The Ranger of Marzanna (The Goddess War #1) - Jon Skovron Page 0,145

you! You have to stop it!”

“I… I can’t.”

Sebastian’s anger must have magnified his intent, causing a chain reaction. The entire town was breaking apart, as if the earth intended to swallow not just his sister, but every single person there. Gaps spread in the ground and people disappeared into their dark depths. More buildings collapsed, crushing anyone who had thought themselves safe within their shelter. There was nowhere to hide, no place of safety. Everywhere Sebastian looked, people were suffering and dying. And it was his fault.

Sonya had left him and was now lifting a fallen cart to free the person trapped beneath.

No, this was wrong. This was not how it was supposed to go…

His horse screamed in panic, bringing him out of his horrified trance before he, too, was swallowed up. He jumped into his saddle, and doing his best to block out the calamity that surrounded him, he fled.

57

I’m sorry.” Sonya dodged falling debris to yank a terrified man to safety.

“I’m so sorry.” She hauled up an old woman who had somehow managed to cling to the edge of the still-widening cracks.

“By the Lady I am so sorry.” She pulled a screaming woman from a collapsing house as she reached for the small arm of a child buried beneath the rubble.

Blaine and Jorge had been hiding in a nearby building while Sonya talked to her brother. Now they stepped into action. Blaine helped her rescue people and bring them to Jorge, who had set up triage in an old stone storehouse that was set back a ways from the town center and sturdy enough to withstand the quake. Jorge treated the injured as best he could with the meager supplies he had on hand, but they had not come to this meeting equipped for massive casualties. Perhaps Sonya had expected some conflict with her brother. Maybe she’d even been spoiling for it. But she could never have imagined him capable of such widespread devastation and death. Not in deed or intent.

The tremors at last died down and the earth grew still, but Sonya could still hear people screaming beneath the rubble. It was hours before she and Blaine cleared enough of it to rescue them. Some had been maimed, and now wailed in pain with a crushed limb. Many others had been killed. She and Blaine had only the most rudimentary knowledge of healing, but they assisted Jorge as best they could while he shouted instructions, never stopping until everyone who could be saved from death had been, and those who could not be saved had been made more comfortable with potions to lessen their pain as they died.

Finally, it was over. Sonya and her friends sat on the cold ground in front of the building, leaning against the icy stone that had saved so many, and looked out at the ruins of Les.

“Did I do this?” she asked quietly.

“Yer brother did et,” Blaine said firmly.

“I know, but… did I provoke him?” She turned to Jorge, trusting that he would tell her the truth. “Did I make it worse?”

He sighed wearily. “I don’t know, Sonya. On one hand, your mere presence probably provoked him. You knew it would. It might not have even mattered what you actually said. Siblings can be like that.”

She nodded.

“But can I fault you for being the only person in the world who refused to give up on him? For believing that if he was just given the chance, he might make things right? If I had somehow gone down such a dark path, I would hope that my own big sister would be the one to slap some sense into me. Because siblings can be like that, too.”

“Sometimes there’s no good choices,” said Blaine. “Ye do what ye can each moment, an’ hope for th’ best.”

“I guess.” Exhaustion was starting to set into Sonya’s muscles. She laid her head on Blaine’s thick slab of shoulder.

“But we do have a larger problem,” said Jorge. “We knew your brother was powerful, but this was… catastrophic. He could swallow up half our army in an instant. Honestly, I don’t know how we’re going to win against that.”

“Et’s not all about power, Jorge,” said Blaine. “Strategy ken go a long way.”

Jorge smiled tiredly, and after a moment, allowed his head to rest on Blaine’s other shoulder. “You, Blaine, of all people, telling me this…”

“I have strategy,” Blaine objected mildly. “Lots o’ et. An’ so does Tighearna Mordha. We been fightin’ our whole lives, ye know. Et never