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“Oh…” she repeated more softly, gazing at her straightened wrists.

“They’re not fully healed, and I can’t tell you when they will be, exactly. Just be careful.”

At that, or because of the sudden lack of chaos within her system, she fainted, leaving me with yet another problem, and probably the local witch patrol gathering to collect my scalp.

No one was going to be pleased, not the way things were going. Not Justen, not the viscount, not the beaten lady, although she would be younger and more attractive than she had been in years once she healed, and certainly not me.

Even so, I couldn’t leave her unattended in the alley. That meant staggering back to the stable with lady and staff, and hoping that no one saw.

“What have you there?” bellowed the old and rotund ostler, appearing from nowhere as I crossed the courtyard.

“A lady of dubious virtue, and in the morning yet!” chortled one of the formerly sour cavalrymen. “Share your prize, young fellow?”

“First…have to collect,” I explained.

Justen appeared in the stable door, a bemused expression on his face—bemused, until he saw the ripped clothes and the bruised face. “A healer?” he asked.

I shook my head firmly. “Rest…”

Justen shook his head. “Bring her in here.”

“Not in my stable!”

A quick something passed from the gray wizard to the ostler, who shoved the coin into his belt.

“I have to check on feed.” He grinned at me broadly as he headed for the main street.

The cavalryman half-grinned, half-scowled, but made no move to inspect the “merchandise” as I stumbled into the stable.

“What did you do?” hissed Justen.

“Nothing…much.” I laid the woman on a loose pile of hay, not at all gracefully, trying to talk and not to gasp as I caught my breath. I felt drained, as if I had run a kay or so in heavy sand.

“You idiot. You healed her. How many people saw the staff?”

“Worse…than…that. Used…staff…bravos…then she cursed me…healed her anyway.” I began to put the blanket on Gairloch.

Justen turned to the stableboy, standing there open-mouthed.

Without a gesture, the youth collapsed onto the straw.

“What are you doing?”

“Putting him to sleep. You’ll get the credit, provided you get out of here soon enough.”

“Leaving before the viscount arrives with the local witch patrol?”

The gray wizard stared at me. “How do you plan to get by the city guards?”

“Can they stop what they don’t see?”

Justen shook his head, then walked toward his saddlebags. “Keep saddling.”

I kept saddling. Gairloch didn’t even whinny.

“Here.” Justen helped tie a large canvas sack of provisions behind the saddle. Nothing special, just faded and heavy gray canvas, filled almost to overflowing. The contents had to represent a goodly portion of Justen’s stocks. Then he concentrated, and the sack appeared to vanish. “Remember to do that. It makes you less of a target.” Then he grinned. “I’ll get your pack.”

I finished cinching the saddle and put the staff in place, then remembered to weave the light around the staff so that it also appeared to vanish. It wasn’t really weaving light, but changing the way the light reflected from the wood and steel, and the steel was the hardest part. A lot of steel, and you couldn’t avoid the heat-wave effect—that was clearly the case with the Brotherhood ships.

By the time I had Gairloch ready, Justen slipped back through the stable doorway, carrying my pack and cloak. “You’d better get moving.”

“What will you do?”

He smiled sadly. “What apprentice? You’re a free wizard who deceived everyone.”

“Thank you.” I didn’t mean for disowning me, but he understood anyway.

“I just hope you’ve learned something from all this. You’re going to have to cross the Easthorns, but you should be able to handle it if you take the south pass. That’s the one that the south road from Jellico leads to. Now get on Gairloch and make yourself unseen.” He shook his head again. “And don’t let anyone touch you. If they have any sense of order, it could unravel the reflective pattern. And please read the introduction to