Venom's Taste - Lisa Smedman [71]
He wrenched his mind back to the present. “How much do you know about the potion the flask contained?” he asked Drin.
“Only what the seller told me. That whoever drank it would be able to perform ‘mind magic’ that would duplicate a yuan-ti’s innate magical abilities.” He paused, and the creases in his brow deepened still further. “I sensed that there was something he wasn’t telling me, but I was still interested in buying.”
“Did you?” Arvin asked.
Drin shook his head. “I was outbid by another buyer, a yuan-ti slaver by the name of Ssarmn. Apparently he’s someone big in Skullport-someone you don’t refuse. The seller told me I shouldn’t be angry at being cut out of the deal, because the potion had an additional, undesirable effect on humans. It turned them into yuan-ti. Permanently. And there was more. Once the potion took effect, anyone who was transformed by it would unquestioningly obey any true yuan-ti who happened to give orders.”
Drin sat back in his chair and shrugged. “I thought the seller was trying to pacify me, so he wouldn’t lose my business; we’ve had dealings with each other for years. But maybe he was telling the truth. Is that what happened to your friend? Did he sprout a tail and grow scales?”
“Nothing so obvious as that,” Arvin said. “At least, not yet. His saliva turned venomous, but otherwise he appears human.”
Drin stared at Arvin then nodded. “Where did he get the potion?”
“He was forced to drink it. By a cleric.”
“One of Sseth’s?”
Arvin shook his head. “No. The cleric was human.”
“Why did he force your friend to drink it, then? Did he think it would make your friend obey him?”
“I’m not sure,” Arvin said. He thought back to what Kayla had said about the old sailor-about him instantly obeying the cultist’s command to attack. That compulsion could equally have been produced by a clerical spell. If what Drin had just said was true-if the potion in the rattle-shaped flasks compelled its victims to obey yuan-ti, but not humans-Naulg wouldn’t necessarily be a mindless servant of the Pox. Arvin just might be able to free him, even with the potion in Naulg’s system.
Unless a yuan-ti showed up at an inopportune moment.
Arvin was starting to have a clearer picture of what was going on-and why Osran Extaminos was involved. He was tricking the Pox into transforming the humans of Hlondeth into his willing servants. With an army of thousands at his disposal, Osran could easily snatch the throne away from his sister and would wind up ruling a city filled with complacent citizens.
A city of slaves.
“Did the seller in Skullport say whether there was a countermeasure that could negate the potion?” Arvin asked. “A counter-potion, for example?”
Drin shook his head. “If there is, I don’t know of it.”
Arvin sat back, disappointed. He wet his lips. “Thanks for the information,” he told Drin.
The potion seller rose to his feet. “Glad to give it,” he said, giving Arvin a knowing wink. “I hope it helps your ‘friend.’ ”
CHAPTER 12
24 Kythorn, Evening
Arvin walked through the night with his hands thrust into his trouser pockets, oblivious to the people who passed him on the narrow streets. At long last he had the information Zelia wanted, but he couldn’t give it to her, thanks to the geas Nicco had placed on him. Nor was he any closer to finding Naulg. None of his contacts in the Guild had seen the Pox, or heard any word of them-or smelled them.
In a short time-it was fast approaching Middark-the rebels would be making their assassination attempt on Osran Extaminos. Arvin toyed briefly with the idea of trying to reach Osran first, to see if he could charm information about the Pox out of the yuan-ti prince. But trying to sneak into the palace on the same night as an assassination attempt would be nothing short of suicidal.