Page 87 of A Drop of Corruption

I haltingly read aloud:

To the representatives of the Imperial Iudex,

I am Prince Camak di Lalaca eh Divaum, tenth of my name. Iwrite to you using this creature at the urging of your Treasury officers. By the time you read this message you will surely be aware of the death of my father, king of the realm of Yarrow.

Prificto Kardas is now held captive here. Many at court believe him to be the killer, and demand he be slain.

Though I still lack the crown, I am now regent. Kardas’s fate falls to me. Yet as I have only just this early morning received your warning meant for Kardas, I no longer believe he is the killer, not if you tried to warn him that a killer might be about. But I must tell you, the circumstances are not kind to his case. Many who desire his death are of a standing that is difficult to ignore.

I am told there is among you a person of skill with such matters. To you I say—riders from my court shall be arriving in your city midday, to demand your presence at court. Please come, and come quickly. I cannot comprehend how this act was done, nor whether my own life may now lie in peril.

I hope this creature finds you speedily. When you arrive, show no sign that I have warned you, for no one else knows of this message to you. But bring it to me, so I may know of your honesty.

A stony silence filled the room when I finished.

“It seems we are now in the business of court intrigue!” said Ana. She wrinkled her nose. “How trite.”

At that, Malo turned about, opened the door, walked to the porch railing, and vomited into the yard.

—

The Yarrow ridersarrived just before midday, exactly as the prince’s message had said. There were three of them, and they were grand, glittering things, arrayed in long green capes and steel caps lined with artful, shimmering bronze. They seemed surprised to find us waiting for them at the foot of the hills, lined up before our Apoth carriage with a pilot atop it, yet they regathered themselves and approached.

They began to speak to us in stilted standard, but Malo waved a hand and said, “Paravha nahi karade,” which I took to mean—Don’t bother.They discussed the situation for a moment, and then the riders wheeled about. “We are to follow them,” said Malo.

“Of course,” said Ana.

It was yet another carriage ride, rumbling up and to the west, through teetering jungle paths I did not know. Mud fanned the glass windows as our carriage hit the occasional puddle, and every league or so the tree line would dance back and reveal a yawning gorge or a sprawling set of hills. Then the world would close in again, and there was only the wet leaves, and the mud, and the dark interior of the carriage.

Malo leaned against the wall with her face pressed to the crack in the door, finger ready on the handle should her hungover belly betray her again. Ana’s distemper, however, had returned with a vengeful bitterness.

When I asked her what warning she’d sent to Kardas, she spat, “I would think that’d be obvious, Din! I told him I had reason to believe there was a murderous jungle smuggler skulking about the High City with a very advanced poison, and advised he keep himself and everyone around him from sipping or drinking a thing!”

“But…you knew this, and let us go to our beds?” I asked. “You did not wish us to try to stop it?”

“No—for I knew you could not! By the time I received your full account, and realized Pyktis’s likely intent, it was too late. Recall that this is anaugurwe are dealing with! He’d surely seen the smokes in the jungle and knew now was the time to act! Whatever the manner of his evil, he did it well before we could dream of stopping it. If I told either of you last night exactly where the crime would occur, I thought it probable you’d intervene, or seek some permission to speed up the hill crying alarm and death—yes?”

I grudgingly admitted that would have been so.

“Indeed,” said Ana. “And how would the Yarrow court have responded to such a thing, Malo, after their king was laid low?”

“Very poorly,” muttered Malo. “They hate the Empire, and would have hated the sight of us riding up uninvited even more—especially if their king had just died of poison, and thought him killed by another imperial.”

“Exactly. I have saved us from one error, but avoiding others shallbe harder. I know little of the court and Kardas’s negotiations. And the task before us is a difficult one, for we must determinewhyPyktis has made the mad choice of killing the king! Did he simply wish to put the Empire in a compromising situation here? If so, there are far easier ways to accomplish that!”

“And I?” said Malo dully. “Why do you drag a warden to this political meeting?”

“Because it would be quite useful to not only have someone fluent in the Pithian tongue,” snapped Ana, “but someone also in possession of a set of ears capable of hearing every whispered word in the room! Not to mention a nose that can sniff out any scent! For remember, children, we not only seek any sign of Pyktis and his plots, butespeciallyany sign of where Pyktis might have stored the six crates of reagents he needs to attack the marrow!”

“What, you think we shall find them sitting in a back room of the king’s great hall?” asked Malo.

“I’ve no idea,” said Ana. “I only know Pyktismusthave been there—and thus, we should seek all we can.”

I cleared my throat. “And we must also free Kardas and the rest of the Treasury delegation—true, ma’am?”

Ana paused. “Oh, right…yes. Yes, that, too, I suppose. It would save me some paperwork if we kept them all alive.”

I sighed and turned back to the window.