The faeries leaned in to see. The Justicar parted the black hair of the dead cavalier to show a small hole in the scalp, far broader than a needle puncture. It had oozed a clear fluid, and the hair strands beside it weresilvered with a dried mucous or glue. Jus let the hell hounds nose nestle close to the puncture hole.
“Cinders?”
Cinders smells fish.
“Yes.” The Justicar sat back in cold triumph. “Cinders smellsfish.”
The two faerie lords looked at him in silence, and the Justicar enlightened them.
“See the dried slime? It’s from a cone shell-a venomousmollusk that uses a puncturing tongue to kill. Instantly lethal. Small, concealable in the palm on anyone gloved and confident enough to use it. Even a faerie.”
Lord Faen scowled. “And where might a cone shell be found ina forest?”
“Nowhere. This is a kuo-toan assassination technique-rightdown to hiding the wound in the hairline.”
“You have encountered it before?”
“I’ve read about it.” The Justicar wiped his hands. “This ismy profession. I am the Justicar.”
Sitting back on his haunches, the Justicar thoughtfully regarded the corpse. “Cone shells come from tropical reefs. This has beencarried a long, long way with the intention to murder.” Jus stoked his chin,black stubble rasping in the quiet room. “The wine glasses were a decoy. Whenthe wine was put back in the bottle, it made the bottle totally full. There was not even half a mouthful missing. It reached the stain line inside the bottle neck.”
Escalla’s father grinned a predatory grin, apparentlyextremely pleased to witness the Justicar at his work. “Yes, lad. Now what elsewas in that room? What didn’t other eyes see?”
“There is one link from the gold chain that held Escalla’sslow-glass pendant. It was by the windows, probably where Escalla tore the necklace off and broke it. The necklace itself is gone. Is it valuable?”
“Perhaps a thousand times the value of a similarly sizeddiamond.”
Jus made a soundless whistle. Such a necklace might conceivably buy an entire castle, garrison it, and pay the troops’ wages for ayear.
It was time to retire from the room. Jus found a balcony and leaped over it, then let the two faerie lords follow him into the woods. Hidden by the trees, the big man sat and laid out tiny paper packets on his knee.
“The body has been dead longer than two hours. There wasrigor. I’d make it three or four hours dead, meaning he’d been dead beforeEscalla was seen entering the room.”
Stroking his goatee, Lord Faen nodded. “A hostile mind mightargue that the effects of the poison caused the muscles to freeze in spasm.”
“Yes. It’s not proof.” Jus stroked his chin. “But the mouthwas red at the back of the tongue. He was orally poisoned and then stung later by the cone shell. The shell wound hadn’t bled, not even a bead. His blood wasalready cold when the puncture was made.”
Pacing carefully back and forth, Lord Charn cleared his throat in thought.
“Was someone making certain of his kill? A poison draughtthen the more definite poison administered at a later time?”
“Possibly. The poison glasses were a decoy, though. There wasno burning of the victim’s mouth tissues. I find that interesting.” Jus openedup one of the tiny packets of paper on his knee. Inside, carefully pinned in a slot of the paper lay a single delicate piece of black thread. He gave it to the faeries, who leaned over it and thoughtfully stroked their beards.
“A thread from clothing?”
Jus shook his head. “It seems too clean. Threads ripped fromclothing show furred surfaces from the abrasion.” Jus leaned in closer. “This isa thread I found elsewhere. Identical to this second thread, from Escalla’sdoorjamb. They’re the same length and neatly cut, like threads bunched and allcut to a length.”
There was a sudden cool flood of understanding from Lord Charn. “Gateway tokens.”
“Gateway tokens.” Jus held up the threads. “Keys used totravel through the forest’s magic doors.”
Escalla’s father sat on a tree stump that had been colonizedby orange fungi. The fungi gleamed like fruit peel as the faerie lord used the shelves to rest his boots.
“I have a master list of the gates and keys we know of. Iwill look and see which ones require black silk.”
Jus nodded and asked, “Where do the gates go?”
“From here? Only to the forest. Within the forest, there aregates to other places across the Flanaess. The forest seems to have served as a travel nexus.” The man rose to his feet. “What are we looking for? Who killedTarquil?”
“A faerie-a faerie who travels through a gate triggered byblack thread, a faerie who could not resist taking the slowglass necklace for his own. The murderer had access to a marine cone shell and knew how to handle it and had the means to keep it alive. And he was able to pass your guards without suspicion.”
Unhappy, Lord Faen plucked at his beard and said, “I cannotuse this to clear Escalla’s name. There is evidence enough to convict her ifSable presses for a judgment. We must catch the murderer and link the cone shell, black threads, and motive to them.”
“It can be done.” Jus kept the tiny golden link broken fromEscalla’s necklace in his hand. “This gold link was part of the slowglassnecklace. We can use it for a location spell to find the rest of the necklace, if you have a mage capable of casting it.”
“We have mages capable of casting it.” Charn arose onwhirring wings. “I will arrange it, and I will fetch the master gate list.”
“Then we will find your murderer.” Jus arose, his kneescracking and autumn leaves drifting from his clothes. “We have the tools. Wemerely need the time.”
Back at the castle cellar, Enid, Polk, and Escalla were busystuffing themselves with a favorite delicacy-ham sandwiches made with freshwhite bread and butter. With all due seriousness, Enid sat holding a little sandwich between her great paws. The mule stood in one corner, its eyes nervous as it listened to creatures hooting in the night.
Meanwhile, Polk slathered butter upon more bread and let his voice boom into the gloom. “Don’t worry, girl! False accusations are all part ofthe deal! Without false accusations, you don’t get righteous indignation!Without righteous indignation, you don’t get mighty oaths! Without oaths, youdon’t get gods interfering with heroic souls, and we can’t have heroic soulsrunning about doing stuff without being guided by the gods. Stands to reason!”
Worried and annoyed, Escalla looked at him across the surface of a titanic sandwich. “What are you on about now?”
“Gods, girl! Heroes are heroes because they’re tools of thegods!”
“Polk, what’s heroic about being a theological hand puppet?Anyway, have you seen the names these gods give themselves?” Escalla took amouthful of bread and ham. “Ne’fer fo’ow a god whosh name reads like shomefingfrom an apothecary’s shelf!”
Her freckles living a life of their own in the gloom, Enid licked butter from her paws and said, “I made a glove puppet once!”
Stones shifted at the door. Without looking up, Escalla made another sandwich filled with extra ham. “Hey, Jus!”
The big man loomed in the blockaded door, checking that all was well. “We’re moving out. You’re ready?”
“Yep. Spellbooks read, and I’m all charged up!”
“You didn’t set a guard?”
“Invisible servant. You just passed him. If it was anyoneelse, he’d have smashed a bottle on the castle wall.” Escalla rose and looked atJus, handing him the sandwich and trying not to appear as anxious as she felt.
“So did you go and… you know… see the dead guy andall?”
“Yes.” Jus looked levelly at the girl. “Tell me: were youquiet when you went into the room?”
“Ah, maybe?”
“You never noticed he was dead?”
“Um, well he did seem a little subdued.” Escalla blinked. “Sohe was dead all the time?”
“Looks like it.” Jus helped shift rocks aside, clearing apath into the castle. “Your father’s here. The murderer took your slowglassnecklace, and we have a locator. We’re going to look at a gate we’ve found. It’sthe one the murderers used to escape.”