[quote=@c3p-0h]After taking a moment to work up her nerve, Meryn raised her hand between them and tapped her knuckles against his arm to get his attention. Lifting the hand carrying the birdcage, she took her free hand and drew her fingers along the skin of her bare arm, eyes never leaving Spook's masked face. She let her eyes fall down to his own arm before looking up again.[/quote]

Spook had gone back to staring at the sunlight that filtered through the leaves, content with the end of the conversation -- but he turned his head again, and the glassy eyes of the mask stared through Meryn. He waited silently, walking steadily forward alongside her, while Meryn gestured her questions.

[b]"Magescript,"[/b] he answered with an invisible grin. He extended one arm and let his sleeve naturally pull back to expose another rune. [b]"It's used by the Magi and some magicians. You'll see more like this along the road as we get closer to the old temple. Like . . . that, up there."[/b]

With the same hand he pointed at the curve in the disused road ahead, where a bas-relief had been skillfully carved into the trunk of a thin white tree. The living wood had been stripped away in a perfect circle, leaving a single rune intact at its center. It had been done at least a year ago; the bark had begun to grow over it.

[b]"It's a sentry. Part of a barrier that protects the temple grounds."[/b]

Spook dropped his hand in a pocket and watched the branches as he walked, satisfied that he'd answered several unsaid questions at once.