The Dark Remains - Mark Anthony [140]
“What does this have to do with spiders?” Falken said.
“Everything,” Durge said. “I cannot speak to your dreams, Lady Lirith, or of the visions beheld by the witches of Tarras. However, I do know what I have witnessed with my own eyes. Three days ago, as we departed the Etherion, only moments before the priests of Vathris were slain, I glimpsed several priests who I had not seen participating in the discourse. They were moving quickly, as if they did not wish to be seen. And they wore dark gray robes woven with pale gray threads.”
Melia stood up, and the kitten fell with a yowl to the floor, extending its feet only at the last moment to catch itself.
“Priests of Sif.” Her amber eyes flashed. “You believe Sif is the murderer.”
Durge nodded. “From all we have learned, it can be the only answer. We know from Lirith’s visit to the goldsmiths that Ondo had refused to make the amulets of gold the arachnid god desired for his priests. We also know that, recently, the followers of Ondo were robbed of some of their gold. It is my belief that, thwarted in his desire, Sif determined to gain the gold by any means possible. First he murdered Ondo, casting the goldsmiths in disarray. Then he murdered priests of various temples in order to sow chaos and confusion, to make sure the Etherion would not work together to discover him. Finally, he plotted with another god to steal from the guild of goldsmiths.”
“Geb,” Aryn said, the pieces falling into place in her mind. Lirith was right; she should not have doubted Durge. “That’s why you found the gold coin in the sewer.”
“So I believe,” Durge said. “Only it was not a coin that I found, but a slug. I should have known it immediately, given its smooth faces. I use slugs made of lead in my alchemical work. But gold slugs are used in the making of jewelry. Geb’s followers must have stolen the gold and transported it through the sewers beneath the city, dropping the slug in their haste.”
Falken ran a hand through his silver-shot hair. “Wait a minute, Durge. If Sif made a deal with Geb to steal Ondo’s gold, why did he turn around and murder Geb? It wouldn’t make any sense to murder his partner in crime.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” Durge said. “Unless Geb betrayed Sif and kept the gold for himself. After all, Geb is the god not just of beggars, but of thieves as well.”
Falken slapped his gloved hand to his forehead. “Of course! That’s why Geb’s followers are in hiding. They should have been out in force, using the death of their god to gain sympathy and charity, but instead they’ve hidden themselves deep in the sewers. They don’t want the guild of goldsmiths to find out they were in league with Ondo’s murderer, and they don’t want Sif to take out his revenge on them as he did their god, or to find out where they’ve hidden the gold.”
Melia paced before the window, her small hands clenched into fists. “I should have seen it! Sif ever was a spinner of webs.” She moved to Durge. “Thank you,” she said simply, and the knight bowed low before her.
“There’s still one thing I don’t understand,” Lirith said. “You told us yourself, Melia, that in all the history of Tarras one god has never slain another. So how did Sif manage to murder both Ondo and Geb?”
“I don’t know,” Melia said, her eyes glittering like sparks on copper. “But I intend to find out. Let us go to the temple of Sif at once. I’m going to give those priests—”
A sharp knock at the door interrupted Melia. Falken opened it, and a gangly young man rushed through, stumbling as his toe caught the hem of his simple white robe.
“Landus!” Aryn blurted, then winced at her rudeness. But while Landus wasn’t the last person she might have expected to come tumbling through their door, he certainly had to be near the bottom of the list.
Durge steadied the acolyte with strong hands. The young man hastily untangled his robe and looked up. As he did, Aryn sucked in a breath. The last time she had seen Landus, his broad face had been full of good cheer. Now his visage was strangely hard, his kind brown eyes glassy