Angado

anodyne of alcohol too often during the evening. Now he looked at his cousin. 'Ordinary chocolates.'

'Far from that, Angado. Once tasted they can never be forgotten. For a discerning palate the effect is incredible. Here!' Perotto touched a chocolate with the tip of a finger. 'Try this one.'

'Aren't they all the same?'

'Far from it. Each contains within itself an entire new world of titillation. In fact I can't resist their promise.' Perotto lifted the chocolate he had urged Angado to take, placed it within his mouth, closed his lips and sighed with audible satisfaction. 'Magnificent!'

He had eaten and it would be safe to do likewise and courtesy demanded the acceptance of the gift. Angado picked a chocolate, placed it within his mouth, bit down and was suffused with a sudden plethora of flavors. There was peach and apple and chard and a touch of grize and a hint of orange and the tang of grape and of embra and lemon and… and… and…

And a sharp, overwhelming thirst.

His goblet was empty but the servant was already making his way toward him. The wine accentuated rather than washed away the flavors, joining with them to tease his palate and to wake memories of the recent experience. One almost duplicated as he ate another sweet. Almost-as Perotto had said there were differences and now he tasted blood and leather and the sweat from hides and horn and more subtle exudations from a hundred living things. Tastes which aroused strange stirrings and sent his hand again to the refilled goblet, the goblet to his mouth, the wine to his stomach.

Close to him a woman laughed with a thin, vicious chittering.

'Drink deep, Lord Karroum, it will help you to bear your loss. But don't worry, your friend will return.'

'Unless Wynne kills him.'

'A good sleep and he'll be as good as new and think of the fun you'll have scolding him.'

More laughter and more wine to drown the sound and another chocolate and still more wine. And more laughter and too many grinning faces and walls that moved and air that stank.

And a floor that rose to hit him in the face to the sound of ribald cheers.

* * *

Dumarest heard the noise as the raft settled to land, the yelling incorporating a name which sent him jumping over the side and into the room before Wynne had time to kill the engine. Angado lay where he had fallen, face down on the carpet, a ring of shouting party goers laughing and deriding his condition. They scattered as Dumarest burst through them to stoop over the fallen man.

'Don't worry about him, Earl.' A tall, young, languid man smiled as he reached out to touch Dumarest's arm. 'I may call you that? It's much better to be on friendly terms, don't you think? I'm Yip Zaremba-you can call me Yip. Or anything you like as long as it's nice. But don't worry about your friend. He's just drunk too much. Once he's sober he'll be all over you unless-'

He staggered back, blood dripping from his lips as Dumarest lashed the back of his hand against the simpering mouth. To Wynne who had joined him he snapped, 'Get some water. Salt too. Hurry!'

'Earl-'

'Do it!'

Angado sagged in his arms as Dumarest lifted him, bending him over a table which he swept clear with a brush of his arm. A woman screamed as he snatched feathers from her ornate headdress then fell silent, watching as Dumarest forced open Angado's mouth with the fingers of his left hand, standing behind and beside him as he was thrust the bunch of feathers down the exposed throat.

'Earl?' Wynne had returned with a jug of water and a container of salt. 'Shall I mix them?'

He nodded, busy with the feathers, feeling the limp body in his arms begin to jerk and heave. A moment then vomit sprayed from Angado's mouth to spatter the table with regurgitated wine, food, blobs of nameless substance.

'Now!'

Wynne poured as Dumarest kept open the mouth, wiping it clean with his hand before bending Angado over again, using the feathers as before, again causing the limp man to empty his stomach in a liquid gout.

'More.'

'Earl, is it-'

'More!'

Angado struggled as the water entered his mouth, pushing at Dumarest with weak hands, barely aware but conscious of his discomfort. As Wynne emptied the jug Perotto came through the crowd to watch as Dumarest clamped his arms around the young man, jerking to constrict the stomach, again flooding the table with a now almost clear fluid.'

'What's going on here? What are you doing? If the man is ill a doctor should be summoned. This conduct is inexcusable.'

'He was drunk.' Zaremba thrust himself forward, caked blood on his mouth. 'I went to help and this boor struck me. A matter of jealousy it seems. I-' He broke off, backing as Dumarest turned toward him. 'That is, I mean, well, they seem to be friends.'

'Of course!' Perotto beamed, extending his hands in a gesture of welcome. 'You must be Earl. I should have recognized you from Angado's description. Still taking care of him, I see.'

'Someone has to.'

'And you are best suited for the task. We must talk, you and I. Later perhaps? Before you leave?'

Dumarest nodded and led Angado to the windows, the cool air outside. A fountain cast a crystal shower into the air, droplets illuminated with subtle glows, mist that flowed as if made of silk. Light that showed the area deserted, sound that masked his voice.

'All right, what happened?' Dumarest frowned as he listened. 'Chocolates?'

'They were harmless. Perotto ate one before my very eyes.'

'One?'

'Yes, just the one.' Angado frowned, thinking. 'It didn't seem to make him thirsty but when I ate one I had to gulp down some wine. The same with the others but the one he ate didn't affect him at all.' His face took on a deeper pallor as he realized the implication. 'Poison?'

'I doubt it. Just something to get you drunk but all kinds of accidents can happen to a man who can barely stand. Or perhaps he merely wanted to make you look a fool. Lord Hedren Angado Nossak Karroum the Seventh- crawling and puking on the floor. Who would respect you after that?'

'Who will now?'

Dumarest said, 'You were ill. A blockage in the windpipe or a constriction of the epiglottis-there is no need to go into detail. You've had it before and I recognized the signs. How did you get on with Perotto?'

'What?' Angado blinked, then shrugged. 'He put the blame on a clerk. The allowance will be resumed together with that owing and with an increase. He was most apologetic and promised it will never happen again.'

'Do you believe him?' Then, as Angado hesitated, Dumarest added, 'You were reported dead. Did he explain that?'

'Of course. A message from the Thorn. He had it all to hand, Earl. The answer to every question I might ask. Once, I would have swallowed every word but not now. I've learned to be mistrustful.' Angado gave a wry smile. 'It seems I've still a lot to learn.'

'We all make mistakes.'

'I make too many. You warned me but still I acted the fool.' Angado swayed and would have fallen had not Dumarest caught his arm. 'Those damned chocolates,' he muttered. 'Earl!'

'Drink water and bring it up.' Dumarest half-lifted Angado to the fountain. 'Wash out your stomach. Quick now!' He watched as the other obeyed. 'Better?'

'I feel awful.'

'Sick?'

'Queasy and my head aches like hell. That's just what I feel like.'

And looked. Dumarest studied the pale face, the sweat dewing cheeks and forehead, the color of the eyes. Any poison would have been eliminated unless it was a subtle variety which had passed immediately into the