She dipped the knife in the pot of water, then began muttering over the plants she was holding. Immediately, all the cats jumped down onto the floor and formed a half-circle around the stove, with Morwen and Shiara and me in the middle. They just sat there with their eyes glowing and only the tips of their tails moving, in tiny twitches. Suddenly, there was a sizzling noise from my right. The water was boiling.
Morwen gave a shout. Then she held the plants high over her head and said loudly, 'By the darkness of the stone's heart, By the silence of the sea's tears, By the whisper of the sky's breath, By the dawning of the star's flame, Do as I will thee!"
Just as she finished she threw the plants into the boiling water.
A cloud of steam puffed out of the pot, smelling of herbs and magic and gingerbread, and I sneezed. The steam spread out around me and got thicker. It smelled more and more like herbs and magic and less and less like gingerbread. My right arm started to ache, and my left arm started to tingle. The ache got stronger, but it stayed where it was; the tingle spread. In another second or two I was tingling all over, except for the arm that was aching.
By now the steam was so thick I couldn't see anything, but I could still feel Shiara's hand and the vine Morwen had tied around my arm.
For what seemed like a long time, nothing else happened. Then one of the cats yowled. I saw Morwen's hand, the one holding the silver knife, come out of the mist.
"In the King's name!" Morwen's voice said, and the knife cut the vine from my arm and pulled it away.
My sword flashed once, very brightly. Most of the steam settled on my right arm and turned black. The ache started to creep upward, and something that felt like lightning or wind ran up my left arm and down my right one. I heard Shiara gasp. The black steam stuff dropped off my arm into a slimy blob on the floor. My right arm stopped hurting, and my other arm stopped tingling, and everything felt normal again. I let my breath out and looked around.
Morwen was looking in my direction with an expression of extreme distaste. "That," she said, "was an exceptionally nasty wizard. He deserves what's coming to him."
"What's coming to him?" Shiara asked hopefully.
"I don't know, but he certainly deserves it," Morwen said. "Anyone who would keep a spell like that in a staff..." She shook her head and looked down. "I do hope it doesn't disagree with the cats."
I followed her gaze. The cats had formed a small mob and were playing with something I'd rather not describe in detail. I looked up again very quickly and took a step backward. I bumped into Shiara and remembered that Morwen had said not to move until she was finished.
"I'm sorry," I said to both of them.
"It's quite all right. You can sit down again now," Morwen said. "And if you don't want to put your sword in your sheath, you can lean it against the wall. You won't need it for the time being."
I followed Morwen's instructions and sat down at the table again. I didn't realize until I reached for the gingerbread that although my right hand felt better it didn't look any better. I didn't have time to worry about it, though, because Morwen was already standing by my chair with some oily-looking salve and bandages. She worked on my hand while I ate gingerbread and cider left-handed. We finished about the same time, and I thanked her.
"You're welcome," Morwen said. "Now, perhaps you would explain how you got into such an uncomfortable situation? I have a general idea, but I would appreciate a few details."
I told her about the wizard and the elf, and then Shiara explained how the staff had exploded.
"Of course the staff exploded!" Morwen said severely. "That sword doesn't like wizard's staffs. Next time, make sure it's sheathed before you touch one."
"I knew it!" Shiara said angrily. "That elf was trying to get Daystar hurt!"
"Not necessarily," Morwen said. "He may simply have been trying to make sure the wizard found you again. If you'd taken the pieces of the staff with you, the wizard would have had no trouble locating you once he got himself back together, because the first thing he'd do would be to look for his staff."
"If that elf wanted the wizard after us, why'd he get rid of the wizard in the first place?" Shiara objected.
"I doubt that he did," Morwen said calmly. "It's more the sort of thing the sword does. I wouldn't depend on it in the future, though, particularly since you still haven't learned how to use it properly."
I wanted to ask more questions about the sword, but I was pretty sure Morwen wouldn't answer them. "What if the wizard couldn't find his staff when he came back?" I asked instead.
"Wizards always know where their staffs are. And it's almost impossible to keep wizards away from their staffs for any length of time. One can slow them down a bit by putting the staffs somewhere hard to get at, but they usually manage in the end."
"That's why Mother hid Antorell's staff." I said.
"I shouldn't wonder," Morwen murmured. "Now, I strongly suggest that you rest for a while, Daystar, and while you are doing so I will talk with Shiara in the library." She stood up and nodded to me.
Shiara frowned and opened her mouth to say something. Then she looked at me and seemed to change her mind. "All right," she said.
Morwen went to the door, followed by Shiara and most of the cats. It was the room of books again. Trying to be careful of my bandaged right hand, I lay down on a bench that had had three cats on it before they went into the library with Morwen. I fell asleep almost immediately.
When I woke up, I could tell by the way the sunlight was slanting in through the windows that it was late afternoon. There wasn't anyone else in the room, except for the black-and-white cat who had led us to Morwen's house. It was sitting in the middle of the table, washing its tail.
"Hello," I said. "And thank you very much for bringing Shiara and me here."
The cat looked up briefly, decided I was uninteresting, and went back to cleaning its tail.
I shifted a little; the bench was hard. I felt much better than I had when I lay down. Then the back door opened-this time it was the door to the yard-and Morwen came in.
"You're awake. Good. Shiara has been waiting for you."
I sat up just as Morwen saw the cat on the table. She frowned at it.
"Child of Scorn," she said sternly, "you are not allowed on the table."
The cat looked at Morwen. Morwen looked at the cat. After a minute, the cat jumped down to the floor, where it did its best to pretend that the floor was exactly where it had wanted to be all along. Morwen shook her head.
".... You'll have to excuse the Grand Inquisitor. He knows he did me a favor when he brought you here, and he's inclined to take advantage of it. I would have sent Cass, but I was afraid you wouldn't pay attention to her."
"Cass?"
"Cassandra." Morwen nodded at a small gray cat that I hadn't noticed before. "She has much better manners than Quiz, but she tends to be overlooked.
Nobody overlooks Quiz."
I studied the cats. They both ignored me. I glanced back at Morwen.
"I don't think I've thanked you yet for-for fixing my arm." I wasn't really sure what else to call whatever she'd done.
"Yes, you have," Morwen said. "And if you insist on repeating yourself, you'd better wait until you take the bandages off tomorrow.
Time enough for thanks if it's healed properly. Not that I have any doubts, mind, but it's better to be sure."
"All right," I said. "Did you say Shiara was waiting for me?"
Morwen went over to the stove. "Yes, I did. She's out by the garden," she said over her shoulder. She reached up and lifted a large kettle down from a hook on the wall.
"Thank you," I said. I got up and opened the back door. There was a room on the other side, with a bed and a large bookshelf and, of course, a cat. I shut the door and tried again. This time I got the library. Morwen had more books than anyone I'd ever heard of. I shut the door and looked back at Morwen.