Disciple of War Disciple of War (Art of the Adept #4) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,123

his sword, he constructed a fire-blast spell he’d learned and incinerated the hissing monster.

By then, the entire camp was awake and alert. Reports were made and messengers sent to the other divisions. There hadn’t been any other attacks. The army was safe. Eventually, with two squads of men standing shoulder to shoulder around his new tent, Will was able to attempt sleep. Darla and Laina had moved their sleeping arrangements and were now in the front section of the tent.

So much for a good night’s rest, thought Will, staring up at the tentpole above his head. He tossed fitfully for a quarter of an hour and then gave up. Summoning the limnthal, he decided to discuss things with the Ring of Vile and Unspeakable Knowledge.

“Is the war over yet?” asked Arrogan.

Will sighed. “It’s still just getting started.” He spent several minutes describing the evening’s excitement.

“How did they get past your wards?”

He grimaced sourly. I knew he’d ask that. “I didn’t have any.”

“Why not?”

“They take forever to put up. Do you have any idea how many things I have to take care of every evening when we make camp? I’m lucky to have time to eat.”

“Cry me a river! It isn’t as though you’re still digging latrines. If you can’t afford to spend a couple of minutes to put up wards at night you deserve to be eaten,” snapped his grandfather.

Will gaped. “A couple of minutes?”

“Did I stutter? You told me you learned how to set up wards last semester, didn’t you?”

“I did, but it takes a lot longer than a few minutes, otherwise we’d use them around the whole camp,” explained Will.

A long moment of silence followed, then Arrogan responded, “Do I take that to mean that you aren’t putting wards around the camps at night? What keeps the enemy from slitting your throats?”

Exasperated, Will growled, “Sentries and a careful watch schedule. How in the hell do you think I’m supposed to put wards around an army? Do you have any idea how big our perimeter is? It would take me half the night just to walk it.”

“Dolt! That’s why you have all those idiot sorcerer lackeys with you. Can’t they lay down a proper ward? Wait, don’t answer that. Those fools probably couldn’t even make a light if their lives depended on it.”

That irritated Will even more. “They may not be proper wizards, but I spent months with them. They’re all capable spellcasters and I’ll thank you not to badmouth them.”

“Oh my! Papa Will’s gone sensitive over his pet sorcerers. Fine, let’s assume they’re proficient. You’ve spread them out through the companies, they should divvy up the chore and each of them should do the work for their portion of the perimeter. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy or power intensive, just an alarm to warn the camp if a monster tries to sneak in.”

Will rubbed his face, then scratched his head. “They’d still have to do fifty yards or more each, maybe a hundred. If it takes me half an hour to ward a tent, think how long it would take to inscribe that length!”

Another pause followed, then his grandfather began again, this time in a calmer tone. “Obviously, there’s something missing in our conversation. Why don’t you describe your process for laying a ward? Maybe that will help me understand why this is such a problem for you.”

“It’s similar to constructing a spell, except much longer and you don’t discharge it at the end. You invest it with turyn and leave it in place. If anything it’s set to interact with enters the boundary created, it triggers a spell effect of some sort,” explained Will patiently.

Arrogan wasn’t satisfied, however. “Yes, but describe how you lay it out.”

With a sigh, Will did. “Just like a spell. You create the runes in sequence and…”

“Stop there. You didn’t mention an ingram.”

“What’s that?”

The ring laughed. “Something they should have mentioned at the very beginning of your class on wards. It’s sort of like a stencil, but for warding.”

“What’s a stencil?”

“Oh, right. You’ve progressed so much I sometimes forget you’re a damned ignoramus,” said Arrogan dryly. “A stencil is a cutout, usually in metal or wood that allows you to paint a specific design over and over. You lay it down and paint over it, but only the places that you’ve cut out let the paint through. That’s not the point, though. An ingram is similar, but it can be made out of a lot of different things, and obviously there’s