rove him to it. He
first saw an oval opening almost the length of his body as it was
stretched only a foot of two below the sill of that window. And through
its transparent surface came the golden light of the sun--no green mist,
no crystals mocking the stars.

The room in which he lay was small with smooth walls, much like that in
which he had been imprisoned on the island. And there were no other
furnishings save the mat on which he rested. Over him was a light cover
netted of fibers resembling yarn, with feathers knotted into it to
provide a downy upper surface. His clothing was gone, but the single
covering was too warm and he pushed it away from his shoulders and chest
as he wriggled up to see the view beyond the window.

His torn arm came into full view. From wrist to elbow it was encased in
an opaque skin sheath, unlike any bandage of his own world. Surely that
had not come out of any Survey aid pack. Shann gazed toward the window,
but beyond lay only a reach of sky. Except for a lemon cloud or two
ruffled high above the horizon, nothing broke that soft amber curtain.
He might be quartered in a tower well above ground level, which did not
match his former experience with Wyvern accommodations.

"Back with us again?" Thorvald, one hand lifting a door panel, came in.
His ragged uniform was gone, and he wore only breeches of a sleek green
material and his own scuffed-and-battered boots.

Shann settled back on the mat. "Where are we?"

"I think you might term this the capital city," Thorvald answered. "In
relation to the mainland, we're on an island well out to sea--westward."

"How did we get here?" That climb in the slab, the stream underground....
Had it been an interior river running under the bed of the sea? But
Shann was not prepared for the other's reply.

"By wishing."

"By _what_?"

Thorvald nodded, his expression serious. "They wished us here. Listen,
Lantee, when you jumped down to mix it with that fork-tailed thing, did
you wish you had the wolverines with you?"

Shann thought back; his memories of what had occurred before that battle
were none too clear. But, yes, he had wished Taggi and Togi present at
that moment to distract the enraged beast.

"You mean I wished them?" The whole idea was probably a part of the
Wyvern jargon of dreaming and he added, "Or did I just dream
everything?" There was the bandage on his arm, the soreness under that
bandage. But also there had been Logally's lash b