the politeness spell from her. It is implied that she will eventually marry Daystar (Cimorene says that the trainning will come in handy in the future, and also that "Kazul will have no problem training the next Queen of the Enchanted Forest").Telemain and Morwen tell about their plans to be married and the book ends with Shiara leaving to stay with Kazul.