Windsinger

by A. F. E. Smith

  ‘Thank you for joining us, Lady Ayla,’ Resca said. She couldn’t quite work out from his tone whether he meant it as a veiled insult. ‘Your physician and I have examined Don Tolino’s body, and we are in full agreement.’ He paused a moment, glancing at his compatriots, before completing his statement. ‘Don Tolino was poisoned.’

  A hiss sounded from the opposite side of the room, a collective intake of breath from the Kardise party. Unseen by anyone, Ayla dug her nails into her palms. Stay grounded. Concentrate.

  ‘Poisoned?’ she echoed, directing the question at Gil rather than Resca. ‘How? When?’

  The physician didn’t look at her. Gaze fixed on the rug in front of his feet, he mumbled, ‘Zephyr. It’s a slow-acting poison. The evidence suggests he ingested it sometime during fifth bell, the evening before he died.’

  Zephyr. It was one of the rare poisons strong enough to sicken even a Changer, if the dose were big enough. It certainly would have killed Tolino. Yet there was a reason no-one ever tried to incapacitate a Nightshade overlord with zephyr: it had a strong, bitter flavour that was instantly detectable to enhanced Changer senses. In fact, only someone with a very dull sense of taste would fail to notice it. And as an ambassador, Tolino would have been trained to recognise a wide range of poisons, just as she had been as a young woman. Surely there was no way that someone could have got him to take zephyr without …

  Belatedly she registered the other half of what Gil had just said. Sometime during fifth bell.

  ‘But that was when he was with me in the library,’ she said blankly. ‘No-one else was there. So how could –’

  Now everyone was looking at her. Tomas with concern, the young physician with discomfort. And the Kardise … now the rest of the Kardise, just like Resca, were utterly expressionless.

  She shook her head.

  ‘No. Of course I didn’t – no. There must be some other explanation.’

  ‘Did anyone else enter the room whilst you and Don Tolino were together?’ Resca asked her.

  ‘No, I – no. We were alone. You know that! Giorgi and Captain Caraway were guarding the door. No-one could have got in, and we would have seen them if they had.’ She paused, then added more slowly, ‘Of course, there was someone else right at the beginning of our meeting. The maid with the taransey. But she just brought the tray in and left! She didn’t even pour the drinks. I –’ She stopped, looking around at their faces, and finished quietly, ‘I did that myself.’

  Taransey. It explained part of the problem, at least. For an ordinary person, one without the benefit of enhanced Changer senses, taransey was strong enough to mask even the flavour of zephyr. And Tolino couldn’t have been familiar enough with the liquor to know what it should taste like. But how –

  ‘The glasses,’ Tomas said quietly. ‘Could the poison have been in the ambassador’s glass when the maid brought in the tray?’

  Ayla threw him a grateful look. ‘Yes, it’s possible.’

  ‘Not really,’ Giorgi said. ‘It would have been impossible for anyone outside the room to have known which glass would be yours, and which would be the ambassador’s. If the maid had poured the drinks, then perhaps she might be our culprit …’ He shook his head, sadly, as if Ayla had committed a basic tactical error. ‘But you said yourself she didn’t.’

  ‘Then both glasses,’ Tomas persisted. ‘Or the bottle itself.’

  ‘I …’ Ayla pressed her lips together. She had been about to say that she would have detected zephyr, hidden in liquor or not. Yet it wasn’t as if she drank much herself; Tomas didn’t drink at all, and out of respect for him she tended to avoid it too. She’d tasted taransey, what, four or five times before? Would that have given her enough familiarity to notice the difference?

  There had been that faint bitterness, she remembered now. She’d thought it part of the drink.

  ‘The bottle was sealed,’ she said. ‘Perhaps the glasses …’

  ‘But you drank with him, didn’t you?’ Resca said. ‘And yet you are alive.’

  Yes. From what she knew, it was almost certain that a dose that killed an ordinary man wouldn’t kill a Changer. But she would have been ill, at least. She wouldn’t have walked away completely unaffected.

  ‘Did you have any symptoms that night, Lady Ayla?’ Gil asked, as if reading her thoughts. ‘Perhaps a fever, an upset stomach …’

  His expression was hopeful. Tomas’s too. They wanted that to be the explanation. They desperately wanted her to say yes. And if she had any sense, she would. She’d lie, for the sake of the treaty. It wouldn’t remove suspicion from her entirely, but it would at least cast a shadow of doubt. If she and Tolino had both been given poison then it would become a completely different sort of crime, one that was aimed at Sol Kardis and Mirrorvale together.

  She should lie. And yet she couldn’t.

  ‘I was fine,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I can have swallowed any poison at all. There must be another explanation.’

  Silence. Everyone was looking at her again. And though she knew it to be unwise, she couldn’t help but respond.

  ‘I didn’t kill him!’ she said, addressing the Kardise directly this time. ‘Why should I have done? It doesn’t make any sense. Don Tolino and I had come to an agreement. We were going to start working out the terms of the treaty in the morning. Why on earth would I kill him? And in such a way that the doubt was sure to fall on me?’

  ‘I can’t answer the second question, Lady Ayla,’ Giorgi said. ‘But as for the first … I’m afraid we have only your word that you had reached a compromise.’

  ‘Are you calling me a liar?’ The question came out fiercely enough that he sat back as though she’d slapped him. Tomas’s hand tightened briefly on her shoulder, and she realised he’d moved into the traditional guard position behind her. I have to keep my temper.

  ‘I’ve told you the truth,’ she said more calmly. ‘Every detail. I could have claimed that the bottle was open, that the maid poured the drinks, that I was sick all night after drinking. But I didn’t. I’ve been completely honest. Why would I do that, and lie about the details of my conversation with Don Tolino?’

  ‘Only you can tell us that,’ Giorgi replied. ‘But in the meantime, a man has been murdered.’

  That was unanswerable. She was still searching for an answer when, to her relief, Tomas stepped into the breach.

  ‘A vicious crime, and one we need to solve as swiftly as possible. I assure you, we will do everything we can to uncover the culprit.’

  Giorgi’s eyebrows lifted. ‘There seems little left to solve, Captain.’

  ‘I tell you, I didn’t –’ Ayla began, but again the pressure of Tomas’s hand silenced her.

  ‘I don’t know how you’d run a murder investigation in Sol Kardis, but here in Mirrorvale, we don’t accept the first explanation to present itself. There must be a thorough investigation.’

  ‘In the course of which, no doubt, your highly dedicated men will uncover evidence that completely exonerates your overlord of the crime,’ Giorgi said with a contemptuous curl of his lips. The implication was so clear that a small, detached corner of Ayla’s mind found itself thoroughly impressed with Tomas’s unimpaired calm.

  ‘You are welcome to be part of the investigation yourself. Assure yourself that everything is above board.’

  Giorgi exchanged glances with Resca. The doctor shrugged.

  ‘We will give you a week.’

  ‘A week? That isn’t long enough to –’

  ‘We cannot in good conscience allow his body to remain unburied any longer than that. Besides, if there really is another explanation for Don Tolino’s death, it should be easy enough to find.’

  ‘All right.’ Ayla felt the tension in Tomas’s hand, but still he kept his composure. ‘Then we’d better get started. Gil, Resca – thank you for your work on this. I have no doubt we’ll need to call on your expertise again.’ Then, to the other Kardise, ‘Gentlemen.’

  That was her cue to le
ave, she realised dimly. She stood up, but she couldn’t look at anyone for fear she’d start begging them to believe her. Tolino’s unexpected death had been bad enough, but this … How many times in her life must she be falsely accused of murder?

  And this time, the consequences ranged far wider than herself.

  Keeping her chin up so her tears wouldn’t fall, she swept out of the room.

  Rage and fear boiled off Ayla like steam as she stormed through the corridors. It was all Caraway could do to keep up with her until, finally, she reached their bedroom. By the time he’d stepped in after her and closed the door behind him, she’d already begun pacing the floor. Back and forth. Back and forth. He stood where he was and watched her, aching with love and anxiety. That, and the frustrated desire to grab the Kardise by the shoulders and shake them until they saw the truth.

  ‘Poison!’ Ayla flung a wild-eyed glance in his direction. ‘Tomas, I didn’t poison him!’

  ‘Of course you didn’t.’

  ‘But all the evidence says I did! The ambassador’s team have no doubt about it. They listened to me politely enough, but I could see it in their faces. They’ll carry the news back to Sol Kardis, and you know what that will mean!’

  War. Caraway didn’t need to say it. He stepped into her path, catching her gently by the shoulders to halt her pacing. ‘You know, love, I could almost wish you had lied.’

  ‘We need to find the truth. Not conceal it with lies.’ She lifted her chin, eyes flashing defiance at him. ‘And we will find the truth.’

  ‘Of course.’ Resting his forehead against hers, he admitted, ‘But I don’t know how to protect you against this.’

  ‘You did it before,’ she whispered. ‘You believed in me when everyone else had already found me guilty.’

  ‘And I believe in you now. But that’s not what I mean. There’s no visible enemy here, Ayla, only shadows. Someone is trying to kill you or to set you up, and I’m not even sure which. But either way, it happened right under my nose. And I don’t know how.’

  ‘Then you protect me by helping me find out,’ she said fiercely. ‘It’s not your fault, Tomas. Whoever did this is clever. We just have to be cleverer.’

  I might not be clever enough. Or quick enough. Or strong enough. There’s only so far my luck can stretch. But he didn’t say that. Instead, he said, ‘We have a week. It’s not long, but enough. And I’ve already set a few wheels in motion.’ With half a smile, he added, ‘Maybe there are some benefits to extreme paranoia.’

  She buried her face in his shoulder. After a long time, her muffled voice said, ‘Have you considered the possibility that I did it after all?’

  ‘What?’ He drew her away from him, searching her face, but her gaze was averted. ‘Ayla, what are you talking about?’

  ‘Maybe death in childbirth isn’t the only cruel flaw that runs in my family.’ Still she didn’t look at him. ‘Maybe there’s madness, too. Myrren killed our father without even knowing he was doing it. What if I …’

  ‘No.’

  ‘But surely, if that darkness was in him –’

  ‘It’s not the same.’

  ‘Why not?’ Finally she met his gaze, her green-blue eyes spilling out distress and fear as clearly as her words. ‘I don’t remember poisoning the man, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.’

  ‘You had no reason to kill Tolino. You wanted him alive.’

  ‘But madness doesn’t need a reason, does it? Look at Myrren. He was a good person. A better person than me. He would never have chosen to murder anyone, let alone his own father, yet that’s what he did. So who’s to say …’

  Her voice wavered. Her arms were wrapped tightly around herself, fingers clinging bloodlessly to her own elbows. Caraway reached out for her, only to let his hand fall when she shied away from his touch.

  ‘Ayla, listen to me. Myrren’s situation was completely different. He attacked people without forethought, out of fear and love, and he did it when he wasn’t himself. It’s simply not possible to poison someone that way. You would have had to conceal the poison on your person, find a moment when Tolino wasn’t paying attention to slip it into his glass … poisoning is a crime of planning, not passion. Temporary madness doesn’t cover it.’

  She looked at him doubtfully, but at least she was listening. Hoping to convince her, Caraway hurried on.

  ‘Besides, love, don’t you think I’d have noticed that darkness in you, if it existed? I sleep beside you every night. I wake up with you every morning. We know each other more intimately than either of us has ever known anyone else. Don’t you think I’d see it?’

  Tears welled in her eyes. ‘You can’t see inside me, Tomas.’

  ‘Yes,’ he said firmly. ‘I can. I see you here –’ he touched his head – ‘and here.’ He grabbed one of her hands and laid it flat against his chest, above his heart. ‘I know you didn’t do this. And I’ll prove it. I promise.’

  She drooped back against him. Her shoulders shook. Caraway held her close, and began to make a mental list of everything he needed to do to fulfil that promise.

  SEVEN

  Miles knelt at the Sun Lord’s altar, head bowed. Silence lay heavy around him; the sixth ring might offer shrines to foreign gods alongside the older powers, these days, but no-one except the foreign-born ever ventured into them. Outside, Luka’s chariot was setting; the vast stained-glass window above the altar spilled the mellow light of evening over Miles’s face and his clasped hands. To either side, thick, black shadows gathered in the alcoves – and one of them held a man.

  ‘You summoned me,’ Miles said without turning.

  ‘Yes,’ the voice said, cold and precise in the darkness. A new man, Miles thought. Not the contact he’d last spoken to, three years ago. But without ever seeing their faces, it was hard to tell. ‘I wanted to talk to you about the Kardise ambassador’s death.’

  ‘But when you sent the message, it had not yet –’ He stopped as the implication caught up with him. Flaming Luka.

  ‘You killed the ambassador?’ he said, barely believing it.

  ‘I arranged his death,’ the faceless man corrected him. ‘We thought it best not to risk implicating you and thus losing your unique access to the Nightshade bloodline. So we took alternative measures.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘Why?’ The voice held an edge of impatience now. ‘Because this peace cannot be allowed to go ahead. Why else?’

  ‘But surely – I have spent these past three years keeping Ayla alive –’

  ‘Yes, Miles. We do not want Sol Kardis to use her death to gain Mirrorvale as an asset. But nor do we want an alliance between them! Either way, the effect is the same: the two of them together are stronger than we are. And if the Kardise discover the secret of the Change … No. Constant unsettlement was our preferred option, but failing that, let them go to war. Mirrorvale is better able to face Sol Kardis now than it was three years ago – you have seen to that.’

  ‘But people will die,’ Miles said stupidly.

  ‘Some. Does it matter?’

  ‘Of course it matters! Passing on information was one thing, but this –’

  ‘Is an extension of the same process,’ the faceless man finished for him. ‘Particularly since it was information you gave us that allowed us to kill the ambassador in the first place.’

  What? Miles opened his mouth to deny it – foolishly, because the denial might well have involved admitting that he never passed on anything that could be a danger to Darkhaven – but the part of his brain that thrived on solving problems was already putting the pieces together.

  The poison was in the taransey. Both Ayla and Tolino drank it, yet only Tolino was affected. The only possible conclusion is …

  ‘My antidote,’ he whispered.

  ‘Indeed. I have the formula here, written in your very own hand.’

  Yes. It was one part of his work that had seemed safe to give to Parovia, rather than Darkhaven. He had to send the Enforcers regul
ar information, to prove he was doing something – and what harm could there be in an antidote? It was designed to save lives, not take them. And since zephyr wasn’t fatal to Changers, and thus a thoroughly useless tool as far as assassination went, it wasn’t as if he’d thought Ayla would ever be in a situation where she needed to counteract its effects.

  I made the wrong choice. I did not think it through. And now a man is dead. Miles closed his eyes as hard on the heels of that thought came another, far more selfish one: If anyone ever finds out about this, they will never believe it was unintentional.

  All the same, he couldn’t stand by and let this happen. He wouldn’t be bullied into letting a preventable war happen, the same way he’d been bullied into spying for Parovia in the first place. If ever there was a time to tell the truth, this was it. He’d lose Art – that hurt, even to think, but he steeled himself against it. He’d lose everything that mattered to him. But at least, perhaps, if he told Art the truth in secret, he could keep the faceless man from finding out he’d done it. And that way Mara would be safe.

  ‘If you are thinking of revealing that a Parovian agent within Darkhaven murdered the ambassador,’ the cold voice said, ‘then I should point out that according to all the evidence, Miles, that agent is you. I only have to ensure that the Helm discover your handwritten formula and they will assume you are the traitor. A spy of several years’ standing, and one who had plenty of opportunity to administer an antidote that only he knows about.’

  Yes, Miles thought. But perhaps they will still listen, if I tell them everything. If I tell them how my family has been threatened. How I have done my best to keep Darkhaven’s secrets, despite that.

  ‘You are considering a confession,’ the faceless man said contemptuously. ‘You think you can throw yourself on their mercy. Let me make this easier for you, Miles. If Mirrorvale and Sol Kardis fail to go to war over this, for any reason at all, your sister will die. Her children will die. And your weaponmaster will meet a nasty end.’