The Choice of Magic - Michael G. Manning Page 0,136

way in small increments around the tent, making sure to keep his distance from the guard. Once he was on the opposite side from the entrance, he crept up to the back wall. It was a relatively small tent compared to most of the others in the area, being only ten feet wide on each side. He listened patiently until his ears discerned what he thought might be the sound of someone breathing. It was such a soft sound that he wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not.

Imagined or not, there definitely wasn’t anyone moving within the tent or he would have heard them. Will began feeling around for the bottom edge of the tent and discovered that it had been well secured, with stakes every four feet, keeping it tightly against the ground. He spent considerable time gently wiggling and pulling at two of them until the entire back side was free.

The corners still held it down, but there was enough give in the canvas that he could lift the bottom far enough to slip under. Easing the canvas up, he saw something that froze the breath in his lungs. A pattern of glowing lines covered the ground inside, snaking around the edges of the interior. Some sort of protection or alarm?

If an alarm went up, Will could probably run back to his tent in less than six or seven minutes. The odds were pretty good that as long as no one saw his face he wouldn’t be caught. He considered simply sliding the letter across the ground toward the middle of the tent. She would definitely see it there in the morning.

Making up his mind, he whipped the envelope in a sideways motion, but as he did his hand brushed across the edge of one of the glowing lines. Magic rushed into him, and he felt a split-second of pain as a spell began to take hold, then it began to fade as his body absorbed the turyn, transforming it into his own. Once his panic subsided, Will smiled faintly. He might not be able to cast spells himself, but he had at least learned something useful from his grandfather’s training.

His heart tried to jump into his throat when he looked at the ground once more and realized that the glowing lines were gone. He hadn’t just nullified the spell’s effect on himself, he had completely erased it. She’ll notice that in the morning for sure, he observed.

Lying on the ground, he looked under the edge of the tent to see where his letter had gone. He had been in almost complete darkness long enough that his eyes were about as sensitive as they could get, but he still couldn’t see it. All he knew for certain was that it hadn’t landed in the middle of the room. If it went under something, she might not find it, he thought.

Lifting the edge of the tent, he began to slip under it. I’m not doing this, he thought, even as he slid all the way inside. There’s no way I’m stupid enough to do this. Getting to his knees, he looked around.

The interior was a dark grey mixture of shapes. On one side was something that might be a desk or table, and beside it were several large, square things that might be chests. On the other side was a cot with an irregular shape on it, which he assumed was the occupant of the tent. It occurred to him then that he didn’t know for sure that it was Isabel.

He needed some light to find the letter. Before he had destroyed the protective spell he had been able to see better, as its glow had helped. I wonder if normal people would have seen that spell, or if it was invisible the way the runes I make are? thought Will. Wait, does that mean I can see better if I make a rune?

It wasn’t the proper use for them, of course, but they did glow. He had never tried making one in a place dark enough that it would matter. The light they produced probably wasn’t enough to wake the person sleeping nearby. He hoped.

Trying to search without being able to see was probably riskier than making a small light, so Will tossed caution to the wind and produced a small lun rune in the air in front of him. Looking around, he thought he could see a little better, but the overall change in lighting