heading across the peninsula toward the bay.
The temple of Adussk was located at the other end of the district, just before the docks. It sat on a man-made island in the center of the Nescus River, with arched bridges connecting it to either shore. Adair received stares of wonder from the citizens of Bastul as he steered the horse through the western gate and over the bridge. The horse skidded to a halt in the graveled courtyard in front of the building and Adair leaped off, running as soon as his feet touched the ground. His knees were stiff from the ride and he stumbled at first, but ignored the pain and headed up the front steps for the door. He was in too much of a hurry to knock, so he pushed the door open as soon as it was within reach. There was no one to greet him at the entry and he turned right, retracing his steps from the previous night. As he rounded the corner, he almost collided with the old nurse.
“My lord!” she screamed in shock.
“Give me the key to his room,” he demanded, his voice sounding louder than he intended in the close quarters.
The lady struggled in her apron for the right key.
“Here’s the one,” she said as he snatched it from her hand and ran down the hallway.
Coming to the door of Bahari’s room, Adair jammed the key into the lock and twisted it, expecting to hear a click. When nothing happened, he pushed on the door, but it didn’t move. Without waiting for the woman, he jumped back a few steps and kicked at the door with all of his weight. The lock broke and the door swung on its hinges, crashing into the wall with a loud thud. There, on top of the bed, lay Bahari, unflinching.
Adair rushed over to him, but it was obvious that he was too late. Bahari’s skin was a pale blue beneath his sunburn. Adair bent down and put his ear to the man’s mouth, listening for breath.
“What is the ma…” the old lady began as she entered the room, but trailed off as she caught sight of Bahari’s dead body. “Oh my!” she exclaimed. “I just checked on him not more than twenty minutes ago.”
Adair stood up and looked at the woman. “Has anyone been in here?”
“No, my lord…only me!”
“Did you give your keys to anyone after you checked on him?” he asked, trying to calm himself down.
“No, my lord. I always keep the keys right here,” she replied with a pat to the front pocket of her apron.
Adair looked back to the body. As his mind raced to find a solution, something caught his eye. Other than being devoid of life, Bahari’s body looked strange and Adair stepped back, trying to figure out what was wrong. He realized, after a few seconds of inspection, that there was something wrong about the way his head looked in relation to his body.
“His neck is broken,” he said, more to himself than to the old woman. “That rules out death by natural causes.” One thing is sure—the people who caused Bahari to end up in this infirmary were dedicated enough to make sure that he didn’t come out alive. He looked back at the woman. “Someone was in here, and I want to know who.”
“I swear, my lord. I checked on him just a short time ago and he was breathing. His fever had broken, and I went to prepare some broth for him to drink.”
Adair tried to think his way through the problem, starting with the way in. He had to kick down the door, so she didn’t forget to lock it. He looked around the room and his gaze settled on the window, which was the only other way into the room. It was small, but the shutters were open. He walked over to it and looked out, seeing that the ground was only a short jump away. Someone would still be able to climb through if they were determined.
He briefly considered jumping out of the window and searching for the person, but they would be impossible to track once outside of the temple grounds. The city was too big and the population too large. If someone wanted to hide
Gillian Doyle, Susan Leslie Liepitz