“Someone paid to have a mail shirt made for me,” admitted Will.
“Liar!” exclaimed Dave. “I knew you were some rich merchant’s brat.”
“Is that true?” asked Sven.
Will shook his head. “No. You remember when they hauled me in to see Lord Fulstrom last week? I think someone took a liking to me, or maybe they felt bad for falsely accusing me.”
“Bullshit,” said Dave. “Noblemen don’t give a shit about people like us. We aren’t even human to them.”
Will caught Tiny staring at him with a look that suggested he knew something, but the big man kept his thoughts to himself. The conversation returned to more usual topics after that, mainly complaints about the sergeants and officers. When lunch was over, Will caught Tiny’s arm as they were filing out. “Can I talk to you later?”
The big man nodded. “Last hour, before lights out?”
“Sounds good,” said Will.
Chapter 44
Tiny and Will walked out and stood near the company lantern pole, since it was too dark to go anywhere else. Plus standing in the light gave the added advantage of making it easy to see that no one was close enough to overhear them.
“It was her, wasn’t it?” opined Tiny at the start.
Surprised, Will’s eyes widened. He tried to deflect the other man’s attention anyway, though. “Who?”
“The lady doctor,” said the big man. “She was obviously important, and she took a lot of interest in you.”
Sighing Will gave in and nodded. “Yeah, it was her.”
“Why is she so interested in you?”
“I don’t know all her reasons, but there’s one I’m sure of, and that’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” said Will. “What do you think about magic?”
“I don’t,” answered Tiny. “It’s all nonsense.”
That was the last response Will expected. He’d listened to the villagers of Barrowden talk about it on many occasions, and their opinions had generally ranged from fascination to fear, but none of them had ever suggested they didn’t believe in magic. Will showed his shock with an eloquent exclamation, “Huh?”
Tiny shrugged. “I don’t believe in it. It’s all just stories they tell farmers and townsfolk to keep them in line.”
Flabbergasted, Will cast about for a counterargument. “What about the laws? Why would they have laws against warlocks and unlicensed wizards if magic wasn’t real?”
“Old laws written by superstitious people,” said Tiny. “Or worse, just another way of convincing people like you and me that it’s real.” Warming to his topic, Tiny went on, “Tell me this, Will, have you ever seen magic? Of course, you haven’t. It’s just like the stories of faeries who take milk from your doorstep and clean your shoes, or bogeymen who steal naughty children.”
Waving his hands, Will protested, “But I have!”
“No, you didn’t,” said Tiny firmly. “You saw something you didn’t understand and called it magic. Modern men don’t need superstition to face the hard realities of the world. I’m a little disappointed you brought it up. I thought you were smarter than most.”
“But…”
Tiny wagged his finger in Will’s direction. “If magic was real, why aren’t we using it for war?”
“It was used a lot in the last big war,” argued Will. “And Lord Fulstrom is a sorcerer.”
Tiny shrugged. “I’ve never seen him do any magic. It’s just another excuse for them to claim power over regular people.”
“I’ve seen his elemental,” said Will, but he realized that argument wouldn’t work either. All the sorcerers he had seen so far kept their elementals invisible to normal eyes most of the time. Frustrated, he changed directions. “I can do magic.”
Disgusted, Tiny replied, “Show me then.”
Tiny wouldn’t be able to see the runes even if Will produced them, but what he really wanted was someone to practice his new spell with. “I can’t show you here. If someone saw, I’d be put in irons.”
“That’s what they always say,” said Tiny knowingly.
“In five days, we get another free day,” Will told him. “Come with me and I’ll show you. If you don’t believe me, I’ll buy you as much as you can eat.”
“I can eat a lot,” warned the big man.
Will chuckled. “Trust me, I know.”
“Not just some lousy pottage either,” added Tiny. “I want beef, or a ham.”
“Whatever you want,” said Will confidently. “We get paid tomorrow. I’ll spend it all if you don’t believe me.”
Tiny’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Don’t try to get out of it by spending most of it before our day off.”
***
On the day in question, Will led Tiny to the hidden spring by the congruence that led to Faerie. He didn’t intend to use it to travel, but the place was free from prying eyes. Preparing himself, he gave Tiny a final warning, “I’m going to cast a spell. If it works, you’ll be paralyzed. Don’t panic. I promise I’ll release you right away.”
“Sure,” said the big man, obviously not worried.
Will lifted his hands and constructed the spell in a matter of a four or five seconds. As before, a green line shot out as he invested a small amount of turyn in it, and this time it landed squarely in the center of his new target’s chest and he felt it connect. The sensation was curious, as though he had two bodies. He was shocked to realize that he could feel everything that Tiny felt. “There,” he announced proudly.
“What?” said Tiny, clearly unimpressed.
Will frowned. “You can talk?”
“Most people are surprised when they discover I can speak,” said the big man, his voice laden with sarcasm.
Confused, Will made a suggestion, “Try to do something else.”
Tiny shifted slightly to the side and farted so loudly that Will was surprised that the birds in the trees above them hadn’t taken flight. The big man shrugged. “Don’t blame me, it was your magic.”
Stumped, Will tried to understand why the spell wasn’t working as he had expected. Even now he could see the green line connecting them, and he could feel all sorts of strange sensations coming through it to him. Then a foul odor caused his nose to crinkle, and he began waving his hands to clear the air. “Ack, what did you eat?”
“Your magic is exceedingly potent,” said Tiny dryly, trying not to crack a smile.
Perhaps he needed to do something. Sitting down, Will decided to try meditating to better understand the connection he had created. “Let me concentrate on this for a while,” he told his friend.
Tiny shook his head. “Stop stalling. You’ve lost. Let’s go eat. I’m hungry and you’re paying.”
Frustrated, Will stood up and dismissed the spell. “Give me your hand. I’ll show you something else instead.”
The big soldier studied his open hand as though it might be a trap of some sort. Finally, he took it, saying, “Fine. I love holding hands with fools and drunks.”