From the shoulder to the claws, there were two long bones, obviously the humerus and the radius—the upper and lower arm bones. At the end of the radius, there were the phalangeal bones of the three red-clawed fingers that protruded from the flipper, and then running along the remaining length of the flipper, from this tiny hand to its outermost tip, four long bones.
Four extraordinarily long phalangeal bones.
The bones of a fourth, vastly extended finger.
It was the same structure as in a wingfinger’s wing, the structure that gave those flying reptiles their name.
Toroca rolled the corpse over and pressed his own fingers into the corpse’s belly. They came up against a hard plate of bone.
A breast plate.
Suddenly the head crest made sense. Just like those in some flying reptiles.
This beast was a wingfinger.
A water-going wingfinger.
A wingfinger that swam through the cold waters the way its equatorial cousins flew through the air.
Toroca staggered back on his tail, the lamp flickering, the timbers of the ship groaning.
How does a wingfinger come to be a swimmer? How does a flyer take to the water?
What caprice of God was this?
*22*
Var-Gathgol, the undertaker, felt out of his depth. It was bad enough that blind Afsan was here. Senior palace officials always were difficult to deal with. But now the Emperor himself had arrived. Gathgol had no idea how to behave in front of such important people.
Dybo was standing near Afsan—altogether too near, really; such easy proximity was uncomfortable even to watch. Gathgol had hoped to simply slip in, bundle up the body, and take it away in the wagon he had left outside the apartment block.
But someone—Gathgol thought perhaps it was the building’s administrator—had told him not to touch the corpse.
It was, indeed, an unusual set of circumstances.
Suddenly Gathgol felt a frightened rippling at the tips of his fingers. The Emperor himself was gesturing at him. At first Gathgol froze, but the waving of the Emperor’s arm became impatient and that spurred him into motion. He hurried across the room, taking care to avoid the pieces of broken glass on the floor.
“You’re the undertaker?” said the Emperor.
Gathgol bowed rapidly. “Yes, umm, Your, Your…”
“Luminance,” said Dybo absently.
“Yes, Your Luminance. I cast a shadow in your presence.”
“Do you know Sal-Afsan, a savant and my advisor?”
“By reputation, of course,” stammered Gathgol. He tipped his body toward the blind one, then after a moment said, “I’m, uh, bowing at you.” Afsan’s muzzle swiveled toward him, but that was his only response. Gathgol felt like a fool.
“And you?” said Dybo.
Gathgol was now completely confused. “I’m, uh, the undertaker. I’m sorry. I thought you wanted—”
Dybo made an exasperated sound. “I know what you do. What’s your name?”
“Oh. Gathgol. Var-Gathgol.”
Dybo nodded. “How exactly did Haldan die?”
Gathgol gestured at the table. “Her throat was cut open by a jagged piece of mirror.”
Afsan’s head snapped up. “Mirror? Is that what it is?”
Gathgol nodded. “Yes, mirror. That’s, um, glass with a silvered backing. You can, ah, see your reflection in it.”
Afsan’s tone was neutral, perhaps that of one accustomed to such gaffes. “I appreciate your explanation, Gathgol, but I’ve not been blind my whole life. I know what a mirror is.”
“My apologies,” Gathgol said.
“How could a mirror cut one’s neck open?” asked Afsan.
“Well, the glass is broken,” said Gathgol. “The pieces have a sharp edge—beveled, almost. A large section was drawn across her neck, quite rapidly, I should think.”
“I don’t understand,” said Afsan. “Did she trip somehow? I’ve felt with my walking stick for an obstacle but can’t find one.”
“Trip, savant? No, she didn’t trip. She was probably seated on that stool when it happened.”
“Did the mirror fall off the wall, then? Had it been mounted poorly? Was there a little landquake today?”
Gathgol shook his head. “A piece of art hangs on the wall above the table, savant. It’s still there now. A still life of some sort.”
“A still life.” Afsan nodded. “But then how did the accident happen?”
Gathgol felt his nictitating membranes fluttering. “It was not an accident, savant.”
“What do you mean?”
Could a genius of Afsan’s rank be so thick? “Good Sal-Afsan, Haldan was killed. Deliberately. By an intruder, most likely.”
“Killed,” said Afsan slowly, as if he’d never heard the word, moving it around inside his mouth like an odd-tasting piece of meat. “You mean murdered?”
“Yes.”
“Murdered. Somebody took her life?”
“Yes, savant.”
“But surely it was dagamant, then—a territorial challenge of some sort, an instinctive reaction.”
Gathgol shook his head. “No. This was planned, savant. We’ve gathered up all the shards of the mirror. They don’t form a complete rectangle. Somebody brought a large jagged piece of mirrored glass here, probably approached Haldan from behind, and, with a quick movement, slit her throat. The mirror was still partly in a wooden frame, and that gave it rigidity, as well as something for the assailant to hold on to without risking cutting his or her hands.”
“Murder,” said Dybo, who was looking quite queasy. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“I haven’t heard of one in modern times,” said Gathgol, “but when I was apprenticing to be an undertaker, my master taught me a little about such things. Of course, she said I would never need to know this, that the knowledge was only for historical overview, but… yes, there are stories of murder from the past. Myths about the Lubalites and so on.”
“Murder,” said Afsan softly. And then, a few beats later: “But how? Surely the demon responsible, whoever it was, couldn’t have opened the door and sneaked up on Haldan. She doubtless would have heard the approach and turned to face her attacker.”
“It is puzzling,” said Gathgol. “But I’m sure of the cause of death. I mean, it’s obvious.”
“Well,” said Dybo, “what do we do now?”
“We find the person who did this,” said Afsan flatly.
Dybo nodded slowly. “But how? I don’t know anyone who has experience with such matters.” He turned toward Gathgol. “Do you know how to do it, undertaker?”
“Me? I don’t have the slightest idea.”
Afsan spoke softly. “I’ll do it.”
Dybo’s voice was equally soft. “My friend, even you—”
Afsan’s claws peeked out. “I will do it. She was my daughter, Dybo. If not me, who?”
“But Afsan, friend, you are… without sight. I will assign another to the task.”
“To another, it would be exactly that: a task. I—I can’t explain my feelings in this matter. We were related, she and I. I’ve never known what import, if any, that had, whether she and I would have been friends regardless of the odd circumstances that led to her knowing that I was indeed her father, she in truth my daughter. But I feel it now, Dybo, a—a special obligation to her.”
Dybo nodded; Gathgol saw that he and the savant were old friends, that Dybo knew when to give up arguing with Afsan. “Very well,” said the Emperor. “I know that once you sink your teeth into a problem, you do not let go.”
Afsan took the comment easily, Gathgol saw—a simple statement of fact, something both Afsan and Dybo knew to be true. But then the savant’s face hardened. “I swear,” he said, “I will not give up until I have found her killer.”