he had to speak too.
"What for huffenpuff's sake is Allspeak?" he went. Right out loud of course.
"Huffenpuff... huffenpuff... huffenpuff... " went the echo. "Allspeak... Allspeak... Allspeak... ", all round the room once more.
Dot wished the ground of Phargon would swallow them up. Wizzie glared furiously at Mr Mouse with his big round eyes wide open. Cambor looked like he wanted to disappear too. And Poolbear's face was bright red as he shook his head furiously with his finger to his lips!
But there wasn't time for him to explain (even if he could have without his words booming out to several hundred Zildiths) because suddenly a golden beam of light, as thin as a thread but so bright it made your eyes feel funny, shot from behind them down onto the stage.
It looked a bit like the beams of light that had danced in front of them when they were going through the forest, but it had a kind of sparkling brightness rather than the gentle gleam the sunrays had shown as they led them all along.
Luckily it meant everyone stopped looking at them!
The beam of light went back and forth across the stage, swaying slightly form side to side. It looked like it was sort of drawing something. Dot leaned forward, her heart beating.
It was drawing something!
First of all a pair of shoes - high heels, in a kind of silver and black.
Then the bottom of what looked like another cloak - a hem, all stitched in curly gold shapes. The shapes were moving, curling and turning all the time. Then the wide skirt of the bottom of the cloak - and now, a clue as to what was coming next: a moving pattern of a painting of a forest, with ferns and trees gently waving, and tigers and other creatures passing through the forest.
Then a belt - gold and silver links, each one the head of an animal: lions, giraffes, gorillas, curling round and round the slender waist of the strange figure in front of them.
Up and up went the ray of light, showing still more of the forest on the cloak. It reminded Dot of a painter... a Frenchman... what was his name... she'd seen some of his pictures in a book at school once... what was he called... she could only remember that he'd taught himself to paint, in France more than a hundred years ago... Rou - something.
(I'll tell Dot later, but the guy she's thinking of is called Henri Rousseau. Used to be a customs man. You know, like those people at the airport who make sure your Mum and Dad don't bring back too much WINE and BEER when you've been on holiday abroad! Here's one of his pictures - try this link: http://perso.orange.fr/le_douanier_rousseau/liens/asurpris.htm
Or: http://perso.orange.fr/le_douanier_rousseau/liens/aorange.htm )
But Dot stopped thinking about the painter when the ray of light came to the face above the cloak with its constantly moving pictures.
It was a lady's - with slanting dark-brown eyes, pale olive skin, and a perfectly shaped mouth gleaming red. Her hair was cut in a fringe across her forehead, and was striped black and silver like Poolbear's beard. It was very long, falling down over her very straight shoulders, gleaming in the light from the little clouds above.
She was quite young, but she looked very wise and calm. Someone you could talk to.
Dot gasped. She was so beautiful.
With a "Zip - ping!" the ray of light finished drawing the lady (a little gleaming crown of what looked like diamonds sat on top of her head), and she stood on the platform smiling gently. She moved her hands from behind her back and clasped them together in front of her, holding a silver stick, carved like her belt.
Suddenly, all the Zildiths spoke together.
This time it really was noisy!
"WELCOME ZAMELQA - REGENT OF PHARGON!" they all went.
The echoes seemed to bounce round the meeting hall for ages. At last they died away.
The lady smiled and bowed. "Welcome Zildiths - to your Extrapolation Extraordinary!" she said, in a warm and friendly voice.
Then she looked straight to where Dot and Wizard and Mr Mouse were sitting and bowed again.
"And welcome to our strangers - welcome in our hour of danger!"
