Her brother followed her gaze, rapping out a command as he also saw the top layers of stone wobbling visibly.
“Clear the area!” He looked at his sister. “Elowen, move back. It looks like it’s going to fall the other way, but we should still be cautious.”
It was Sophia he should have been worried about. Her face had gone pale, and she jumped forward before Elowen realized what she was about.
“Sophia, stay here!” She darted after her friend, intending to pull her back.
“Bertrand and Simeon went around there!” Sophia said, eluding Elowen’s grip. “They’ll be crushed!”
Elowen heard her brother’s sharp cry behind her, but she couldn’t just let her friend run beneath a collapsing building. She tried once more to grab at Sophia’s arm.
She’d just seized her when an angry rumbling sound made them both freeze. There wasn’t time to do anything but look up at the huge slabs of deteriorated stone now falling toward them.
Elowen closed her eyes, wishing her ears weren’t full of shocked screams in her final moments, but nothing struck her. Crashing and cracking sounded all around them, but when her eyes flew open, she and Sophia were untouched. Her friend’s gasp drew Elowen’s eyes upward, to see several large stone blocks hovering impossibly above their heads.
“Simeon.” As Sophia murmured the name, Elowen understood.
Her eyes searched the area for the servant, even as she tugged the still-frozen Sophia out from under the boulders. As soon as they were clear, the stones crashed to the ground.
A stumbling motion revealed the source of their rescue, as Simeon appeared from alongside the partially collapsed building and leaned on an upended boulder for support.
Sophia made as if to run toward him, but then Bertrand appeared at his servant’s side, and she checked herself.
In moments, they were swarmed by members of the royal guard, who all but dragged both girls further from the tower, back to where the prince was surrounded by a small human barrier of his own guards.
Bertrand and Simeon followed, the latter’s movements labored.
“You saved our lives,” Elowen said as soon as they were close enough to hear. Her knees were belatedly shaking as she realized how close she’d been to disaster. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“No thanks necessary, Princess.” The satisfied words came from Bertrand. “I was concerned about something like this happening. It’s a very good thing that I thought to bring my craftsman along. When I realized the upper level was falling, I sent him around immediately to clear the area.”
“Your foresight is to your credit,” Patrick said, inclining his head toward Bertrand. He’d dismounted and moved to his sister’s side. “It’s very fortunate you came, Bertrand.”
Elowen’s noise of protest was lost amid the general chaos. She saw a flash of something go over Simeon’s face, but the next moment it was gone, his usual respectful expression restored. His attention seemed focused on the still-quivering Sophia, and he started when the prince spoke to him.
“You did well also, young man. You should be commended.”
Patrick’s hand was on Elowen’s shoulder now, but she shrugged it off. Her brother’s light praise of Simeon’s heroicsonly irked her. The injustice of any credit at all going to Bertrand was galling. As was the swift look of annoyance that Bertrand directed at Simeon, as if he resented even the prince’s moderated praise of the servant.
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Simeon bowed low, his body straightening more slowly than was natural. Elowen felt a surge of sympathy for him.
“You must be exhausted,” she said, turning to one of the guards. “Assist Simeon to somewhere he can sit.”
The guard did so, but Patrick frowned as he watched. “We can’t linger, Elowen. We can’t be certain the danger has passed, and to be on the safe side, we should ride back to the capital immediately.”
“Just give him a minute,” she insisted. “It must have taken a lot of magic to stop those stones mid-air like that. You don’t want him to pass out during the ride, do you?”
The prince didn’t look happy, but he didn’t protest. He’d received no more official training in magic craft than Elowen had, but he knew she was right, because they’d both been taught the basics. All movement stirred up the invisible magic that was known as Dust, and theoretically, anyone could learn to harness it and craft it into useful enchantments. Most people had basic comprehension of how to use the tiny amounts of Dust which were stirred up by the movements of their own bodies and which were therefore automatically harnessed to them should they choose to take hold of them.
To be able to do anything significant with that magic, not to mention to harness Dust generated by other sources of movement as Simeon had just done, required not only a natural aptitude, but years of dedicated training. It wasn’t a part of royal education in Torrens. Elowen knew it wasn’t considered dignified for members of the court to study any trade, magic included, but she had always regretted the policy, more eventhan her family imagined. At the thought of her secret, her eyes flicked to Sophia, but her friend wasn’t looking at her.
One aspect of magical theory that Patrick knew as well as Elowen did was that the act of harnessing magic drained the human body of energy like no other activity under the sun. And the cost increased relative to the scope of the enchantment. Proper practice was for a craftsman to use half the magic seized from the relevant movement to pour back into his own body as energy. That energy couldn’t be stored, but it could be used to fuel whatever activity the craftsman directed the magic to do—or rather, directed the remaining half of the magic to do. This practice avoided over-exertion which could lead to serious damage and in extreme cases even death.
Looking at Simeon’s face, which had gone so pale that the faint sprinkling of freckles on his nose had become prominent, Elowen wondered if he’d cut a corner in how much magic he repurposed as energy for himself. It was surprising, because she knew he was skilled in the craft, and given the source of magic used had presumably been the motion of the falling stone, there should have been plenty of magic at his disposal. The chunks of masonry had been enormous, and their movement had been rapid.
And yet, he looked like he was about to pass out.
Patrick had ordered the group to remount, ready for departure, but Elowen ignored the instruction. Side-stepping the guards still protectively flanking her, she approached the servant, Sophia by her side.
