Chapter ONE - Weebly

He was manacled at the wrists and ankles, his back
pressed against the bark of a large tree, his arms pulled
back, leading him to guess that the chain joining the
manacles circled around the trunk. He was also gagged.
And yet, though his circumstances were dire, he also
realized that he was no longer in pain. Carefully he
flexed the hand the conjurer had crushed. Then he
wiggled his fingers more boldly. The hand was fully
healed.
Both legs also felt whole again, although the chains
were tight enough that he could barely move them. Yet
another chain led to a metal cuff around his neck, to
keep him from moving his head more than a few inches.
Predictably, all the manacles—those at his wrists and
ankles, as well as the one around his neck—were
cushioned, wrapped in cloth, from the look and feel of
them. He couldn’t chafe his wrists, ankles, or neck on
the metal cuffs. The conjurer had left him with no way
to draw blood; even the cloth in his mouth kept him
from biting his tongue or his cheek.
His coat, which still bore bloodstains from Nigel’s
bullet, was gone. The rest of his clothes had nothing on