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travel on his own without being discovered and chased. But what could he do to
prepare himself to act when the time came? It was clear that it would and
soon, even if he could not say why.
He had once slipped through a Madrien camp unseen or seen as a mangy dog. Did
he still have that ability? Could he improve it? How could he not try?
The first test should be in a place where he had every right to be, but where
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someone would have to recognize him, and that someone should be a trooper, not
an officer. He stood and slipped from the musty library, closing the door
quietly, and turning back down the corridor that would lead him back toward
the stable.
Halfway down the corridor, he met an undercaptain, a tall woman with red hair.
He nodded in respect. "Sir."
'Carry on, squad leader."
Alucius hadn't dared to try the invisibility for the first time with an
officer, but a corridor would be the perfect place, because he could look
distracted, and if seen, apologize profusely.
After leaving the barracks wing, he crossed the stone-paved courtyard, which
was moderately busy, with troopers bringing in mounts from patrols or
maneuvers. After accepting several acknowledgments with a polite "Carry on,"
he entered the stable. Once inside, he eased himself to the outside stone
wall, to the left of the open doors, and concentrated on projecting the
feeling that nothing was there, nothing except a faint breeze drifting through
the stable.
Trying to hold that feeling, he walked toward a trooper who had apparently
just stabled a mount. The man walked by Alucius without even pausing.
In his effort to hold the illusion, paradoxically, it seemed to Alucius, he
was more aware of the purple-tinged pinkish thread that ran from the trooper's
torque, vanishing, even to Alucius's Talent-sense, somewhere to the unseen
north.
Had it been just that trooper? Alucius waited, and shortly another trooper
left a stall. Once more, he walked toward the man, this time almost directly.
The second trooper ignored him, and, again, Alucius could see the pinkish
collar thread.
He slipped back to an inside wall, thinking. There, standing in the shadows of
the stable, Alucius wondered how many threads filled the world. He'd certainly
seen the pink lines of power, and those tinged with purple, and how they
turned a man's or a woman's black aura to an oppressive gray.
And he'd seen the brownish green ties of the wood-spirits to trees.
He closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to take in all the threads&
He gulped. Behind or beyond or beside the pinkish thread that ran from his own
torque to the indistinct north, there was another thread, less visible, yet
different an entwined thread of black and green. It seemed to be gathered in
tiny filaments from him before joining in a larger thread that ran to the
northeast, as if in the direction of the Iron Valleys.
Alucius swallowed. Black and green? Did everyone have such a thread? What had
the wood-spirit said? Unnatural webs? Did that mean all people had natural
webs?
He remained in the shadows, this time waiting for one of the sta-bleboys.
As the boy passed him, seemingly oblivious to a full squad leader within
yards, Alucius tried to concentrate. He wasn't certain, but beyond the youth's
faint pinkish collar thread, he thought he'd sensed an even fainter brown
thread.
Brown only.
With his Talent-sense, Alucius "reached" for that thread, touching it.
The youth jumped, but only for a moment before his knees buckled. Alucius
withdrew the touch and his screen and hurried over to the boy. He bent down.
The youth was breathing. After several moments, his eyes fluttered open.
'Sir& I& I don't know what happened."
'You fainted. Have you been getting enough to eat?" asked Alucius.
'Yes, sir. I thought so, sir."
Alucius put on a concerned frown. "Were you out in the heat a long time this
afternoon?"
'Ah& yes, sir. We had to clean all the wagons."
'Sometimes, that can do it. Still, you'd better be careful."
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'Yes, sir."
After helping the youth to his feet, Alucius turned away, thoughts swirling
through his head. He didn't know what had prompted him. Curiosity? He
certainly hadn't meant to hurt the young fellow. He hadn't even known that the
personal threads or webs existed.
Those could wait, and he could observe, as he could. He still needed to test
his not-being-there screen on an officer. Where?
If he picked the rear corridor leading from the mess to the squad leaders'
bay& Supper wasn't for another glass, and the corridor would be lightly
traveled
now, if not deserted. He certainly didn't want many people around, in case his
effort failed.
He left the stable, without the holding the screen, and crossed the courtyard
once more, passing several troopers, but no officers. Once inside the forward
barracks wing, he found himself alone, not only on the main corridor, but on
the next two.
Had the losses at Salcer been so great that the barracks were that empty? Or
were the barracks so empty because of transfers to fight against the militia
of the Iron Valleys?
Then, at the end of the corridor, an officer appeared. Alucius tried to
project the feeling of the corridor being empty, even while he put a worried
look on his face and continued to walk toward the officer, his eyes not
exactly moving in her direction.
As she walked toward Alucius, at about five yards, the undercaptain cocked her
head, then frowned.
Alucius swallowed. He could tell from the swirls of green through the black of
her aura that she had Talent. One try, and he'd picked one of the few Talented
officers. He hadn't even thought about that.
Suddenly, her eyes opened wide, and she looked at Alucius. "You!"
Her hands dropped to her wide belt, and Alucius could sense the pressure on
his torque, but only on the torque, not on him. As he stood there, as if time
had almost stopped, he saw her mouth begin to open, and he lashed out, not
with his hands or body, but with his mind and Talent, seeking her
thread brown
and striking with all the force he had.
She pitched forward.
Alucius glanced around. There was no one in the corridor. He bent down and
turned her. She was breathing, but he could feel no sign of the brown thread
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