“And you didn’t even kill anyone,” said Oreg, then added, “at least none of our allies.” I saw that he was lying next to me with his eyes shut tight against the light.

“Are you all right, Oreg?”

“Damn it, quit wiggling,” snapped Garranon. “Unless you want a few more pinholes to add to your wounds.”

“Just a headache,” said Oreg when Garranon had finished speaking. “Axiel tells me I’ll feel like living again in a week or so—about the same time I’ll have enough magic to light a candle. Tosten’s in one of the tents with Axiel, who has a nasty cut on his thigh that someone stitched up.”

“My father,” supplied Tisala from behind me. “He also sewed up Tosten’s back. He—my father, not Tosten—says both Axiel and Tosten will mend. He says you are suffering from blood loss, as well as whatever damage your battle with the Bane did, but if you haven’t died yet, you are unlikely to at this point. Unless, of course, one of your wounds gets infected.” It didn’t sound as if it would bother her.

“Speaking of death,” said Oreg, “have I mentioned that I’m unhappy with you? Destroying something as powerful as the Bane’s gemstone could have left a new valley where these mountains stand.”

Garranon’s steady progress across my sore abdomen paused and then resumed.

“I thought of that,” I said, relaxing against Tisala. “But the magic was gone, eaten by the dragons of Hurog.”

“What do you mean?” Kellen rounded Oreg’s splayed body and crouched behind Garranon.

“You’re in my light,” growled Garranon, and Kellen moved obligingly to my left.

“What do you mean eaten by Hurog?” asked Kellen again.

“Magic,” I said, “is a strange thing.”

Tisala laughed against the back of my neck. “Most people think so,” she said.

“Most wizards think it’s like the wind or the rain,” I said. “An uncaring force of nature. And for the most part they’re right. But I’ve been places where that wasn’t true. Where the magic is as alive as the trees here, or more so. Menogue is one of them,” I told Kellen. “It is as alive as you or I.” I hissed as Garranon stuck his needle into a particularly tender spot.

“I could sear it, instead,” he offered.

“No,” I replied hastily. “Go ahead. Just caught me by surprise.”

“The Bane was somewhat more perplexing,” I said. “I think the spirits of the dragons were tied into the original spell. Jade Eyes . . .” I paused.

“Yes,” said Kellen. “We found his body in Jakoven’s tent. Oreg told us he managed to get the Bane before you did.”