Slumping back against the deck, I took a shuddering breath. But while the nausea had eased, my insides still clanged, my head resounding like a giant bell. Something was still wrong.
With horror, I realized that my own ability remained twisted and attuned to the tainted power. Even now, I could feel the distant echoes of it in the forest, calling to me.
I tried to push it away, but there was nothing to push. No power remained near me, just my own ability, writhing in my chest. A scream built inside me, but I tamped it down, the need for secrecy too deeply ingrained to let it out.
But I wouldn’t be able to hold it in for long. I had to do something. I tried to reach for the normal power that coated the boat, remnants from every mage in the small flotilla working to keep it afloat. But now my ability pushed away from the power, trying to slide around it instead of grasping hold.
I groaned, dredging up more willpower and forcing myself to latch on to it. It fought against my ability, but I dove into the sensation of it, like I had done in reverse with the tainted power.
With a deep sigh of relief, I felt my ability swap back to its normal state. I kept my eyes closed for a moment, just feeling the rhythm of my breaths as they moved my chest up and down. The boat rocked slightly, but nothing like the violent pitching of earlier. Instead we floated gently downstream, as we had before the onslaught of the tainted power.
But calls and hurrying feet around me made me open my eyes. Zeke’s face hovered over me, a look of concern etched on his features. When I gave a weak smile, he sat back on his heels, giving his own sigh of relief.
“Are you all right?” A healing mage I vaguely recognized appeared over his shoulder.
I pushed myself up to a sitting position and nodded.
“Just feeling unwell.” I grimaced. “I was sick even before we left dock.”
The woman winced. “That can’t have been a good experience for anyone with seasickness.”
“I don’t think it was a good experience for any of us,” Zeke said. “How is the rest of the barge faring?”
“Some bumps and bruises, and a couple of broken limbs,” she said. “Everyone inside has been healed already, though. We got to you last because we didn’t realize there was anyone back here. You’re lucky you didn’t get washed away.”
“I would have been without Zeke to keep me steady. His arm was injured, though.”
The healing mage turned to him with a businesslike look, although she kept talking as she placed her hand just above the blackened skin.
“As soon as the boat stopped pitching, we did a head count and realized the prince and princess were missing. Thankfully they’re fine. And you will be, too.” She paused a moment before pulling her hand away from his smooth, undamaged arm. “There you go. All better.”
“We were lucky to get through with nothing worse,” Zeke said, his gaze focused on Gia and Nikolas.
Hayes stood next to the prince, who was flexing the fingers of his injured hand experimentally. I could no longer see any sign of damage to the two fingers that had been crushed, and Nikolas was even smiling slightly.
His uninjured arm was wrapped around his sister’s shoulders, tucking her in against his side in the most tender gesture I had yet seen from the pair. From the subsiding shudders that still racked her frame, I suspected she had been crying on his behalf.
“I’m glad Hayes is on board,” I said, and both the other two nodded.
“His Majesty may decide he wants Master Drake stationed on this barge in future as well,” the healing mage said. “Although I’m sure the apprentices were glad to have him with them on this occasion. Whatever that was, it came from upstream, and as the last barge, they would have been first hit.”
I glanced across the water, although there were too many barges between us to get a good look at the one that carried the apprentices. The healing mage ambled away in response to a signal from Hayes, and I looked at Zeke.
“Don’t worry,” I said, wanting to remove the concern from his eyes. “There were mages spread across all the barges, and their efforts were enough to keep anyone from going overboard. I would have noticed if anyone was in the water. It was a smart idea to put Drake in the last barge. Given Calista is upstream, it placed him in the first line of defense.”
“But would the elements mages have been enough to keep everyone safe if you weren’t here?” he asked. “It was you who drove off the attack, wasn’t it?”
“If it even was an attack,” I countered. “Where are the attackers, if so? There’s still no one anywhere near us.”
Zeke’s eyes narrowed. “Whether the raiders directed it downriver from afar, or were lurking nearby, hoping to leap in when the barges capsized, is irrelevant. There’s no way the timing was a coincidence. And stop trying to distract me. It was you who sent the power away, correct?”
I nodded. “But it was the elements mages on all the boats who kept us from sinking. It would have been over long before I could help if it wasn’t for their efforts.” I frowned, considering the matter. “If I hadn’t sent it away, the tainted power would have run out eventually. But I have no idea if we had enough mages present to hold out that long.”
“Tainted power?” Zeke stared at me.
I shrugged. “I have to call it something. It’s what I felt earlier on the river and before that on Dara. It’s power, but warped and directionless—just attacking everything without purpose. If this is what’s lurking in the fallen kingdom, I can understand why no one lives there.”
“Except you,” Zeke said, having long since heard the true story of my origins.
I tipped my head to the side, considering the matter. “I actually might have an idea about that.” The thought was formulating in my mind, even as I spoke.
“Because of Dara, we know I’m not the only one left in the kingdoms with a power affinity. And she said she wasn’t alone among the raiders—quite the opposite. What if it’s having a power affinity that keeps someone safe in the fallen kingdom? My ability is like oil and water with the tainted power. Maybe my father’s ability—and even my unactivated seed—was enough to keep the tainted power away from our home?”
Zeke raised both eyebrows. “It’s possible, I suppose. Although your presence wasn’t enough to protect us now.”
I shrugged. “This was huge—I’m guessing much more than a normal concentration of tainted power. And nothing attacked me directly, like it did with you. But is this the sort of incident that’s been occurring among the border villages? Even if it isn’t on this scale, how could they protect themselves?”
“They can’t,” Nikolas said in a low voice, appearing at my side with Gia a step behind. “Which is why we can be grateful the previous instances have been so much smaller in scope. This was far beyond anything that has occurred before.”
“Do you think it was a targeted attack?” Zeke asked.
Nikolas shrugged. “If it was, they’ve made no attempt to follow up their effort with a conventional one.” He scanned the riverbank, but I didn’t look with him, knowing he would find nothing. “Maybe they were expecting it to be more effective.”
“It had better have been an attack,” Gia said. “Because if this is the natural escalation from the borders faltering, I don’t know what we’re going to do.” She slipped her arms around my waist, giving me a quick hug. “Hayes just filled us in on what happened last night with that raider in Evermund’s suite. I can’t believe you didn’t mention it! How awful.”