And then, with a final shudder, lay still.
'Seilloah?' It was a whisper, at first, then a cry almost loud enough to be heard beyond the alley. 'Seilloah!' He searched frantically, actually digging through the garbage as though some other animal might lie hidden therein. 'Seilloah!'
It couldn't end this way! Not for her…
'I'm here, Corvis.' The voice was weak, her breath ragged and gasping. 'I'm all right.'
From atop a fence, a tortoiseshell alley cat bounded to the ground, stumbling slightly. Corvis frowned at the awkward landing, and wondered if the patches of mange on the creature's fur had been there moments before.
'Don't scare me like that, Seilloah,' he said, slumping against the wall.
'Scare you?' It was peculiar, more so even than listening to it speak, to hear a cat laugh. But then, more seriously, 'I'm not sure how many more times I can do that.'
'What about a person?' Irrial interjected. Corvis jumped a bit. He'd all but forgotten she was there.
'What about a person?' he asked.
'Seilloah, I mean. Wouldn't a human body last longer, since it's meant to house a human soul?'
Four eyes, two human, two feline, widened in shock.
'Say, that's not a bad idea. The lady may not be entirely hopeless after all.'
'Oh, for the gods' sakes… I'm not advocating it. You two haven't completely corrupted me. I'm just wondering why you don't do it.'
'Can't be done,' Seilloah said. 'Not by any magics I practice, anyway. It's because of the soul. I can't impose mine on a body that already has one, and I can't ride anything that's already dead.'
Irrial nodded. 'I guess that makes sense.'
'I hope so. I'm too tired to explain it any further.'
Corvis reached a hand toward the cat. 'I can carry you, for a bit.'
'That might be nice.' She sniffed and recoiled as he hefted her in his arms. 'Corvis, are you drunk?'
He couldn't help but chuckle. 'No, I'm not drunk. I had just enough ale to make them think I was getting sloshed along with them.'
'Well,' Irrial muttered impatiently, 'I hope you learned more than I did. Nobody I spoke with wanted to say much. Thought it an unseemly topic. Might drive away customers.'
'A bit,' Corvis said as they moved back into the crowded streets. Seilloah climbed from his arms and draped herself across his left shoulder. 'It seems-Seilloah, must you?'
She froze, claws half extended, in the midst of kneading his chest. 'I'm sorry, Corvis. Instinct, I suppose. I'll try to pay more attention.'
'I'd sure appreciate it.' He turned back to Irrial. 'So it seems the killings occurred in two separate locations: the ducal keep, which is probably crawling with more soldiers than a brothel offering free samples, and a home belonging to the majordomo of one of the Guildmasters. I'm thinking that'll be the easier one to get into.'
To get into, perhaps, but not necessarily to find. While Corvis had wormed the house's general vicinity from the soldiers in the Third Sheet, he felt he'd have been pressing his luck trying to pin them down to specific directions. For long hours he and Irrial wandered the streets of one of Denathere's fancier neighborhoods, nodding politely to passersby in colorful bloused tunics, gleaming brocades, and whatever other foolishness the aristocracy could foist off under the guise of 'style.' They dodged horse-drawn carriages trundling over cobblestones, squinted at homes whitewashed to a blinding sheen, gagged at the cloying aroma of flower gardens that had survived the sweltering summer, and found nothing at all out of the ordinary.
Yes, Corvis had anticipated that any obvious signs of violence would have long since been swept away, but he'd figured on spotting some indication-a house with a boarded-up window or a newly replaced door, a property that pedestrians crossed the street to avoid, something.
'That one.' Seilloah, whom Corvis had thought to be sound asleep on his shoulder, raised her muzzle at a modest house they'd passed twice already-when the witch actually had been asleep.
'Are you sure?'
'I smell old blood.'
Corvis shrugged at Irrial, drawing a sharp yelp of protest from his passenger. 'I guess that makes sense.'
'As much as any of this does,' the baroness replied.
As casually as they could, they lingered, watching. Now that they were focused on it, they did indeed note that the locals quickened their pace just a bit as they went by, as though fearful of being spotted by someone within.
'All right,' Corvis said finally to Irrial. 'I think we wait for evening, and then you keep watch on the road while I take a look inside.'
'Maybe I should go. If there's trouble, it's likely to be outside, right?'
He shook his head. 'I'm not looking to get into a fight with the guard, Irrial. Besides, you don't know what to look for. If anyone shows up who you can't distract or dissuade, I'll give them my bounty hunter story.'
'I'm not sure that'll justify you being inside the house.'
'It's a better excuse than you could-'
'Or,' Seilloah interrupted, 'you could, you know, send the person who won't draw any attention or suspicion at all since she happens to be a cat just now.'
Corvis turned away, so embarrassed that he was certain even his beard must be blushing. 'Say, I've got a thought,' he told them a moment later. 'Why don't we send Seilloah?'
The tip of the witch's tail flicked against the back of Corvis's neck. 'What a remarkable idea,' she said. SILENT AND INEXORABLE as an embarrassing memory, Seilloah padded across the yard. A frightened sparrow took off in a flutter of feathers, while a handful of insects and what sounded like a squirrel skittered away through the garden, but otherwise no one and nothing marked her passage. She remained fixed on her objective, ignoring both the vague urge to chase after those fleeing creatures, and the hot, infected ache of lesions forming beneath her matted fur as feline body and human soul seared each other.
The violence hadn't been limited to the house. She could smell where the blood had seeped into the soil, run between the stones of the walkway. This near to the earth she saw scratches in the cobblestones and pebbles, perhaps where weapons were dropped or armored bodies fell. If the murderer had battled someone outside, there might be witnesses; she made a mental note to mention it to Corvis.
Corvis. Seilloah felt a surge of uncharacteristic anger, and though she squelched it with a will so strong it had already defied death, she could not wholly forget it. Twenty-three years ago, six years ago, it didn't matter; she'd joined him willingly, stood by his side committing horrors scarcely less foul than his own. She'd well understood there might one day be a price to pay, and it had never stopped her. And it had been the Baron of Braetlyn's blade, not the Terror of the East's, that had cut her down.
Yet she could not entirely shrug off the chilling knowledge that she was already dead save for the formalities, wasting away her last days in a sequence of diseased, agonizing bodies-and that it was, in part, because of Corvis Rebaine.
Seilloah leapt from the grass to land atop a windowsill and wormed her tiny form between the wobbly shutters. Again the scent of death wafted over her, and she directed her attentions to the task at hand.
She wouldn't blame Corvis, at least not much-and certainly no more than he would himself. And if the witch required any small vengeance on the friend she'd followed unto death, his own guilt would surely suffice. THE HOUSE HAD BEEN CLEANED, at least to an extent. The worst of the blood and other humors had been washed away, the tattered bodies and mangled clothes removed, the shattered furniture discarded. Still, senses far less acute than those Seilloah currently enjoyed would have detected lingering signs of murder. The carpet looked diseased, showing stains of a deep, brittle brown. Several walls were badly scorched, and a few corners retained bits of splintered wood. The stench was overwhelming to her feline nose, and even if she were to go utterly blind, she'd have easily pinpointed the precise locations where death had come.
Between the distractions of her new form and the agonies of her current condition, Seilloah could perhaps be forgiven for initially failing to discover anything of import. Yes, some of the victims had died by fire and some by blade, some by magic and some brute force, but this they already knew. And yes, she could, if asked, have provided a precise count of the slain, but she couldn't imagine what possible value such information might
