CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The days that followed passed by in a slow trickle for Gantalla. Her time at the hospital was split between treating patients and studying the books in the office. She spent her days off exploring the shops around the city or spending time with the other nurses, getting to know them better. And every now and then, she saw Nalyx, as well. Sometimes, early in the morning, he would be alone, and they’d chat while he bought himself breakfast and Gantalla tended to menial errands like ordering more bandages from the seamstress or buying soap for the nurses’ laundry room. Other times, most commonly in the evening, she saw him with Liatra, and on occasion with another woman whom the other nurses had told her was named June.

She felt a lingering fondness for the man, but he seemed perfectly happy with not just one, but two women chasing after him, and Gantalla kept her distance while they were around. The serving women, she’d learned from subtle eavesdropping, were not above gossiping about their peers, starting cold and vicious rumours to try and dissuade a warrior from paying too much attention to the ‘wrong’ woman, and she didn’t want to give any of them any reason to start targeting her with their malicious comments. As a newcomer, her reputation in the town was still fragile and her friendships with the nurses still new. Far better to let things settle rather than risk any stories starting up about her poor character.

To be honest, it was a surprise to her how easily she’d settled in. She was becoming accustomed to seeing her own face in the mirror each morning, no longer startled by the pale brown of her skin, rather than its native green. She improved her sense of balance, learning to move without the aid of her tail, and hours at a time began to drift by when she hardly thought of her old life in Chalandros at all.

But the soothing calm couldn’t continue forever, and so, some three weeks since she’d passed through the gate, the first shock arrived.

Gantalla was at the reception desk in the hospital, with Nanta showing her how to make bookings in the appointment sheet and explaining to her how to triage the more serious cases that walked through the door, when a sudden burst of shouting got their attention.

“Get a doctor! We need a doctor! She’s choking!”

The door was flung open and two warriors rushed inside, one of them cradling a limp body in his arms. It was a blonde woman, and as she and Nanta rushed over, Gantalla realised it was Liatra!

The warrior set her on the ground, and Liatra immediately rolled over and vomited. With the way her torso was heaving, and from the fact that nothing but bile and liquid came out of her mouth, it was clear this was far from the first time she’d thrown up.

“Get the doctor,” Nanta snapped at her, and Gantalla raced away, dragging Doctor Samuel out of an appointment with another patient to rush back down to the foyer.

“Out of the way,” he ordered sharply, then he hauled Liatra into his arms, carrying her down the hall to a consultation room. He set her gently on the bed, then peered into her eyes and listened to her ragged breathing. Her eyes were bloodshot and her breaths harsh. Her gums were pale, and when Samuel leaned down to press his ear to her chest, he muttered a curse. “Her heart rate’s slow. She’s showing all the signs of some sort of poisoning. Get some activated charcoal,” he ordered, and a nurse rushed off, then returned a moment later with a cup of black liquid. “Help me get her to drink it,” he said to Gantalla, and she obediently lifted Liatra’s head, opening her mouth so the doctor could pour the liquid in. Liatra gagged, but gamely tried to swallow.

“What have you eaten?” the doctor asked her. When she didn’t answer, he took her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him, and repeated the question.

“Nothing,” Liatra said weakly. “I had nothing this morning.”

“What about last night?”

“Just dinner with the warriors.”

“Is anyone else affected?” Samuel asked the warrior who was still hovering by the door, having followed them down the hall to the consult room.

“No, not that I know of,” he said.

“What did you eat?” Samuel asked Liatra again. “I want to know every single detail.”

“Meat. Venison, I think. And potatoes and carrots. And some mushrooms. And a slice of apple pie.” She moaned and listed to the side, so Gantalla grabbed her, holding her upright.

“What sort of mushrooms were they?”

“I don’t know…”

“Haber?” Samuel asked the warrior. “What mushrooms were they?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask around to find out.”

“Do it,” he snapped, and the man rushed out of the room. “She’s got a fever. Give her a cool sponge bath to get her temperature down,” he told Nanta, “and Gantalla, prepare some ginger tea. Get her to drink a full cup, if she can keep it down. Henrietta, prepare some opium. I’m not sure if we’ll need it, but better to be prepared.” The nurses all rushed off, leaving Liatra moaning on the bed, under the watchful gaze of the doctor.

An hour dragged past, as they all carried out the doctor’s orders, and by the end of it, Liatra was looking a little more stable. Her skin was pale and she was lying limply on the bed, but she’d stopped vomiting and her temperature was down. The sound of heavy footsteps sounded from out in the hallway, then Haber returned, out of breath as he skidded back into the room. “I spoke to Fiona,” he said. “She was organising the food last night. She said Rellia brought the mushrooms. She owns the pub on Hill Lane. She’s been bringing food for the warriors every day for the last week. Fiona said they were red caps.”

Samuel’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have any left? Or does Rellia have any? I’d bet a week’s pay they were actually purple caps.”

“She’s on her way over. I told her to bring what she had.”

Minutes later, a middle-aged woman with long, brown hair knocked on the door. She looked terrified. “I brought the mushrooms I had left,” she said, and Gantalla assumed this was Rellia. She hadn’t met the woman before, though with the size of the city, it was a reasonable bet that she could live here for years and never meet every single person in town.

Samuel took the basket of mushrooms she’d brought with her and sat down by the window, using the daylight to give each one a thorough inspection. And some ten minutes later, he sighed. “Well, it’s good news for you,” he told Rellia. “They’re all red caps. Every last one.”

Rellia sagged in relief. “Oh, thank the gods. I’m normally so careful with mushrooms. I felt so horrible that I could have got it wrong.”

“You’ve done nothing wrong. Thank you for coming,” Samuel said, offering her a sympathetic smile. “You can go now.” She left, but Samuel kept the basket of mushrooms. For all his certainty that they weren’t harmful, it was best to avoid the risk of any further incidents.

“Okay, so red caps were provided to the barracks, but I’d bet a week’s pay that it was somehow purple caps that ended up on Liatra’s plate,” he mused. He moved back over to the bed. “Liatra, my dear? How are you feeling? Any better?”

Liatra nodded. “A bit. The room’s still spinning. And my tongue feels weird.” From Gantalla’s memory of the descriptions in the book on mushrooms, her symptoms were a match to the toxic variety.

“Can you tell me anything else about what happened last night? Where did you get your food from? Who were you eating with?”

“June got the food from the tables. I was eating with her and Nalyx and Calium. And Helen. Everyone’s saying Calium’s going to ask Helen to marry him.”

“Right then.” Samuel turned back to the nurses. “Let’s round up the four others. Bring them here, and Henrietta, I want you to question them all. I want to know what they were eating and if any of them have felt the slightest bit ill this morning.”

“I’ll see to it,” Henrietta said, letting herself out of the room.

“Nanta, can you organise a bed upstairs and get Liatra taken up to a room. I have to get back to my other patients, but call if you need anything.”

After Doctor Samuel left, Gantalla returned to the reception desk. There was no point just sitting around doing nothing, after all. But half an hour later, the door opened and Henrietta returned, her four charges in tow. And maybe it was none of her business, but Gantalla got up and followed them back to Liatra’s room, curiosity gnawing at her about this mystery. It was nothing at all to do with wanting to see Nalyx again, she told herself firmly. It was just professional concern for a patient. That was all.

Inside Liatra’s room, Nalyx went straight to Liatra’s side, taking her hand. “Oh gods, are you all right?” he asked her.

“Feel sick,” she said, with a wince.

“She’s doing better,” Samuel told him, arriving in the doorway. Presumably one of the nurses had alerted him when Nalyx and the others arrived. “I don’t think it’s going to be fatal, but she’ll likely be off colour for a couple of days. She was lucky she didn’t get a higher dose. Much more and she wouldn’t have made it.”

“How the hell did this happen?” Nalyx asked.

“We were hoping you could help us find out. Helen, June, you can wait in the room next door. And Nalyx and Calium, if you’d be so kind as to go with Henrietta? She has some questions to ask you.” Both men looked baffled, but followed Henrietta without protest. And once again, Gantalla decided to trail after the group. She half expected to be told to wait with Liatra, but Henrietta said nothing, so she assumed she was allowed to go.

Inside another consulting room, Henrietta turned to face the men. “Okay, so my first question is have either of you been feeling ill this morning? We’re concerned that Liatra’s suffering from purple cap poisoning, and if anyone else has eaten them, you could get seriously ill.”

Both men shook their head. “I feel fine,” Calium said.

“Perfectly normal,” Nalyx agreed.

“Did anything unusual happen last night? Liatra said she was eating dinner with you, Helen and June. Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”

“No,” Nalyx said, after taking a moment to think about it. “Calium and I were in the town square during the day. The women met us at the barracks at around six. We had a few drinks, then dinner.” He shrugged. “It was a pretty typical night. Then Helen went to bed with Calium, and June and Liatra went home. They both seemed fine when they left.”

Gantalla’s ears pricked up at that. So neither woman had spent the night with Nalyx? She felt a stab of relief at the news, and then immediately told herself that she had no right to feel that way. She’d broken things off with Nalyx – not that they’d ever really started in the first place. She had no reason to be interested in who he spent the night with.

“Well, actually, there was that argument between June and Liatra,” Calium said. “I mean, it was nothing serious, just a bit of posturing and name-calling, but they’ve seemed a bit at odds with each other lately.”

“Oh, come on,” Nalyx scoffed. “Yeah, there’s been a bit of jealousy, but that’s common enough amongst the serving women. There’s no way that could have anything to do with Liatra eating toxic mushrooms.”

“Liatra said that June went to get dinner for everyone from the food table. Is that true?” Henrietta asked.

“Yes,” Calium said. Then his face fell. “You don’t think she would have…? No, that’s ridiculous. We were all eating the same thing. Liatra must have eaten something different. Earlier in the evening, maybe?”

Henrietta didn’t seem to know what to say next, so Gantalla dared to ask a question of her own. “Aside from June, would anyone have any reason to want to hurt Liatra?”

“None at all, that I know of,” Nalyx said. “And June would have no reason to either. Whatever’s going on here, it’s probably just an innocent mistake.”

It was interesting how both men seemed so certain that there was no foul play going on. Jealousy between the women seemed to be both accepted and swept under the rug. Had none of the women ever tried underhanded methods to get rid of competition in the past? Gantalla remembered Hallix’s angry reaction to her own decision to spend time with Nalyx, rather than with him. And while Hallix hadn’t resorted to physical harm, he’d still lashed out harshly at Nalyx while he was injured. Perhaps, with their ingrained familiarity with the customs of the city, the people here were overlooking the obvious possibilities?

But even so, Gantalla was reluctant to say anything. She didn’t know either June or Liatra well, and accusing June of attempting to poison Liatra was a big step.

Following that, Henrietta interviewed June and Helen, both of whom repeated what Nalyx and Calium had said; the evening was a typical one, with nothing of note happening.

With the questioning finished, Nalyx and the others were asked to wait in an adjoining room, while Samuel called the rest of the nurses together.

“So,” he said, gazing around the room. “We have a mystery on our hands. Red cap mushrooms were served at dinner. A number of people ate them, and no one else is showing any symptoms. And yet somehow, Liatra ended up getting poisoned, and all of her symptoms are consistent with purple cap toxin. So how does one woman out of a group of five people end up eating toxic mushrooms?”

Henrietta folded her arms. “Am I right in thinking that you believe this was done deliberately?”

“I’m having a hard time seeing how it could have happened accidentally. It’s a little early to be making accusations, but you’d have to admit, the circumstances are odd.”

“Could it be that Liatra’s lying?” one of the nurses suggested. “Trying to get someone into trouble?”

“I find that unlikely,” Nanta said. “Liatra hasn’t made any accusations against anyone in particular. And who in the world would poison themselves like that to get revenge? It would be completely crazy.”

The room fell silent as everyone mentally picked through the details, trying to come up with a workable theory. Gantalla sat silently, mulling over her own growing suspicions, but being so new, she was reluctant to say anything. Nalyx’s easy dismissal of the jealousy between the serving women had sat ill with her, and she thought back to each time she’d seen both Liatra and June with Nalyx at the same time. And as she remembered each incident, she was a little ashamed to realise just how closely she’d been watching him. It had been easy to spot him in the square each day, and easier still to find a quiet spot to observe him. The windows on the upper floor of the hospital had provided a vantage point to watch the goings-on, and she’d taken advantage of the quiet moments in her shifts to watch.

In each of the encounters, Liatra had always been cheerful, laughing and smiling, flirting shamelessly with Nalyx. But June, she remembered, had seemed put out, scowling at Liatra behind her back, inserting herself between her and Nalyx when the opportunity presented itself. But accusing June of poisoning Liatra was a big step.

But saying nothing could leave Liatra open to further attacks. Gantalla felt ill at ease with the idea of doing nothing, but without proof, any accusation was just speculation. She decided to test the waters, her conscience niggling at her unpleasantly.

“Liatra said that June brought the food over from the tables,” she said. “I’m not accusing her of anything directly, but that would have given her the opportunity to tamper with the food. If she was so inclined. And Calium said that she and Liatra had an argument last night. So potentially, that could give her both opportunity and motive.”

But Nanta shook her head. “Anyone with eyes can see that she and Liatra have a rivalry going on. But resorting to poisoning someone is over the top. Beside which, Nalyx has made it plain he’s not in the market for a wife. If June’s angling for a husband, she’s picked the wrong target. There are plenty of other warriors who would be more open to persuasion.”

Gods, it was all so straight forward in the eyes of these people. As far as they were concerned, the only reason for jealousy was because someone wanted to get married, and who in particular they married seemed only of secondary concern. Gantalla felt completely out of her depth. She had such a different view of the world, saw relationships as being built on trust and a common way of thinking, rather than wealth and physical pleasure, and her own jealousy – for all that she tried to deny it – was nothing to do with wanting to marry Nalyx. It was more about wanting him to see her as a unique individual, to see that she was worth more to him than a willing bed-warmer. Could it be that June felt the same way?

“Where is June from?” she asked. “Was she born in Minia? How long has she been a member of the serving women?”

“She was originally from Azertel,” Nanta replied. “Her parents moved here when she was about fifteen. Oddly enough, she actually trained as a nurse for a year before joining the serving women. We thought she was going to do well here, but then a few years ago, she decided to serve the warriors instead. Can’t say that I blame her. I was never pretty enough to hold their attention, but I can see why a young woman with her looks would prefer that to cleaning up vomit and treating bloody wounds all day.”

Well, that was interesting. Nalyx had already implied that other cities had different standards for marriage, showing no particular surprise at Gantalla’s views, given that she was notionally from Gadash. And if June had been raised elsewhere and taught to expect more loyalty from a potential love interest…

And she’d trained as a nurse? That meant she’d have studied the same books that Gantalla had, learning all about the poisons their patients might encounter. Learning the difference between a red cap and a purple cap mushroom.

“You honestly think June could have done this?” Doctor Samuel asked her. Even he seemed surprised by the implications of her line of questions. “That would be outrageous.”

“We have no proof,” Rachael piped up. “You can’t just accuse someone without evidence.” The serving women, Gantalla had learned, were held in almost as high esteem as the warriors themselves, with everyone in the city treating them like minor celebrities. And why wouldn’t they, when the warriors paid them so much attention and the warriors themselves were revered almost as gods.

“Rachael’s right,” Doctor Samuel said. “If June did do this, that would make it attempted murder. And I’m not willing to make that sort of accusation without proof.”

Gantalla fell silent. She’d said as much as she was willing to, and no one seemed inclined to agree with her. But as she glanced around the room, she momentarily met Gosta’s eyes. She winced automatically. In the weeks that Gantalla had been working at the hospital, Gosta had been cold and reserved, quick to correct any mistake Gantalla made and offering nothing in the way of praise or empathy. But Gosta was the head nurse, making her impossible to avoid, so Gantalla had done her best to keep her head down and keep the peace.

Now, Gosta was looking at her through narrowed eyes, a calculating look on her face. Gantalla braced herself for some accusation to be thrown her way, but what Gosta said instead caught her by surprise.

“If one was to look for proof,” the old woman asked, her voice gravelly with age, “how would one go about finding it?” Her question, though addressed to the room, seemed to be aimed at Gantalla.

It was a good question. If Gantalla herself had tried to poison someone, the first thing she would do would be to get rid of any evidence. Not that she’d ever entertained such an idea… but she had once stolen some fruit from the neighbour’s orchard as a child, and then carried the leftover rind off into the forest on a walk and buried it so that no one would find it.

But perhaps June wasn’t that smart? Or maybe she simply hadn’t had the chance yet. This had only happened last night, after all…

“Search her room,” Gantalla suggested. “If she was involved with the purple cap mushrooms, maybe she’d still have some left? And if not,” she added, not wanting to get any of June’s supporters offside, “then there’s not much else we can do and there’s no reason to continue suspecting June.”

“We should search Helen and Liatra’s rooms as well,” Nanta said. “Just for the sake of thoroughness.” It was interesting that no one suggested they search the warriors’ rooms. But Gantalla wasn’t willing to even mention that particular idea. She’d upset enough people already.

Doctor Samuel cringed, but he nodded. “Go and fetch Captain Leefe,” he told Nanta. “If anyone’s going to search their rooms, it should be him. And for all that I’d like to know how this happened, I honestly hope we don’t find anything. If it’s true, this would be an enormous tragedy for the town.” Nanta nodded and left the room, leaving the rest of them feeling subdued.

◊          ◊          ◊

Once the captain arrived – after an extended wait, given how busy he was – Samuel called everyone together, including Nalyx, Calium, Helen and June and announced the plan. “For the sake of impartiality, I’m asking Captain Leefe to conduct the search. This is a serious accusation and I don’t want there to be any doubts about the outcome.”

June gaped at them all, staring about the room. “This is Gantalla’s doing, isn’t it?” she blurted out, as her gaze fell on Gantalla. “She’s jealous! When she came into town, Nalyx was all over her. Then he decided she wasn’t up to scratch and sent her off. So now she wants to get rid of both me and Liatra, so she can have him to herself. She poisoned Liatra and now she’s blaming me to get me out of the way.”

“What on earth… That makes no sense,” Doctor Samuel said, looking baffled.

“It’s true that Nalyx was spending time with Gantalla when she first arrived,” Rachael said. “I saw them together several times.” On the surface, it was a simple factual statement, but the implication was that Rachael was already taking sides.

“And I’ve had nothing to do with him in weeks,” Gantalla said, trying not to sound defensive. “Why would I suddenly decide to do something now? And besides, it would be impossible for me to have had anything to do with Liatra’s poisoning. I was here at the hospital all last night.”

“Can anyone confirm that?” Samuel asked. And Gantalla’s heart sank. This was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid. A newcomer and a lowly nurse, against a long-running member of the town and a serving woman? People would find it far more palatable to accuse her, rather than June.

But it seemed her efforts to befriend the nurses hadn’t been in vain. “I had dinner with Gantalla last night,” Henrietta said. “We both went back to the kitchen after our shifts ended. I can vouch for her being here.”

“What time was that?” Samuel asked.

“We finished work at six o’clock. And we were having dinner until seven.”

“What time did you all begin eating?” Samuel asked Nalyx. Gantalla was heartened to see that he seemed as baffled as she was. But in this case, luck was not on her side.

“I honestly don’t know,” Nalyx said. “I wasn’t paying attention to the time. But I don’t believe that Gantalla would have had anything to do with it.” His vote of confidence was reassuring… until Gantalla remembered that he’d said much the same thing about the idea of June being involved.

“It was eight o’clock,” Calium said, butting in. “The clock tower chimed just before we started eating.”

“Where did you go after dinner?” Samuel asked Gantalla.

“I went straight to the nurses’ quarters.” They couldn’t actually be taking this idea seriously, could they?

“And did anyone else see you there?”

“I did,” Gosta suddenly spoke up, and Gantalla’s gaze swung across to the ill-tempered woman. “I slept in the nurses’ quarters last night. There’s a patient in room four who needed monitoring overnight. I was in there from half past seven until quarter to eleven. Gantalla was in the sleeping quarters the entire time. And for what it’s worth,” she went on, “she’s been an exemplary nurse ever since she arrived. I’ve never seen a trainee work as hard as she does. June’s accusations are completely unfounded.”

Gantalla gaped at the woman. Since the moment she’d started working here, Gosta had been nothing but strict and severe, checking Gantalla’s work with a scowl on her face, issuing sharp orders and never once offering her a single word of support. The sudden vote of confidence was completely unexpected.

June spluttered indignantly. “Well, okay, maybe she didn’t poison Liatra. But she’s still trying to get me out of the way. I had nothing to do with this.”

“And if that’s the case, then there’ll be no harm in searching your room,” Captain Leefe said. “If what you say is true, then we won’t find anything, and you have nothing to worry about.”

“But I… That’s not fair!”

“Nonetheless, it is the most rational course of action.” Captain Leefe indicated the door. “Shall we?”

With sombre expressions, Helen and June headed out of the room, Doctor Samuel and the rest of the nurses filing out behind them.

The serving women – those who weren’t married, at least – had rooms in a long row behind the barracks. They were less fancy than the rooms for the warriors, but comfortable enough, and they started with Helen’s room, simply because it was the closest, at the very end of the row. To no one’s great surprise, a thorough search by Captain Leefe showed up nothing out of the ordinary.

“Moving on then,” he said, when he emerged from the room. “June? Your room is next.” They all traipsed down the row, coming to a stop outside a room with the number eight on the door. Several of the other serving women and a handful of the warriors watched them go, and Gantalla realised they must look quite the spectacle, with nearly a dozen people wandering about in a tense cluster. Leefe went inside the room and began searching June’s belongings, while June hovered nervously by the door.

“This is completely ridiculous,” she continued to protest as the search went on. “No one in their right mind would think I could have done this. Gantalla’s just poisoning all of your minds. She’s not from around here. She doesn’t know how things work. She just thinks she’s better than everyone else, so she wants someone else to take the blame for her.”

Peering through the door from her spot a few metres away, Gantalla ignored the ongoing tirade as she watched as the captain opened every cupboard and drawer. He shook out June’s cloak, looked inside her boots, then even checked on top of the cupboards lest anything had been pushed to the back to be out of view. And then finally, he checked under the bed.

Gantalla knew the exact moment he’d found something. His shoulders tensed and he took in a sudden breath. He flattened himself to the floor, reaching far under the bed, then pulled out a small basket. It was covered in a dark cloth. “What could be in here?” he asked, more to himself than to the waiting audience. He removed the cover… and there, in the shallow basket, sat a handful of mushrooms.

The captain came out of the room. “I’m no mushroom expert,” he said to Doctor Samuel. “So perhaps you’d be so kind as to identify these for me?”

Samuel took one of the mushrooms and inspected it closely. Then his shoulders sagged. “Gods above… These are purple caps.”

A cold silence settled on the group. Everyone looked stunned, as if even now they could hardly believe the truth.

“Those aren’t mine,” June said, her face almost white in fear.

“And yet they were so very carefully hidden under your bed,” Captain Leefe said. He sighed and shook his head. “June, you’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Liatra. The town mayor will hear your case and decide your punishment. I’m sorry, everyone,” he said, turning to the rest of the group. “This is a sad day for Minia, and for the warriors in particular. I would never have believed one of our own could behave in such a callous manner. But it looks like we have all the evidence we need. June, you’ll come with me.” Taking her by the arm, he strode away, dragging her along behind, leaving the rest of them staring at each other in stunned silence.