The Choice of Magic - Michael G. Manning Page 0,208

absorbing more to fill the emptiness around him. Inhaling sharply, he lunged forward.

The sorcerer saw him, and the man’s eyes went wide with alarm, but it was too late. Will drove his sword into the man’s chest and leapt away. Unfortunately, his sword didn’t come with him. It had caught on something, and try as he might he couldn’t pull it free. He was forced to leave it as the soldiers began to react.

The soldiers weren’t behaving quite as he had hoped, either. None of them had shouted or called out. The fact that their sorcerer had been stabbed was still registering with those closest.

And the sorcerer was anything but dead. The man was gasping with pain, but the thrust hadn’t been instantly fatal, as Will had hoped. The fire elemental swelled, and Will realized he was about to be roasted. “Selene!” he screamed. “Selene!”

The mist began moving, rushing inward as though a strong wind was blowing, and then everything was flames as the elemental’s attack washed over him. Will shut his eyes, unsure if he would die or not, but after a second he realized he was still alive. He opened them again and saw that the mist was gone. Three soldiers with spears were charging toward him. Shit. He started running, heading away from his friends in case the sorcerer unleashed another blast of fire.

And then Selene was there, clad in stone and swinging blue blades of destruction. Men started screaming, and a severed arm flew past Will’s head. He watched in fascination as she waded into the soldiers. Selene’s swords didn’t seem to cut metal, and he saw one man’s sword almost pass through one of her blue blades before it was torn from the soldier’s grasp and sent flying through the air. Their mail armor was similarly unaffected, but it didn’t save them. Her weapons tore through padded gambesons and shredded the flesh beneath the armor. Men died in dozens, and Selene’s swords turned red as blood mixed with the water.

The fire elemental rose up above them, a raging inferno, and Selene’s swords melded to become an opaque disc that she used to shield herself as another searing blast of flame came down on her. The result was a blast of steam that exploded outward from her, scalding the last two soldiers that stood within her reach. But the shield was gone.

Will ran toward her as the sorcerer snarled and prepared a fresh attack. The man was on his knees twenty feet in front of her, sword still stuck in his chest. Ten soldiers were left beside him, but the sorcerer cautioned them, “Stay back. This will finish it.”

Will reached Selene just as the next blast of flame came down on their heads. This time he felt the searing heat as his empty sphere reached capacity and he was forced to expand it even further as he tried to absorb everything the elemental threw at them. When the attack ended, he could feel his hair standing on end, and a globe of burning turyn surrounded him. He had reached his limit.

The power he was holding threatened to consume him, and there was only one thing left he could do. Thrusting his arms out, Will released it, and a wave of incendiary power washed over the sorcerer, his men, and the corner of the warehouse behind them.

The enemies’ screams were brief as their lungs filled with flame, and moments later their bodies were just smoldering, black lumps of flesh as they fell to the ground.

Will looked at Selene first. “Are you all right?” She nodded, and then he glanced at Annabelle, who was huddled against the side of the tent on the opposite side of the square from the warehouse. Tracy was nowhere to be seen.

He spotted her a moment later, or rather, he saw what was left of her. At some point she had run forward and to the side. She had been caught in the edge of his blast. Will screamed, “No!”

The left side of Tracy’s body was blackened, and half her face was gone, yet there was still some life in her. Her head turned as she tried to see the world with eyes that had burned away. Her arms and legs thrashed against the hard earth. “No, no, no,” Will moaned, running to her side.

Tracy’s mouth worked, opening and closing as she tried to speak with lungs that could no longer draw breath. “I’m so sorry,” Will cried. “This isn’t what was supposed