“What’s happened to her?” he cried in anguish.
“I could do nothing for her,” Cari said with deep apology. “My bounden duty is to protect the wearer of the ring, and I was barely able to do that with my own natural protections. There was no way to shield her as well. I fear she suffers partially from the wizard’s curse.”
“Partially?” Jafar wondered. “What kind of nonsense is this?”
Cari sighed and began an explanation. “You must realize we were at the very limits of Akar’s range, and moving quickly away from him. If the curse had hit her full on, she’d very probably be dead—and, despite my best efforts, so might you. Because the spell was weakened over distance, its effects were weaker, too. Selima is not completely in this world, but she is not completely dead, either. She is a wraith,
