A Most Refined Dragon

by Paul Chernoch

  After testifying, Shoroko rose. His shoulders slouched and his eyes’ sad vacancy showed exhaustion as he shuffled to retake his juror’s seat. He stared blankly into the crowd. His torpor exploded into fury and he rushed into the midst of the onlookers seated on the grass. Halfway back, a man shot up and shoved his way through the dense clump of people. “Stop that man!” shouted Shoroko. The fleeing man kicked and clawed his way to the edge of the audience. He made it to the expanse of grass between the crowd and the water. In seconds he’d be in the river and free. A tall, lanky youth sprinted around the perimeter, picked a good line and converged on the fellow just before he could dive. Callyglip made a diving tackle, caught the man about the ankles and brought him down.

  The scarred, six-foot, leering guttersnipe in stolen finery was captured, bound, and brought before the jurors. “Is this one of the men that assaulted you this morning, Thedarra?” asked Shoroko.

  This morning? I never saw. She never said. Wait. When Shoroko found her. She ran from an alley. Melissa rose to her feet and thundered, “Did you assault my defender to weaken my defense?”

  Despite threats and offers of leniency, the man insisted on his innocence and refused to name his companions or any motive but robbery. Guards escorted him off the island to a cell in the caves below Black Heights. Melissa focused on the distraction so intensely that after the man left, she sank back onto her monster-sized couch, exhausted. She’d escaped her thoughts momentarily, but they rushed in again. Thedarra could have died, or been… She wouldn’t have been walking those streets alone if I hadn’t kept her from approaching Shoroko. It’s my fault.

  With one of her attackers in custody, Thedarra’s step was springier. She addressed the jurors. “Are the words of Shoroko and Ecraveo, and Shorassa’s reported expressions of disbelief concerning White Talon’s unusually hostile behavior persuasive enough to allow us to consider accidental poisoning as a possibility? We are prepared to demonstrate how this occurred. We will prove White Talon was insane because she drank bad liosh.”

  Lofty K'Fuur stretched and let a ripple course down his spine to the tip of his tail. “Before we indulge… yawn… in alchemystical speculations… yawn… would it not be prudent to establish that this supposed poison has had similar effects upon other Claws? This is a new phenomenon, and we must question its parameters closely.”

  Melissa had to hold back her flame. Other Claws? How about you! If not for K'Pinkelek’s intervention, your trial for genocide would be the high point of the Spring social calendar, not mine for murder!

  Jessnee left the bleachers and walked to the apparatus to fetch his glass plates and the liosh samples for the chromatography. Meanwhile, Rougelek and K'Pinkelek testified about the effects that the burning liosh fumes had had on K'Fuur’s clutch of Reds on patrol.

  After their testimony, Zocrita summarized. “We have heard the first testimony that directly links liosh to erratic behavior in Claws besides White Talon. Is the Octojurata unanimous in conceding this connection?” All nodded. “It remains to be proven that White Talon drank from a similarly tainted supply prior to visiting Shorassa on the day of the attack. Can anyone shed light on this mystery?”

  Thedarra stood. “Soorararas has information relevant to this question.”

  They swore in the White Lissai. “I accompanied White Talon on her flight to Agotaras Springs, before leaving her to continue on to Menagerie.”

  Thedarra asked, “Were you with her when she drank liosh? Did you drink it yourself?”

  “I was with her when she drank. I myself did not drink.”

  “Why is that?”

  “White Talon planned to work in glass that day, with Shorassa, so she needed it. Extra liosh would weigh me down on my long flight to the Hearth Mountains.”

  “Have you brought to this court a sample of liosh from the same seep where you saw White Talon drink that morning?”

  “Yes. I presented sworn documents attesting to this, and the flasks have the court’s seal as proof against tampering.”

  Thedarra returned to her seat, while Zocrita walked up to Soorararas. “Have you ever drunk from the seep we are discussing?”

  “Yes,” said the White. “Some months ago I drank from it.”

  “Did liosh from that seep ever cause you to behave strangely?” asked Zocrita.

  “No.”

  “To your knowledge, did it ever cause any other Claws to behave strangely?” Zocrita asked the question off-handedly, and clearly expected a negative response.

  Soorararas’ tongue darted back and forth in his mouth.

  Zocrita took a step forward. “Did it?”

  “No.” When a man swallows hard, the Adam’s apple is a dead giveaway. When a Lissai swallows hard…

  Zocrita’s eyes came together so closely they were in danger of colliding. She paced back and forth with her hands clasped behind her back, trying to find the right question. She stopped and faced Soorararas. “Had liosh from that seep on a previous occasion ever caused White Talon to act strangely?”

  “Yes.”

  “Please describe what happened.”

  “A month before, we made a similar trip,” said Soorararas. “After White Talon drank her fill, she shook her head violently from side to side, let out a whoop, and blasted a long plume of flame into the air. Then she flew in circles until dizzy, before landing. We parted soon after. Next time I saw her, she acted excited about how potent her imagery was that day and how vital and original her pottery and glass projects turned out. She attributed it to her ‘special seep’. She resolved to make another trip soon, even though preparations for the migration were pressing.”

  “Thank you for your frank testimony,” said Zocrita. “I am through with this witness.” After Soorararas left the witness stand, the inquisitor addressed the jurors. “It is clear this poison, if that is what it was, is of recent arrival, and that its potency was less at first, but grew with time. It is also clear this seep is one White Talon frequented, so it is not unreasonable that over time, with additional doses, the effect upon White Talon increased. Are the jurors persuaded of this assertion?”

  One by one, they all nodded, except Metookonsen. “I want to see this demonstration that Jessnee has prepared for us before I make up my mind.”

  Melissa heard what Metookonsen said, but her eyes were riveted to Zocrita. For while the woman had just made a verbal declaration to the court favorable to the olissair, the half-faced curl of a smile that tugged against the inquisitor’s lips declared something else entirely.

  Chapter 21: Blood Fury

  April 12th. Evening. Market Isle at Four Rivers.

  Shoroko had interviewed witnesses while everyone else on the island filled their gut with bread and stew. Now he was judging on an empty stomach. He glanced over at Makri and caught him chewing strips of dried fruit, while Skandik kept sipping from a flask concealed in his voluminous sleeves. Am I the only one who cares what’s going on?

  Callyglip and Jessnee, accompanied by a court official, lugged liosh and slides to the demonstration table before the jurors. This better work.

  Zocrita walked to the table. “Before we discuss what may be proven by Jessnee’s technique, what safeguards have you taken to ensure he’s showing us what he says he’s showing us?”

  The official walked along the table and pointed to each item in turn. “I procured this three-year old cask of liosh from the city emergency reserves. Lofty K'Fuur tasted it and it caused him no ill effects. I sealed it and declare it has not been adulterated or replaced.” He moved on. “This cask was procured by Soorararas near Agotaras Springs, and sealed by my nephew, Calvert.” He made a great show of unrolling Calvert’s affidavit and walking it past the jurors. He then described how he observed every action taken by Jessnee to prepare and label the chromatography slides.

  “Thank you for the care you practiced,” said Zocrita. “Be seated.” She approached the jurors. “Eminent jurors, are you satisfied that the materials labeled as suspected o
f being tainted come from the source that Soorararas testified as being the seep from which White Talon drank? And that materials labeled as coming from a safe, untainted supply of liosh are exactly that?”

  All the jurors nodded assent.

  “Councilor Jessnee, you are now free to describe your ideas, your apparatus, and how the experiments you are about to perform are relevant to this trial.”

  As Jessnee passed Zocrita, a rare expression crossed her face. Her lips pursed, eyes widened, and then contracted again. It was an emotion. It was longing. She quickly extinguished it.

  “I prepared glass plates coated in a special mixture. When liosh dissolved in a solvent is applied to the plates, the liosh will spread across its surface. Some constituents will spread quickly, others slowly, until widely separated, revealing the many ingredients present. Different ingredients will show in different colors. By doing this to the two samples of liosh, we should see a substance on the plates treated with the tainted liosh not present on the plates treated with untainted liosh. I will use three different solvents because we are not sure whether the unknown chemical is most easily dissolved in one or the other. The three solvents are water, alcohol, and Claw saliva.”

  The court official broke the seals on the casks and Jessnee withdrew samples from each using a glass tube. He poured some of each solvent into two glass bowls, six bowls in all. Then he carefully measured out a few drops of liosh into each. Once mixed thoroughly, he used a dropper to apply each mixture to a separate slide.

  “The process will require up to a half an hour to complete,” said Jessnee. “While it proceeds, may we move on to the fractioning tower?”

  The guards cleared a path for the jurors, who walked over to the tower by the river. The audience crowded around, eager to see what Jessnee’s latest machine would do. Shoroko was eager to do a different thing: keep away from Zocrita. The way she stumbled on the uneven ground right in front of him so he had to catch her annoyed him. Zocrita. First you fawned over power, but Ecraveo went for the better artist. Then you tried for smarts, but Jessnee wouldn’t notice a woman unless he tripped over her. Working daily with Makri, his partner’s shop girl was the only one Jessnee would ever notice. As for rich or strong, I had Thedarra to thank for keeping you away from me, but Darra’s threats are wearing off and I really don’t need this today…

  “The machine needs to come up to temperature, so I’ll distill the good liosh first. Pour it in, Cally. The whole jug.” Jessnee pointed to the glass receptacle at the bottom center of the machine. “Blended liosh starts here. Fire below the glass will boil it off.” He traced the coiled glass tube coming out the top of the container with great looping gestures. “The vapor will pass through these coils to the tower on the right, where it will enter the copper tubing.” He tapped the knobs. “Water circulating through separate sections in this tower will cool the vapor by contact with the copper tubing. By adjusting these knobs we’ll control the water flow, and maintain even and distinct temperatures in each section. The lower sections will be set to a higher temperature.” He pointed to the top. “The higher sections will be set to a lower temperature.” He pointed to small buckets attached to taps on the right side of the tower. “At leach level, a different vapor component will condense into a liquid and be withdrawn into these buckets. The thicker fluids will condense at a higher temperature into tar or thick oils, while the thinner fluids will condense at a lower temperature into a clear, runny mixture. We’ll vent the gaseous remnant out the top. After the liosh is separated, we’ll prepare new slides, first from the good liosh, then from the tainted. I expect only one or two fractions will be poisoned, and the rest safe to be used. This machine should enable us not only to discover what the poison is, but also to purify our liosh supply. The safe distillates can be recombined and presented to the Claws. Or, we can use individual fluids for specialized purposes, such as heating homes, fueling lamps or powering new machines I have planned.”

  “Most ambitious,” said Zocrita. “Are the principles that Jessnee has just described understood? Is this method sensible?”

  The jurors nodded, except Metookonsen. “You quickly assembled an elaborate system. Why should we trust its results? Have you experience with devices of this nature?”

  “Where I come from, we handle a substance similar to liosh in exactly this way. Though I’ve never before built one, I studied for years the chemical and physical principles behind it. The most sensitive aspect is the precise monitoring of the temperature. White Talon, expert at working with molten materials, instructed us in how to use Lissai claws to gauge the temperature. It will work.”

  “Very well,” said Metookonsen. “Proceed.”

  Callyglip lit the wood under the burner. Once the mixture reached a boil, Jessnee opened valves and compared the colored swatches on the tower to the color of the dragon nail clippings. Callyglip mounted a pedal operated water pump and pedaled slowly.

  Shoroko heard young ladies whispering in the crowd. “First, adventures with Shoroko. Now assistant to an inventor! You should try to meet him, Morave!” Another agreed. “Look at those muscles while he pedals. Isn’t your friend who lives by Makri’s shop having a party? Get her to invite Cally.”

  Things are going right for someone, thought Shoroko. Zocrita is smart about everything but romance. Every time I think she’s about to pounce like a tagger during her questioning, she veers off. I hope Thedarra pulls this off, or Melissa… He forced himself to watch the demonstration and not think about the punishment if they lost.

  Jessnee brought each section up to temperature. Condensates dripped into the buckets. When he’d collected enough, he shut the main valve and prepared chromatography slides for each fraction. “Take these to the table by the jury seats.” Callyglip complied, while Jessnee drained the burner reservoir. “Now I will process the tainted liosh.” He repeated the process and made more slides. “I am finished here.”

  The crowd moaned. “I expected an explosion… I thought he was making liquor. I’m thirsty!” Everyone marched back to the center of the island, with Jessnee carrying the last slides, and an official carrying the labeled buckets of distillate for the final test.

  Tea was served to the jurors while they waited for the slides to develop. Zocrita summarized the unanswered questions. “If it’s proven the liosh contains poison, what next? Did the poison enter the liosh seeps naturally, or was it deliberate? If deliberate, who possessed the required knowledge of this poison’s action upon Claws? Then there is the question of access. Is this poison common or rare? To know this, we must identify exactly what poison was used. Can Jessnee’s process reveal this?”

  While Zocrita laid out her course of investigation and sowed doubt in the minds of the jurors, Shoroko pulled out his spyglass. Pickpockets loved crowds. Maybe the other ruffians who accosted Thedarra are here, too. He studied the men’s jackets and looked for anyone who appeared nervous. He found two sweaty men, but they were too short. Yet when he saw their faces, he became curious. Short black hair… clean-shaven… Eyes come to a point. The only face he’d ever seen like that was… Melissa’s self-portrait carved into his family’s fields. Who were those men? One pulled a book from a pocket inside his coat and flipped through it. They’re the men Makri described.

  Jessnee paced before the table loaded with slides. With a pocket magnifier to his eye, he kept leaning over, looking for a difference. After ten minutes, he replaced his pained expression with an excited one. He flew back and forth, shaking so much he nearly dropped his glass. He walked briskly over to the defense table and whispered to Thedarra.

  She approached the jurors. “We have results.”

  Zocrita strutted over to the table holding the slides. “Doctor Jessnee, describe your findings. Then point out what you see to each juror as they parade by.”

  The next half hour was devoted to Jessnee pointing to slide after slide and drawing the attention of each juror in turn to a light brown spot present on some slides at a certain dista
nce from the center of the dot, but not others. Thedarra and Olsurrodot also inspected the slides. Unlike the others, however, the elder White sniffed the brown spot closely. Only Shoroko, who immediately preceded him in line, saw the look of surprise and horror on his face, which the lissair quickly hid away.

  Jessnee clapped his hands. “No samples from the good liosh have this brown spot. Some samples from the bad liosh do: the original, containing all the unseparated fluids, and two of the lighter grade fractions distilled from it. Not only have we verified the two samples have a different composition, but we have a reliable technique for removing the foreign material.” His face was exultant.

  Zocrita raised her index finger. “Yes, you have proven the two samples of liosh are different. But is that difference the poison?” She turned to the jurors. “Has the doctor finished making his point, or do we require more proof?”

  Before the inquisitor had a chance to poll the jurors, Orokolga spoke. “On this issue, there must be no doubt. White Talon must drink the purified liosh and remain rational.” The other jurors nodded their heads, with Shoroko nodding last. He did not like to be near her when she went crazy, but everyone needed to see it. The real jury numbered many more than eight.

  Melissa stomped over to the stand of trees and stood while soldiers tethered her to the four thickest trunks. When the six men chaining her finished, they stood in a group whispering and shaking their heads. Shoroko guessed what they were arguing about. Apparently, Thedarra could, too.

  “I will pour the liosh for White Talon.” Thedarra walked over to the table and grabbed a pitcher.

  Zocrita put her hand on Thedarra’s arm. “First the liosh without the poison. After drinking the poison, the test will no longer be reliable.”

  Thedarra carried the pitcher of liosh to Melissa, poured it down her throat and stood back. As expected, nothing happened.

  “Now the supposedly purified liosh,” said Zocrita.

  Thedarra repeated the process, but Shoroko’s eyes were on Zocrita. Her eyes danced, she stood on the tips of her toes, and her nostrils kept flaring. You heard how White Talon almost chomped Thedarra’s arm off. You want her to do it again – without stopping!