Yes, that’s it, then. Arxa’s special unit. Beyond my own experience with them, most of what I’ve heard about these warriors has been through fearful whispers back at Dara—rumors of villages destroyed, families slaughtered. And now Dineas says they’re expanding their ranks. My spine prickles. “Dineas, do you have time for a treatment today? Since you’re here, we might as well take advantage of it.”

He blinks. “I suppose so.”

In a short while, I have him settled in my room. If he thinks it strange that I bolt the door, he doesn’t mention it.

“Are they feeding you well in the palace?” I ask as he drinks the potion.

“Well enough. I’m not—” He stops talking and his gaze goes distant. Once again, his eyes go back and forth, and he sits rapt as the memories come back. Gradually, the lines of his face harden, and a shiver of recognition runs through me. The Dineas I’d traveled to Ampara with has returned. It’s the same person, the same face, but the difference is striking. He looks older, more tired.

I hesitate a moment before I speak, and when I finally do, I keep my voice low. “Have you had trouble with the army?”

He looks down, shakes off the effects of the potion, and then meets my eyes. “No,” he says, his voice gruff. “I settled in just fine.”

“I’m glad,” I say. “But I’m troubled by the news of Neju’s Guard.”

Those words finally snap him out of his fog. “As am I,” he says. “They had tryouts a few months ago to replace the ones lost in the outbreak, and now they’re recruiting again. And they’re not the only unit that’s expanding. Others are as well, both the elite units and the regular battalions. I hear the most calls for skilled soldiers who can fight on hard terrain—mountains, forests, and such.”

Even I can understand the significance of this. Hard terrain means that the emperor wants to go after the rebels who have retreated into the corners of Ampara, the last holdouts. “Have you heard anything about how they became ill?”

“Neju’s Guard was stationed at Khaygal outpost before they came to Monyar. They arrived at Monyar thirteen days before the outbreak of the illness.”

I do the figures in my head. “They were in Monyar when the first soldier became infected.”

He nods grimly. “It’s all rumors and speculation, but plenty think that my people infected them, or yours.”

“But it couldn’t have been us. They didn’t get to Dara until…” I trail off. The battalion was out of Dara’s reach the day they were infected, but very likely in Shidadi territory….

A spasm of irritation crosses Dineas’s face. “It wasn’t Shidadi,” he says. “We fight our enemies face-to-face. Gatha would have told me if she’d done something so underhanded.”