The Camelot Spell - Laura Anne Gilman [43]
They hadn’t traveled more than an hour when Ailis asked, “Is it glowing yet?”
“Not yet.”
Farms gave way to scrub woods, and then the trees grew taller and thicker around.
“Is it glowing yet?” Newt asked this time.
“Not yet.”
“We’re going the wrong direction,” Newt said in disgust.
Ailis took offense at his words. “There’s no guarantee that the other direction was right, either.”
“Yes, and the next talisman might be in Eire, kept by the wee fairy folk, for all we know!”
“It might be in Avalon,” Ailis added, finally pushed to annoyance by all Newt’s whining about how terrible magic was. “It might be in Palestine waiting for us to find the Grail and trade for it! It could be anywhere, so why wouldn’t it be where the map sends us? We have to go on faith. That’s what it’s all about. Faith. Trust. Belief.”
“Gullibility.” Newt spat the word like it was a curse.
“Why are you so miserable?” Ailis demanded. “Why can’t you—”
“Why can’t you leave me be? I’m not your slave to order around and—”
“Children…” Gerard rode between the two of them, interrupting the bickering before they could get worked up into a decent lather. “Ailis is right. We have to trust Merlin. If finding the talismans were impossible, he wouldn’t have sent us on this journey.”
“You really believe that?” Newt asked.
Gerard stared straight ahead between his horse’s ears, watching the way the shadows flickered off the leaves from the setting sun behind them.
“I have to,” he said finally. “I have to believe. Otherwise we might as well go home. Besides, Merlin proved himself before we were even born. He helped bring Arthur to the throne. That’s more than we can say.”
“Who gets to say when we have proven ourselves?” Ailis asked, keeping the same even tone of voice with obvious effort. “At what point have we done enough? Will returning triumphant with the talismans be enough? Or will they pat us each on the head and send us back to our chores?”
Gerard flinched as though the words physically hurt him. He had obviously wondered the same thing more than once.
“Let’s worry about getting home and waking everyone up,” Newt said, making his own sort of peace offering. “Then you can argue over what sort of reward you deserve.”
“I’m not looking for a reward,” Gerard said.
“Of course you are,” Ailis said acerbically, glad for a more familiar target. “It may not be phrased as such, but you want to be rewarded, the same as we do.”
“I just want—”
“To get attention. To be recognized. To be treated as an adult, not a child.”
“All right. Yes.” Gerard glared at her. “Are you happy now?”
“It’s not about being happy. It’s about—”
“Glowing.”
“What?”
“The map’s glowing!” Newt pointed at Gerard’s saddlebag, which was, in fact, emitting a distinct blue light through the leather.
“Excellent!” Gerard reined in his horse and turned in the saddle in order to pull at the straps, withdrawing the tube. Blue light ran up and down his hands to the wrist, flickering like a living thing.
“What does the map say?”
“Hold on!” His horse stopped, confused by the strange shifts of its rider, and the others pulled in alongside him. He unrolled it with one hand, tucking the tube under his other arm.
“We’re on the right track.”
“What is it doing?” Ailis moved her mare closer, looking over Gerard’s arm to see what the flickering light was showing. “Oh.”
A thin blue line, the color of the deepest summer sky, ran along the road they were traveling on, running farther into the distance. As she watched, it pulsed, beginning at one end and running all the way down the inked road.
“So, we keep going?”
“We keep going.” Gerard studied the map, squinting a little to make out the markings. “I think the line ends at this town. I can’t make out the name, but it’s the only one between here and there, so…”
“So let’s go!” Ailis said, her voice rising in excitement. “Come on, I’ll race you!”
She dug her heels into the mare’s sides, slapped the reins, and took off down the road.
Gerard and Newt looked at each other, their eyes meeting in perfect, uncomplicated