Page 55 of A Trade of Blood

“Correct! They have not done so to any great degree in years, but I’d not be surprised at all if a dozen casks of foul reagent were found sitting in the dusty corner of some fucking shed about. And now we have a Tala fellow sneaking through the grounds! That will fuel a fire of gossip perhaps as dangerous as the one that consumed that house. But your kitchen maid didnotsay that this Tala creeper wasn’t carrying, oh, several casks under his goddamn arms like a porter at a sot house, did she?”

“She did not, ma’am. Rather, she said he looked nervous as he approached.”

Ana cursed, then fell silent in thought.

I gazed at the blackened skeleton of the Burav estate. Someone sobbed in the distance, crying out a name. From the pitch and frequency of the calls, the person was not found.

“I suppose,” I said, “we can now assume Burilis Burav was not our killer, then.”

“Can we?” she said. “I feel rather less than cavalier to assume a single fucking thing, Din! Be cautious about the ruins of a fire—especiallyin an investigation.” She raised a finger. “Someone is asking for you now. I can hear it, and they will come soon. But before you go, I wish to revisit a detail I ignored last night—those lights you said you saw in the forest. We’ve not had a chance to discuss it much.”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Where did you see them? Tell meexactly! For while the elevation of these lands is mostly consistent, it is not perfectly even.”

I did so, describing the exact location where I had spied their flashing.

Her face grew grave. “Can you repeat how they flashed for you?”

“You think it wasn’t some spirit light,” I said. “But a code. A signal?”

“Yes! Obviously! That is what Isuspect,at least.”

“But it came from deep in the forest. How could someone reach those inner recesses, ma’am?”

“Well, I don’t fucking know, child!” she said, exasperated. “Just tell me how it flashed!”

I took a breath and summoned up the memory, describing the length of each flash, and how it had fluttered after. When I looked back at Ana, her face was pinched in thought.

“Thank you,” she purred softly. “That gives me much to think on.”

“Is it code, ma’am? What does it mean?”

“At first glance, it is gibberish. But…it is veryintentionalgibberish. You must give me time with it. Yet regarding the house, and those ashes…I am much less optimistic there! Imagine all the secrets turned to cinders, then dust. It pains me. There was so much to read! And yet, a picture emerges, even now.” She licked a finger, rubbed its tip across her soot-stained brow, and tasted it. “Seriv spoke truth. This feelsarranged.”

There came the sounds of footfalls on gravel, and a young custodus scurried down the path to us. “Signum Kol? I’ve a message from the princeps, sir. We’ve found a witness.”

“A witness to what?”

“To how the fire killed the Buravs, sir.”

—

The man sathuddled in the smoke and mist, clutching a cup of clar-tea and shivering. His beard was patched in places from fire, andhis face and hands were badly burned, but the medikkers had already applied pastes and grafts to heal his wounds. As he drank his tea, I saw that his eyes were deeply dilated: they’d given him sedatives, I estimated. Probably katapra. I would only get an hour or so of use of him.

His name was Kiva Kozder, he told me, and he had been a valet to Orman Burav, nephew to Burilis. I noticed his use of the past tense immediately.

“I served my master for eleven years,” he continued huskily. “And I…I pray he has found sun and blossoms in the pastures on the other side of this world.”

“He is dead, then?” I asked. “You know this?”

Kozder shut his eyes and nodded.

I sniffed deeply of my vial. The aroma of lilacs was weak to me: I reckoned my nose had been dulled by the smoke. “Can you tell me what happened?”

“I only saw some of it,” he said softly. “Only some. But…” He drank his tea. Instantly his hands grew steadier. “The prime father Burilis—he called for the full family to be present for the memorial rites of his daughter, poor Zansay. He expected her body to be delivered to them soon, and it’s our custom to entomb her swiftly. They were to honor her with wine and torchlight, in…in keeping with the Bero pantheon. Are you familiar, sir?”

I nodded, trying to suppress my impatience. The Bero pantheon was much favored among Kurmini folk. It did not surprise me at all to find that the Buravs did not worship the Daljen, as the Armentas did.