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Outside Dar hi the trip Even his freckles went pale Shankey and I rode on either side of him in case he fell off Terrin didn&039;t say a word the whole ti skills were intact He&039;d worked on a ranch as a kid, which came in handy with all these low-tech worlds between us and hooodlessons,

Once clear of the ood tiate of the main house rather than use the stable tunnel Shankey was unsure if the house protections extended that far Of course ere seen by all those overduke guys in the black-and-silver cloaks ere still hanging around They could hardly et out?" one of them called

"Wouldn&039;t you like to know?" Shankey called back

"Couy The overduke wants to see him If we don&039;t show up, Lord Perdle will throw a fit"

Shankey irl, even fits Then, louder, "Sorry, we got an eency I&039;ll tell Lady Filih I got the usual curious looks Maybe there was so as we kept

Terrin&039;s balance lasted until we reined up at the front door, then he began to sway

"Ulps," said Shankey He threw a leg over his horse&039;s neck and slipped off to grab Terrin before he fell I did the sa hard He seeely heavy as we hauled hi, padded bench in the entry hall, and that&039;s where we eased hione all limp

"Oh, jeez," I said, not sure what to do I tried his pulse, which was fast and strong,A couple of veins in his forehead were throbbing big ties who had opened and shut the doors, and in a minute the hall teemed with more servants It wasn&039;t as crazy as when Filiood crowd They had cold cloths to put on Terrin&039;s face, and a cute girl chafed his wrists There was talk of fetching a local healer What I wanted was a fully loaded Star Trek-style sickbay with a s ency

Instead, I got thatvial under Terrin&039;s nose

"Argh! Agh! Foo!" he said, waving her off as he struggled awake She nirim triumph I wondered if that was her only job

"You okay?" I asked Terrin

"Urgh!" he replied, dragging a cold compress from his forehead He shook the wet cloth open and blew his nose in it "Day-u it in my face? What&039;d I ever do to you?"

"The day isn&039;t long enough to answer How are you?"

He paused wiping his nose to take stock "I ain&039;t dead, so that&039;s soht about the protections here I don&039;t feel anything sucking at irl who had chafed his wrists snickered He threw her a big, showy grin

"Later," I told him All he ever needed with most women was to smile at the strenuous "You think you&039;ll be safe here, then?"

"For the tiht? That&039;s when the river appears Will you be safe?"

"If it&039;s not co"

"I&039; when I see it, and that&039;s what you&039;re doing, so stop it"

I looked at Shankey "You got anything to eat? He gets like this when he&039;s hungry"

"I do not!"

"What&039;s going on?" This from Filima who had just swept in She was the sort of wo, sweep into a roo and the roo her up and down "What a babe"

That got both her eyebrows up "Is this?"

I nodded "Lady Filima Botello Darmo, this is Terrin the Whiz Wizard, Iexactly what I meant

"You are welcoht?"

Terrin continued to loll on the padded bench, taking in the view Filima orth the tian Private Stock? Cold?"

How that translated, I couldn&039;t guess, but Fili when Terrin tried to stand He was sitting up with his feet on the floor, but that was his limit "Houston, we have a problem," he said

"Just stay there," I told his"

"I couldn&039;t rush if you put a rocket up ?"

"I could have done with a couple of geo Too late now"

"What do you mean by that?"

"No travel spell power"

Uh-oh "How do you feel?"

"Terrible"

Filiers spread A warping of the air, like a heat shimmer fluttered between theically weak?" I asked

"On the nose, fur-face," said Terrin He shut his eyes "Feels like a raine, but all over"

"What do you want us to do? Hoe help?"

"A travel spell off this ren-fair reject world would be handy"

I looked at Fili about travel spells? The kind that bounces you from one world to another?" Her blank reaction was not unexpected, but, hey, I had to ask "Okay Option one is officially tossed Let&039;s try option two How about getting ically shielded rooave her the short version of Terrin&039;s power drain crisis

"There&039;sarea," she said "But he probably shouldn&039;t be there, not after what happened with the mirror"

Shankey put himself forward "My lady, what about the late master&039;s chamber in the tunnel?"

"Chamber?" She had the innocent tone nailed, but her eyes flickered "What chamber?"

"Cut the act," I said "We found where your hubby used to play hardballthe innocent tone for rising alarm "You were in Botello&039;s Black Roolar alarms on" I looked at Shankey "I told you she&039;d know about it Wives always knohat their husbands are up to" Which was probably why, aottenas white as Terrin

"Was our being there a problem?" Boy, did she look like she had a tale to tell, but I didn&039;t think she&039;d spill it here Maybe Terrin could work on her I&039;d be along to chaperon, of course Couldn&039;t let hi as you weren&039;t hurt by anything"

"What d&039;ya mean?"

She recovered some lost poise "Many who use their Talent tend to be secretive They try to protect their works It&039;s like a cook with a favorite recipe, a practical necessity Black Roo Touch the wrong thing and"

"Boo juestion, but the place s way to carry him"

"But wouldn&039;t it be extra well shielded?" He appealed to Fili the idea

"I don&039;t know," she said with such absolute sincerity that I knew better than to trust it "Botello had talent, but e such precautions Mr Terrin will be uest roouys to lift Terrin, bench and all, and carry him upstairs like it was the last act for Hamlet A short hike from her blue room was a fancy suite that would have done any five-star hotel proud It even had indoor plu I&039;d have been jealous, but one of her people led me to the next rooantic tubby-tub Oh joy, oh, rapture, oh, gawd, there was roo I wondered what plans Fili at the prospect, dumped my pack, then returned to Terrin&039;s roo red-velvet bed The cute girl was trying to get his purple high-tops unlaced while Filiether

"Go tell the atforward

"The overduke&039;s invitation," she explained "Hisfor you for some time"

"Oh" I was too distracted to put on a show, anyway "Maybe later"

"He also sent a e for all those with Talent left in the city to cootto want a solution to this Hell-river problem; you&039;ll have to be there to help"

Drat Confession time, but I didn&039;t think she&039;d toss us out just yet "I can provide the entertainment Terrin&039;s the real wizard The only wizard"

Her brows drew together A frown It was still adorable "But I thought you - "

"I&039;m a patterman, remember?" Or cat, as the case happened to be

"You&039;ve no skill in ic at all?"

"In a word, no"

"You misled me?" Her voice went up

Shankey rounded on me to frown on behalf of his lady In contrast, he didn&039;t look at all adorable

"You gave me to understand you could help!" she continued, voice still on the rise

"And you&039;ll get ic depart at hiers at her to shoas still alive "A real good one"

"And in rather poor condition," she observed "How can he help us put the Hell-river back? He can&039;t even stand up"

"He&039;ll get better, he always does" I hoped he&039;d get better The grin he had for the servant girl working on his sneakers didn&039;t have the usual evil spark that he could put into things He was in bad shape

"Why did you - ? How could you - ?" Fili kind of purple Stress can do that to a person

"Look, I got dragged away against ree with youall kinds of assumptions about who I am and what I can do You practically insisted that I be a wizard It seeo with the flow What would you have done in oing to turn apologetic just yet She ears "Captain Shankey, will you go see to the overduke&039;ssuitably polite, then ave a kind of salute, then went off, but see his teeth Whether it was fro the boss lady or because his fly-on-the-wall routine was ended, I couldn&039;t tell

Filima shooed people away to various errands and eventually had me and Terrin all to herself I could have done without Terrin just then, but she didn&039;t have aoing all forot wider "Wassup?"

She started to speak, then paused This seeood look at hi color coh to shut anyone up, but his Hawaiian shirt was off, revealing the T-shirt beneath Its silk-screened front showed a cartoon of de in a cartoon hell They had long forked tongues and tails, both appendages being used toward pleasurable pursuits on one another It was one of his favorites

Filiulped and put on a brave face She started to speak again, but couldn&039;t quite get into the swing of it Instead, she cleared her throat and ot out, shutting the door firmly behind her Couldn&039;t blame her; she had a lot to think about

Terrin fell into one of his snickery fits, but with less energy than usual Since he was under the weather I wasn&039;t as stern as I ems," I reminded him

"I know that" Terrin lay back on the velvet pilloith a long sigh "A du around When I&039; better we can check the sofas for loose diaic work done to get rid of that black foggy thing no one wants around"

"You&039;re sure she&039;ll pay in gems?"

"If you don&039;t scare her off with your taste in clothing That gorgeous dreaht is a bona fide lady" So what if she&039;d been an oochie-coochie dancer once upon a time and had probably seen a lot of life Still a lady A se"

I could assume he meant his shirt, not his etting paid in jeould inspire hihts of decoruain about this problem, with details When she recovers her sensibilities and co"

It was a faive the illusion of knowing all and seeing all like the Great and Powerful Oz, impressive to less sophisticated types Filima would be more difficult to astonish, especially since she dabbled in ic herself Terrin&039;s proble around town, the lunch conversation with Fili fit with the ns of recent traffic in the escape tunnel, and thethe late Botello Dar?" he wanted to know "How strong?"

"Got all my back fur on end, which is quite a feat Felt like I alking under a power line"

"Good, I e"

"Just how bad off are you?"

He shook his head "Tell me more about her husband"