Linatas’s head went back in surprise. “That’s done?”
“It’s tried. By the same sort of person who would commit murder and theft anywhere, I suppose. It… generally does not go as the assailant imagines it will.” Pen cleared his throat. “His career as a would-be hedge sorcerer was evidently short, but long enough to attract the attention of the Roknari Temple authorities, who have rather different methods than us Quintarians to deal with problem demons. But effective enough in their way. He was put out to sea to drown. This prevents the demon from jumping to any other human. If no other large-enough creature is around in range to possess, the demon, um, well, dies is as good a term as any.” Evaporates was another, but, fine points.
“Except this time, there was another creature, a curious dolphin. But when a demon is forced back to a lesser host, the effect on the demon’s growing personhood is highly destructive. I’ve only seen one case where the demoted demon could be saved, afterward, and in that one the demon was unusually stable.”
“Save a demon?” The Whyever? hung implied.
Des seemed a bit offended by the bafflement in Linatas’s voice. Pen touched his shoulder braid, and put in on her behalf, “They give us great gifts, if they can be educated, and treated with understanding and respect. Like any other complicated thing of power and danger, which can kill you if misused. A water mill, a sailing ship, a hunting dog, a forge, a foundry—a human being. A pity and a waste when they are ruined.”
Linatas, Pen had no doubt, had seen his share of pitiful waste in his line of work. By the twist of his lips, he was following the argument well enough for now.
“This demon seems to have been ruined twice over, once to be sure by its fall from human to animal, but more from its imprinting by the murdering servant. The apparent madness you are seeing in your patient is from moments of ascendance by aspects of this shattered demon. I suspect some of his gibberish is Roknari. I can’t guess at the language of dolphins.”
“That is the strangest part of all this, to me,” said Linatas. “How he was saved by the dying dolphin, if that’s what happened.”
“Mm, maybe not so odd. Demons are the property, if you like, of the very god of chance and mischance. He looks after them, in His own way. The mark of His white hand seems all over this.” And not for the first time, in Pen’s experience.
“You’re claiming a miracle?” Linatas’s voice rose in pitch, as well as volume.
“In a sense. They say the gods are parsimonious, but I think a better term might be opportunistic. Your drowning patient doubtless prayed to any god listening for succor—I certainly would have, in his position—but the Bastard might merely have seen a good chance to recover His demon for proper disposal.”
Now Pen was getting That Look, which he won so often when trying to explain his god’s peculiar theology. He wasn’t spinning fables, blast it. Or at least his was informed speculation.
“What I’m beginning to wonder more is how your fellow was parted from his ship in the first place. Since I don’t imagine the god pushed him overboard. Not to mention who he is. Though once he is, ah, de-demoned by the saint, he should come back to his senses fairly quickly, and be able to tell us for himself what happened to him. So that’s a set of problems that will solve themselves. The sooner, the better, I suppose.”
Pen climbed to his feet. “I’ll be back, or send a message. The demon will be struggling to stay on top, but it’s possible your fellow may gain ascendance himself from time to time. You may be able to get more out of him then—he’ll be speaking Adriac if he does. Probably.” He wondered at the advisability of his next caution. It might cast an unfortunate doubt upon his own authority. Nevertheless. “Although demons can lie.”
So can humans, muttered Des. And rather more often.
Linatas placed a hand on his desk preparatory to rising. “I’ll call for Tebi to escort you back to the curia, Learned.”
“No need. I know the way now.”
“When will you return?” A tinge of anxiety colored Linatas’s voice.
“Not sure. But I promise I won’t delay. This has become the day’s most urgent task.”
Quick footsteps sounded from the hallway. A man in a green tabard whom Pen recognized as the orderly from upstairs stuck his head through the doorway, his gaze raking the room. “Not here,” he muttered.
“Gnade?” said Linatas. “What’s going on?”
“Sorry, sir. The madman got out when I went to empty the chamber pot. Only a moment—I’m sure he must still be in the building.”
“Get Tebi to help you look.”
“Right, sir.” The orderly galloped off.
But Linatas did not relax back into his chair.
“Has your patient done this before?” asked Pen.
“He rattled around the ward obsessively yesterday, but he was pretty unsteady on his feet. He can’t be far.” Linatas’s worried frown reflected no such certainly.
“Des?” said Pen aloud. “Is he still in the hospice?”
A dizzying roll of demonic perception stretched in three dimensions, dotted with the colorful glows of souls still in their bodies. Pen ignored the faint signatures of ghosts, gray and drifting and fading; all such old buildings had them, hospices more than most. The aura of the fractured demon would be a glittering beacon by comparison.
“No,” said Desdemona through his mouth. Linatas glanced up sharply. “He’s got out. That was fast.”
Had Pen and Des triggered this very flight?
Likely, conceded Des. The demon must have realized we’re a danger to it, if not precisely how. That would depend on how much its hosts, past and present, understand Temple procedures. The mad Lodi boy may know more than the Roknari, and either would know more than the dolphins. Or the birds.
An insane ascendant demon of disorder, loose in Lodi… The possibilities were daunting. Pen thought bad words in Wealdean.
Linatas pushed up from his desk.
“I’ll help you look,” sighed Pen.
They quickly found from the porter that the runaway patient had not fled by the front door. Of the three other ground-level doors, two were locked from the inside. That narrowed the choice nicely. Pen, trailed by Linatas and Tebi, stepped out onto a side street and looked up and down. It would have been much too lucky for the man to still be in sight.
“If the demon is being dominated by the dolphins, it might actually try to get back to the sea. If by the one drowned and one near-drowned man, anything but.” Pen bit his lip and pointed toward the harbor. “You two take that way. If he’s jumped into the water, somebody should have seen him, this time of day. One of you could follow the shore in each direction. Look for a fuss. I’ll head into town.”