“Fraxtseng! We must speak with you!” Tultamaan and Osoth were down to three companions, though their stories disagree on precisely who those companions were, and it doesn’t matter much, as the companions did approximately nothing but watch.
”… you may,” said Fraxtseng.
“Were you and Jaraswat Romantically Linked last night?”
”… that depends on what you mean by romance,” said Fraxtseng.
“A carnal encounter that lasted much of the night!”
”… less,” said Fraxtseng.
”… me + Yarenton + Questhraum are not exclusive, you must know that … Jaraswat certainly does … he pushed and pushed, demanded and demanded … a stone mage is pretty useless on this expedition … he promised me prestigious publications and deeds if i complied … three or four times a month … never told Questhraum or Yarenton …”
“No murders last night? Of small people in particular?”
”… just sex. one-sided sex.”
Osoth sighed, and turned to Tultamaan. “Jaraswat was telling the truth.”
“Jaraswat is a problem worse than the Murder,” said Tultamaan. “I do believe that he has made Mortal Enemies of two more drakes today — three, if Fraxtseng may be counted.”
”… i was trying to keep it private …” said Fraxtseng. ”… Yarenton would call it rape, but it’s not rape … it’s more of an exchange …”
Osoth said, “We are not concerned with your private life or whoredom. Mr. Norb was murdered horribly, and Jaraswat was briefly the prime suspect.” (Tultamaan reports that Fraxtseng’s reaction to the news was characteristic of an innocent dragon, or of course typical of a dragon who knew what an innocent dragon would do.)
”… Jaraswat didn’t, not last night …”
Tultamaan noted, “In fact he could have done, unless the Encounter with Fraxtseng took all night. But we have no longer any particular reason to suspect Jaraswat, save that he has the wixio and is Thoroughly Disreputable In Unrelated Regards.”
“Then we are back to having no suspects,” grumbled Osoth.
“Oh, our situation is Far Worse Than That,” said Tultamaan cheerfully. “Not only do we have a murder without suspects or evidence, we have an Incipient Vendetta of Fraxtseng’s partners against Jaraswat. If we are not careful and Far More Diplomatic Than You Have Been Today, it could well rip the expedition apart.”
⁂
Tultamaan was right, as always. The next week was entirely diplomacy. The murder, while it distressed and confounded the dragons, was a secondary matter. And, lacking all clues, it was not solved.
News from Kyspert
The Annunciation
«I disposed of both prophets today,» wrote Roroku. «Vem-Thu and Ko-Go-Nwa, both relegated to footnotes in religious history, and Ko-Go-Nwa still living to see it, too.»
«And you, of course, are the next and final prophet?»
«I am not merely a prophet, my dear queen!»
«Did you go all the way to declaring yourself a deity, then? Are you one of their current gods, or a new one? If you are declared to be a god, do you show up on your own theoception yet, or do I need to get Borybran to explain to me how that works?»
Roroku wrote, «I wriggle with amusement! No, I took a more moderate approach. I declared myself to be an angel, a messenger and lower-order kinsfolk of the gods. I gave certain signs by which angels might identify themselves!»
«Let me guess,» I answered, because this is a risky but established approach toward conquering worlds, and we have both been taught the lesson by the same teacher (Osoth’s mother, if you’re interested). «The unmistakeable signs of angelhood are things which kysps cannot naturally do, and you are quite familiar with. Shapeshifting?»
«Three signs: being able to turn into a dragon, being able to breathe fire, and being able to heal wounds instantly.»
«Classic!»
«Ko-Go-Nwa was rather deflated when I explained the new order to her! But I reaffirmed some of her prophecies and gave her honors. And of course got most of her followers that way. Vem-Thu was harder to persuade, being dead and all, but Vem-Thu’s successor Del-Nwa-Thu was susceptable to persuasion,» Roroku politely boasted. (Yes, boasting of one’s accomplishments is polite for dragons, and I’m glad to see Roroku being polite enough and self-confident enough to do it.)
«By ‘persuasion’ do you mean ‘claw through the belly’?» Because that’s how Llredh persuaded the government of Trest to surrender to him.
«I simply proclaimed, ‘the judgment of the gods is on you now!’ at the start of our discussion. And whenever he said something I didn’t like, I brushed him with my hukuchô, and asked him quietly if he’d like to reconsider that. After three incidents of intolerable dread and minor convulsions due to no material agency or action on my part, it turned out that he would like to reconsider all such. I gave him a benevolent kysp expression (they can’t smile per se, that would look horrid), and told him that by agreeing with me and working for me, he was becoming beloved of the gods.»
«Classic!» I wrote. (I had a long discussion with Nrararn that evening. He says that torturing even one small person into submission is a vile act, even if thereby you end a war that has been doing worse to grands of small people. It may be the better choice, says Nrararn, it may even be the best choice, but it is personally vile of the torturer, and should be considered dishonorable. I don’t agree in this case. I think that a dragon stopping a small-person war without actually killing anyone is rather impressive, and a bit of low-grade torture is a small punishment for a high priest whose orders have killed and agonized any number of kysps. After an hour or so, when it became clear that neither of us was going to convince the other nor to feel entirely happy with their own position either, we decided to copulate instead of debate. He won that, as always (in the sense of enjoying it.))
«Not as effective as acquiring Ko-Go-Nwa! Pockets of fanatical kysps decided that Del-Nwa-Thu was a traitor and apostate for surrendering to me, or perhaps for working for peace alongside Ko-Go-Nwa. So, fighting, and spellwork, and flying through here and there lashing around with my hukuchô, and burning one scoral away with firebreath, and all such traditional things.» (Nrararn said that counted as a bouquet of massacres and her victory was not nearly as bloodless as she or I said. I said it was a different event and didn’t count as part of the main conquest. Nrararn is right.)
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