She sighed. “Mother told me wizards could do the same, but they use a human spell. My magic doesn’t work that way, though. It simply happens when I need it.”
“Could I do that?” Will asked. “I was able to hear better by concentrating. Is this similar?”
“Fae magic is instinctive,” said Tailtiu. “Faerie is swimming in turyn, so we learn to use it the same way you use your feet for walking. You could try, but I don’t know if you’ll succeed.”
“Give me a minute,” said Will. Turning his attention inward, he tried to focus more turyn around his eyes while he stared intently at the fog. Nothing happened at first, but then the mist grew bright, almost blinding him. “That’s worse,” he complained.
“What did you see?” she asked.
“The mist got so bright I could hardly see at all,” he answered.
His aunt smiled. “That’s the starlight. It won’t help you. It reflects off the mist and reduces the distance you can see.”
Will was disappointed. “I guess this won’t work then.”
“You give up too quickly. If you were able to do that, you may be able to see the way I do. You just need to change what you’re seeing,” said Tailtiu. That statement confused Will, and it showed on his face. His aunt explained further, “Starlight is just like daylight or moonlight. It’s wonderful when the sky is clear, but in fog or mist it’s terrible. You need to focus on the heart-light.”
“Heart-light? There’s more than one kind of light?”
She nodded. “Is everything one color? Of course not. Heart-light is similar to red, but deeper. It’s the light given off by warm things. You just need to focus on that instead.”
He tried again, and while he did, she continued talking. “It’s sort of like the way you focus your eyes normally. Every mist or fog is different, so your eyes have to adjust to see the right kind of heart-light. You’ll know which is best as your distance vision improves or worsens.”
At first his vision grew brighter, the way it had before, but as he concentrated it shifted and became dark, until he could hardly see at all. “This isn’t working,” he complained.
“Look at me,” said Tailtiu patiently. “When you get close to the right kind of light, my body will start to glow brighter from its warmth.”
He did, changing the turyn in his eyes all the while, and suddenly he caught a glimmer. Adjusting his turyn more, he saw his aunt’s body begin to glow until she stood out as a white figure against a gray background. Looking away, he kept at it until the fog seemed to vanish and the world shifted into a strange, ghostly landscape. The ground and rocks were varying shades of grey, along with the occasional trees and brush, and the sky above was a pure black with no stars to be seen.
The enemy sentries stood out so clearly that he felt sure they must see him, and it took him a moment to get his heart rate to slow down. They can’t see me, he told himself. “This is incredible,” he whispered.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Tailtiu. “This will be much easier now that I don’t have to worry about leading you around like some blind worm.”
Will found himself overwhelmed by a whole new world of possibilities, and a new level of responsibility. Being able to see while his enemies could not, did that mean he should try to do something to tip the scales in the favor of his allies? Did he dare? He thought about killing the sentries. He could probably get close enough to use the source-link spell, but could he stomach murdering them in cold blood?
If he did, it would give the Terabinian army another half mile before the enemy spotted their advance at dawn. That might make a large difference in how ready the Darrowans were for them. “And if I don’t kill them, more of us will die than otherwise would,” he muttered. Right and wrong had never seemed more confusing.
“Or you could let me do it,” said Tailtiu eagerly. “I’m at your beck and call for the rest of the night. There’s no need for you to bloody your hands.”
For a moment he was tempted by her offer, but deep down he knew it didn’t change anything. His enemies would still be dead, and it would have been done by his command. It also seemed like a violation of whatever treaty the ancient wizards had worked out with the fae to protect humankind. No, if anyone died, it would be by his hand.
Will shook his head. “No thanks. What time do you think it is?” His aunt looked up at the stars and he saw turyn flickering around her eyes. “What are you doing?”
“Changing my vision so I can see the stars,” she said simply. Then she added, “It’s close to midnight now.”
If the Darrowans used a similar system, that meant the sentries, he was looking at were on the second watch. They would probably be changed out in a couple of hours when the third watch came on duty. Killing them would only alert the enemy. “Let’s go see how far we can get into their camp,” he suggested.
Circling the sentries at a sufficient distance to avoid being heard, they moved on, until the perimeter guard of the Darrowan army came into view. With the advantage of the mist and near-perfect vision, it was laughably simple to get past them. The Darrowans had done their best to erect an earthen defense similar to what Will had worked on near Branscombe, but the hard, rocky soil had limited what they could do. A shallow ditch no more than two feet deep was backed by a similarly short mound of rocks and dirt.
Keeping an eye on the patrols, Will and Tailtiu walked into the ditch and then back up the slope behind it without much trouble. They were in the enemy camp.
The layout seemed familiar, for the Darrowans used a similar layout to what Will had grown used to. Fifty yards past the earthworks lay the first tents, arranged in small circles at regular intervals. Each circle of tents had a lantern hanging near the center, providing light for any night-blind soldiers who needed to take watch or relieve themselves at the latrines during the night.
Will moved on, walking through the areas he thought would be darkest, if he had been using his normal eyesight. It was hard to judge while using the strange new vision Tailtiu had taught him. He began changing his vision back to what he considered normal every now and then, to help him plot a course that would keep them best hidden from the eyes of the nighttime guards.
There was nothing to be gained from examining the tents of the rank and file, so Will worked his way deeper. The officers’ and commander’s tents would likely be in either the center of the camp or to the rear, on the side farthest from danger of attack. Will knew that the Terabinians preferred to keep the supplies to the rear and command in the center, so he went toward the middle first.
Sure enough, he spotted what appeared to be the main command tent in the center of the encampment, surrounded by what were probably the tents of the higher-ranking officers. Unable to restrain his curiosity, Will dodged two patrols and went to the center tent. Two guards patrolled the entrance, yet another indicator that the camp commander was probably inside.
Will crept closer, until he was only twenty feet from the guards. At that distance he wasn’t sure if the mist would completely conceal him, so he approached from the side, hoping the tent itself would block their view. He attempted the source-link spell but couldn’t quite connect, so he was forced to get closer by crouching down and creeping forward, moving around the corner.