Patiently she repeated what she had told the physicians at the University of Borrata.
The little doctor paced up and down as she talked, his hands clasped behind him and his eyes on the floor. ‘I think we can rule out the falling-sickness right at the outset,’ he mused when she had finished. ‘Some other diseases, however, do result in convulsions.’ He affected a wise expression. ‘It’s the combination of the fever and sweating that’s the crucial clue,’ he lectured. ‘Your friend’s illness is not a natural disease. My colleague in Borrata was quite correct in his diagnosis. Your friend has indeed been poisoned, and I would surmise that the poison involved was Darestim. The desert nomads here in Rendor call it deathweed. It kills sheep in the same way that it kills people. The poison is very rare, since the nomads uproot every bush they come across. Does my diagnosis agree with that of my Cammorian colleague?’
‘Exactly, Doctor Voldi,’ she said admiringly.
‘Well, that’s it, then.’ He reached for his cloak. ‘I’m glad to have been of help.’
‘All right,’ Sparhawk said. ‘Now what do we do?’
‘Make arrangements for a funeral.’ Voldi shrugged.
‘What about an antidote?’
‘There isn’t any. I’m afraid your friend is doomed.’ There was an irritating smugness about the way he said it. ‘Unlike most poisons, Darestim attacks the brain instead of the blood. Once it’s ingested – poof.’ He snapped his fingers. ‘Tell me, does your friend have rich and powerful enemies? Darestim is fearfully expensive.’
‘The poisoning was politically motivated,’ Sparhawk said bleakly.
‘Ah, politics.’ Voldi laughed. ‘Those fellows have all the money, don’t they?’ He frowned then. ‘It does seem to me – He broke off, palming at his hair again. ‘Where did I hear that?’ He scratched at his head, disturbing the carefully slicked-down hair. Then he snapped his fingers again. ‘Ah yes,’ he said triumphantly, ‘I have it now. I’ve heard some rumours – only rumours, mind you – that a physician in Dabour has effected a few cures – members of the king’s family in Zand. Normally that information would have been immediately disseminated to all other physicians, but I have some suspicions about the matter. I know the fellow, and there have been some ugly stories about him circulating in medical circles for years now. There are some who maintain that his miraculous-appearing cures are the result of certain forbidden practices.’
‘Which practices?’ Sephrenia asked intently.
‘Magic, madame. What else? My friend in Dabour would immediately lose his head if word got out that he was practising witchcraft.’
‘I see,’ she said. ‘Did this rumour about a cure come to you from one single source?’
‘Oh, no,’ he replied. ‘Any number of people have told me about it. The king’s brother and several nephews fell ill. The physician from Dabour – Tanjin his name is – was summoned to the palace. He confirmed that they had all been poisoned with Darestim, and then he cured them. Out of gratitude, the king suppressed the information of exactly how the cures were effected, and he issued Tanjin a full pardon just to make sure.’ He smirked. ‘Not that the pardon is much good, mind you, since the king’s authority doesn’t go much beyond the walls of his own palace in Zand. Anyway, anyone with the slightest bit of medical knowledge knows how it was done.’ He assumed a lofty expression. ‘I wouldn’t stoop to that myself,’ he declared, ‘but Doctor Tanjin is notoriously greedy, and I imagine that the king paid him handsomely.’
‘Thank you for your assistance, Doctor Voldi,’ Sparhawk said then.
‘I’m sorry about your friend,’ Voldi said. ‘By the time you get to Dabour and back, he’ll be long since dead, I’m afraid. Darestim works rather slowly, but it’s always fatal.’
‘So’s a sword through the belly,’ Sparhawk said grimly. ‘At the very least, we’ll be able to avenge our friend.’
‘What a dreadful thought,’ Voldi shuddered. ‘Are you at all acquainted with the kind of damage a sword does to someone?’
‘Intimately,’ Sparhawk replied.
‘Oh, that’s right. You would be, wouldn’t you? Would you like to have me take a look at those old wounds of yours?’
‘Thanks all the same, Doctor. They’re quite healed now.’
‘Splendid. I’m rather proud of the way I cured those, you know. A lesser physician would have lost you. Well, I must be off now. I have a full day ahead of me tomorrow.’ He wrapped his cloak about him.
‘Thank you, Doctor Voldi,’ the abbot said. The brother at the door will escort you home again.’
‘My pleasure, my Lord Abbot. It’s been a stimulating discussion.’ Voldi bowed and left the room.
‘Pompous little ass, isn’t he?’ Kurik muttered.
‘Yes, he is,’ the abbot agreed. ‘He’s very good, though.’
‘It’s thin, Sparhawk,’ Sephrenia sighed, ‘very, very thin. All we have are rumours, and we don’t have time for wild goose chases.’
‘I don’t see that we have any choice, do you? We have to go to Dabour. We can’t ignore the slightest chance.’
‘It may not be quite as thin as you think, Lady Sephrenia,’ the abbot said. ‘I know Voldi very well. He wouldn’t confirm anything he hasn’t seen with his own eyes, but I’ve heard a few rumours myself to the effect that some members of the family of the King of Rendor fell ill and then recovered.’
‘It’s all we’ve got,’ Sparhawk said. ‘We’ve got to follow through on it.’
‘The fastest way to Dabour is by sea along the coast and then up the Gule River,’ the abbot suggested.
‘No,’ Sephrenia said firmly. ‘The creature that’s been trying to kill Sparhawk has probably realized by now that it failed last time. I don’t think we want to be looking over our shoulders for waterspouts every foot of the way.’
‘You’ll have to go to Dabour by way of Jiroch anyway,’ the abbot told them. ‘You can’t go overland. No one crosses the desert between here and Dabour, even at this time of year. It’s totally impassable.’
‘If that’s the way we have to do it, then that’s the way we’ll do it,’ Sparhawk said.
‘Be careful out there,’ the abbot cautioned seriously. ‘The Rendors are in a state of turmoil right now.’
‘They’re always in a state of turmoil, my Lord.’
‘This is a bit different. Arasham’s at Dabour preaching up a new holy war.’
‘He’s been doing that for over twenty years now, hasn’t he? He stirs up the desert people all winter, and then in the summer they go back to their flocks.’
‘That’s what’s different about this time, Sparhawk. Nobody pays much attention to the nomads, but somehow the old lunatic’s beginning to sway the people who live in the cities, and that makes it a little more serious.
