The Palace. Evening.
The healers worked on Grog for three hours.
Mirena stayed with them, her hands glowing, her staff across her knees. The infection was spreading faster than they could stop it—the blackened flesh had crept across his chest, down his side, up toward his shoulder. The healers cut away the dead tissue, cleaned the wound, applied poultices and salves. Mirena used her magic to slow the spread, to keep the infection from reaching his heart.
It was not enough.
But it was enough to keep him alive.
When they finally emerged, the Duke was waiting in the corridor. Edward stood beside him, his arms crossed, his face pale. William was there too, his back against the wall, his hands steady.
"He's stable," the lead healer said. "But the infection is not responding to treatment. We've never seen anything like it."
The Duke's jaw tightened. "What does he need?"
The healer shook her head. "I don't know. Something we don't have."
Mirena stepped forward. "I might know."
The Duke turned to her.
---
They gathered in the Duke's study.
The room was small, private, the fire low. Maps covered the table—the same maps they had been studying for weeks, the same thin places, the same hills where the creature had come from. The Duke sat behind his desk, his hands clasped, his face unreadable. Edward stood beside him, his arms crossed. William stood by the window, his back to the others. Mirena stood at the table, her staff in her hand, the stone in her pocket.
The Duke looked at her. "What did you find?"
Mirena reached into her pocket. Pulled out the stone.
It was dark, smooth, warm. It pulsed in her hand, faintly, steadily, like a heartbeat.
Edward leaned forward. "What is that?"
"A mana stone." Mirena held it out. "Like the ones in Lira's quiver. But different."
The Duke took it. Turned it over in his fingers. "Where did you get it?"
"From the creature. It was growing inside its chest."
The room was silent.
William turned from the window. "Growing?"
Mirena nodded. "The creature produced it. Naturally. Like a pearl in an oyster."
Edward's face was pale. "What else did it produce?"
Mirena shook her head. "I don't know. But if it could grow mana stones—if it could produce magic—"
"Then there could be more." The Duke's voice was quiet. "And they could be anywhere."
---
The door opened. Lira stepped inside.
Her face was pale, her hands steady, her eyes clear. She had been with Grog, sitting beside him, watching him breathe. Now she stood before the Duke, her bow across her back, her quiver at her hip.
"He's awake," she said. "He's asking for you."
The Duke stood. "All of us?"
Lira shook her head. "Just you."
---
The Duke found Grog in the infirmary.
The room was small, the windows shuttered, the fire low. Grog lay on the bed, his chest bandaged, his face pale, his eyes open. He looked older than he had when they left—the lines in his face deeper, the shadows under his eyes darker.
The Duke sat in the chair beside the bed.
"Your mage found something," he said. "A stone. Growing inside the creature."
Grog nodded. "She told me."
"She thinks there could be more."
Grog was quiet for a moment. "There are."
The Duke leaned forward. "How do you know?"
Grog met his eyes. "Because that's how they work. They come through. They learn. They grow. And then more come."
The Duke was quiet for a moment. "You've seen this before."
Grog didn't answer. He couldn't. But he didn't have to. The Duke saw it in his face.
"Tell me what we're facing," the Duke said.
Grog shook his head. "I don't know. Not exactly. The thing we killed—it was a scout. A hunter. A thing that came through to learn. There will be others. And they'll be worse."
The Duke absorbed this. "How do we stop them?"
Grog met his eyes. "We find the portal. We close it. Before more come through."
"The portal is gone. You said so yourself. The tree—the clearing—there was nothing there."
Grog nodded. "The portal moved. It's somewhere else. We need to find it."
---
The Duke stood. Walked to the window. Looked out at the courtyard below.
"The King needs to know," he said.
Grog nodded. "He does."
"But you don't know where to look."
"No. But we have the maps. The thin places. The places where the world is weak." Grog's voice was steady, despite the pain. "We'll find it."
The Duke turned. "And if you don't?"
Grog met his eyes. "We will."
---
Edward was waiting in the corridor.
He had been pacing, his hands clasped behind his back, his face pale. When the Duke emerged, he stopped.
"Well?"
The Duke looked at him. "He doesn't know where the portal is. But he knows how to find it."
Edward's jaw tightened. "The maps."
The Duke nodded. "The maps."
Edward was quiet for a moment. "The King needs to know."
The Duke nodded. "I'll write to him tonight."
---
William stood at the window of his room, looking out at the courtyard below.
The torches were lit, the guards were at their posts, the palace was quiet. Somewhere below, Grog was lying in a bed, fighting an infection that wouldn't stop. Somewhere beyond the hills, the village was still burning, its people gone.
He thought about the creature. About the way it had moved, the way it had learned, the way it had watched them. He thought about the stone in Mirena's hand, dark and pulsing, growing inside the creature's chest.
He thought about his brother, Edward, standing in the Duke's study, his face pale, his hands steady.
They would need to be ready.
They would need to be strong.
He didn't know if they were.
---
Gwen found Aldric in the garden.
He was sitting on the same bench where she had found him before, his leg stretched out, his cane beside him. He looked up when she approached.
"You should be resting," she said.
He shook his head. "So should you."
She sat beside him. "I can't sleep."
"Neither can I."
They sat in silence for a moment.
"What happens now?" she asked.
He looked at the stars. "We heal. We train. We wait."
She was quiet for a moment. "For what?"
He met her eyes. "For the next one."