“There you are,” said Seregil with a yawn, getting up from a cot across the tent. Apparently he’d been sleeping, too.

“What’s the time?”

“Nearly dinnertime. You’ve been asleep since we got you here this morning. How are you feeling?”

Alec winced with pain as he pulled the blankets up again. “I’ve been better. I’m really hungry. And thirsty.”

Seregil stuck his head out of the tent flap, ordered someone to bring food, then returned to the bed with a waterskin and a cup.

Alec drank three cupfuls before his thirst was slaked, but that only left him hungrier.

“Are you up to telling me what happened?”

Alec frowned. “I was running down the corridor with you. I saw a light and thought it was someone with a lantern. The next thing I knew I was out in the country somewhere.”

“Ah, I thought I heard voices,” said Thero, stepping inside to join them, followed by a very worried-looking Micum and a servant with a breakfast tray. She set it on the bed by Alec and he grabbed a hunk of bread and devoured it, then started in on the sausage and cheese.

“What in Bilairy’s name happened to you, Alec?” Micum exclaimed, pulling up a stool next to the bed.

Alec swallowed and started again. “One minute I was in the corridor with Seregil. I saw a light and followed it, thinking he was right behind me. The next thing I knew I was facedown in sheep shit somewhere out in the countryside. There were young shepherds there, but not the ones we met, Thero. They ran away as soon as they saw me, in the direction of some cottages. Someone there set the dogs on me and I had to fight them off.”

“Why didn’t you use the dog charm?” asked Seregil.

“I did, but obviously it didn’t work. Still—” He held up his arms. “If it wasn’t for this, I’d think I’d dreamed it all.”

“So would I,” said Seregil, looking thoughtful.

“I thought I killed the dogs. They had wounds and they looked dead, but they didn’t bleed, though I certainly did.”

“Indeed?” murmured the wizard. “But you didn’t feel any moment of disorientation as you passed from one place to another?”

“Not that I noticed.”

“Go on.”

“After that I saw a town in the distance and made my way there, along a river. I tried to wash my hands and drink, but the water wasn’t wet.”

“How do you mean?” asked Thero.

“It looked like water and sounded like water, but when I tried to drink it wasn’t really there. I couldn’t wash my hands, either.” He shrugged. “That’s the only way to explain it.”

“Dogs that don’t bleed. Water that isn’t wet,” mused Seregil.