“But no one can get near him. I’ve thought about this. Wynn and Sepp were right, I’m the only one he won’t kill right away. I’m the only one who can get close.”
“He’s not going to underestimate you again,” Kerrick said in a quiet tone.
“True. That’s why I need all your help.”
“Do we even trust Wynn that Tohon is awake?” Flea asked. “That could be a ruse to get us to storm his castle in Sogra and be ambushed.”
“Storm the castle?” Quain huffed. “You and what army? It’s more like sneak in and hope for the best.”
Ignoring Quain, I mulled over my dreams with Tohon, Wynn’s and Sepp’s palpable fear, and the increase in attacks by the squads of dead soldiers.
“He’s awake,” I said. “And his castle’s a trap. That’s a given. He’s probably in Vyg somewhere near the action, but not too close to the danger.”
“What about Zila?” Kerrick asked in a subdued tone.
“If she survived, then she’s either at the castle or with Tohon.”
“And the chance that she’s alive?” Flea asked me.
“It’d be a miracle.”
No response. We rode on in silence.
“How do we find Tohon?” Belen asked. He’d been quiet during most of the discussion. “Vyg is a big place.”
A nervous tingle shot down my arms and legs. “Uh...” Reluctance blocked my words.
Kerrick stiffened. “I’m not going to like it, am I?”
“No.”
“Just tell me.”
I explained about the dreams. “...and I think I can discover his current location.”
Kerrick twisted to look at me. His face a mask of hurt fury. “And you’re just telling me this now.”
“After you returned, the dreams stopped until I was in the monastery. At the time I believed they were just nightmares.” The words rushed out. “Once we escaped, they disappeared again. I didn’t dream of Tohon until you left for Mom’s. That was when Noak told me about the bond. Besides, it’s not like we’ve had a lot of time to talk since then.”
“But why didn’t you tell me you’ve been dreaming about Tohon?”
“Kerrick,” Belen said. “She already covered that. Plus Tohon’s the stuff of nightmares and she probably didn’t want to worry you.”
“Or hurt your feelings,” Flea added.
“Which isn’t hard to do—he’s the sensitive type,” Quain teased.
“The good news is we can locate Tohon,” Loren said.
“And the bad?” Quain asked.
“It will be almost impossible to get to him without being killed.”
* * *
“What’s the next step?” Flea asked after a couple hours of hard riding.
“We don’t want to cross into Vyg,” Kerrick said in a gruff tone—probably still angry. He faced forward. “At least, not yet.”
“How about I find out where Tohon is first and then we can plan our route,” I said.
“We need to keep moving. I don’t want Ryne catching up to us,” Kerrick said.
“Then let’s keep going north,” I said. “If Tohon is in Vyg, maybe we can pull the same stunt as Cellina.”
“By sneaking in behind him?” Belen asked.
“Yes. We can cross the Nine Mountains by using the main pass, then go west and cut back over the Orel Pass to drop in behind Tohon.”
“Except we’d have to wait until spring,” Quain said. “And if Cellina plans to cross Milligreen, then her trap is also poised to strike at that time.”
“Poised? That’s a pretty impressive word, Quain,” Loren teased.
Quain showed remarkable restraint in ignoring the jab.
I searched my memory, trying to remember one of the maps Ryne had at his HQ. The one with the red Xs marking the enemy positions in Vyg. “Maybe Tohon’s forces aren’t that far north. We could slip through Peti and loop around that way.”
“But how can we be sure they’re not there?” Belen asked. “Kerrick can’t sense them, and if they’re camouflaged we could walk right into them.”
He had a point. I mulled over the problem. Perhaps when we stopped at HQ, I could take a look at those maps—I gasped as an idea flashed. When I glanced up, Quain stared at me from Coffee’s back.
“Oh, no,” Quain said. “I recognize that look. It means trouble.”
“It means she has a plan,” Loren corrected.
“Same difference,” Quain muttered.
“Are you going to share?” Flea asked me.
“We’ll meet at Ryne’s HQ,” I said.
Kerrick jumped on that. “Meet?”
“Yes, meet. I can’t connect with Tohon if I’m with you. We’ll split up into two groups.” I touched his shoulder, stopping Kerrick’s outburst. “We should be safe. As long as we avoid Grzebien, there’s nothing between here and Victibus.”
Clearly not happy, Kerrick asked, “Why can’t we travel together and just sleep apart?”
“I think there needs to be some distance between us.”
“Won’t that strengthen his bond with you?”
Ah, the real problem. “A little, but we need to know where he is.”
“It’ll only be five days on horseback,” Quain said.