Page 78 of The Tainted Cup

“Well, Signum?” sighed Uhad. “Did you find anything?” His shivering eyes danced over me, then Miljin, then Strovi, taking in our expressions. “I rather think you did…”

I bowed and said, “Would you like the whole testimony, sir?”

“Of course.”

I started speaking, summoning up each memory, each turn in the road, each gate we tried—rather slowly, since I had not anchored the experiences with a scent—until I finished my tale.

But as I finished, the atmosphere in the room changed, and the three immuni—red, blue, and purple—all reacted.

Nusis’s usual helpful smile flickered, then melted, replaced by a look so grave it was like I was reporting her own death. Uhad put his cup of tea down far too hard, spilling the steaming black fluid overKalista’s pile of parchments. Kalista herself coughed in the middle of a puff of her pipe, then spasmed, spilling the smoking weed over the table, where it died with a hiss in the spilled tea.

Then all was still. The only sound was the drips of tea on the floor. Ana’s triumphant smirk slowly faded as well, and she swiveled her head around as the silence continued.

She began to look alarmed. So I began to feel alarmed.

“You think…you think the Engineers were poisoned at the home of theHazas?” said Uhad faintly.

He looked aghast. I wondered what to say. I had expected this news to be taken poorly, but not this poorly.

“And you’re sure this took placeeight daysbefore the breach?” said Kalista. She looked terrified. “The killer did the poisoningthere? Onthatday? Atthatparty?”

“Ahh. Party, ma’am?” I said, confused.

“Kalista…” said Nusis quietly.

I glanced at Strovi, who looked baffled. Miljin, however, looked bleakly amused.

Kalista stood up. “Should…should I get tested?” she cried. “Isthere a test? I mean…Hell, doIhave those spores growing in me now?”

“Kalista, if you’d been poisoned at the party, we would have known by now!” said Nusis.

“You mean I’d bedeadnow!” said Kalista.

“Well, yes, obviously!”

“But we don’t know how it works!” squawked Kalista. She clutched her clay pipe so hard it snapped in two. “We don’t know why it…why it took so long with theotherEngineers! And oh, Sanctum,I’man Engineer! They probably tried to do it to me, too, didn’t they?”

Uhad’s eyes shivered. He thoughtlessly lifted his empty cup of tea with one shaking hand and tried to drink from it. “I can recall…recall no staining of fernpaper during the occasion…No steam at all, surely…”

“I feel short of breath!” shouted Kalista.

“Kalista!” snapped Nusis. “Will youlisten?”

“I feel a…a stiffness in my lungs, in my person, I…”

Ana stood up and clapped her hands twice, very hard. Everyone fell silent.

Then she stared around at them, turning to each of their faces despite being blindfolded. “So,” she said. “I take it there was aneventof some kind at the halls of the Hazas, on this eighth night before the breach. Aparty.Yes?”

They all nodded.

I cleared my throat and said, “They have nodded, ma’am.”

“I see,” said Ana. “And…andall three of youwere in attendance at this party? Do I have that correct?”

Kalista was so flustered she descended into frantic mutterings. But Uhad sighed and reluctantly said, “True. Yes. If only for a moment…”

“But we didn’t see any of those Engineers there!” said Nusis quickly. “If we had, we’d obviously have mentioned it!”