Traitor's Moon

bath chamber. He was dressed for riding, and looked as if he hadn’t slept much, either.
    â€œA bad night,” he told them. “Alec is with her now. My riders and I can leave as soon as he’s finished.”
    The dhima lay like an upended turtle against the far wall. Klia had been moved next to the central bathing pool, and wet cloths were draped across her forehead and wrists. Mydri and Adzriel sat next to her, each grasping one of her hands. Alec and Thero stood over them, hollowed-eyed and solemn.
    â€œSweating only made her breathing worse,” Mydri explained worriedly. “I’ve purged her, given her herbs, sang the six songs of purification; nothing seems to help.”
    â€œBy the Light!” Nyal went down on one knee beside Klia and inspected her hands and feet. The discoloration was darker and had spread up her limbs.
    â€œHas she opened her eyes at all, or moved?” asked Nyal.
    â€œNot for hours.”
    â€œThen I think you must be wrong about when she was poisoned.”
    Seregil gave the Ra’basi a sharp look. “What do you know about it?”
    Nyal shook his head wonderingly. “I don’t know how it could be, but this has all the signs of an apaki’nhag bite.”
    â€œA what?” asked Mydri.
    â€œIt’s a snake,” said Nyal.
    â€œI thought there weren’t any snakes in Aurënen!” Alec exclaimed.
    â€œNot on the land. Apaki’nhags are sea snakes. There are a number of different types.”
    â€œApaki’nhag. ‘Gentle assassin?’ ” Seregil translated.
    Nyal nodded. “So called because its bite is painless, and because the effects of the venom don’t appear for hours in most cases, sometimes not even for days. Shellfish divers often grab them by mistake among the weeds, not realizing they’ve been bitten until they fall ill later. I’ve seen it often enough among sailors and fishermen to know the signs. It’s good you removed that.” He gestured toward the dhima. “Sweating only drives the poison deeper into the body.”
    â€œA water snake? She was wet when I found her,” Alec told him. “Emiel said she’d stopped to drink—”
    â€œNo, Alec. Apaki’nhag are saltwater creatures.”
    â€œWhere are they found?” asked Seregil.
    â€œAlong the eastern coast. I’ve never heard of any south of Ra’basi.”
    â€œRa’basi, Gedre, Virésse, Goliníl,” Seregil said, ticking likely places off on the fingers of one hand. “And let’s not forget Plenimar.”
    â€œPlenimar?” said Alec.
    â€œI’m not ready to rule them out just yet. Whether or not they did the actual poisoning, they’ve raised it to an art and wouldn’t be above selling both the poison and the means of best using it. They have as much reason as anyone for wanting Klia to fail.”
    â€œIf you’re right, then she may not have been poisoned by something she ate but by something she touched,” said Thero, concentrating on more immediate issues.
    â€œSomething that touched her, more likely,” Seregil corrected, examining Klia’s cold hands. “It’s the mark of a two-legged serpent we’re looking for. You say the victim doesn’t feel the bite, Nyal?”
    â€œThat’s right. The snake’s teeth are quite small, and the venom deadens feeling. Ra’basi healers sometimes use a very dilute form of it in salves.”
    â€œA needle or small blade concealed in a ring is a favorite toy among Plenimaran assassins.” Seregil pushed the sleeves of Klia’s gown back to inspect her arms.
    â€œThis venom, Nyal, would it affect someone who’s already ill more quickly?” Thero asked.
    â€œYes, with the old or infirm, it’s nearly always fatal within—”
    â€œTorsin!” Seregil exclaimed, looking up at the wizard. “Alec, keep looking for marks.”
    He and Thero took the stairs two at a time to the envoy’s chamber. Cold lamps sparked to life at the wizard’s command.
    The dead man’s face had lost its leaden hue, darkening already to the mottled greenish pall of dissolution. The rigor had passed and someone had straightened the limbs, bound up the slack jaw and eyes, and blanketed the corpse with fragrant herbs. Neither these nor the resinous smoke from the incense pot could mask the heavy stench. A round, salt-glazed urn with a