Lynda Robinson - Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing

"Stop snarling at me, Kamosi." The woman bowed to

Meren and kept on lowering her body until she was lying on her cushions again.

Kamosi glowered at her, but Meren dismissed him. "I'll spend a while with these lovely women." When the tavern keeper went back to his beer table to serve Reia, Meren sat down among the women.

"We seldom receive visitors so early in the day," Tabes said with a yawn. She reached out with a languid hand and patted Meren's thigh. "But for so handsome a visitor, I would rise before dawn."

"My thanks," Meren said.

"Oh," said another, who had great painted eyes. "I would rise in the middle of the night." She sat up on her cushion and smiled at him while plucking a lotus from a bowl and handing it to him.

The third woman, small and with quick, darting eyes, touched his ankle with her toe. Meren moved out of reach.

"Good women, I'm here only for conversation." He watched surprise give way to disbelief among the three, so he hurried on. "I understand Lord Nakht was here with several friends the night of the feast at Baht. Tabes, he was with you?"

Silence. The small woman got up and left through the back door.

"Was he here?" Meren asked.

"A tavern woman with a loose tongue soon finds herself cast out of her village," Tabes replied.

Meren leaned closer to her and lowered his voice. "You may speak to me. I'm Lord Nakht's brother."

"But he only has one broth-Gods!"

"Shhh."

"Tabes, this is Lord M-"

Tabes jerked the girl's arm. "Be quiet, Aset. Let the great lord conduct his business in peace and with the secrecy he desires."

"You've an intelligent heart, Tabes."

"The lord is kind," Tabes said with a bow from her sitting position. "The lord wishes to know if his brother was with us on the night of the feast. He came late and in a merry mood. He bought several jars of beer for the entire tavern, and we danced for him."

"He was here the whole night?"

Aset began to chatter. "Oh, the whole night, great lord. He went upstairs with Tabes, Sheftu, and me. Ra is quite generous. He gave me a shift of fine Delta linen, and he gave Tabes a bottle of perfume from Byblos. He kept us busy far into the night. Ra is so funny. He even makes jests while we're-"

"Aset!" Tabes quelled her friend with a severe look. "Lord, we all have great affection for your brother."

"He was here until morning?"

The two women glanced at each other, then at him.

"I woke first," Tabes said. "Around dawn, I think, and he was already gone."

"With Sheftu," Aset chimed in.

"Who is Sheftu?"

"Our other friend," Tabes said. "She's the one who just left, lord."

"Where has she gone? I want to talk to her."

"There's no need for alarm, my lord. Ra and Sheftu probably went to her house. Her grandmother is a wise woman known for her preparations of herbs to enhance pleasure. Sheftu often provides them to those who can pay, and Ra always has plenty of grain or other goods."

Meren's heart battered in his chest like a war drum. He drew closer to Tabes and said, "Herbs, preparations. You mean potions?"

"Aye, lord."

"Flowers, seeds?" Meren asked. "Berries?"

Tabes looked at him curiously. "Yes, lord."

Closing his eyes against pain, Meren spoke again. "I want to talk to this Sheftu who deals in herbs and potions."

Meren kept his eyes closed as Tabes rose and disappeared into the back of the tavern. He opened them when she returned, leading Sheftu, who hung back and had to be pulled along. Recognizing her fear, Meren questioned the girl gently, assuring her that she wasn't in danger.

"Yes, lord. Ra woke me while it was still dark. He was drunk, but sober enough to want one of grandmother's preparations. We went to my house, which isn't far away."

"You gave him what he asked for?"

"Yes, lord, and then we went to sleep again."

"Both of you?"

Sheftu hesitated. "I fell asleep first, but I'm sure Ra did too."

"And he left the next morning?"

The girl nodded.

"When?"

"I know not, lord."

"Why?" Meren asked quickly.

"He was gone when I woke," Sheftu said.

"So he left you between the time you fell asleep and the next morning when you woke. Would anyone else have seen him go?"

"There's no one else except Grandmother, and she doesn't see or hear very well."

"When did you wake, Sheftu?"

"The sun was up, lord. We drank more than usual, and I had a terrible ache of the head."

"Then my brother left you before sunrise."

"I suppose so, lord."

"And my brother's friends?"

Tabes said, "Two live not far upriver. They stayed the night in the tavern and left that morning. The third? He's still here. He sampled Sheftu's preparations that night and has been using them ever since." She pointed to the man who still snored on his pallet across the room.

Meren got up and went over to the prone figure. Turning him over, Meren straightened, put his fists on his hips, and shook his head. He didn't want to deal with this fool now.

"Antefoker, Antefoker, wake up."

The man smiled in his sleep until Meren kicked him. Then he snorted himself awake and looked up at Meren with a slack-lipped leer.

" 'SMeren. How're you? Howas th' feast last night?"

"You seem to have lost a day, Antefoker. You'd better go home."

"Lost a day? What day?" Antefoker yawned, smacked his lips, and began to snore again.

Meren threw up his hands and went back to Tabes and her friends. Feigning a casualness he didn't feel, he said, "Sheftu, I'm curious about your grandmother's preparations, especially the ones my brother might have obtained. You will take me there at once." To Tabes and Aset he said, "You've been helpful. I'll have my steward send the three of you a length of cloth. However, I expect your mouths to remain closed about my visit. If I hear differently, I will be displeased."

He and Reia followed Sheftu out of the tavern after fending off the entreaties of its keeper. The woman lived down the street and off an alley formed by the walls of two-story houses. At the end of the narrow lane, Sheftu's house clung to a much larger structure. Its walls were cracked, and the roof sagged as if it was about to fall in. The grandmother was asleep in the front room on a pallet. As he passed her, Meren paused and clapped his hands several times, causing Sheftu to start. The old woman slept on.

The young woman led them through the sparsely furnished chamber to the kitchen in the back. From a rickety frame suspended from the ceiling hung bundles of roots, leaves, flowers, and berries. Dozens of pottery jars covered the only table and much of the floor. There was a stone mortar and pestle, along with wooden spoons, strainers, and stirring sticks. Meren gestured to Reia, who began opening jars and inspecting their contents.

Touching a bundle of feathery dried leaves, Meren asked, "What are these?"

"Dill, my lord," said Sheftu. "And those are acacia pods, and these are chervil seeds. This is celery. Grandmother crushes it and applies it to burns."

He picked up a bowl of hard kernels. "Balanos?"

"Aye, lord."

Reia left the kitchen to search the rest of the house while Meren opened a square basket. In it were more dried leaves, rough, with five lobes.

"Those are white byrony, lord. To purge the stomach or to relieve an ache of the head, but it mustn't be used more than once."

"Poisonous?"

"It can be, lord."

Reia reappeared. Meren raised his brows, but the charioteer shook his head.

Meren set down the basket of white byrony. "Now, can you show me the preparation my brother took?"

Sheftu plucked a small bag from a pile on the table and handed it to Meren. It contained a quantity of finely ground powder that smelled slightly of black pepper.