“You’ll see.” Sarai sighed as they entered the tent, Méherre in tow.
All three Tetrarchs clustered around a map of Ur Dinyé, ink blots marking the spread of plague. An oil lamp burned at the center.
“There she is, our very own envoy of Ruin.” Harion drawled. “Any reason you’re killing us all?”
“Pure irritation. Watch out. You’re next.” Anek reared back with a sniff. “You’ve still got vomit on your robes by the way.”
Kadra’s gaze fell on Sarai and stilled. The ink pen in his hands fell to the ground. Silence settled over the cramped space as everyone within registered that she was dressed for travel.
“I’m going north,” she said quietly to Méherre’s start of surprise. “We’ve northern riots and a northern plague that’s somehow made it past our city walls without any of the magi seeing a swarm. Edessa has enemies but no answers.” She didn’t have every thread comprising this knot, but those she held hissed of danger. “We need information before the Order wreaks havoc, and as a northerner, I have the best chance at investigating what’s been happening there.”
A divot formed between Cassandane’s eyebrows. She’d abandoned her crimson robes as though sick of the colour and sported a simple gray dressing gown. “It’s a long journey.”
“Not anymore.” Anek indicated Méherre and filled everyone in. “I’ve Examined her. She can be trusted.”
Cassandane acknowledged the Bridger with a grateful nod. “Nevertheless, you could both be infected and then…” She gestured helplessly to the corpses that were still being removed from the marketplace.
Sarai drew the tent’s fabric shut. “I don’t think that’s a result of plague.” A boulder sank into her gut as she dared voice the theory that had brewed in her mind all morning. “It’s murder.”
Harion cast her an exasperated look. “Not everything is a fucking conspiracy. We’ve a godsdamned carpet of dead boil beetles outside.Certo, it’s them.”
“Beetles alone don’t explain any of this! I was,” she sighed, knowing that she was giving him more fodder for abuse, “a snowgrape harvester asa child. I’ve seen boil beetles in infected animals, and they lookednothinglike what’s outside. And there wasn’t a single beetle at the Grains Guild’s horreum, was there?” She exhaled when his mouth snapped shut. “I examined one of the bodies there, and the heart and brain were practically liquid. No parasite would kill its host so quickly. These are serial killings. We just don’t know by whom orhow.”
“The whitesleep,” Kadra reminded softly.
She had avoided looking at him all this while. Risking a glance, she felt the ache in her throat worsen at his taut temples and grim eyes, when he’d looked almost carefree last night.
“A potential mechanism,” she croaked. “The victims so far seem to have been exposed to it—likely at the same den Junia spoke of. But that still doesn’t explain why they’re all raving about an upcoming reckoning.”And why they blamed me.
Anek blanched. “Sarai, you need a retinue of magi if someone up north is behind this. This isn’t the sort of power you face alone.”
“That’s just it,” she said bleakly. “I won’t be facing them. I think the perpetrator ishere.”
Cassandane slapped her forehead. “Two massacres in two days.”
“The north could have been the culprit’s initial hunting ground before they came here. It’ll have answers or, at least, help us rule out theories. You’re needed here—well, most of you,” she amended with a dour look at Harion.But I don’t think Edessa will miss me.“I’ll slip out without fanfare. If I’m right and the killer’s here, I don’t want to alert them immediately.”
Kadra remained dangerously still. With a wary glance in his direction, Cassandane leaned over the table. The hollows under her eyes had never been deeper. “It’s a sound proposition. We have no choice. Head north and find everything you can. I’ll fence off the city and declare it a plague hub as I believe Komis has implemented the same. No one will be allowed in or out—we’ll contain this if nothing else.”
Méherre cleared her throat. “If I may, your people will blame the north. This could cause civil war.”
Cassandane surprisingly winked. “No, my position will be that the Grains Guild’s lax transport practices brought the plague here when their supply wagons returned from the north.” At Kadra’s raised eyebrow, she offered a sheepish smile. “Powerful allies also make powerful scapegoats. They hoarded enough grain to feed half the country, and their horreum was our first bloodbath. The story’ll stick.”
Harion scowled. “I don’t see the need for false accusations.”
“Certo. I can always provide the truth—that you didn’t investigate the first few fucked-up bodies in Aelius’s Quarter, and now, we’ve a nationwide crisis,” Anek said sweetly.
Turning ruddy, he stormed out of the tent, muttering something about not being omniscient.
“I’ll go with her.” Kadra’s tone brooked no refusal.
Cassandane pressed her knuckles to her brow. “You know that isn’t sound. The city will riot if you both run off, and we need to find the whitesleep den at the center of this plague case.” She gave Méherre a once-over. “How good are you?”
Méherre didn’t back down. “I’ve done three round-trips between Sal Flumen and Edessa before. In a day.”
Cassandane whistled. “Then, you’ll transport our Magus Supreme the moment Sarai hits upon a theory and needs assistance.” She met Kadra’s gaze and winced. “Wrath’s blade, put those eyes away. I’m making a concession here.”
A vein pulsed in his temples.
