“See what?” Clearly the wizard did not, since he was looking straight at the scene.

“Don’t worry. I’ll find him. You look after Seregil.” Alec clutched his sword and ran for the portal.

“What are you doing?” Thero called after him.

The scene was beginning to fade, the gauzy edges closing in. Instinctively Alec ducked his head as he reached it and leapt through.

Chapter 19: Lost

MIKA squatted on the dry brown grass with his good arm wrapped around his knees, too scared to move. He hadn’t meant to go anywhere. One minute he was standing behind Master Micum, the next he was here in this strange place, all alone. He was smart enough to guess that this was probably where Alec had gone when he disappeared.

And Alec found his way out.

Mika clung to that thought as he slowly looked around. There were sheep nearby, and he saw two boys on the far side of the flock. They hadn’t noticed him yet, so Mika rose on shaky legs and hurried away in the opposite direction before anyone set the dogs on him. Seregil had taught him the dog charm, too, but it hadn’t worked for Alec and Mika was terrified at the thought of it not working for him if he needed it. Even if he didn’t have a broken arm, he’d be no match for them.

He kept glancing back over his shoulder to make sure he hadn’t been seen. Fortunately the direction he’d taken was downhill and soon he was safely out of sight. A long way down the hill he saw a river and the town Alec had described, or one just like it. It had some kind of wall around it, and a tower in the middle. It was risky to go there, after what had happened to Alec, but he had no choice but to follow the river past it. That’s what Alec had done to get back to their own plane and Mika didn’t know what else to do. He just hoped it was the same town.