Page 74 of The Tainted Cup

“IT ALL BEGINS TOshow,” said Uhad wearily, “a rather appalling pattern.”

I glanced about the room as we listened. All of the primary team was there, standing amid the shadowy machinery of the little mill: Uhad leaned gloomily at the head of the worktable, like a starving blue stork staring into a fishless creek; seated to his right was Ana, blindfolded and bent, her fingers probing the indentations and scars on the worktable surface; across from Ana sat Nusis, still pert and cheery and nodding even at this late hour, her red coat pressed and impeccable; and there at the back of the workshop, half-lost in the bunches of drying parchfern, stood Kalista, somehow glamorous and glittering despite all the gloom about her, her clay pipe clutched in her mouth. She seemed to very much resent being brought here: the courtesan dove sulking in its cage, perhaps.

“We can now safely conclude we are pursuingtwokillers, I think,” said Uhad. “One who kills with dappleglass, and one who kills with a spike to the skull. The dappleglass killer has apparently vanished, but this new one appears to still be about…and killing quite enthusiastically.” He paused, his face grim. “Yet before we speculate further, I would prefer a more experienced eye review this most recent body.” He turned to Nusis. “I believe as an Apoth, Immunis, you are somewhat used to the handling of cadavers…”

Nusis’s cheery smile vanished. She sighed, shrugged off her redApoth’s coat, carefully folded it, and laid it on her chair. “I shall go see,” she said, then retreated into the reeking hallways.

“Won’t you need a lantern?” called Miljin after her.

“No,” said her voice in answer. “I can see perfectly well in the dark.”

There was a surprised silence. Then Miljin scoffed and shook his head. “Damn Apoths…”

“Are wesurethat we have two killers?” asked Kalista. “The first person felled by this spike to the skull was Blas’s secretary, yes. And that seems likely related to Blas’s own horrid corruption, eliminating anyone who might know things they oughtn’t. But why Suberek? Why murder a simple fernpaper miller?”

“I cannot imagine,” confessed Uhad. “Unless Blas talked to this fernpaper miller…Yet that challenges the imagination.”

Ana cocked her head, grinning. “Or we are being too conservative in our estimation of ‘cleaning up’!”

All eyes slowly turned to her.

“What might you mean by that?” asked Uhad.

She shrugged. “Perhaps there is someone out there who does not want us finding out how or when or where any of these poisonings took place—for that would lead to yetmorediscoveries of corruption. If we assume that, and also assume Suberek provided fernpaper to help cover up the killings…well, then it would make very good sense to kill him!”

There was an uneasy silence.

“If that is so,” said Uhad, “we must find the destination of Suberek’s last delivery.”

“Agreed,” said Ana. “Din—before you join the search…” She held up a finger. “A word, please.”

I moved to her as the others started to dig through the mill. “Yes, ma’am?”

“I would like for you to take me to the stables, if only for a moment.”

I held out my arm. She grasped it and I led her outside.

—

THE BODIES WEREgone now. All that was left was mud, blood, and the handful of Legion officers standing at the wall.

Ana stopped in the middle of the yard, face still angled to me, pale and cadaverous in the moonlight. “How are you doing? Are you well?”

“I’m all right, ma’am,” I said.

“What? Absurd. People tried to kill you, and you apparently killed them instead. How could you possibly be all right?”

“It was all very fast,” I said quietly. “I didn’t think at all while it…while it happened.”

There was a short silence, broken only by the muttering of the Legionnaires just past the gate.

“Well, you aren’t limping,” she said tersely. “Your pulse in your arm is strong and steady. And you aren’t gasping for breath. So you’re not hurt.”

“I’d have told you if I was, ma’am.”

“Yes, but you’re the dutiful sort of stupid young man who would hide an injury out of honor,” she snapped. “And I wished to besure.”

I looked at her, surprised at the anger in her voice. Her wiry fingers dug into my arm like she was trying to hold me still.