The Choice of Magic - Michael G. Manning Page 0,171

once seen his grandfather do. He expanded his will, creating a wide sphere around himself that was nearly devoid of turyn. During his practices, the purpose was to then fill that space with power for use in a spell, but now he merely hoped it would protect them.

As the ball of fiery power rushed toward them, his empty shell devoured the turyn, filling Will with burning energy. Meanwhile, Tiny had taken the lead in their three-man charge and he swept the sorcerer’s guards aside like dolls with his shield. Dave was right behind him, and he dashed through the gap and buried his sword in the sorcerer’s throat.

Will had fallen slightly behind. The burning power the sorcerer had thrown at them was almost more than he could handle. Running up to Tiny and Dave, he put his hands on their shoulders and tried to imagine them as part of himself. In his mind he created a small circle, a space within his power that had to be protected, and then he released the power he was holding. Flames burst outward, turning the enemies around them to ash and creating a burning circle of death forty feet wide around them.

“Fuck yeah!” Dave yelled, his hoarse voice barely rising above a whisper. “Die, you bastards, die!”

A wave of lightheadedness passed over Will, but he ignored it. He was empty, almost devoid of turyn, but his grandfather had trained him for that. He stayed on his feet by pure will alone, and gradually his vitality returned as his body drew in turyn from around him. Bending down, he pulled the heart-stone enchantment from the sorcerer’s chest and began plucking it apart with his fingers. Be free, he told the elemental in his mind. Help us if you can, but most of all, be free.

Dave fell on his ass as the giant fire elemental materialized above them. “Holy shit.” His eyes were wide with fear and awe. Then the fiery monster turned and moved away, wading into the Darrowan soldiers. Dave looked at Will. “What just happened?” he wheezed almost inaudibly.

Will straightened up. “There’s still one more,” he said, pointing in the direction of the remaining sorcerer.

The air was full of smoke and the stink of burning flesh. The Terabinian army had reached the remaining Darrowans, and the field had once again devolved into a chaotic mess. But the enemy sorcerer continued fighting, sending bursts of flame into any clumps of fighting soldiers that appeared to be mostly Terabinian.

The flames had almost died away, but those that were in their path winked out as Will began walking toward the last sorcerer with Tiny and Dave on either side of him. Despite the tumult around them, the few Darrowan soldiers who were in their way ran when they saw them approaching. The sorcerer watched them too, and he turned to flee, but made little headway through the mess. Will began to run after him, heedless of the pandemonium.

This time Will got there first, and he drove his sword into the sorcerer’s back. The fighting continued to swirl around him, but Tiny and Dave stood over him while he extracted the heart-stone enchantment and released the sorcerer’s elemental. This time he asked it to simply be on its way, as he worried that in the mixed melee it would harm as many Terabinians as enemy soldiers.

When he got back on his feet, he saw that the battle had moved past them. He and the remnants of Sixth Squad were standing on a torn field with nothing but the dead and dying around them. Dave was leaning on a broken spear he had found, and the ex-thief looked as though he might collapse from exhaustion at any moment.

“Should we go after them?” asked Tiny, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath.

Will understood their exhaustion. His mail felt as though it had turned to lead, but there was one more thing he needed to do. “Where’s the baron’s body?”

“Over there,” panted Dave, pointing to a cluster of blackened corpses.

The three of them walked over, and Will bent down to free Lord Fulstrom’s two elementals from their magical bonds. Again, he urged them to leave in peace, and he watched with a feeling of satisfaction as the elemental beings faded away.

“What did you do?” asked Dave. “I’ve never seen so much weird shit in all my life.”

Will gave looked at the man, his face devoid of expression. “Nothing. I did nothing. We fought and killed the