It took considerable concentration to follow the spell while slogging through the cold, sticky mud.
"I thought something smelled different over this way," Scorn said.
Morwen spared a moment for a glance at the cat. "You might have told me."
"You were busy."
"True. Next time, tell me anyway." The tug was growing stronger.
Morwen dodged around a tree trunk and almost stepped on Telemain. He lay face up in the mud, his eyes closed and his skin an unhealthy grayish white. Morwen had to look twice to be sure that he was still breathing.
Stuffing her yarn and the metal plate back into her sleeve, Morwen shouted for Cimorene to come at once and bring the others. Then she crouched next to Telemain to see what she could do for him.
Unfortunately, what he needed most was to be warm, dry, and somewhere he could sleep in comfort.
He must have been even more tired than I thought he was, or the backshock wouldn't have acted him this badly, Morwen thought. He should have said something.
"Stubborn fool," she said aloud.
"This comes as a surprise?" Scorn said.
"Morwen, what-oh, my." Cimorene squished over as quickly as she could, followed by Killer and Kazul. Trouble, somewhat muddy and damp looking, was clinging with grim determination to a spot high on Kazul's back. The moment the dragon stopped moving, Trouble extended a rear leg and began washing it vigorously. Killer looked unusually pleased with himself, probably because floating six inches off the ground had kept him the only completely dry and unmuddy member of the group.
"What happened?" Kazul asked as Cimorene joined Morwen. "That was not one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had."
"I'm not completely sure." Morwen reached into her right sleeve and began fishing around. "I'm a witch, not a magician. But I think it's backshock from that transportation spell."
"Backshock?" said Killer.
"If you pull a rubber band too hard, it breaks and snaps your fingers," Cimorene explained. "The same sort of thing can happen when someone loses control of a spell, only it's usually more serious than stinging fingers."
"Oh." Killer looked at Morwen. "Rubber band?"
"Never mind," Morwen said. "Ah, there it is." She pulled her heavy-duty wool camping blanket out of her sleeve, glanced around for a dry spot to put it, and ended by draping it across Killer's back.
"Cimorene, we have to get Telemain out of this mud. Help me lift him onto Killer."
"What? Wait a minute!" said Killer, taking two hasty steps backward.
"I'm not supposed to do things like this. I'm a rabbit."
"You used to be," said Morwen. "Now you're a six-foot floating blue donkey. Hold still."
"But you'll get mud all over me!"
Trouble glanced up from his washing. "Good idea. Can I help?"
"If you do, you'll get muddy, too," Scorn said. She looked at Trouble.
"Muddier."
"The mud will get on my blanket," Morwen said. "And I can tell you already that Mendanbar is going to get a really enormous cleaning bill when this is all over."
"But-" "Don't argue," Kazul said to the donkey. "I'm feeling cross enough already, and my stomach is bothering me."
"The stomachache is a side effect of snapping the transportation spell," Morwen said. "The bad temper is probably from waking up too early.
Ready, Cimorene?"
Killer did argue, of course. It took nearly as long to convince him as it took to pry Telemain's unconscious body out of the mud, wrap him in Morwen's blanket, and hoist him onto the donkey's back.
"There," Cimorene panted, steadying Telemain with one hand.
"That's done."
"And it looks pretty useless to me," Scorn said. She had joined Trouble on top of Kazul and was watching the whole procedure with an expression of disapproval. "Now that you've got him there, what are you going to do with him?"
Killer shifted his feet in evident unease. "This is really uncomfortable.
Isn't there somewhere else you could put him?"
"He doesn't care much for riding on you, either," Morwen said.
"Don't worry, we'll try to keep it short. Kazul, can you see anything that looks like a way out of here?"
Stretching up to her full height, Kazul peered into the fog. "No.
The fog's getting thicker, and the trees all look the same."
"Hey, warn me before you do that," Trouble said reproachfully. "I almost fell off."
Kazul lowered her forelegs and glanced over her shoulder. "That can be arranged."
"It wouldn't matter," Scorn said to Trouble. "All that washing hasn't done much good. You still look like something the dog dragged in."
"You've got wings," Killer said to Kazul. "Why don't you fly up and look around?"
"Because there isn't enough room between the trees for a proper takeoff, because flying in a fog is dangerous, and because I probably couldn't find you again once I got up above the treetops," Kazul said.
"The tops of forests all look the same."
"Oh."
"You found Telemain," Cimorene said to Morwen. "Can't you use the same method to find a way out of here?"
"I could if there were any magic left to trace," Morwen said.