mugger. The lieutenant wanted her to identify him.
'That was good work,' the other icarus said with approval. 'Have you ever thought about joining the military corps? You've got the guts for it.'
'Actually, I just took the diplomacy exams. When you walked in, I thought you were bringing my results.'
'They'll be delivered to your dispatch office. Diplomacy, huh? Too bad. If it doesn't work out, keep us in mind. You wouldn't need to memorize all that cultural scrap, and we could use a talented flier like you.'
'Thanks.' She nodded, although she didn't think she could take a job where she might have to kill someone. Just looking at Lt. Amcathra's note made her feel guilty all over again. 'Does the lictor want me right now?'
'Of course he does. He's at Tallyfield Station. You want to walk, or should I get your wings from the docks?'
'I can walk down there in the time it would take you to sign out my wings,' she said, with a touch of regret. 'Tell him I'm on my way. Do they have the man in custody?'
'I don't know anything about it,' he said, shrugging. 'None of my business.'
'Oh. Well, thank you. Fly safely.'
'You too.' He waved and ducked through the doorway. Taya told her friends where she was going, then ran upstairs to grab her coat and gloves.
The walk down Cliff Road was cold and long, but Secundus was still lively in the early evening, with people dining and drinking, attending plays and hurrying to friends’ houses. In half an hour she was at Tallyfield Plaza, where the lictor station was lit by bright gas lamps and filled with guards hurrying in and out.
She stood a moment in the main foyer, blinking and pulling off her gloves.
'Icarus.' Lt. Amcathra stepped out of an office and beckoned to her. 'Very good. I require you to look at the face of the prisoner and tell me if he is the man who attacked you.'
'Is he here?'
'He is in a hospital within the vicinity. His health is not good, or else I do not think we should have found him.' The lictor grabbed a coat from one of the chairs along the hallway and pulled it on, striding outside.
'How bad is it?'
'Not good.'
'Oh. You're handling the case, then? I thought you'd be investigating the wireferry accident.'
'That investigation is also in progress.'
'You must be the lictor who gets all the tough jobs,' she joked, hurrying to keep up with him as he walked. He didn't answer, and although she studied his face, his black lictor's stripe and Demican stolidity made his expression impossible to read.
Deciding she'd get nowhere trying to engage him in small talk, Taya concentrated on following him through the crowds.
The hospital was a small private building tucked away in a back street. As soon as they entered it, Taya realized that it was under military control, with barred windows and lictors stationed at the doors. One of the lictors unlocked the door that led into the Demican's hospital room.
'That's him,' Taya said at once, recognizing her attacker's face in the lamplight. Then she stepped forward, alarmed. He was breathing irregularly, and he looked pale. 'What's wrong?'
'Infection.'
'Oh, Lady.' She felt a chill. 'Was it—'
'The knife wound was deep, and he did not have it tended at once.'
'Is he going to die?'
'I do not know. I am certain the physicians will do what they can.' Amcathra sounded uninterested.
The Demican prisoner opened his eyes and looked straight at her. Taya recoiled, and Amcathra's hand fell on her arm, moving her aside. He stepped up to the bedside and looked down at his ancestral countryman.
'This icarus has positively identified you as the man who attacked her,' he snapped, in Demican. 'Do you understand me?'
The wounded man took a labored breath.
'I understand.'
'You were working with two Alzanans.'
'They left me to die.'
'Of course,' Amcathra agreed. 'What else would you expect from a Southerner? A warrior should choose honorable companions, not thieves.'
'I am shamed.' The man fought for breath again, lips pale. 'Please do not tell my family.'
'Who were your partners?'
'Delfo,' the man husked. 'And Miceli. Delfo had the net. Leader.'
'Where did you meet them?'
'A bar in Slagside. Red door.'
'Name?'
'I do not know.'
Amcathra nodded.
'Very well. I will return with an artist for a better description later. Rest and heal, warrior. You may live to regain your honor, if you are lucky.'
The man nodded once and closed his eyes. Taya slipped next to Amcathra and touched the man's hand.
'You fought well,' she said, also in Demican.
The man pried his eyes open once more, looking at her.
'And you,' he replied, formally. 'But the gun. That is not a warrior's weapon.'
'It will be,' Amcathra predicted, and then drew her away. 'Come,' he said, switching back to Ondinium. 'Let him rest. I do not believe he will trouble you again.'
Taya waited until they were outside. 'Will he go free, if you catch the Alzanans?'
'That will depend upon the judge. Maybe he will die of his wounds.'
Taya made a face at the Demican's cold pragmatism. 'I hope not.'
'You will not be found at fault, if he does. Your testimony and that of Exalted Forlore makes it clear that you acted in self defense.'
'Forlore — you mean, Alister? The decatur?'
'No.'
'Cristof?'
'Yes. I will ask him to identify the man tomorrow, also, but it is only to be thorough.'
She made a face. 'Icarii get called away from their dinners, but exalteds get to wait until morning?'
'Victims are called without delay, and secondary witnesses are allowed to wait until the next day,' Amcathra corrected her. 'Exalted Forlore's testimony is of less importance than yours.'
'I'm sorry,' Taya said at once. 'That makes sense.'
'You will tell your friend that we did not beat or brainwash you or your attacker.'
Taya laughed. 'I said I was sorry! But yes, I'll tell him.'
'You were kind to compliment the prisoner's fighting, though he does not deserve such honor.'
'Well, he probably would have killed me, if… if Exalted Forlore hadn't come along and shot him.'
'Someday guns will come to Demicus,' Amcathra said, with a touch of regret in his voice. 'Every Demican will kill with the twitch of a finger, and a warrior's bravery will mean nothing.'
'Ondinium doesn't sell arms.'
'Not all countries are so cautious. If our elders are wise, they will seek guidance from the Council of Ondinium before Demicus embraces foreign weapons.'
'They wouldn't do that, would they? I thought Demicans believed Ondinium is hell.' Demican legends of hell included stories of black skies and flying spirits.
'Ondinium may be hell, but it is an orderly hell. Demicus will not be so orderly, once guns arrive.'
