“Home?” Belen asked.

“Back to the infirmary where Avry and the others are,” Flea said.

“Is everyone—”

“Quain and Loren are as annoying as ever.”

“I actually missed those guys,” Belen said with amazement.

“Don’t tell them. They can be insufferably smug,” Flea said.

“I know that. What don’t I know? How did Avry and a Peace Lily bring you back to life?” Belen asked.

Flea glanced at Kerrick.

Despite his bone-deep fatigue, Kerrick lumbered to his feet. “Fill him in along the way. We need to get some distance between us and the cannibals.”

Kerrick organized the rescued townspeople into a single line again. He mounted Hux and the group headed northeast toward Mengels. Flea joined Belen in the rear position, explaining everything that had happened since Belen had gone missing.

Even though he tried to keep a brisk pace, eighteen people on foot took six days to travel back to Mengels. Which meant Kerrick and Flea were now nine days late and hadn’t even left Mengels yet.

Of course, Mom insisted on feeding the refugees a hot meal and giving them a good night’s sleep before she’d leave.

“They’ve had a terrible time. It’s the least I can do,” she said, waving off Kerrick’s objections.

Another delay. At this rate they’d be sixteen days late, arriving a week after the first day of winter. He hoped Avry would forgive him for worrying her once she saw Belen.

Instead of spending the extra time brooding over the wait, he searched for a horse strong enough to carry Belen and Mom. Perhaps he needed two horses. Since everyone had evacuated Mengels, Kerrick spurred Huxley out of town, then let the horse decide which direction to go.

After a few hours, Huxley found a small farm northwest of town. The farmer and his young family had packed a wagon, tying on crates and furniture. Two horses had been harnessed to it with two waiting nearby. And a few more grazed in a pasture behind the farmhouse.

Kerrick called a greeting so he didn’t alarm them. Even so, the man grabbed a shovel and stepped between Kerrick and his three small children.

“Easy, sir, I’m just looking to buy a couple horses. Do you have any for sale?” Kerrick asked.

The man tightened his grip.

Pulling his money pouch from his belt, Kerrick spilled a few gold coins into his palm. “I can pay you.”

Now the man relaxed. “You lookin’ to evacuate?”

“Yes.”

He nodded. “You should have left days ago.”

“I could say the same to you.”

The man grinned, exposing large crooked teeth. “True. But my babe was too sick to travel.” He hooked a thumb at his wife. She held an infant. “You hear any news?”

Kerrick told him what he knew. The wife’s strained expression eased.

“We’ve a few days, then. Good. How many horses are you lookin’ for?”

“Two.”

It didn’t take long to negotiate a price, and soon Kerrick headed back to the Lamp Post Inn with a barrel-chested black horse and a cream-colored mare.

After another day, they finally set out for the infirmary early in the morning. Belen rode the cream-colored horse. She’d taken an instant liking to him and wouldn’t let Mom mount her. It would have been funny except Kerrick had been too impatient to appreciate the irony.

Flea and Mom rode the big black, which Flea had named Coffee. He’d also named Belen’s horse Tea, claiming the horse’s color reminded him of tea mixed with milk.

“Avry’s favorite drink,” Flea said as if that ended all discussion, which it did.

Huxley carried Mom’s sacks of cookware, food, and the teapots that she’d insisted on bringing along. Kerrick could never say no to Mom. Hux jingled when he trotted, but with Coffee and Tea pounding behind them, moving quietly was no longer an option.

Again the woods were empty of travelers. They encountered no one the first day and through the living green no intruders disturbed the forest’s peace within a few miles of them. But by midday on the second day, it was a different story. A sense of unease grew in Kerrick’s heart.

After a couple hours, Kerrick stopped Huxley and dismounted. He placed his palm on the ground, seeking the disruption. Just at the edge of his awareness, he encountered a big problem.

Soldiers. Lots of soldiers, filling the woods south and east of them. Filling the space between him and Avry.

CHAPTER 18

“Go to hell? Is that all you can come up with?” Wynn asked me, amused. “I betrayed you and killed your boyfriend. I’d expected something...nastier.”

She believed Kerrick had died, interesting. I wondered what other misinformation she had. She’d kept her black hair buzzed short and the scar along her cheek had faded to a light pink.

“Unlike you,” I said, “I have scruples.”

“Too bad your scruples couldn’t protect you.” She gestured to the monkeys and Odd standing in the center of the infirmary. “Apparently, neither could they. But don’t be too hard on them, they were outnumbered thirty to one.”

“Where are the others?” I asked.

She sucked a breath in between her teeth. “Beyond your help, Baby Face.”

I glanced at Loren. “Lieutenant Macon?”

“We’re all that’s left,” Loren said with a mixture of anger and sorrow.

“See? I’m not all bad. I know they’re your friends.” Wynn’s expression remained smug.