Page 114 of A Trade of Blood

We did so, hurrying down the hall, fetching it, and testing it there in Ana’s rooms. Instantly, the parchment turned orange.

“Oh, hell,” whispered Tauri.

“I take it that his water, too, bears the fungus?” asked Ana.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said hoarsely. “But…how could they have gotten it—”

“Commander Tauri, sir,” said Ana. “Does the Green Drover draw from the wells you’ve tested so far?”

“N-no? We have focused on the wells near the irrigation systems first. I believe the Drover has its own well and pump belo—”

“Have your people tested the waters of that well?”

“Ahh. No. Not yet.”

Ana waved a hand. “Then let us presume that the well for this establishment is infected,” she said. “As is everyone else in the tavern! I shall need you to rouse your testing team, sir, and quickly.”

Yet Tauri was still dumbfounded. “It…it takes time for the fungus to infect a water source as well, though! Days, if not weeks! Are you saying theypredictedyou’d be staying here?”

“No!” said Ana sharply. “Not at all! I am saying, sir, that our killer has done something they have thus far rather frustratingly failed to do—they have made amistake.Now—your testing team, sir! I need you to wake them, but I’ve no wish for you to go about testing every fucking well in Lacanthim! Instead, I want for you to test two places specifically—the wells for the Prancing Calf tavern, and the Crooked Horn, as well as every well adjoining them.”

I frowned as I heard those names. The Crooked Horn, of course, was where Ippeas and his father had stayed in the days before the Burav fire. And though I’d never been to the Prancing Calf, I had heard Velona Armenta speak of it:I dream…of the chambers kept for us at the Prancing Calf in the city. How wondrous were our festivities at that fine place. So many toasts, and much boasting and tales and song…

“Fetch Seriv,” said Ana, “and do this for me swiftly, sir. Long have we wondered how our killer managed to bring the infested water to their victims’ lips! Yet now another story comes to mind—perhaps they brought the victims to the watersinstead.”

Astonished, Tauri stood, readied to dash to the door, but then paused. “Ah, Dolabra…”

“Yes?” she snapped.

“We have not tested you yet.”

“Well, I am sure I am infected, too!” said Ana, exasperated. “As I have been drinking the waters and staying at the same goddamn inn as Din here—if not more so, as I rarely leave the place! But let us confirm.”

He tore off a bit of parchment. Ana gave it a lick (I shivered as she did so, for her tongue was always far longer than one would expect), and it swiftly turned bright orange.

“Oh, yes,” said Tauri, discouraged. “As you said. But have you had the dreams, as Din did?”

“No, because I haven’t slept,” said Ana. “And I won’t bother doing so now!” She paused briefly, and an inscrutable expression stole over her. “But let us assume that I, too, am conditioned. I mean, I could hardly resist hearing the same toot of the fucker’s flute that bewitched Din here.”

“Is it safe for you to remain here on this investigation, then?” asked Tauri.

“I am probably conditioned to just sit and read books!” she cried. “Because I am sure that’s what I was doing when the damned tune was played! It does not matter! We are so close to finding this foul little turd that I’d continue even if I had glass lodged in my gullet! Now go and test those damned wells!”

Tauri slipped out the door and hurried off into the night.

—

The instant the latch clicked,Ana whirled onme.

“Well, boy,” she growled. “I am most frustrated to find you didnotlisten to my direct fucking orders!”

“Pardon? Ahh—oh.” I winced. “Yes, ma’am. That is so.”

“You have not, I note, explained why you and Tauri somehow discovered your poisoningtogetherin the middle of thenight.Nor do you need to! You smell like a brothel’s cheapest rooms, you feckless little bastard! The man’s odor is all over you, and I won’t begin to describe the aroma on your breath!”

“It…was foolish, ma’am,” I admitted. “I am a dotard for doing it. You have my deepest apolo—”

“And yet I don’t hear much regret in your words, boy! Sounds to me like you’d do it again in a heartbeat! Perhaps that flaxen hillside offers many delights for your plowing!” She grabbed my arm tightly. “Don’t you see the danger, Din? That man is one of the few other folkin all the canton who kneweverything necessaryto bring all this death about! More, it is known that he hated both families! Something he had in common with Jalin! And recall what Jalin said—He owns me utterly.He, boy!” She bowed her head. “And then there is the matter of your dream. Not that you had it, butwhenyou had it. For it seems that Burav’s dull notes are now of use!”