“We need to search the area. Wake the others,” I ordered.

They hastened inside and soon Flea, Quain, and most of the soldiers had assembled by the cave’s entrance. Using one of Ryne’s military maps, Loren divided the surrounding area into quadrants. The infirmary cave was located in Pomyt Realm, northeast of Zabin and east of the ruins of the Healer’s Guild.

Quain growled at everyone, but he appeared healthy despite being frozen in Sepp’s magical stasis only yesterday. But Flea’s face remained pale and he seemed unsteady on his feet. The discovery of his ability to break Sepp’s stasis had taken a toll on him.

I moved closer to him. “Flea, stay here, you’re in no condition—”

“No. I’m going.” Despite being sixteen, he sounded much older. And his firm gaze meant I’d have an easier time convincing fire not to burn.

Before assigning quadrants to the teams, Loren pulled me aside. “Hate to bring this up, but if he’s... If we find...”

“A dead body?” Not like I hadn’t thought of it a million times since I’d woken up.

“Yeah.”

“Tell them to find me as fast as possible. I have the Lily map—we’ll head to the closest Peace Lily and hope for the best.” I glanced at Flea. A Peace Lily had saved his life and mine; it might save Kerrick’s.

The strain on Loren’s face eased just a bit. “Right.” He shouted orders and the teams of four headed into the woods, fanning out to their assigned areas.

No surprise that Loren, Quain, and Flea joined me. I trailed my fingers along the greenery, hoping to detect Kerrick’s magic. At this point, I’d pray to Estrid’s creator if I thought it would help.

As a group, we moved in silent mode. Despite Tohon’s current condition—frozen in stasis, because if he weren’t, he’d die from the deep stab wound in his chest, a little gift from me—his army still advanced from the south. Cellina had taken over command. Just as ruthless as he was, at least she couldn’t create more dead soldiers. And we’d discovered how to stop the ones in existence. So it was only a matter of time until we neutralized them all.

What if we didn’t find Kerrick in time? The Peace Lilys were picky. From the little I’d learned, the person in question either needed to be a magician or have the potential to be one, and the body had to be fresh. Flea’d been dead a few hours and I had died inside the Lily.

Well, actually, the Lily hadn’t brought us back to life. It’d preserved our bodies until another person touched us. I’d awoken Flea and Kerrick had saved me.

Kerrick, why didn’t you wake me? Why didn’t you tell me you felt sick?

What if the Peace Lily rejected him? Like it refused Ursan and Noelle? Although Ursan had been a magic sniffer, he’d been dead too long, and my sister, Noelle, hadn’t been gifted with magic. I was the only one in my family who’d developed powers. Healing powers, not that it helped with either of them. Or Kerrick. I couldn’t cure those poisoned by Death Lily toxin or infected with the plague.