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will
speedily be on my way."
    "That's right," agreed Kinzel,
standing and releasing his prisoner. "If you will just put that
person on your shoulder down with the others... Good. Now stand
away." He closed his eyes and opened his arms.
    Val Con watched the proceedings with
interest. The leaves twisted about the old wooden staff were full
and green and new; they swayed slightly, though there was no
breeze. Kinzel himself seemed to grow taller by a few inches, to
become less portly; and the ginger hair took on a glow.
    The cats milled about, not much
impressed with the spectacle. Several began to move in Val Con's
direction.
    There was a sheen of sweat on the
wizard's round face; he seemed to be straining toward something
just out of reach. Val Con clamped down on his feeling of impending
disaster; forced himself to wait quietly.
    Kinzel opened his eyes, shook his head
and made his way unsteadily to the nearest rock, where he sat with
a bump.
    The King of the Cats was immediately
at his side, on one knee, eyes sharp with concern.
    "What is wrong?"
    The wizard winced at the snap in the
smooth voice. "I -- there's a disturbance -- in the Power. The
staff -- I -- can't work for the Right when there is another
unBalancing force in the world..."
    The green eyes had widened. "I beg
your pardon?"
    Kinzel swallowed, remembering the
tiger held at bay earlier. "It's that I'm stupid," he repeated. "Of
course, you will have to be sent back first. Then I will be able to
restore the cats."
    "So." The King bowed his head. "I am
ready, friend Kinzel. Do it quickly."
    Kinzel levered himself up, took a
firmer grip on the staff and looked into the eyes of the man
kneeling before him.
    Miri
! Val Con sent his awareness to the place where the song of
her glowed bright within him --
    The wizard lowered his arms, eyes
awash with tears.
    "No." Val Con was on his feet, felt
his hands moving with deadly purpose -- and stopped.
    "Another way, then" he said sharply.
"What else might be done?"
    The mage sank again to his rock. "The
cats are -- not Right. UnBalance. You don't belong here. UnBalance.
I cannot work for the Right without Balance."
    "So I must be sent back or the cats
may not be mended. But I may not be sent back until the cats are
mended." He moved his head sharply, sending dark hair into bright
eyes.
    "Friend Kinzel, I do not wish to
remain here. You -- or your staff -- are foresworn. There -- wait."
He tipped his head. "You spoke of my -- amulet. That was --
Moon-potent? That wearing it I might, myself, return to Miri. How?
There is the Moon, already high. Here I am, with my desire and my
will. What else is required? Tell me what I must do."
    Kinzel frowned and shifted on his
rock. "Your will is very strong, and the amulet is powerful. The
Moon is full. But you are not a mage! It might be possible -- but
you would be working against the Power, not with it. You could harm
yourself. You could die..."
    "A bad solution. Is there another? If
not, I shall attempt this one."
    Kinzel thought. And, from the staff
purring in his hand or from the cats purring at their feet, or,
indeed, from the Moon itself came -- an idea.
    He looked up at the King of the Cats
and spoke, slowly. "You must remember that I am not learned, that I
am stupid with spells and not clever or subtle. But it does seem
that if you were able to -- trick -- a mighty wizard into
commanding you, in Power, to begone, your will is sufficient to
hold and shape that command into -- into an arrow of desire,
sending yourself wherever you wish to be." He shrugged. "It is
worth the effort, and you will be further aided, if your wife
desires your return as much as you desire to return."
    An eyebrow slid upward. "I believe the
stipulation may be met." He sighed. "I infer that you are not the
wizard best -- tricked?"
    "Fallan is," admitted Kinzel, "a
mighty mage. He's learned and subtle and -- quick to
anger."
    "And thus it might be possible." The
King of the Cats looked over his shoulder at the