The Choice of Magic - Michael G. Manning Page 0,209

to happen.”

Mercifully, Tracy Tanner died a moment later, and her body grew still. Will felt Annabelle’s arms around his shoulders. “It wasn’t your fault,” she said softly.

For some reason his first thought was of Sven, with a spear through his face. “Yeah it is,” he said slowly. “The moment you pick up a weapon, it’s your fault. It always is.” He stood and shrugged off the embrace before going back to Selene.

“Can you make a new mist?”

Selene had dismissed her stone armor, and Will could see that the elementals hovering above her shoulders looked smaller. “No,” she answered. “It will take a while before Syllannus recovers enough power. I’ve been using him steadily since we entered the camp, and that fire blast wiped out everything he had left.”

He studied the elementals for a few seconds, seeing something he had never noticed before. The random wisps of turyn that floated through the air near them were being drawn in, sucked into the elementals. They’re absorbing ambient turyn—like me, he noted. It seemed important, but he wasn’t sure why. He filed the fact in the back of his mind for future consideration.

The warehouse in front of them was blazing merrily, but more needed to be done. Shouts were coming from every direction. Will found the sorcerer’s corpse and quickly abandoned the idea of recovering his sword. The hilt was still too hot to touch, and the leather grip had burned completely away. Bending down, he held his palm above the sorcerer’s chest and pulled, extracting the heart-stone enchantment.

As soon as he had it, he began plucking it apart.

“Don’t!” exclaimed Selene. “William! You could use that to protect us! There are more soldiers coming. I can’t do this alone.”

He shook his head and finished, the enchantment dissolving in his hands. The fire elemental expanded, becoming visible and towering over them. Please help us, thought Will. The warehouses need to be destroyed.

He felt something, an emotion like gratitude, but he couldn’t be certain. The elemental bowed and turned away, moving toward the other massive, timbered buildings. “You’ve killed us all,” said Selene bitterly. “Was it worth it?”

Will began whispering to himself, “Tailtiu, Tailtiu, Tailtiu. Thrice called, come to me.” He looked at Selene. “We just have to survive a little longer. Can your earth elemental keep the soldiers from reaching us?”

Selene’s eyes were searching his face. “Maybe.” A moment later, her earth elemental pulsed and walls of earth grew from the ground around them at a distance of twenty feet, creating walls fifteen feet high. “You’re mad, you know that?”

“I prefer to think of it as purposeful stupidity,” said Will.

“What happens now?” asked Annabelle. They could hear soldiers gathering just outside the walls, shouting back and forth to one another.

“In a few minutes one of their sorcerers will get here,” said Selene calmly. “Whatever elemental he has will take my walls apart. After that we’ll most likely die.”

Will looked up at the sky. It was filled with smoke. “Will they be able to stop the fires?”

Selene shrugged. “I don’t think so. Maybe if they have an elemental like my Syllannus, but water elementals are rare, and greater ones even more so. Fire or wind elementals will just make the blaze worse, and while an earth elemental might help put it out, the destruction would be just as bad.”

“Greater?”

She nodded. “You didn’t know? Both my elementals are considered major elementals. That’s why they recover so quickly. Most elementals have a limited capacity before they need to rest for a long period.” Something pulsed beneath her shirt, and Will saw a bright, golden glow radiate through her shirt.

“No!” said Selene sharply. “Not now! Please!”

“What is it?” asked Will. As he watched, power began to flow around Selene, rippling and shimmering.

She screamed, begging, “Please! Don’t do this.” Her form became indistinct. The last thing Will saw of her was her desperate look at him, and she broke her own rule. “I’m sorry, Will, so sorry.” Then she was gone.

In shock, he stared at the place she had just been standing. “What the hell?” Panic set in as he realized she was truly gone, though whether his fear was for her or himself he couldn’t be sure.

“Will?” said Annabelle timidly. “What’s happening?”

Before he could answer, the northwestern portion of Selene’s wall began to glow, turning red, then orange, before it began to slump and flow sluggishly to the ground. A wide hole formed, and then the entire wall on that side collapsed. Beyond it he could see another