The Choice of Magic - Michael G. Manning Page 0,134

of their training with the army. He wondered how many times Tiny had been singled out for a fight simply because he was large. It was a perspective he had never considered. “I never thought about it like that.” Remembering the past, he added, “I’m sorry. Because of me, you got dragged into two fights.”

Tiny shrugged. “Don’t apologize. Just think about it. You have a similar problem.”

Frowning, Will asked, “What do you mean? I’m not big, I’m average at best.”

The giant poked his arm. “Not out here.” He shifted his finger and pointed at Will’s chest. “In here. You have a big heart. Too big. It gets you into fights your body isn’t big enough for.”

“Like when they took Dave.”

Tiny held a finger in front of his lips. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. That was just me.” Then he smiled. “I worry about you. You aren’t always where I can see you.”

“It’s not your job to take care of me,” Will replied.

“You’re my first friend.”

Embarrassed, Will gestured at Sven and Dave.

“Squad mates, maybe brothers even,” said Tiny. “But just like family, I don’t necessarily like them.” His eyes turned serious as he stared at Will. “Think about what you do. If that big heart of yours gets you into a fight, you might not be the only one bleeding at the end. Your friends might wind up bleeding for you.” The big man lay back and closed his eyes.

Damn, thought Will. I never realized he was a deep thinker. Tiny’s speech had made him feel bad on several different levels. The big man had been whipped because of Will not once, but twice, and on top of that, Will had been one of the people thinking that Tiny wasn’t especially bright. I’m a shitty friend, he thought, but he promised himself he would do better.

Will stayed awake after the lanterns were put out. It was something of a struggle since his sleep habits had gotten quite rigid over the past few months. Hard labor, a fixed bedtime, and rising at dawn had set the pattern in his bones. He wished he could take a nap and wake in the middle of the night, but he knew if he let sleep set in he would be dead to the world until the sun rose. That was a simple statement of fact since he had joined the army.

Fortunately, that also applied to pretty much everyone else, aside from the men on night watch duty. Just an hour after lights out he could be pretty certain that the vast majority of the camp was asleep.

Easing up to a sitting position, he studied the dark interior of the tent. His eyes had had plenty of time to adjust to the dark, and though the only light was what filtered in from the gap in the tent flaps at the front, he could see well enough to navigate. Once again he had Tailtiu to thank for his better vision.

Slipping on his boots, he took the note he had written from his satchel. It was contained within a hand-folded envelope that he had sealed with wax. On the exterior was written one word: ‘Isabel.’ He hoped that would be enough to ensure that whoever found it first would give it to her rather than open it themselves. Given Isabel’s poorly concealed status, Will suspected that anyone that worked near her would deliver it to her rather than risk reading a letter meant for such an important person.

He crept carefully to the entrance and looked outside. A pole in the center of Company B’s tents held a lantern that provided some illumination, but the camp sentries weren’t there. Each company had two men that walked the darker perimeter outside the circle of tents. Aside from the company sentries, Will knew there were also nighttime guards set in important places to guard the supplies, officers, and livestock. There were also general patrols that patrolled the perimeter of the entire cohort as well as sentries in fixed positions.

Will only had to worry about the sentries inside the general camp, meaning Company B’s patrol and a few that might be positioned close to the medic tent. He waited patiently until he heard footsteps on the dark side of his platoon’s tent. That meant the patroller was now at his closest, while his partner was presumably on the opposite side of Company B’s perimeter. Will counted slowly to ten and then eased through the tent flaps before following the