Lalo nodded. He could almost see the sense of it, but it was so hard to
concentrate when wind rattled the window-frames and rain beat against the
slubbed glass. It had been raining hard since the afternoon before.
“If you visualize a shield around you that only lets . specific things out, or
in, then you can control what you paint, right?” the Tysian mage went on. He sat
back and looked at Lalo expectantly.
The limner nodded. “I think I understand. I don’t know if I can do it, but I
appreciate your effort to teach me. Worry makes me a poor student. When are we
going against Roxane?”
“We’re not ready yet-you’re not ready. Limner, she would swat you like a fly!
Even I-” He broke off, and Lalo was just beginning to wonder if even the mage
feared this sorceress, when a heavy tread shook the tower stairs. The door
crashed open and they saw Straton, the Stepsons’ commander, standing there.
“Vashanka’s rod, man, here you are, Randal! You’ve led me hell’s own chase,
that’s for sure!” Somehow he managed to look even more formidable than usual
with his hair plastered to his skull and water from wet steel and soggy leather
pooling on the floor.
“Trouble?” The mage stood up, freckles suddenly dark against his pallor.
Straton spat. “Do you use those flapping ears of yours just for balance, or
what? Can’t you hear the rain? The river’s overflowed into the Swamp of Night
Secrets, and the whole southeastern promontory will be flooded soon. There’s
reports that the upper ford is turning into a lake and Goat Creek is over its