The Choice of Magic - Michael G. Manning Page 0,202

As far as Will could tell, they served as barracks, and they seemed to go on forever. The first section they went through was occupied, but the next was empty. It must have belonged to the units that have already gone to the pass. What worried him most was that there were obviously many more such sections, and soldiers still occupied many of them. The Patriarch’s army was huge.

They went by much larger tents occasionally, and by the smell Will figured they were mess tents, but they found nothing resembling the centralized stores that they were looking for. Still, they had only walked through a small fraction of the enemy base so far.

Two men waited on one corner of an especially large intersection ahead that marked the center of the camp. Given the lighting, they had already seen Will and Selene, so there was no point in avoiding them, so they kept walking.

As soon as they were within twenty feet, one of the pair stepped out and challenged them, “Show your pass.”

Will scratched his head. “I didn’t realize it was that late. We’ll head back to our unit.” He made as if to turn back.

The guard wasn’t going to let them off easily, however. “Stop. Which unit are you—”

Will had already connected his source-link spell to both men, and he began rapidly draining their turyn. Unaware of what he was doing, neither of them made the connection between their fatigue and the newcomers until it was too late, and both slowly collapsed to the ground.

Selene stared at him in surprise. “That would make me sick for hours, but there’s a better way.”

“Hey!” someone called from their left. Four more men were emerging from a small, wooden building that must serve as a guard station.

“Show me,” muttered Will. “Or things are about to get ugly.” He waved to the guards. “Give us a hand; something is wrong with these two!”

The newly arrived soldiers weren’t buying his act, and they lowered short spears in his direction as they approached. The sword at Will’s side felt woefully inadequate. He readied himself to cast his linking spell again, but he knew he could only get two. Shit.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a spell come together in Selene’s hands. The runes had a light green color to them, and when she released it, the spell shot toward the men before expanding and slowly fading from his sight. All four collapsed to the ground.

“Damn!” said Will. “Are they dead?”

“Asleep. Let’s get them off the street.”

Make that two spells I want to learn from her, thought Will. The silence spell and the sleeping spell. Together they dragged the six unconscious soldiers back into the guard building, lining them up on the floor.

“How long will they sleep?” he asked.

“Hours, until the next watch shift comes and wakes them up.”

“Or someone passes by and wonders why there’s no one asking for passes,” said Will. Stepping outside, he looked down each lane that led away from the intersection. The one to their left seemed much the same as the one they had walked down—more barracks—but the other two showed larger tents and buildings in the distance.

The sheer size of the base was daunting. From what they had seen, even if they found the stores and supplies, there would probably be far too many. Setting fire to one would raise the alarm, making it difficult to destroy the rest. “Even if we find the supply tents or warehouses, how are we going to destroy them all?” said Will.

Selene gave him a harsh look. “This was your plan.”

A man emerged from a tent on the opposite side of the lane and walked toward him. The stranger wasn’t dressed as a soldier though; he wore a black robe, and Will could see something like a black flame hovering above his shoulder. A sorcerer. “Stay inside,” warned Will, hissing over his shoulder through the doorway behind him.

Will stepped out boldly. “Show your pass.”

The man stopped, a look of surprise crossing his face, and Will worried that he’d made a mistake. A second later the stranger relaxed. “Certainly. Let me find it for you.” The man lifted his hand, and the black flame pulsed. A spell formed above his palm.

Will snatched his sword from his sheath and ran forward, but he was too late. The sorcerer finished his spell, and a tangled web of black lines shot toward Will. It expanded when it reached him, and he felt a burning pain across