Page 63 of A Drop of Corruption

“He says he doesn’t know,” she explained as he spoke. “Because he wasn’t there. That’s why he’s still alive, along with the others we fought. They went on watch, and came back and found the place…changed. Shouted to the people within the wall of trees and…and they heard nothing, and guessed all within were dead.”

“Does he know why it happened?” I asked. “What we saw back there wasn’t a mistake.”

She spoke to him; Latha shrugged, but when he responded, his face was full of fear.

“He…says he thinksthe kingcame,” Malo said slowly. “And he found them wanting. Not worthy. A…failure? And so he cursed them.”

“The…king?” I asked. “The Yarrow king?”

Malo shook her head. “Can’t be.” She spoke to him, more, and the man hesitated a long time before whispering his response.

“He says it was done by the…thepale king,watcher of the waters,who is different from all other men, for he is blessed with…with great foresight?” She shook her head, confused, and asked him something else, insisting he explain. He responded, pointing at the trees, then the skies, then his face. “The pale king has the invisible eye that predicts all,” she said. “He thinks the king even predicted his capture, and what he says now, every word.”

“You think this man’s mad?” I asked her dubiously. “He doesn’t look mad.”

“Superstitious, yes,” Malo said. “Starving, yes. Ignorant, definitely. But, no, not mad.”

“What does this king look like?” I asked.

Malo asked, and she listened to his murmured answer. “He says he doesn’t know that, either,” she said. “Says the king…wore a mask all the time.” The man jabbed a finger at our warding helms, and he spoke on for a bit. “Like a warding helm. But painted…white? It looked as a skull, he says. The king was never seen without it.”

“This king wore a warding helm at all times?”

“That’s what he says,” said Malo.

I considered this. “When did this king first appear?”

She asked, listened to him speak again, and translated. “Over two years ago,” she said. “He says the king came to them and…hired them? Paid them?”

“Is this pale king working with them, or are they working for him?”

Malo flapped a hand at me impatiently as the man spoke on. “He says…the king emerged from the forest like a spirit from the old days, and spoke to the Kachu clan, and proposed a deal. He would pay them a fortune to steal one shipment of reagents.”

I raised a hand. “Hold there. This king—he spoke Pithian?”

She spoke to Latha, who nodded.

“How well did he speak the language?” I asked. “Clumsily? Perfectly?”

She asked and translated: “Perfectly. Like a native.”

I frowned at this: our quarry this far had seemed an expert in all things imperial. It troubled me to hear me he was also so deft in all things Yarrow. I waved at them to continue.

Latha spoke on, and Malo translated: “The king made the job very simple for them, for he knew everything about the shipment. Where it would be, where it’d be stored, how it’d be guarded. The Kachu clan did this task, and the king was pleased, and…and suggested they become allies. The clan had come to see his wisdom and foresight, and agreed. He would tell them where the shipments would come and how to attack them, and they would do the plundering. Every time, they made a fortune, and grew rich.”

I studied Latha’s fearful face, then glanced at Malo. “Should it be possible for someone to know such things?” I asked.

“No,” she said firmly. “Hell no.”

“Then how did the king know when and where to attack the boats?” I asked.

“Because…the king knew all?” Malo translated uncertainly as Latha spoke. “He knew all things of all people. He could see someone, and look at them, and…know things of them, instantly. Their accomplishments. Their histories. Their sins. The king could look at a man’s walk, he says, and know every person he’d seen that day. From the quickest glance, he could know all. No secret was safe from him.”

I felt a flicker in my heart. The testimony of the guard outside Sujedo’s rooms returned to me:It seemed a clever thing, to know so much from just a glance. I supposed it was just something Sublimes like you could do, sir.

“Ask him if this king ever tapped on things,” I said.

Again, Malo asked for me. The man’s face grew grave. He answered, and she translated. “He says the king did tap,” she said quietly. “Tapped on everything around him. Stones, trees, everything. He wants to know how we knew this.”