The Fire Seer and Her Quradum (26 page)

They were still trying to figure out how to haul him to the palace without his running off. Apparently they had a supply wagon in storage somewhere. Bel-Sumai wanted to put him in the wagon, while Bel-Ditana thought that Mandir could sit a horse perfectly well with his hands tied, and if they led the horse, there was no chance of his kicking the horse into a gallop and escaping.

They didn’t know it, but their conversation was irrelevant. He would burn them to death before he let them transport him anywhere.

The sounds of footsteps, distant voices, and chests opening told him that most of the household was awake despite the wee hour. It was unusual, but he could understand the anxiety and excitement that had everyone up at the crack of dawn. Everyone knew the guards were leaving today. Presumably any goods that weren’t being returned to the king would be passed on to Mandir’s brothers, who would set off today for parts unknown.

“If we put him in the wagon, we’ll have less room for the furniture,” Bel-Ditana was saying.

“Izdubar won’t want the furniture,” said Bel-Sumai.

“We don’t know that,” said Bel-Ditana. “I think we should take as much back as we can fit. It’s not as if his sons can take it as their inheritance. It’s too heavy for them to carry on their backs.”

Mandir closed his eyes, bored with their bickering. His arms were sore from being pulled behind his back for an extended period of time, and he worried that if he stayed in this position much longer, his body wouldn’t answer him when he needed it to. He’d have to make his move soon. But first he would wait for Taya. He knew she’d been working on the case, and he still hoped she might come through with a better answer than the violence he was planning.

“Except for the chest, we’ll just leave the furniture here,” Bel-Sumai was saying.

“For any bandit to steal?”

“Who cares if someone steals it?” said Bel-Sumai. “It’s heavy. We have no zebus to draw the wagon, only horses.”

“We can hitch more than two,” said Bel-Ditana.

“And where are we going to get the extra harness?”

The door opened, and Mandir opened his eyes to see which guard was joining them.

It was no guard at all but Taya, who inexplicably carried a wilted branch in her hand.

Seeing her lightened his heart. All at once, his pain and stiffness eased. “Taya,” he said, drawing her eye to him.

A line appeared in the middle of her forehead—she must be worried about his condition.

“I’m all right,” he said.

“Nobody said you could come in here, Coalition,” said Bel-Sumai. “Get out.”

Taya did not obey, but closed the door behind her. “You’re not taking Mandir with you.” She looked Bel-Sumai in the eye. “He didn’t kill Tufan.
You
did.”

Time seemed to stop as the guards absorbed this accusation. Mandir wondered what game she was playing. Had she actually determined that Bel-Sumai was the murderer, or was this a delaying tactic?

“Outrageous,” said Bel-Sumai. “My job is to
protect
Tufan.”

“Fine job you did of that,” said Taya.

“Failing to protect my charge is not the same as killing him,” said Bel-Sumai. “I know it’s hard for you to accept, but your partner murdered Tufan. We know because the poison used to murder him was found among your partner’s personal items.”

“Because Bel-Zaidu planted it there,” said Taya.

Bel-Sumai’s brows rose—that accusation, naming Bel-Zaidu specifically, had hit home. Clearly Taya had learned something since yesterday. Mandir leaned forward, eager to hear the rest.

“I know,” said Taya, “because Mother Isatis showed me in a fire vision.”

“She seems to have shown nobody else,” said Bel-Sumai. “These fire visions are awfully convenient for you. You can accuse anyone you want of anything you want, and attribute it all to the goddess. Why don’t we all be fire seers? ‘Bel-Zaidu spit in my wine; I know because I saw it in a fire vision!’ What nonsense.”

Taya turned to Mandir. “I know now how Tufan was killed. The two
nepenthe
vials held different concentrations of the drug. Gadatas’s vial was ten times stronger than Tufan’s. The guards swapped the contents of the vials, causing Tufan to poison himself with an accidental overdose. Yanzu did the same thing when he stole Tufan’s
nepenthe
to ease his pain, although nobody intended for him to die.”

Mandir blinked, intrigued by this theory. But it didn’t entirely make sense. “How could the two vials be of different strengths? Gadatas was taking one drop, and that’s what Tufan used to take. They’re the same.”

“Maybe that was true when you were a child here,” said Taya. “But it’s not true now. Tufan must have switched suppliers, because now he uses a dilute variety and takes ten drops. When the guards put the stronger
nepenthe
in his vial, Tufan and Yanzu ended up taking ten times too much.”

How she’d worked that out, Mandir had no idea, but he knew she wouldn’t make the accusation if she didn’t have some evidence to back it up. And it sent his mind spinning. Had Bel-Sumai and the other guards truly murdered the man they’d been charged with protecting? What a shocking betrayal of King Izdubar. Mandir had known from the beginning that the guards possessed ample opportunity to kill Tufan; what they lacked was motive. “Why would you do such a thing?” he asked Bel-Sumai.

“I didn’t kill anybody—”

“Of course not, you just swapped the contents of the vials so Tufan would kill
himself
.” Mandir snorted. “Nice and detached, no blood, no mess, you get to keep your hands clean. What a cowardly way to kill somebody.”

“I didn’t kill Tufan!” said Bel-Sumai. “
You
did.”

“What you did wasn’t just murder,” said Mandir. “It was treason.”

“I would never betray my king,” Bel-Sumai snapped. “Your partner’s theories are wild conjecture.” He turned to Taya. “What evidence do you have that the contents of the vials were swapped?”

“In a fire vision—” she began.

“Of course, a fire vision.” Bel-Sumai rolled his eyes.

“In a fire vision,” she repeated, “I saw Yanzu enter this room through the window and tip ten drops of
nepenthe
from Tufan’s vial into a cup. I assume he took it for pain, since he’d been stabbed that night during his fight with Runawir. I have it on good authority that ten drops is the normal dose when Tufan’s children steal his
nepenthe
, and yet it killed him. Tufan, presumably taking his usual nightly dose—ten drops—died in the same way.”

Mandir was beginning to put it all together. If the contents of the vials had been swapped and Tufan’s vial had become ten times stronger, Gadatas’s vial had become ten times weaker. “That explains why Gadatas was shaking!” He leaned forward, his muscles straining against their bonds. “His vial of
nepenthe
became weaker, so that when he took his customary dose, he wasn’t getting as much as he usually did. That’s why he had withdrawal sickness!”

“Even if I accept that the contents of the vials were swapped,” said Bel-Sumai, “it’s clear that Mandir was the one who did it. Since he had possession of the second vial.”

“Because Bel-Zaidu took it from Gadatas and planted it in Mandir’s saddlebag,” said Taya. “Gadatas can confirm this. He won’t talk about it right now because he’s afraid of being beaten and strangled again by Bel-Zaidu, who threatened his life. But if I take him to safety among the Coalition, he can tell the authorities the real story.”

Mandir saw by the look on Bel-Sumai’s face that Taya’s words were hitting home. Her case didn’t depend entirely on fire visions; she had a witness. Not the most reliable of witnesses, given that he was a
nepenthe
addict, but apparently he could verify that Bel-Zaidu had stolen and planted the vial. That was, indeed, damning to the guards’ case.

He wouldn’t like to be Gadatas right now. If the man’s life hadn’t been in danger before, it certainly was now. Mandir wished he and Taya had some physical evidence, something that wasn’t fire visions and wasn’t Gadatas either. “I’ve got an idea. Let’s test both
nepenthe
vials. We can catch a couple of rabbits. Feed one of them a drop from Tufan’s vial and the other a drop from Gadatas’s vial and see if they react differently.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Taya.

“Preposterous,” said Bel-Sumai. “We’ve no time to hunt rabbits, and even if you’re right about the contents being swapped, anyone could have swapped them.”

Clearly Bel-Sumai would do nothing but deny Taya’s accusations. It was time to put an end to this farce. Mandir called fire into the ropes that bound his ankles and pulled. The ropes parted. Then he did the same to the ropes that bound his wrists. He rose from the chair, letting his arms swing forward into their natural position. Pain flooded stiff muscles as the blood rushed back into them.

“Sit down,” demanded Bel-Sumai, even as he retreated a step.

“No,” said Mandir. “I’m done with sitting down.”

Bel-Sumai and Bel-Ditana pulled their bronze swords from the sheaths.

Mandir eyed the swords. “Are you threatening me with those, when you saw what I did to your ropes?”

Bel-Sumai lowered his weapon, as if offering a parley. “You know you can’t do this. I’m an agent of the king—”

“Not for much longer. Not after he learns that you killed his son.”

“If you refuse to stand trial for your crime,” said Bel-Sumai, “you might flee to your Coalition Temple easily enough, but your respite there will be short. It won’t be long before the king sends an army and demands that the Coalition hand you over.”

“You’ve got balls of bronze, I’ll grant you that,” said Mandir. “You could have accused any of my brothers, who could hardly have defended themselves, but you chose to point your finger at a Coalition mage. Could it be that you
want
to spark a conflict between the Coalition and the crown?”

“I’m trying to
avoid
a conflict,” said Bel-Sumai. “That’s why I’m asking you to come peacefully.”

“Well, I’m not going anywhere,” said Mandir.

Footsteps approached, and they all turned toward the door, which opened to reveal Bel-Apsu.

Bel-Apsu looked at the scene and blinked. “What’s going on? Did you know there’s...” He trailed off and, seeing that his partners had drawn their swords, he drew his own.

Mandir considered the odds. It was three against two, assuming that Taya would help him. It could end up four against two if Bel-Zaidu showed up, but their magic evened the odds. He’d like to subdue the guards without killing them, but that might not be possible. Fire was a destructive force, not much good for subduing an enemy. Maybe he could do this the old-fashioned way.

He called fire into all of the guards’ sword hilts at once.

The hilts turned red-hot, and the guards dropped their weapons. Judging Bel-Sumai to be the greatest threat of the three, Mandir charged at him with the force of a crazed zebu.

∞

“Mandir!” Taya cried. A fight had broken out, and she didn’t know what to do. The guards had lost their swords, but they still had their fists, and there were three of them against a lone Mandir. She had to find a way to help, but she didn’t want to burn anyone to death.

Bel-Sumai was on the floor and gasping for breath. Mandir’s initial charge had knocked the wind out of him, but as she watched, Bel-Ditana hit Mandir and took him to the ground. The two of them grappled.

Bel-Apsu ran to help his fellows. Taya knew a third opponent would be too much for Mandir. Operating on instinct, she called a wall of fire in front of Bel-Apsu. He skidded to a halt and then tried to go around it. Taya extended the flames, blocking that route. He tried going around the other side, and she blocked that as well.

Changing tactics, he turned and charged at her.

She threw up a second fire wall to block him.

She had him pinned on all sides now, in a makeshift cage of fire. The cage was sloppy and bigger than it needed to be, so she tightened it and moved the cage slowly toward the wall, forcing him to go with it.

Holding him there, out of the fight, she turned her attention to Mandir. Bel-Ditana lay on the floor, apparently unconscious, and Mandir had his knee in the small of Bel-Sumai’s back, pinning him. Bel-Sumai yelled incoherent threats as Mandir pulled his arms back to bind him.

Mandir glanced up at her. “Can you get me some rope?”

“Where would I find it?”

“The chest.”

Concentrating to maintain the fire cage that held Bel-Apsu, she went to the chest and found the rope. She threw it to Mandir, who bound Bel-Sumai’s wrists and ankles.

“Let me out!” Bel-Apsu cried. “I’m burning up in here.”

Taya lowered the height of the fire cage enough to see his face. He was hot and sweaty, but he wasn’t burning to death.

She left him there while Mandir tied the unconscious Bel-Ditana.

Mandir stood. He cocked his head at the fire cage that held Bel-Apsu. “Nice work. I’ve never seen you do that before.”

“I’ve never seen me do that before either,” said Taya.

“It’s a handy trick; I wish I had that kind of control. You can let him go now.”

Taya let her fire walls drizzle away.

Bel-Apsu, newly freed but sweating and overheated, threw a couple of weak punches at Mandir, who dodged them and then kicked his legs out from under him. Taya threw him the rope again, and Mandir bound Bel-Apsu.

“There’s still Bel-Zaidu,” she pointed out. “And I don’t know where he is.”

“Find Gadatas,” panted Mandir. “He’s the only witness we have, and we need to protect him.”

“Right.” She glanced at the spotted corobane in her hand. She’d never gotten around to explaining its significance, but perhaps it didn’t matter anymore. Now that hostilities had broken out, it would be hard if not impossible to resolve the conflict between Bel-Sumai and Mandir over Bel-Sumai’s long-ago poisoned dog.

She dropped the corobane and ran from the room.

Chapter 29

Taya sprinted to Gadatas’s quarters. If Bel-Zaidu had seen the fighting in Tufan’s chamber, he might move immediately to kill the only witness to their crime. But as she rounded the back of the house, she saw Bel-Zaidu near the entrance to the compound, surrounded by an enormous group of unfamiliar men and horses.