Seregil gulped down half of it and felt the warmth of the brandy course through him. It took the edge off the nasty taste. With Willow’s blushing assistance, the doctor soaked off his stained bandages, sponged away the dried blood and salve, and checked his wounds. “Yes, you’re starting to heal nicely except for the wounds you’ve pulled open today. If you can manage to stay put here for another day, you might find you’ll be of more use to the others than if you keep pushing yourself.”

“Yes, Doctor.” Seregil winced as she worked on his chest. Soon he was cleaned up, swathed in clean linen, and lying back in bed divested of coat and breeches thanks to Kordira’s assistance. Willow had been far too modest and fled the room.

They were just finishing when Vhadä and Oria, the chambermaid, came in with two heavily laden trays.

“Sabriel took you at your word,” Vhadä said with a grin. Lifting the cloth covering the tray, he showed Seregil eight glistening honey cakes, a plate laden with sliced mutton and mint jelly, and three baked apples redolent with spices and swimming in cream.

“Doctor, you’ll have to stay and help us eat all this,” said Seregil.

“It does smell good,” she replied. “Vhadä, you and I are going to need chairs.”

The boy dragged two to the bedside and sat down, eyeing the cakes as avidly as Mika would have. That thought came like a slap in the face. Seregil wasn’t about to lie here at ease for another day while the boy and Klia were missing.

“I want Zella to show me where things happened,” he told Kordira. “Do you think she’ll be up to it tomorrow?”

“We shall have to see. She had no serious physical injuries, apart from being thrown from her horse and perhaps dragged. Her mind does seem clearer today, which is a hopeful sign. She’s sleeping now, and so should you.”

“I just woke up.”

“You’ll need your strength tomorrow, won’t you?”

“Do you boss all your patients around this way?”

She raised an elegant brow. “Only the stubborn ones who won’t listen to reason.”

Kordira’s decoction worked well. Seregil slept deeply the rest of the night without dreams and woke just after dawn feeling considerably better, though his back was still painfully stiff and one leg felt a little numb.