“Maybe that’s the message for Melina.”

“Excellent point. Check inside them.”

Flea stood on the hearth and lifted the lid on each pot.

“Be careful up there, dearie. Them’s my favorite pots,” Mom said.

Kerrick spun. She stood behind him. Her white hair had been pulled up into a tidy bun and she wore a clean white apron over her full-length skirt.

“Where did you come from?” he asked.

An impish gleam lit her face. “Good evening to you, too, Mr. Kerrick.”

“Sorry, Mom.” He pecked her cheek. “Good to see you well.”

“And you and your young pup are a welcome sight. Have you got news for me?”

“Yes.” He told her about Melina’s rescue.

When he finished, she groped for a chair and sank into it.

Worried, Kerrick knelt next to her. “Melina’s fine. She’s helping in the infirmary near Grzebien.”

She shooed him away. “Don’t fuss over me. You’ve taken such a weight off my shoulders, my legs didn’t know how to handle it.”

“I can’t take all the credit. Avry is the one who insisted.”

“She’s a miracle that girl. She promised...” Tears spilled from Mom’s eyes. She dabbed at them with a corner of her apron. “She kept her promise.”

“That’s Avry. She’s true to her word.”

Mom drew in a deep breath and glanced around the inn. “Now I can leave.”

“To catch up with the others?” Flea asked. He remained on the hearth, leaning against the bricks.

“Oh, heavens, no. I’ll go help Melina and Avry. I’m sure those soldiers don’t know how to cook a decent meal.” She bustled to her feet. “Let me grab my bag of cooking pots and utensils.”

“Uh, Mom?” Kerrick asked, stopping her. “Where is the rest of the town?”

“Scattered. As soon as the Skeleton King crossed into Sectven Realm, they started the evacuations.”

“Yet you stayed.”

“Of course, dearie. I wasn’t going to leave until I heard from Melina. Besides, Mr. Belen still needed care.”

CHAPTER 15

After Kerrick and Flea left, I kept busy to keep from worrying about them so much. Ginger and Christina handled the few incoming injured soldiers, consulting with me on the serious cases. I concentrated on caring for the new plague victims. As I changed linens and emptied bedpans for the four men, I puzzled over a possible cure.

Between the Healer’s Guild healers and my own knowledge of the nature of the disease, there was little left to discover. But still... A niggling sensation deep in my heart just wouldn’t quit. It reminded me of one of those wooden building sets my brother Criss used to assemble. Knowing he had all the pieces, he’d get so frustrated when he couldn’t get them all to fit. To make matters worse, our brother Allyn would sweep in half-distracted, glance at the incomplete structure and scattered pieces and point to the part Criss had been searching hours for.

Our father had claimed Criss just needed to take a break and look at the project from a different angle. Perhaps I should apply that logic to the problem of curing the plague. I considered. Digging deep into memories, I recalled the conversation I’d had about the plague with Ryne and Kerrick before we’d rushed off to save Melina.

We’d discussed Tohon’s involvement. He’d either created the plague or helped spread it. But that hadn’t been what had snagged my interest. The notion that Tohon had protected his classmates had been the real surprise. One I hadn’t followed up on due to Estrid’s defection.

Maybe I shouldn’t focus on the victims, but on the survivors. How had Tohon protected them from the plague? And why did one-third of the population also survive? Did he protect them, too? Hard to rule a kingdom without subjects. But even harder to protect three million people.

Perhaps it was something they ate or drank? That might explain Tohon’s classmates, but not the others. No family had survived intact. It stood to reason that a family would all eat the same food. Unless it was something with an unusual taste or odd flavor that most people didn’t like.

The tanglefish from the Ronel Sea was considered a delicacy, but most people couldn’t get past the horrible smell to eat it. And most of those who loved the slimy stuff lived along the coast. Tastes in food were regional and the plague had spread evenly throughout the Fifteen Realms.

I needed to talk to Ryne about what they ate and drank at their boarding-school reunion before I dismissed that hypothesis. Keeping with that line of thought, I considered perfumes and colognes. Distilled from flowers and plants, those were also very subjective—with some loving a certain scent while others were repelled by it. Perhaps Tohon had sprayed his classmates. Again this hypothesis wouldn’t go anywhere until I talked to Ryne. Good thing he hadn’t left for HQ yet.

Ryne had commandeered a corner of the infirmary. He’d been organizing Fydelia’s lady warriors—Odd’s nickname for them—into smaller units based on their skills, and explaining his military strategies to them. The monkeys and Odd taught them how to go silent in the forest.

I waited until Ryne was alone before approaching him around midafternoon. It was four days after Kerrick and Flea had left—two more days until they returned. Ryne hunched over a map that had been spread over a table. Red arrows and Xs marked the parchment. His posture reminded me of my brother Criss. Perhaps he needed to take a break and look at it from another angle, as well.