"Well, little fire-witch, I seem to have caught you again," he said.

"You leave me alone!" Shiara shouted. "Or I'll burn your staff, too."

The wizard chuckled again. He really had a nasty chuckle. "Oh, I don't think so. I've taken precautions, you see." He waved at the water that surrounded us and smiled patronizingly. "Or weren't you aware that fire magic won't cross water?"

"Magic may not cross water, but we can," I said. I was beginning to share Shiara's dislike of wizards. "Come on, Shiara. It can't be very deep."

"Where did you find the hero?" the wizard asked. Shiara just glared at him. The wizard laughed. I didn't like his laugh any better than his chuckle.

"I should give him something to do, don't you think? A monster, perhaps.

Heroes like monsters." He waved his staff in the general direction of the flooding stream.

The water on one side of our island bunched up and began to solidify rapidly. I didn't even have time to step back before the thing finished growing.

When it was done, it looked sort of like a giant snake's head that dripped. The outlines kept changing because it was made out of water that wasn't completely solid, but it was pretty clearly a snake.

It lunged at me. I dodged, barely in time, and drew my sword. Shiara yelled, and steam puffed from the snake head. The snake didn't seem particularly hurt. Some of the stream water bunched up around it, but that was all. I heard the wizard laugh again.

"I'm afraid that won't work very well, young lady," he said. "You'd have to boil the whole stream away to get rid of my monster, and I don't think you can. Pity, isn't it? Be patient. You'll have your turn in another minute, and then the Head Wizard will owe me a favor."

The head lunged again. By now I was ready for it, but it was awfully fast. I dodged and struck at it with the sword, even though I wasn't sure what good it would do me to wound something that wasn't even alive.

The sword made a humming noise. I heard the wizard shout, and then a sound like an explosion. The snake head made a bubbly noise and collapsed in a wave of muddy water that swept over the little island Shiara and I were standing on, soaking everything. In another minute, the flood water drained away, leaving a lot of wet moss. And Shiara yelled again.

I whirled around. Shiara was pointing. It took me a second to realize what she was pointing at. It was the big tree that the wizard had been leaning against. A couple of short branches were lying at the foot of the tree.

The wizard was gone.

I stood where I was, panting, and dripping. When I got my breath back, I went over to the tree. There was no sign of the wizard, except for the "branches" I'd noticed. There were three of them, and they weren't branches. They were pieces of a staff.

I looked at Shiara. "That's two wizards' staffs you've broken.

They're really going to be after you now."

"I didn't break it," Shiara said indignantly. "You did."

"I did not," I said. We looked at each other for a minute.

"If neither of us broke it," Shiara said finally, "who did?"

"Me," said a voice. I looked up. A little man was sitting in the branches of the tree. He was about two feet tall and dressed entirely in green. His eyes were black and very bright, and his ears were slightly pointed. He had to be an elf.

"I think you mean 'I,'" I said automatically.

"I shouldn't wonder if you're right." The elf tilted his head to one side.

"Does it matter?"

"Can you get down from that tree?" Shiara said. "You're giving me a crick in my neck."

The elf looked from me to Shiara and back to me again. "Introduce me to your charming companion."

"Oh, excuse me," I said. I told the elf our names and thanked him for taking care of the wizard. I was a little curious about that. I'd never met an elf, but they didn't have a reputation for altruism. I wasn't sure I wanted to trust one, either. Elves can be very tricky.

"You're welcome," the elf said. "I've never cared much for wizards.

Unfortunately, it's very difficult to do anything permanent to them.

This one will be back in a day or two."

"If there is anything we can do for you in return, I would like to hear what it is," I said. If someone in the Enchanted Forest does you a favor, you have to offer to do one for them. Well, you don't have to, but if you don't, things seem to go wrong a lot after that. You have to be careful, though. If you promise to do a favor before you hear what it is, you can end up in more trouble than you started with. I wasn't going to promise anything without finding out first what I was promising.

"Consider the debt canceled," the elf said politely. I thought he sounded disappointed, and I didn't like the way he was looking at my sword. Suddenly I was very glad Mother had told me about making promises in the Enchanted Forest.

"Thank you," I said. "You did a very neat job." He had, too; the staff had been sliced cleanly into thirds. I began to wonder how he had done it. I hadn't thought elves were powerful enough to break a wizard's staff. I didn't want to offend him by asking about it, though.

"You may have the staff, if you want it," the elf said, waving at the pieces.

"What good is a busted wizard's staff?" Shiara asked. "You can't do anything with it."

"Nonsense," said the elf. "Wizards' staffs are just as powerful in pieces as they are whole, and they're fairly easy to put back together.

Please, take it with you."

I didn't like the way he kept suggesting that, though it sounded reasonable enough. "Are you sure you don't want it?" I asked finally.

"What would an elf do with a wizard's staff?. If you don't take it, I'll just have to get rid of it somewhere."

That sounded reasonable, too, but I wasn't going to commit myself. He was too insistent. "Thank you for the suggestion," I said. "We'll think about it."

"Do," the elf said. His black eyes twinkled. "Perhaps I'll see you later.

Good-bye." Before I could say anything he had disappeared into the treetops.

Elves move very quickly.

"What was that about?" Shiara demanded.

"I don't know about that elf," I said slowly. "I think something funny is going on. He was trying too hard to get us to take that staff."

"Well, we have to do something with it," Shiara said.

"Why?" I said. "We didn't break it. And I don't want to mess with a wizard's staff, even a broken one."

Shiara frowned. I made a gesture toward the pieces and realized that I was still holding the sword in my hand. I started to put it back in its sheath, then stopped. The sheath was as wet as everything else I was wearing. I couldn't put the sword in that. I mean, not all magic swords are rustproof, and even if you have one that is, putting your sword away without cleaning it is a bad habit to get into. I checked my pockets, just in case, but even my handkerchief was wet.

"Shiara, do you have anything-no, you wouldn't, you were in the middle of that stream, too."

"What? What are you mumbling about?" Shiara said.

"I need something to dry off my sword," I said. "Everything I have is soaked. But you're just as wet as I am…" My voice trailed off, because right then I really looked at her, and she wasn't. Wet, I mean. Her shoes were steaming a little, but her hair and her clothes weren't even damp.

"Fire-witches dry off fast," Shiara said in a smug tone.

"Then can you give me something to clean my sword?" I asked.

"Everything I have is soaked."

"What does that have to do with the wizard's staff?. Oh, give it here.

I'll fix it." She held out her hand a little reluctantly. I could see she didn't really want to take the sword. After what had happened the last time she'd touched it, I couldn't blame her.