Desperate Measures      

"Let's send it to them then."

"I'll go with you."

Rain and Druger went to one of the empty houses they had set up as a temporary lab for the healers and herbalists. The elders, healers, and herbalists inside were studying the disease nonstop.

Rain and Druger explained the situation.

The elder immediately tested the beetle and had a few volunteers get bitten by the bug. Within minutes, the volunteers fell to the ground, coughing and burning with fever.

"Without a doubt . . . this is the cause of the pandemic," one of them said.

"Then can you make a cure out of it?" Rain asked, hopeful.

However, the elders and the rest wore grim expressions. "We can . . . but concocting the cure will take time."

"Take time?" Rain echoed, not liking the sound of it. Time wasn't on their side. The pandemic was relentless, and the Hobgoblins were just days away, knocking on their doors.