"You think Delvin and those women look to poison us? What would be the easiest way to do that?"
"In food or drink, our Reah." Farzi had called me our Reah. I think he meant his and the other reptanoids. I didn't mind the title. I nodded. The same thing had occurred to me. I sent mindspeech to Ry.
Reah? His question came back.
Ry, can you put a shield or a guard or something on the kitchen, so we'll know if anybody tries to poison the food or drinks?
Ry didn't answer for several ticks. When he did, he shocked me.
Em-pah Wylend is on his way with Dad.
What? I almost shrieked my question aloud.
Meet us in the pantry, Ry ordered. I hauled Farzi along with me and met Ry in the pantry. Wylend Arden and Erland Morphis appeared only ticks later.
"Here." Wylend handed a fine gold necklace to me, one to Ry and smiled when he handed one to Farzi. Farzi stared at Wylend.
"Farzi," I cautioned, "you may not tell this tale to any except yours." Farzi was nodding, struck speechless, I think. Wylend looked as if he'd been at High Court or something, he was dressed so finely. He also had a gold band settled around his head, with jewels winking in it. He was King of Karathia and looked the part.
"These," Erland explained, "will tell you whether your food has been poisoned. Here's an extra for Tory, just in case." Erland handed another necklace to Ry.
"That must be extremely helpful," I muttered, slipping the chain over my head and settling the small, jeweled charm inside my shirt. Farzi watched and did the same.
"I would do this and many other things for you, my darling." Wylend leaned down to kiss me. Now I was the one struck speechless. Wylend and Erland disappeared just as quickly as they came.
When I regained some of my sense, I discovered that Ry was grinning widely. I wanted to smack him. "Who was that?" Farzi mumbled.
"Farzi, that was the King of Karathia," I whispered. Farzi's eyes grew even wider.
I learned just how effective the jewels were the next day—someone had poisoned the flour during the night, causing my jewel to send a slight jolt to my skin the moment I touched the canister in the kitchen. I dumped the flour, then went to the pantry to look for more. There wasn't any, so I skipped from there to the city, bought more and was back before anyone suspected. If Delvin wanted to pin the poisonings on me, then he needed to think again. I just wanted to catch whoever had done this and turn them over to Astralan or one of the others. I did pay close attention though, to anyone not eating the hotcakes I served for breakfast. Delvin, Carthin, all six women and the rest of Arvil's wizards refused. They were all in on it. Tory, Ry and I had a brief mental conversation over that.
Arvil wanted to inspect the fields after breakfast, so he and a few others went. Farzi, becoming even more helpful, asked Darzi and Chazi to follow Delvin and Arvil's other wizards. Yanzi and Hirzi were discreetly following the women. All reptanoids were going as lion snakes. Farzi appeared grimly determined—he was familiar with poison. I think if anyone his brothers followed made a wrong turn, they'd get poisoned in a more conventional manner.
Nenzi went to his repair shop—he loved that. I made a mental note to put him in charge of Arvil's vehicles on Campiaa—if any of us ever made it back there. I think I knew even then that if Norian Keef or Lendill Schaff wanted to lock up the reptanoids, they'd have to go through me first.
"Tell us what you know." Ry tossed Grish's former assistant onto the floor at Arvil's feet. We'd gone looking for a conspiracy among Grish's former employees. It wasn't difficult to find.
"You'll pay," the assistant hissed. "We've got more people behind us than you can possibly handle."
"You want to die, don't you?" Astralan was there with his brothers, which meant that Wilffox and Wilffin were also there. They'd taken comfortable chairs in a corner of what used to be Grish's study. It was large, just as Grish's ego had been.
"We will see that you die, instead," the assistant whined. Arvil now had him gripped by the shoulder. The shorter assistant didn't struggle—Delvin, Carthin and Arvil's four other wizards had arrived. I wasn't sure I wanted to watch Delvin and the others kill this one—they might not be as neat about their killing as the warlocks.
"We need to get the information first!" Ry shouted but it was already too late—Carthin had attempted to do what Haral had done for Arvil before—setting the assistant on fire. I walked out before it was all over, it apparently took a while for the man to burn to death and his screams echoed throughout the plantation for almost a quarter click.
"So, what do you think, cook Reah?" Astralan climbed onto the top of the wood rail fence where I sat, gazing toward the fields of newly planted drakus seed. I would have to go back in a very short time—dinner would have to be started soon.
"I think Arvil's wizards got ahead of themselves for a reason, killing that man so fast," I said.
"We think this too—the Hardlows and my brothers."
"Those six women have already tried to poison everybody." My statement made Astralan jerk his head around to stare at me. "Did you notice that none of them ate the hotcakes the other morning?" I asked. "They poisoned the flour. I replaced the tainted flour in the canister before I cooked breakfast. If I find evidence that anyone has tampered with our food or supplies, I won't use it."
"They're not only trying to poison us, but attempting to blame you for it, perhaps?" I looked up at Astralan's face. Did I think he could actually be kind? That answer was no. I'd seen him kill too many times in the short time I'd known him.
"I hadn't thought that far, I guess," I muttered, lowering my gaze.
"Wilffox had his doubts, when Arvil told him that he'd named a young woman and her husband as his heirs. We came to check that out as much as anything else," Astralan informed me. "Honestly, I haven't seen the Hardlows this impressed in a very long time."
"I'm a good cook," I replied stiffly.
"Oh, it's not just that. And if they worried whether Teeg was competent, well, their fears are unfounded. I'll get with my employers. We can make arrangements not to get poisoned again, I think." Astralan hopped off the fence.
"I'll be there in a bit to start dinner," I said, watching the tall warlock walk away from me. I'd listened carefully to everything Astralan said. He hadn't lied. Now, something else was worrying me.
Dinner was roast pork with a glaze, potatoes and new vegetables. Farzi loves potatoes. I made them with him in mind. He smiled at me when his plate was laid in front of him.