“Alone, these blind elemental energies can accomplish little, but governed and directed by the trained will of a powerful manipulator they may become potent activities for good or evil. They are the basis of all magic, and it is the motive behind them that constitutes the magic ‘black’ or ‘white’; they can be the vehicles of curses or of blessings, for a curse is nothing more than the thought of a violent will perpetuated. And in such cases⁠—cases like this⁠—the conscious, directing will of the mind that is using the elemental stands always behind the phenomena⁠—”

“You think that my brother⁠—!” broke in the Colonel, aghast.