The Choice of Magic - Michael G. Manning Page 0,207

vision again, Will told them, “We’ll form a line. Annabelle, hold onto my belt. Tracy can hold onto you, and Isabel will take the rear.”

“Good plan, hero,” said Selene, her voice thick with sarcasm.

They left the porch and threaded their way down the lane, taking the first right they came to. At the next intersection of lanes Will saw a large group of soldiers, but he was able to lead them around it without problem. Further on he saw a massive wooden building looming, along with another large group of soldiers. As they got closer, he could see that the warehouse was nearly a hundred yards across on its nearest side. In the distance a similar building rose from the mist behind it. “How many warehouses are there?” he asked.

“Seven or eight?” said Annabelle uncertainly.

“Nine,” answered Tracy. “They’re all about the same size, built side by side. If you can see the closest one then there’s two more to the left of it, and two more past it. They form three rows of three each.”

“Damn,” said Will. The first one was huge. He could only imagine how much grain and other foodstuffs might be stored in buildings of that size.

Someone called out from the group of soldiers, “They’re approaching! That mist isn’t natural.”

Will focused on the source of the voice and saw a man with a burning flame above his shoulder. Shit, a sorcerer, he swore silently. He moved back along their line until he was close to Selene. “There’s a group of soldiers in the intersection ahead and they have a sorcerer with them.”

“What sort of elementals does he have?” she asked.

“Just one, fire.”

She thought about it a minute before replying, “I could kill the soldiers, but the sorcerer will kill the rest of you. If I drop the mist so I can see him the soldiers will be all over us, but if I don’t drop the mist, I can’t use my water blades.”

“You can’t use them at the same time?”

“No,” she said dryly. “And you wouldn’t want me to anyway. Think about what would happen if I started whipping them around while blind. I’d be just as likely to kill you and your girlfriend as I would the enemy.”

She’s definitely jealous, thought Will, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. “She isn’t my girlfriend,” he whispered.

“Say it a little louder,” returned Selene. “She can’t hear you.”

Exasperated, Will replied, “Neither can the soldiers. Isn’t that the point?” Selene said nothing, but her eyes were as hard as stone. “Can you set the warehouse on fire?”

“I don’t have a fire elemental,” she said, her tone implying he was stupid for asking.

“With a spell. Can’t you just absorb some turyn from them and make a spell to blast it?”

“First, if I wanted to destroy something, ordinarily I’d just use one of my elementals, so I’ve never spent any time studying destructive spells. Second, most spells are small. Even at Wurthaven they don’t teach things like that.”

Will was dumbfounded. “Why not?”

“Because any wizard that attempted one would just wind up killing himself and no sorcerer would bother. Elementals are much better for that sort of thing.”

Will had a feeling his grandfather would have disagreed, but it wasn’t the time to argue. As he watched the soldiers, he realized the sorcerer had walked to one edge of the group, and Will had an idea. “I’m going to leave you for a moment. When you hear them start shouting, or me shouting, drop the mist and come save me.” He walked away, letting the mist take him out of sight.

“Save you?” Selene hissed. “Will! Wait. What are you doing?”

He moved closer to the group of soldiers and shifted his vision back to normal so he could tell exactly how well he was obscured. Crouching low, he drew his sword and crept forward until he saw his first hint of a human figure, then he moved back a step and adjusted his vision until the mist vanished again. He was roughly ten feet from the soldiers. Any closer and they might spot him.

The sorcerer was talking steadily, trying to reassure the soldiers with him. “They’re bound to be close, in the middle of this fog. Stay alert.”

Will’s hand was hurting, and when he looked at it, he realized he was gripping his sword too tightly. Stay calm, he told himself. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled slowly, then he expanded the outer boundary of his personal turyn, so that he would begin