Viper's Kiss - Lisa Smedman [56]
"What will you do next?"
Arvin was wondering that, himself. Even with the dorje intact, he might not have been able to locate Glisena. Whatever was preventing her from being located by wizardry and clerical magic might very well block psionics, as well. There was one person, however, who wasn't shielded by magic.
"I'm going to pay a visit to Ambassador Extaminos," Arvin told the baron.
Foesmasher frowned. "To what end?"
"It's possible that Sibyl plans to use the child as a means to force Dmetrio to do her bidding," Arvin explained. "Demands may already have been made- and if they have, and it's Naneth who's making them, Dmetrio may be our way of finding her. And through her, Glisena."
"Excellent," the baron said. "Let's go there at once. If he doesn't tell us what we want to know-"
"That might not be such a good idea, Lord Foe- smasher," Arvin said in a careful voice. "Your presence might… agitate the ambassador. And an agitated mind will be harder for my psionics to penetrate. The best chance we have of learning more is if I meet with the ambassador alone."
The baron toyed with Arvin's dagger, considering this. "Was it mind magic that allowed you to find the target with your eyes closed," he asked, testing the dagger's balance, "or the magic of this dagger?"
"Neither," Arvin said, surprised by the change of subject. "I've worked as a net weaver and rope maker since the age of six. It makes for nimble fingers-you learn to be quick with a knife. Target practice does the rest."
The baron handed him the dagger. "Helm grant that the questions you put to Ambassador Extaminos also find their mark."
*****
Arvin paced impatiently in the reception hall, angry at having been kept waiting an entire morning. Dmetrio's house slaves had provided him with wine and food-roasted red beetles the size of his fist, pre-cracked and drizzled with herbed butter-but Arvin waved away the yuan-ti delicacy. He'd already blunted the worst of his hunger at the palace and was too restless to eat. He ignored the smooth stone platform the slaves urged him to recline on and instead paced back and forth across the tiled floor, staring at the locked door of the basking room. At last it opened and a slave, bent nearly double under the weight of the jug of oil he carried, stepped through. Arvin strode toward the door.
"Wait!" the slave cried through the scarf that covered his mouth. "There's osssra inside. You mustn't go in there!"
"Too late," Arvin muttered as he pushed past the slave. "I'm already in."
The air in the basking room was thick with smoke that smelled like a combination of mint tea, singed moss, and burning sap. It hit Arvin's nostrils like a slap across the face, leaving them watering. As he breathed in the smoke, the room swayed and his legs began to tremble. He staggered, catching himself on one of the pillars that held up the domed ceiling. He clung to it, shaking his head, fighting the waves of dizziness.
A low chuckle helped him focus. Still clutching at the pillar, he turned toward the sound.
Dmetrio Extaminos lay in a shallow pool in the floor a few paces away. His naked, scaled body was coiled under him; it gleamed from the oil that filled the pool. His upper torso rose from it, bending back like a snake's. He looked up at Arvin with a languid expression, slit eyes wide and staring, his dark hair slicked back from his high forehead. A forked tongue flickered out of his mouth, tasting the smoke-filled air.
"Ah," he said. "The rope merchant's agent. Are you really here… or just part of my dream?"
Smoke drifted slowly from the half dozen lidded pots that surrounded the pool, drawing Arvin's eye. He watched, fascinated, as amber-colored tendrils twisted toward the ceiling. Only when he heard the slither of Dmetrio shifting position was he able to wrench his eyes away from the smoke. He shook his head violently, trying to concentrate. The smoke, he thought. He should have listened to the servant's warning. He tried to manifest the power that would allow him to overhear Dmetrio's thoughts, but his own thoughts were too sluggish;