The Camelot Spell - Laura Anne Gilman [34]
“Don’t be an idiot,” she told him acerbically, and he backed down.
But now they had to decide what they were going to do, which led to more arguments, not only over the what, but the how.
“We don’t even know what the talismans are!” Newt had dug his heels in, not wanting to go farther without a definite plan and destination. He had suggested returning to Camelot, in order to search for a clue as to who their enemy was.
“We don’t have time to waste. Merlin said so.” Any doubts Gerard might have had about the enchanter had disappeared, mainly because they didn’t have any other option but to trust him. “We’ve already used two days, not knowing. We only have five more left including today. And sitting here arguing is merely using up the time we have left.”
“Gerard is right. There’s nothing back home that can help us—even if we knew where to begin looking through Merlin’s library—don’t you think he would have sent us back there if the answers could be found that easily?”
Newt stubbornly set his jaw but couldn’t come up with any new arguments.
“So we go forward,” Ailis continued. “We need to think of where we should look.”
“No. First we need to know what we’re looking for! Newt is right about that, although I hate to admit it. We need to figure out the riddle, not blindly trust that we’ll stumble on further clues.”
Ailis picked up the end of her braid and started to tug at it as she thought out loud. “All those lines about moments…The talismans must have something to do with time.”
“Time…and the turning of time. The stopping of time.” Newt was just tossing words around to see what felt right together.
“A sundial?” Gerard asked, dubious.
“How could a sundial be a talisman? They’re huge stone things, I’ve seen one. We have to be able to take it with us! Don’t we?” Newt looked at the other two, his eyebrow raised in question.
“I think so,” Ailis said slowly. “We need to bring all three talismans back to Camelot to break the spell. That’s how it works in all the stories.”
“So a water clock would be right out, then.”
“The map,” Gerard said suddenly. “Where did I put the map?” He scrambled for his pack, pulled out the tube, and unrolled the map. “When Merlin touched it he did something to it I think.”
They gathered around the map, now spread out on the ground. This time it stayed unrolled on its own.
“Look! That’s where the island was! And here—” Ailis touched a part of the map with one fingertip, then pulled her hand back in surprise when that portion of the map started to glow.
“What is it doing?” Gerard asked uneasily.
“Glowing?”
That got Newt a look from both Ailis and Gerard, and he shrugged helplessly in return. “Well, it is.”
“It’s glowing where we are,” Ailis identified the cause. “But that’s not much help. Still…Merlin wouldn’t have done whatever he did if it wasn’t going to be useful. He did whatever he could to help us.” Ailis was certain of that.
“You think the map will show us where to go?”
“That would be a nice change,” Newt said, but his tone was softer than before.
“Keep it out,” Ailis directed Gerard.
“It’s too big. It will rip. Or get ruined.”
Ailis looked at him, then scooped up a handful of mud and tossed it. Gerard ducked, and it landed smack in the middle of the map.
“Hey!” Then he looked. “Hey….”
The mud slid off the map when he picked it up, leaving no trace of dirt behind.
“If he was going to magic it, he would make sure it wouldn’t be easily ruined. Like the Round Table, which they say never needs dusting.”
Gerard was clearly annoyed that he hadn’t thought of that first. “Fine. I’ll keep it out. But that still doesn’t tell us where we should start looking.”
“Hold it out in front of you,” Newt suggested.
“Open?” Gerard looked at the map, which was as wide across as he could spread his arms, and then looked back at Newt as though the other boy had gone mad.