Chapter 42

The rains continued, the warmth of summer faded, and Erech drifted between life and death as he lay within the seers’ cave. Netya braved the weather to ask after him every morning and evening, and the lack of news worried her. It was not common for the Moon People to take so long to recover.

Even with the severity of Erech’s wounds, Fern said he should have come back from the brink within a day or two. Sickness and infection were so rare as to be almost unheard of among the pack, but they were not impossible.

The seers said little. Adel often sent Netya away before she could hear news of Erech’s condition one way or another, but it seemed clear that the young man was battling more than just broken bones and torn flesh.

Khelt remained withdrawn in the privacy of his own den while his wounded shoulder healed. He did not call on Netya once while Erech’s life still hung by a thread, and besides Caspian the only visitors he accepted were the seers.

Fern seemed eve