The sickness started slowly in the day, and then it hit her all at once. She was in the middle of washing dishes when a dizziness overcame her and she collapsed on the cold ground. The guard that had been helping her nearby picked her up and carried her to where William was speaking quietly with a ghostly Enzo.

They’d set their party up in a temporary cabin that hadn’t yet been touched by the sickness. Or, they set themselves up while the villagers suffered in the other ones. William dropped the papers he was holding and took her in his arms the second he saw her. Already she felt...