Chapter 31 #2
“Yes…” said Ana, leaning back a little. “That is how it was done, you see. For as you said, Commander Tauri, the fungus is not a conventional poison. It is not something you can drop into a mug of wine, for example. It must deeply infest a water source, and then it must build up in the human system until it finally infects the mind. Wiser, then, to bring people to the infected place, and have them stay there regularly—drinking the water, eating the food—until it accumulates to a tipping point. As high gentry, the Armentas would regularly come to the city to socialize, conduct business, and be merry—never knowing that the waters of these specific inns were infested! They became infected, as well, of course. Including Ippeas Armenta! But not Din’s sister, Fotia Kol.
She was but a drover, and stayed most often with her herds.
Thus the killer put the fungus in all the right people, and let it sleep for weeks if not months, until they played the awakening tones, and began their conditioning…
” She steepled her fingers and rested her brow on their tips.
“Through these steps, they played their game.”
“Ingenious,” said Tauri quietly.
“And horrible,” said Seriv.
“Yes. What a great suffering has been brought about in these lands,” she murmured. “But then, there has always been great suffering in Lacanthim, true? Yet inflicted on cattle and cats, not people. Now it is our turn to taste the knife.”
“The waters of those taverns have surely been infected for years, then,” said Seriv, “if it’s how they managed the deaths of Sagma and Gevma Armenta. We won’t be able to ask if, oh, someone saw a figure skulking about the damned well!”
“We may not need to,” said Ana. “Princeps Seriv, I need you to find someone for me very quickly—Din’s sister, Fotia Kol.
I have had her investigating the nature of Sagma’s hanging.
That is the last, most crucial point. For I believe the killer exposed themself there, though I suspect they have not realized it. ”
I spoke up: “She seeks a drover. A man named Arthinio. He worked for the Buravs.”
“I’ll find her straightaway,” said Seriv, hurrying to the door. “I’ve no art with reagents and tinctures, but my people can find folk quick enough.”
—
Seriv was truer than his word: within less than three hours, he came swooping back into Ana’s chamber with my sister at his arm, looking rather rattled.
“What’s happened?” Fotia asked Ana. “Why send the custodi out for me? I thought you wished to keep my task a secret!”
“Given that your dear brother here is now poisoned and conditioned by the killer,” said Ana, “I thought we might need to hurry things up a fucking bit.”
She gazed at her, horrified, then at me. “Din…you—”
“Did you find the drover, girl?” said Ana sharply.
“I…yes. I found him late yesterday evening.”
“And did he talk?”
“H-he did. It was no easy thing to find him, either, given that all the Burav drovers are in disarray. And he didn’t wish to tell me what he’d found when he’d come upon Sagma.
His words cost me a great deal of money.
” She swallowed, her face wan. “He found her in the early hours, he told me. Saw her body hanging in the pavilion. He cried out and cut her down, and tried to breathe life into her, but she was well past that. He told me he began screaming for help, begging for aid, and it wasn’t until everyone had come rushing in and borne her body away that he realized he still had the rope she’d used to hang herself in his pocket.
” She paused. “But it wasn’t a rope at all, he said… ”
Ana bowed her head and whispered, “No…” Her body shook, and her snowy forelock trembled. “Was it a ribbon, child?”
Fotia stared at her, astonished. “Y-yes. It was.”
“She’d hanged herself with a length of ribbon,” murmured Ana. “Just like the ones she tied about her throat every morning—is that the run of it?”
“Yes, ma’am. That’s so. That’s exactly what she had done.”
My eyes fluttered as I recalled the painting I’d glimpsed in the mansion of the Armentas. Sagma had been adorned in great finery, her dress shimmering with silks, her black hair done up in an ornate scarf—and a set of purple ribbons wound carefully about her neck.
“She often wore such, I was told,” Fotia continued softly. “It was a fashion she adored…”
Ana took a deep breath in, shuddering, and then whispered, “What a fool I was! I didn’t see it—even when he told us himself.” She licked her lips. “I know who the other killer is. And I know how we shall draw him out. All I need is parchment.”
We all stood there gazing at her.
“Well?” she snapped. “Are you deafened by my brilliance? Get me a fucking parchment and an ashpen, fools, and I shall bring us our killer!”
“To where, ma’am?” said Seriv.
“Why, to this very tavern! I did not think I was being so goddamned opaque!”
I scurried to do so, fumbling to put the parchment and ashpen in her hands. With an impatient scoff, she began writing.
“What letter could achieve this, ma’am?” asked Tauri.
“A very simple one,” said Ana. “One to Velona Armenta. I will have you bring it to Aimafall, Princeps Seriv, with express word that it shall be delivered only to her hands, and no one else may open it. Its message is short but says much—it conveys that I wish to meet with her, as I believe I have discovered the killer of her children. I am holding very incriminating evidence in my quarters, for her eyes only. And that she must pause all legal activities she is no doubt considering.”
“Legal activities?” asked Seriv.
“Oh, yes. All this death has been about many things, true. But at heart, it’s always been about money.
The hearts of our kind are very stupid, and foolish, and so predictable.
But with it, we shall bait a trap. It will be evidence our killer could not resist acquiring.
If Velona were to see it, all would fall to pieces.
” She paused. “But I do need one thing. Commander Tauri—might you have one of those lypi lances, sir?”
“Oh,” said Tauri. “Well. Yes?”
“And they are very painful?”
“Yes, very. So much so that the Empire is reluctant to use them. It often damages people considerably…”
“That is of no matter to me! I should like to have one, please. No—two. I think we might make great use of them.”
—
As night fell, we set about preparing our trap, rushing about the buildings surrounding the Green Drover.
“Are you sure this will all go as planned, ma’am?” I asked.
“Sure?” said Ana, idly reading in her corner. “No. I am sure our quarry shall come. After that, I am less certain. People do all manner of dumb shit when cornered.”
“And if I am forced to resort to lethal response?”
“Well. Do try not to make it lethal, Din.”
“To maintain the integrity of the investigation, of course.”
“Mm? Oh. No. I don’t particularly care if the fucker lives or dies. I just wish to maintain your psychological stability, Din. You get so very mopey when you have to kill someone. And I’ve much more trying things for you after this.”
“After? I…rather thought we’d be done once this was finished, ma’am.”
She laughed hollowly and opened a new book.