was starting to get restless, but Magda’s wound was still too serious for her to travel, let alone fight. Abigail was pacing outside the entrance to the cave when Alexander appeared.
She stopped and glared at him. “You really should check in more often.”
“Sorry. Isabel was captured and I couldn’t find her. I’ve been spending every moment trying to get past the magical defenses surrounding the place where she’s being held.”
“Is she all right?” Abigail asked, suddenly worried.
“I’m not sure. I don’t know who has her or why.”
“I’m sorry, Alex. Sometimes I forget how much you’re tying to manage all at once.”
Magda smiled from her bedroll as Alexander and Abigail entered the cave.
“How’re you feeling?”
“Much better, though not well enough,” Magda said. “I fear that Zuhl will find us before I’ve healed sufficiently to travel.”
“What can I do?”
“Consult with Master Alabrand,” Magda said. “Perhaps he’s aware of some medicinal herbs native to this part of the world that would speed my healing.”
“I was just going to pay him a visit. I’ll see what he knows.”
“How’s everything else going?” Anatoly asked.
“Aside from Isabel, mostly the same. Dad’s building up his line in Buckwold. Blackstone’s magic has failed, so the wizards have relocated to Glen Morillian. Mom and Emma have gone with them. All that’s left in the Keep are Rangers and a few Sky Knights. Phane is working day and night to build ships, both in Karth and Andalia, but he seems content to wait out the winter before making his move. Bianca has secured the northern fortress island and is running patrols into Fellenden. Cassandra is busy with her wyvern-breeding program and training new Sky Knights; she’s already increased her ranks by fifty. My leg is stiff and sore but healing, and Jack is going stir-crazy.”
Abigail smiled. “I know how he feels.”
“He misses you, by the way.”
“Me too.”
“I’ll be back with Lucky’s advice in a few minutes.”
He faded into the firmament, reappearing in Lucky’s workshop in a blink. Lucky was sipping a cup of tea, reading and listening to the sputtering and bubbling from several tables filled with glassware.
“Ah, Alexander, there you are. I’ve acquired the ingredients to make a quart of aqua regia. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the next step in the process.”
“Excellent, but I need some more advice for Magda first. The Old Man’s Beard eliminated her infection, but her wound is still pretty serious. Any suggestions?”
“There are a number of healing herbs that grow in colder climates but most are rare.” He got up and went to a bookshelf, searching briefly before selecting a tome and flipping through the pages until he found what he was looking for. He laid the book open on the nearest table.
“This is called snowbell … it’s similar to deathwalker root in its healing properties, but it’s hard to find, growing almost exclusively on rocky outcroppings high in the mountains.”
It looked like a creeper vine that covered the rock it lived on without actually putting down roots. The leaves were small and very dark green, and tiny white, bell-shaped flowers grew in clusters on the end of long stems.
“What part of it do I need?”
“The vine itself,” Lucky said. “The flowers are useless except for decoration, but the vine can be prepared just like deathwalker root to make a healing salve.”
“How quickly does it work?”
“Depending on the severity of the wound, days or weeks, but generally much more quickly than the natural healing process.”
“If I can’t find any, is there anything else that might work?”
“Not this time of year,” Lucky said. “If they can find an apothecary, they may be able to purchase it.”
Alexander nodded thoughtfully. “I have no idea how the people on Zuhl might react to their presence.”
Lucky shrugged with a smile. “Why not go and ask for yourself?”
Alexander chuckled softly. “The simplest solutions are usually the best.”
“Indeed they are. Now, I’m eager to proceed with my project.”
“All right, the sovereigns tell me that one of the ingredients of aqua regia is muriatic acid.”
“Yes, essentially a concentrate of stomach acid.”
“Good, so mix the aqua regia, but keep a quantity of muriatic acid aside for use later. Dissolve an ounce of gold into the aqua regia and boil it down to one-tenth of its initial volume, being cautious of the fumes.”
“Wait, am I to understand that gold is the secret of Wizard’s Dust?”
Alexander nodded, smiling. “Essentially, yes, but it’s more than that. Gold is Wizard’s Dust, or more to the point, Wizard’s Dust is gold, only in a much different state than