Morveer smiled upon the rippling lamp flame, nodded in time to the gentle rattling of condenser and retort, the soothing hiss of escaping steam, the industrious pop and bubble of boiling reagents. As the drawing of the blade to the master swordsman, as the jingle of coins to the master merchant, so were these sounds to Morveer. The sounds of his work well done. It was with comfortable satisfaction, therefore, that he watched Day's face, creased with concentration, through the distorting glass of the tapered collection flask.
It was a pretty face, undoubtedly: heart-shaped and fringed with blond curls. But it was an unremarkable and entirely unthreatening variety of prettiness, further softened by a disarming aura of innocence. A face that would attract a positive response, but excite little further comment. A face that would easily slip the mind. It was for her face, above all, that Morveer had selected her. He did nothing by accident.
A jewel of moisture formed at the utmost end of the condenser. It stretched, bloated, then finally tore itself free, tumbled sparkling through space and fell silently to the bottom of the flask.
"Excellent," muttered Morveer.
More droplets swelled and broke away in solemn procession. The last of them clung reluctantly at the edge, and Day reached out and gently flicked the glassware. It fell, and joined the rest, and looked, for all the world, like a little water in the bottom of a flask. Barely enough to wet one's lips.
"And carefully, now, my dear, so very, very carefully. Your life hangs by a filament. Your life, and mine too."
She pressed her tongue into her lower lip, ever so carefully twisted the condenser free and set it down on the tray. The rest of the apparatus followed, piece by slow piece. She had fine, soft hands, Morveer's apprentice. Nimble yet steady, as indeed they were required to be. She pressed a cork carefully into the flask and held it up to the light, the sunshine making liquid diamonds of that tiny dribble of fluid, and she smiled. An innocent, a pretty, yet an entirely forgettable smile. "It doesn't look much."
"That is the entire point. It is without colour, odour or taste. And yet the most infinitesimal drop consumed, the softest mist inhaled, the gentlest touch upon the skin, even, will kill a man in minutes. There is no antidote, no remedy, no immunity. Truly… this is the King of Poisons."
"The King of Poisons," she breathed, with suitable awe.
"Keep this knowledge close to your heart, my dear, to be used only in the extreme of need. Only against the most dangerous, suspicious and cunning of targets. Only against those intimately acquainted with the poisoner's art."
"I understand. Caution first, always."
"Very good. That is the most valuable of lessons." Morveer sat back in his chair, making a steeple of his fingers. "Now you know the deepest of my secrets. Your apprenticeship is over, but… I hope you will continue, as my assistant."
"I'd be honoured to stay in your service. I still have much to learn."
"So do we all, my dear." Morveer jerked his head up at the sound of the gate bell tinkling in the distance. "So do we all."
Two figures were approaching the house down the long path through the orchard, and Morveer snapped open his eyeglass and trained it upon them. A man and a woman. He was very tall, and powerful-looking with it, wearing a threadbare coat, long hair swaying. A Northman, from his appearance.
"A primitive," he muttered, under his breath. Such men were prone to savagery and superstition, and he held them in healthy contempt.
He trained the eyeglass on the woman, now, though she was dressed much like a man. She looked straight towards the house, unwavering. Straight towards him, it almost seemed. A beautiful face, without doubt, edged with coal-black hair. But it was a hard and unsettling variety of beauty, further sharpened by a brooding appearance of grim purpose. A face that at once issued a challenge and a threat. A face that, having been glimpsed, one would not quickly forget. She did not compare with Morveer's mother in beauty, of course, but who could? His mother had almost transcended the human in her goodly qualities. Her pure smile, kissed by the sunlight, was etched forever into Morveer's memory as if it were a—
"Visitors?" asked Day.
"The Murcatto woman is here." He snapped his fingers towards the table. "Clear all this away. With the very greatest care, mark you! Then bring wine and cakes."
"Do you want anything in them?"
"Only plums and apricots. I mean to welcome my guests, not kill them." Not until he had heard what they had to say, at least.
While Day swiftly cleared the table, furnished it with a cloth and drew the chairs back in around it, Morveer took some elementary precautions. Then he arranged himself in his chair, highly polished knee-boots crossed in front of him and hands clasped across his chest, very much the country gentleman enjoying the winter air of his estate. Had he not earned it, after all?
He rose with his most ingratiating smile as his visitors came in close proximity to the house. The Murcatto woman walked with the slightest hint of a limp. She covered it well, but over long years in the trade Morveer had sharpened his perceptions to a razor point, and missed no detail. She wore a sword on her right hip, and it appeared to be a good one, but he paid it little mind. Ugly, unsophisticated tools. Gentlemen might wear them, but only the coarse and wrathful would stoop to actually use one. She wore a glove on her right hand, suggesting she had something she was keen to hide, because her left was bare, and sported a blood-red stone big as his thumbnail. If it was, as it certainly appeared to be, a ruby, it was one of promisingly great value.
"I am—"
"You are Monzcarro Murcatto, once captain general of the Thousand Swords, recently in the service of Duke Orso of Talins." Morveer thought it best to avoid that gloved hand, and so he offered out his left, palm upwards, in a gesture replete with humbleness and submission. "A Kantic gentleman of our mutual acquaintance, one Sajaam, told me to expect your visit." She gave it a brief shake, firm and businesslike. "And your name, my friend?" Morveer leaned unctuously forwards and folded the Northman's big right hand in both of his.
"Caul Shivers."
"Indeed, indeed, I have always found your Northern names delightfully picturesque."
"You've found 'em what now?"
"Nice."
"Oh."
Morveer held his hand a moment longer, then let it free. "Pray have a seat." He smiled upon Murcatto as she worked her way into her chair, the barest phantom of a grimace on her face. "I must confess I was expecting you to be considerably less beautiful."
She frowned at that. "I was expecting you to be less friendly."
"Oh, I can be decidedly unfriendly when it is called for, believe me." Day silently appeared and slid a plate of sweet cakes onto the table, a tray with a bottle of wine and glasses. "But it is hardly called for now, is it? Wine?"
His visitors exchanged a loaded glance. Morveer grinned as he pulled the cork and poured himself a glass. "The two of you are mercenaries, but I can only assume you do not rob, threaten and extort from everyone you meet. Likewise, I do not poison my every acquaintance." He slurped wine noisily, as though to advertise the total safety of the operation. "Who would pay me then? You are safe."
"Even so, you'll forgive us if we pass."
Day reached for a cake. "Can I—"
"Gorge yourself." Then to Murcatto. "You did not come here for my wine, then."
"No. I have work for you."
Morveer examined his cuticles. "The deaths of Grand Duke Orso and sundry others, I presume." She sat in silence, but it suited him to speak as though she had demanded an explanation. "It scarcely requires a towering intellect to make the deduction. Orso declares you and your brother killed by agents of the League of Eight. Then I hear from your friend and mine Sajaam that you are less deceased than advertised. Since there has been no tearful reunion with Orso, no happy declaration of your miraculous survival, we can assume the Osprian assassins were in fact… a fantasy. The Duke of Talins is a man of notoriously jealous temper, and your many victories made you too popular for your master's taste. Do I come close to the mark?"