rabbit, be he real or wraith, did not put in an appearance.
Once Jon-Tom glanced back to reassure himself that he’d
actually been in Crancularn, but instead of a crumbling old
town, he thought he saw a vast bubbling cauldron alive
with dancing, laughing demons. He shuddered and didn’t
look back again.
By evening they were all too exhausted to care if
Al-Roojinn and a dozen vengeful cousins were hot on then-
trail or not. Mudge and Roseroar built a fire while the
others collapsed.
“1 think we’re safe now,” Jon-Tom told them. He ran
both hands through his long hair, suddenly sat up sharply.
“The medicine! What about the—!”
“Easy, mate.” Mudge extracted the container from a
pocket. ” ‘Ere she be, nice and tidy.”
Jon-Tom examined the bottle. It was such a small thing
on which to have expended so much effort, barely an inch
THE DAY OF THE DISSONANCE
289
high and half again as wide. It was fashioned of plain
white plastic with a screw-on cap of unfamiliar design.
“I wonder what it is.” He started to unscrew the top.
“Just a minim, mate,” said Mudge sharply, nodding at
the container. “Do you think that’s wise? I know you’re a
spellsinger and all that, but maybe there’s a special reason
for that little bottle bein’ tight-sealed the way it is.”
“Any container of medicine would be sealed,” Jon-Tom
responded. “If there was any danger, Clothahump would
have warned me not to open it.” Another twist and the cap
was off, rendering further argument futile.
He stared at the contents, then held the bottle under his
nose and sniffed.