White Road

was soft, even breathing. Alec was fast asleep. Seregil smiled and settled back against the pillows. Baths could wait.
    “Ahek. Sleeeeping,” Sebrahn rasped.
    “Yes, sleeping. Go to the window.”
    The rhekaro slowly slid off the bed and went back to the window seat. Once there, he fixed his gaze on the two of them. Perhaps it was a trick of the rain still beating against the windowpanes, making the light cast weird shadows, but Seregil could have sworn that Sebrahn looked resentful.
    Can’t be helped
, he thought.
I had him first and you’re going to have to be the one who makes do
.

CHAPTER 2
Wizard’s Work
    T HE WIZARDS were at their door early the following morning.
    Magyana reached into her coat and gave Seregil a handful of small, painted willow wands. “Here are your message sticks. Break one and Thero and I will know you need us and where you are. And do try to hang on to them this time.”
    Seregil gave her a wry look as he pocketed them. “Thank you.”
    “I have something for you, too,” said Thero. “Actually, it’s an experiment of sorts. I was up all night designing it. Nysander excelled at transformation spells, and he passed that on to me. I think I
might
be able to give Sebrahn a more normal appearance. I’d be happier attempting it in a proper casting room, but here we are. First, Alec, make Sebrahn understand that I mean no harm.”
    Alec reached out to Sebrahn and took his hands. “Thero is a friend, remember? He’s going to help you, so don’t be scared.”
    Looking somewhat less than reassured, Thero took a lump of blue chalk from his belt pouch. “Move the bed against the wall and roll back the carpet, will you?”
    Seregil and Micum pushed the heavy rope bed out of the way with Alec still in it, and drew back the carpet. Thero drew a wide circle on the bare floorboards and inscribed a complex ring of symbols around the inside rim. Standing in the center of it, he ran a critical eye over his handiwork. “There. That should hold in the damage, if it all goes wrong.”
    “Goes wrong how? And what do you mean, ‘should’?” demanded Micum.
    “Well, I’ve never attempted magic on a being of this nature. Don’t worry, I’ll start with something simple. Bring Sebrahn into the circle, Seregil. And I need a few strands of Alec’s hair, since Sebrahn was made from him.”
    Alec gave him the hair and the others joined him, sitting on the edge of the bed.
    Thero took out his crystal wand and wrapped the hairs around it. With his free hand he gathered Sebrahn’s long hair together, then ran the wand over the length of it from crown to ends. When he was finished, the rhekaro’s shining hair was the same rich honey gold as Alec’s.
    “That’s better,” said Seregil, “but he’s still too pale. The hair only makes it more obvious.”
    “I’m not done.” Thero pulled out a small pouch and took out a pinch of some kind of brown powder. Bowing his head, Thero murmured a spell and sprinkled it on Sebrahn’s head. In the blink of an eye the rhekaro had the sun-browned skin of a peasant boy. The only things not affected by the spell were his eyes. Those remained the same unnatural silver.
    “That’s the best I can do, I’m afraid. I don’t want to risk blinding him.” Thero drew a small knife and cut through the edge of the protective circle. The design disappeared in a flash of light and Sebrahn scampered back to Alec.
    “He looks good,” said Micum. “He really could be Alec’s boy, now.”
    “His eyes are still a giveaway to anyone who knows what to look for, though,” Seregil mused.
    “Cut his hair into long bangs,” Thero suggested. “It doesn’t all have to be magic. You’re the great master of disguise, as I recall.”
    Alec, who’d been cutting Sebrahn’s hair several times a day for months now, went to work at that, and in a moment Sebrahn had a ragged fringe of hair hanging into his eyes. “That will have to do. How long will it last?” Thero asked Alec, brushing Sebrahn’s hair back from his face to inspect the changes.
    “Hopefully until I spell him back to normal. But again,there’s no telling what effect Sebrahn’s unusual nature will have on the magic. It might all wear off tomorrow.”
    “What happens when his hair grows?” asked Micum.
    “The spell is on his body, not just the hair. It should be fine.”
    “What about your magic? Couldn’t that attract attention if we run across the wrong sort of people?” asked Seregil.
    “Not