The Camelot Spell by Laura Anne Gilman

Author:Laura Anne Gilman
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780061908521
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2006-01-07T10:00:00+00:00

Gerard nudged Ailis and got Newt’s attention as well. They moved away from both Daffyd and his guards. “Look around,” he said in a tight whisper.

“What?” Newt kept his voice low as well, but they could all hear the fear in it.

“Look around this room,” he said again, still whispering. “The map. It’s glowing.”

“How can you tell?” As far as they could see, it was still tucked into his back, safely out of sight.

“I can feel it. It was warm before, but it’s almost hot, now. Almost…almost as if it knew I couldn’t see it and wanted to be sure it got my attention.”

“You think the talisman is in here?”

Gerard’s scorn won through the anger he was feeling about the trap they found themselves in. “Any other reason the map might be glowing, horse-boy?”

“I haven’t any idea.” Newt put his hands on his hips and glared at Gerard, wanting nothing more than to knock him down again and wipe that look off his face once and for all. He caught the guards staring at him and lowered his voice again. “It’s all magic…and I’m tired of it.”

“Well, don’t be. It might be the only thing that saves us,” Ailis snapped. “Merlin put his magic into the map,” she reminded them with a bit more patience. “So if the map is getting warm now, it must be reacting to something in this room. It’s Merlin helping us as much as he can. That’s what he meant when he said he couldn’t help us directly. He has to work through the map.”

“So if the talisman is in here,” Gerard said in an undertone, “wouldn’t that be Daffyd’s most valuable possession? Do you really think he’ll let us walk out of here with it?”

“He has to if we find it,” Ailis insisted. “His own magic should bind him to his side of the deal, the same as it binds us. But we need to find the talisman first. And we have no idea what it looks like.”

“Then we’d better start looking,” Newt said, but his voice didn’t sound like he had much hope of success.

The three of them separated and walked around the room as though deep in thought over their predicament, carefully avoiding getting too close to the two guards by the door.

The study itself was unremarkable, a farmer’s hodgepodge of bits and ends: bags of seed in one corner, ledgers on a narrow shelf, and a pile of harnesses tossed in another corner. The floor was scuffed from wear, and the only furniture other than the chair Daffyd sat in like a throne was a battered wooden table covered with more ledgers and parchments. It was prosaic and ordinary and boring, and no place you would think to find a magical talisman that would help free a king from enchanted slumber.

Newt walked slowly, trying to pretend that he was deep in thought while his gaze scanned every surface, every handspan of the room. It had to be in here. Not because he believed Gerard’s stupid map, but because if it wasn’t, he had no idea what they’d do next.

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