In the end, all that wouldn’t change a single thing. And while I had hoped to change her future, the Peace Lily couldn’t. I leaned forward and kissed her forehead, whispering goodbye. Glad for this chance, wishing I had the same opportunity for Kerrick and Belen.

Together, Enric and I picked her up and laid her in the grave. We covered her with the loose soil, packed it down and added a thick layer of rocks so the animals wouldn’t dig her up.

I gestured to the grave. “How did you dig a hole so fast?”

“A collapsible shovel—standard equipment for a foot soldier.”

“Thank you for doing that.” Grief ate through my insides like acid. A burning pain ripped through me with every breath. Better for her to be buried than part of Tohon’s dead army was the only positive aspect.

I searched for a stone to mark her grave and found one along a small stream. Planning to return someday to carve her name into, I positioned it.

Before Enric could ask, I said, “We’ll camp here tonight and get an early start.”

“What about the ufas?”

I shrugged. “They’re after me. You can climb a tree and wait until they leave.”

“Just like that?”

“Yep.”

I grabbed my pack and went back to the stream. Scrubbing the foul odor of dead ufa from my skin and hair with soap, I tossed my stained uniform into a pile. Then I dressed in my travel clothes.

When I returned, Enric offered me some jerky. Unable to eat, I huddled by the fire, lost in memories.

* * *

“Where’s home?” Enric asked the next morning.

According to Noelle, Ryne said for me to go home when I escaped. However, I doubted he meant Lekas in the Kazan Realm. My hometown was southeast of here and at least a thirty-day walk. I fingered the pendant under my shirt as I unrolled the Lily map. The place that my heart now recognized as home was Galee. Where I’d apprenticed to Tara before the plague. Although that cave outside Grzebien where we’d hidden... No, I wouldn’t think about Kerrick and the boys.

Galee abutted the Nine Mountains and was about fifteen days away. However, the Healer’s Guild, or rather, the ruin that had been the guild’s headquarters, was only seven days northwest. And looking at it from Ryne’s point of view, it made the most sense. I told Enric our destination.

“Wouldn’t Tohon guess that?”

“Probably.”

“You’re not concerned he’ll ambush us along the way?”

Not really. “Do you have a better idea?”

“What if we encounter one of Prince Ryne’s patrols?”

“Then we’ll hook up with them, although I doubt it, since I plan to stay well to the east and skirt Zabin.” I tapped the map. “But I need to make a stop first.”

* * *

“More Peace Lilys?” Enric asked.

We had found another clump of Lilys about three days into our trek north. I sniffed the air, hoping to catch the light odor of anise among the sweet smells of lemon and honey. “I think that one’s a Death Lily.”

When I moved toward it, Enric yanked me back. “Are you crazy? I know you’re upset about your sister, but that’s suicide.”

I explained about my immunity. “I need better answers. Wait here, I’ll be back.”

The Death Lily hissed as I drew closer. Its petals parted, and in a flash, it scooped me up. Thorns pierced my arms, and my consciousness joined with the Lily. Through the connection, I saw Enric pacing nearby, and farther along the roots, I saw soldiers fighting, units creeping through the forest and others waiting in ambush.

It welcomed me. I imagined the scene with Noelle and the Peace Lily. It confirmed my guess that a Peace Lily could only revive those with magic or magical potential and freshness. “What about Tohon’s dead?” I asked. “He used the Peace Lily’s serum and then touched them.”

Stolen. No grow.

An image of Tohon placing his hands on a Peace Lily filled my mind. The Lily’s petals parted abruptly as if he had pushed a button. He grabbed the sacks before the petals snapped closed. I remembered how the Death Lily reacted to Sepp, pulling away. Was this the Peace Lily’s reaction to Tohon’s touch?

Yes.

That explained how Tohon harvested the serum. And he had plenty of Lilys to milk. But why did it work on those without magic?

No grow.

It didn’t. Not as it had with both me and Flea. We were alive and thriving...growing in plant speak, not like the dead.

Yes. Stop it.

I need more toxin, I thought.

Yours.

A glimpse of other Lilys dropping sacks came unbidden before the Death Lily retracted its barbs and deposited me onto the ground. I held its two bright orange sacks. Two more lay on the ground nearby.

“Are you okay?” Enric called.

I rubbed my arms. Grief’s claws gripped me again, squeezing my chest. Perhaps someday a Death Lily would keep me forever. But not today. Today I held the antidote to Tohon’s dead, and I would see this through to the bitter end.

* * *

We traveled roughly north for the next several days before we turned to the west, reaching the edge of the Healer’s Guild compound on the eighth day. Our slower pace was due to finding all the Death Lilys en route to collect their toxin. Also, we avoided any patrols and skirmishes. We’d decided to stay away from everyone just in case. Other than the creepy howling of ufas, no one bothered us.

Crouched in the bushes nearby, we scanned the complex, seeking ambushers. The Healer’s Guild had once been comprised of three magnificent buildings with marble pillars and smooth stone blocks. Smaller buildings that housed the healers, apprentices and staff had been scattered around the complex. All had been destroyed during the plague years. Their pillars broken, the stones blackened from the flames that had engulfed the interiors.