“You mean it’s not chance that the wild power is destabilizing? The General is causing it?”
He nodded. “At first it was accidental, but when he realized what was happening, he encouraged it. Some of those in the settlement with power affinities are working for him—especially the younger ones. He must not be asking them to use the wild power, like he did with my mother.” His voice broke, but he pushed on. “But they can still use their ability to sense the power around them. He had us ride through pockets of it so we could drag it with us. He just told us not to touch anything until we were free of it.”
“Not to touch anything?”
He shrugged. “It’s like healing power, I suppose. It needs physical contact to break the skin barrier. It would affect the elements and the ground around us, but it wouldn’t hurt us as long as we didn’t touch anything it had settled on.”
“I bet those on the other side of the border didn’t get the same warning. Or the animals. I suppose that’s what happened to the poor boar. He brushed up against something he shouldn’t have.”
We both gave almost identical winces, and I tried to focus my mind on the more pressing matter of Cadence.
“Are you saying the General found a way to drag more of it?”
Renley nodded. “And before that they worked out a way to use it to get Lawson back up the river. That’s how he escaped after attacking your sister.”
“Surely one of those with a power affinity must have actually manipulated it in that case?”
“Perhaps.” He frowned. “Maybe if they spread the effort out, they managed to touch enough not to damage themselves too greatly? All I know is that it worked so well, someone came up with the idea of sending some of the wild power in the opposite direction. I’m not sure exactly how it was done, but apparently the court and Guild are off on some sort of tour, and they were all in barges on the river.”
“And you think Cadence fought off all that wild power?” I asked.
He shrugged. “She’s the only power mage they have. Who else could have done it?”
Blind rage filled my vision, and I had to remind myself of the arguments I’d used to stop Renley racing off to physically attack the General.
“They’re planning to go out again,” Renley said, snapping me back to attention. “I think they might be planning a more conventional attack, but I’m not sure. The General has been keeping the details of this one close. He wants to make the most of the opportunity of the tour. They’re all much more exposed than usual.”
Panic clawed at me. “When are they leaving?”
“I’m not sure. In the next day or two?”
I increased my pace. “We have to get back. We have to think of a way to stop them. Maybe we can convince the General to send us along. We could—”
“Actually, Airlie,” Renley said with sudden regret, “I don’t think that’s going to be possible.”
“Why not? We just need to—” I stopped talking as I followed his pointing finger with my eyes. “What’s that?” I faltered, trying to bring the distant haze into focus. “It looks like a dust cloud.”
“That’s exactly what it is. That’s what happens when a large group of mounted riders travels over ground where no grass grows. I think the attack party has already left.”
The settlement was well and truly in sight now, so I picked up my pace, nearly bursting through the gate. A crowd must have assembled to see the group off because they were still dispersing. And on the other side of the square, in front of his home, the General stood.
Our eyes met across the distance, cold washing over me. I had thought I was manipulating him, creating an escape for Renley and me, but he had been the one sending us away. And since I had suggested the trip myself, neither of us could accuse him of excluding us from the attack team’s departure.
He must have known we would both want to be included, and in one effective move he had protected himself from our recriminations. Moves within moves. This was how he maintained loyalties while manipulating everyone around him.
I swallowed, forcing my face to remain impassive. If I had any hope of outmaneuvering him, I couldn’t tip my hand. Not yet.
The General would pay. But not today.
Chapter 18
Cadence
It took us a week to travel between the mouth of the Viridian and the Celadon. During that time, three villages and two large towns came within the range of my ability. But I continued to find no sign of Airlie.
I cornered Evermund as we neared the western river, but he had been equally unsuccessful in uncovering any clues.
“We’ll be turning north soon,” he told me. “We’ll have more luck in that direction.”
Outwardly, I agreed, but privately I was feeling far less hopeful. Nikolas had been right when he said the border region was too dangerous for the tour. After the run in with the rogue tainted power, I was certain the royals would end the tour early rather than continuing up the Celadon past Tarona and into the northern part of the kingdom. Which would mean the whole trip was for nothing as far as the search for Airlie was concerned.
“But not for nothing overall,” Zeke reminded me. “We needed you back there on the river. I, for one, am glad you came.”
I smiled, but my heart wasn’t in it. It had been days since I felt so much as a twinge of tainted power, and although I couldn’t guess at the intent of the unfamiliar people who came in range of our group, none of them ever behaved in a suspicious manner or approached close enough to cause concern. As far as I could tell, the tour was safe.
Which meant I had nothing to do and no purpose. Even my attempts to train myself using my recent breakthroughs had fallen flat. While I could manipulate my ability into any shape within my own body, I couldn’t push it past my skin. And neither could I draw the power that lingered all around me into myself or another object. I could grab the loose power and push it away—as I had done on the river—or I could grab it and merge it into the power someone else had already shaped—like I had during Lawson’s attack. But I couldn’t work out how to do anything else with it.
It began to feel as if I was on the tour only to keep Gia company. Although that in itself felt like a full-time role sometimes. Now that our escape to the beach had given Gia a taste of rebellion, I had to head off such suggestions every day.
But having been involved in leading her astray once, I didn’t want to do it again—even if Liara encouraged us to join her on more than one occasion. The nomad girl often appeared, ready with a friendly overture, or sat near us at mealtimes. And she hadn’t once broken character from her new persona as a hopeful future friend, bestowing smiles on me and seeking me out at regular intervals. I sometimes wondered if I’d dreamed our first encounter.
As we stopped for lunch on our final day near the coast, however, I caught sight of her from afar. She stood with Annora and an older woman who looked enough like Liara to be her mother. The younger girl had a petulant look when she turned in my direction, and I had to quickly spin the other way to avoid being caught staring.
When I dared glance back again, she was approaching me, an enormous smile pasted on her face. I greeted her as I usually did—politely but without her own enthusiasm. But out of the corner of my eye, I watched Annora and Liara’s mother. Both of them were focused on me, and from the pleased smiles on their faces, Liara was doing her duty as instructed.