“Ryne, when that spy grabbed you, did he cut your skin?” I asked.

His fingers stroked his neck as he mulled over my question. “His fingernail scratched my throat, but I can’t remember if he drew blood or not.”

“It might have been a dart or tiny needle. Did you find anything like that?”

“No, but it’s not like we searched. It happened so quickly and, once he was dead, we thought the danger was gone.”

“How much of this is pure speculation?” Loren asked.

“Most of it,” I admitted. “Yuri and Ryne could have avoided being exposed to the original plague. Except...” I met Ryne’s gaze.

“My sister was one of the first to sicken and I stayed with her until the bitter end.” Ryne frowned, remembering.

“And don’t forget Avry’s speculations have saved our asses a few times,” Quain said.

“If Avry’s right, this new plague is more accurate,” Ryne said. “Instead of wiping out thousands of people, it’ll just kill those infected. Looking at it from a military perspective, it’s better because it won’t kill your own soldiers as long as you’re careful.”

His comment reminded me of Tohon’s claim of using biological warfare during one of my nightmares. Not that I could rely on a dream, but it triggered another revelation.

“Ryne survived the original plague,” I blurted.

“Old news, Avry,” Quain teased.

“And so did Kerrick, Belen, Cellina, Stanslov, and Jael. Don’t you think it’s a heck of a coincidence that they all survived?”

Kerrick leaned forward. “And I’ve met a few others from our class who lived through it while searching for Avry.”

“Tohon never stopped wanting to be king,” I said. “But it would be a hollow victory if his old classmates weren’t alive to pledge loyalty to him.” And it explained his rage over Jael’s escape.

“Are you saying he protected us somehow?” Ryne asked.

“Perhaps.”

“But that means he had to know about the plague before...” Ryne gasped. “He caused the plague.”

“Not without help,” I added. “The Healer’s Guild was experimenting with dangerous material and are also to blame. He could have predicted the inevitable and done nothing to stop it.”

“Just as bad,” Quain muttered.

“Or, knowing Tohon, he helped it along.” Kerrick jabbed the fire with a stick. “How did he protect us? After school, we all went our separate ways.”

That I couldn’t answer.

“The reunion,” Ryne said. “Remember a year after we graduated, we all returned for the crowning of the next year’s king. Tohon was there.”

“But why kill Stanslov after he protected him?” I asked, poking holes into my own theory.

“Putting a knife through someone’s heart is more personal than them dying far away unseen,” Ryne said. “He hated Stanslov.”

“And infecting you later?”

“I turned into a real threat once I crossed the Nine Mountains with my elite squads.”

“Even if you’re right, how does this help us now?” Quain asked.

Ryne answered. “We know Cellina has tapped into Tohon’s research and isn’t afraid to use it.”

“Still not helping.”

“It aids me in understanding her, but how about the fact our enemy now has another weapon at their disposal? This new plague. Don’t get cut during battle and you should be fine. How’s that? Better.”

Quain flopped back onto the ground. “No.”

I agreed.

“What about the Skeleton King’s poison?” Loren asked. “Is that another weapon?”

“Of course. And we know he won’t hesitate to use torture.”

The rest of us stared at the fire. All probably contemplating a grim future.

“Do you have any good news?” Flea asked, speaking up for the first time. He sat on the opposite side of the fire.

“We haven’t encountered any dead squads in a few weeks. Either we’ve neutralized the bulk of them, or Cellina has pulled them back into Vyg Realm.” Ryne tapped a finger on his lips. “It’s a nice reprieve. As for Cellina and the Skeleton King, we’ll just have to outsmart them.”

“Good thing we now have Estrid and her army,” I added, hoping to brighten the mood further.

Ryne and the monkeys exchanged a significant glance.

Uh-oh. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Ryne ran a hand over his face and suddenly he looked twenty years older. He hunched over as if all his responsibilities pressed down on his shoulders. They probably did, considering he was twenty-seven and the fate of our world rested with him.

“Come on, Ryne. Fess up,” I prodded.

“Estrid decided to gather all her forces and acolytes and return home to Ozero Realm.”

KERRICK

The news about the Skeleton King had been bad enough, but now Kerrick felt as though the ground had just dropped out from under him. Without Estrid’s forces... No, he wouldn’t go there. It was too horrible to contemplate.

Avry’s face lost all color. “You’re joking, right?”

“I wish,” Ryne said. “Estrid’s terrified and plans to seal her borders tight, not letting anyone in or out.”

“That strategy won’t work if Cellina’s army reaches Ozero Realm,” Kerrick said.