He was losing, though. In a battle of pure power, even Evermund’s great strength couldn’t match the General’s. I ground my teeth together, wishing with every fiber for access to my ability.
“I can’t let him win,” Cadence said, pulling my attention back to her. “I can handle the tainted power.”
“No!” I grabbed at her arm. “You don’t understand. It will kill you, Cadence. It already killed Dara.”
I almost cried with frustration when I remembered that would mean nothing to her. She didn’t know Dara.
But something in my words made her halt.
“It was using tainted power that killed Dara?”
I nodded, relieved that she knew what I was talking about. “There’s no way to use it safely. It killed our grandfather, too, and he was strong like you.”
One of the closest trees exploded, sending spears of wood in all directions. I jumped for Cadence, sheltering her with my body as I sent us both crashing to the ground.
She pushed me off straight away, looking toward the remaining trees where Zeke was visible, now fighting hand-to-hand with Lawson while the trees writhed, reaching for first one and then the other with thick, dangerous boughs.
“I can’t just stand here and do nothing!” she cried, her heart in her eyes.
“Then free Airlie.” Renley appeared from nowhere, seizing my hand and hauling me to my feet.
His hair was tousled, and dirt streaked his face and clothes, but he seemed to be in one piece. Cadence eyed him warily.
“That’s what I’m here to do.”
“This is Renley, Dara’s son,” I said. “He’s a friend.”
She raised an eyebrow, her skeptical expression suggesting she knew how I had been lured away from the Guild. We didn’t have time for that now, though.
“They’re keeping me bound with a neutralizer.” The words tumbled out so quickly they were almost garbled. “Only you can release me, and only Renley knows how. That’s what he means.”
“Oh!” Cadence’s wide eyes latched on to the large seed secured at my waist.
“It’s been sucking her power in and storing it every time she tries to use her ability,” he said. “The power needs to be removed again. Once it’s empty, it will no longer have an attachment to her.”
“That’s all?” I asked. “That’s so simple.”
He shrugged. “We never said it was complicated. Just that we needed a power mage—one strong enough to handle all the power you’ve been pouring in there.”
I bit my lip. “So if I’d never used my ability in the first place, it wouldn’t have ever connected with me?”
A tree fell, the thump it made as it struck the ground making everyone freeze for a minute.
“Never mind, don’t answer that,” I said hurriedly. “Quick, Cadie!”
A look of concentration came over her face, followed by one of surprise.
“It’s not tainted power. It’s normal.”
Renley nodded. “Stored power was always intended to be used—it just needs to be retrieved by a power mage.”
Cadence’s eyes gleamed, her face turning back toward the trees and her friends. “I can use this. I’ll look after the others, Air. You help Evermund.”
I ripped off the fastenings of the neutralizer, throwing it away from me as full awareness came roaring back. I shouted in exultation. I was whole again.
All around me, the elements called to me. The water of the lake, deep and cool and strong, and the wind, whooshing, and leaping and flying. I could feel the moisture in everything, and the crackle of something stronger lurking high above us in the air.
Teeth bared in a wild grin, I ran toward Evermund. Finally it was the General’s turn to be afraid.
“You protect the others,” I cried. “I’ll deal with the General.”
I stepped forward, looking my captor directly in the eye. A strange gleam leaped into his gaze, almost as if he relished pitting himself against me.
His mistake.
He held out both hands, flames appearing in his open palms. I didn’t bother to form a cloud, as Evermund had done. Instead, I called to the moisture lurking in the air around us. It coalesced over his hands, dropping in two sheets which extinguished the flames. His face darkened.
A wind sprang up again, and though it wasn’t a natural one, I reveled in the feel of it whistling around me. It could no more whisk me away than it could him. It could hurt my friends, though.
Reaching up my arms, I called to the distant crackle above us. It burned so brightly that, for a second, I feared I might be consumed. But when I concentrated, it came to me, twining around my outreached power.
I jerked my hand down, and the bolt of pure light came with me, sizzling through the air to strike where the General stood, the clap of thunder coming almost simultaneously.
He screamed, an ugly, guttural sound, and I hit him with a second lightning bolt.
“Airlie!” Evermund took my arm, pulling me in the direction of the lake. “We only came for you. Come on! We need to go!”
I resisted for a moment, caught up in my fury with the General, but three raiders appeared between him and the trees, hurrying toward their fallen leader. He stirred, pushing himself up onto one arm and looking at me with death in his eyes.
I called silently to the water of the lake. It formed an enormous spout that reached up into the air and bent over, growing longer and longer as it stretched for the raiders.
The General’s eyes widened, and he thrust up his arms. As the water hit, a bubble appeared around him and his closest men. I kept the stream of water going, hammering at his bubble and keeping them pinned as I turned my back and ran with Evermund toward the distant shore.
“Watch out!” Evermund put out an arm, trying to sweep me protectively behind him even as we ran.
I followed his gaze in time to shout, “No!” just as a ball of flame appeared on Renley’s sleeve.
Renley shouted and batted at it, but it died as quickly as it had appeared.
“Renley’s with us,” I panted to Evermund. “He’s my friend.”
Evermund’s step faltered for half a second before he regained his stride, his eyes slipping from Renley to me.
“Your friend?” His voice held a note I couldn’t read.
We both slowed, and I nodded, finally catching my breath.
“Thank you for coming for me, Evermund,” I whispered, wishing I could tell him how much I’d missed him, but unable to speak the words now that he was actually here.
“Of course,” he said, his voice low, and his eyes locked on mine. “You’re my apprentice, Airlie. I’ll always come for you.”
I shivered, our eyes locked together, as I tried to convince myself it was only my imagination reading a deeper promise in his gaze.
Renley broke the moment, running the final steps toward us and letting out a shout. He was looking back over his shoulder, so I followed his gaze. My absorption with Evermund had broken my concentration. My funnel of water was gone.
In the distance, the General and his men were regaining their feet.
“Over here!”
We all turned toward the shout to see Cadence waving frantically for us to join them. She, Zeke, and the twins had untethered an open boat from a small wooden dock that I hadn’t noticed before.