Page 105 of A Drop of Corruption

“He realized you’d figured it out,” I said. “That you’d seen Gorthaus was the traitor, and she’d tell us all she knew.”

“Of course. He needed just a tiny bit of poison, and a needle, or a thorn. Something that would cause only a slight bit of pain, but not enough to cause alarm.”

Malo glowered into the coals of the fire. “I should have noticed how she kept rubbing her arm.”

“Yet even if you had, it would have done no good,” said Ana. “Evena drop of kerel in the blood is fatal. Once the heart swells, all is lost.” She shook her head. “The opportunity to catch him is gone as quickly as it came. I doubt if even your nose could find his scent, Malo, if it’s been trod upon by so many other guards—true?”

“True enough, ma’am,” she admitted. “If I’d been freed at the start, I might have found him. But he has muddied his trails before. Even if I’d leapt after him, I might have been led astray.”

“That is so,” muttered Ana. “We are helpless once again and can only wait for news.” She waved a hand at the window. “Please shut that, Din. The aroma of the nenuphar blossoms in the waters beyond distracts me terribly.”

I did so. The only light in the room now was the glow of the fire. I took down a tapestry and cast it over Gorthaus’s body, then stood by the door and waited.

—

Eventually we wereescorted by guard back to the main hall. There we found the prince, Darhi, and Pavitar waiting for us, all looking quite shaken, and accompanied by guards in a wide array of dress and armors. Some even appeared to be wearing sleeping clothes beneath their jerkins. I guessed that the emergency had pulled many off their duties, no matter where or when.

Darhi said, “To my sorrow, we have found no hint of this mysterious guard. All our guards and soldiers and staff have been accounted for, and we have confirmed that at least two people can identify each man as himself. There are no unknown faces here. This poisoner, whoever he was, is now gone.”

Ana fumed for a moment. “And the servants?” she demanded.

“We now do the same for them,” said Pavitar. “But there are so many more that it shall take some time.”

“Naturally, your delegation shall no longer be held,” said Prince Camak, “since we know that Kardas, being still bedridden, could not have been the one to poison your signum.”

Pavitar stuck his nose in the air, unrepentant despite having been proven so terribly wrong. “Yet I must ask,” he said brusquely, “whywould someone poison the girl at all? She seemed of no importance to me. The deaths this poisoner has brought about here make no sense.”

“Is he a madman, perhaps?” proposed Darhi. “Poisoning at random?”

There was a taut silence. I studied their faces, keenly aware that any of these men might be Pyktis’s partner, and thus might know of Gorthaus’s treachery, yet their expressions gave me nothing.

“I cannot yet say,” said Ana. “But I would like to have all your accounts. For you were all in the castle at the same time as this poisoner, correct? Didyousee any sign of anyone unusual?”

“I was alone in the reliquary, sitting vigil with my father,” said the prince. “No one passed through that chamber—but then, he would have had no need to. Few come there.”

“I was in the great hall, working to convince the nobles to grant your delegation freedom,” said Darhi. “I saw no one strange, though I was engaged in deep conversation.”

“I spoke to the nobles as well,” said Pavitar gruffly, “but I argued to keep them, of course.”

“Was that in the great hall, sir?” I asked.

“No. I was in the clerestory, in the floor above. But those rooms are small, and I am sure I saw nothing.”

Ana nodded, then sighed. “Then we shall review the guards and servants. Then we must escort our people home, before another falls dead here.”

The servants and guards trickled in one by one for Malo and me to review. Their health was shocking, being gaunt and sickened creatures, and their teeth were in a horrid state, if they had them at all. I engraved the faces of each, sniffing at my vial. Darhi had been right: nearly two out of every fifteen was a twin, or even a triplet, with many faces repeating almost exactly, or echoes of their features found in others. I guessed that, given that childbirth was so difficult here in Yarrow, the number would have been even higher if more infants had survived. I also saw what he’d meant about the kings’ imperial brides:here and there I spied a hint of Kurmini features, or Rathras, or even Tala, like myself. The experience was quite surreal, to see so much familiar in this strange place.

Yet none resembled Pyktis, or at least the Pyktis I knew from the drawing. None seemed the right height, nor the proper build, nor did any of them obsessively tap their fingers. They were an anxious lot, wary of so much attention, but they seemed innocent.

I watched Malo’s face as each one came before her. She sniffed and shook her head each time—Nothing of note.

We thanked them for their time, then let them go.

By now it was near morning. The prince, Darhi, and Pavitar escorted us outside, accompanied by some three dozen guards. “What shall we do now?” the prince asked Ana. “Is there nothing you can give us to help us find this man? For he might still be lurking here, somewhere.”

“We could give you wardens, Your Majesty, and Apoths,” said Ana, “and many practitioners of our arts to crawl throughout your hills and halls and attempt to track him down. Yet I feel you would not take this, sir—true?”

The prince solemnly shook his head. “Would that I could. But many doubt my reign now. If I were to permit the Empire to flood the valley with your people, the outcry would be so great that I would hardly have a kingdom at all at the end of it.”