Page 68 of The Dragon King's Assassin

“You may go,” Taroc said. “And thank you for your service this night, Daha. I will not forget it.”

Daha bowed to the King, then the Prince, and finally, shook my hand.

“May your path be wreathed in shadows, Daha,” I offered him the traditional traveling blessing.

“Thank you, Locrian. May darkness embrace you.”

Before Daha made it to the doorway, Captain Vettan came through it.

“Sire, we've found the violinist,” Vettan said, his expression grim. “The Talons pulled him out of the river. His throat has been cut.”

“Damn!” Taroc hissed, then he looked at Daha.

Daha was already shaking his head. “If the vocal cords are severed, he won't be able to speak.”

“Could he write?”

“How dead is he?” Daha looked at the Captain.

“A couple of days, but those days have been spent in the river.” Vettan grimaced. “He's not pretty; the river creatures have been at him and it looks as if he may have been smashed about by a few ships. His wife had to use a birthmark to identify him.”

“I'm sorry, Your Majesty, a body like that would take at least a day to raise and it would probably be senseless. Cold water can slow down the putrefaction process, but the Vevaren isn't cold enough for that and it's full of bacteria that will—“

“Just a conclusion, please,” Taroc cut him off. “Save us the specifics.”

“My apologies, Your Majesty. I've been asked to raise many bodies pulled from the river,” Daha said. “My conclusion is that once out of the water, the body will rapidly rot, and when the brain starts to rot, the spirit can't use it.”

“Does a spirit need a brain?”

“It does if you want it to perform fine motor skills such as writing. If you had a selection of possible killers we could stand before it, it might be able to shamble toward one or maybe lift an arm to point, but that would be all.”

“This body is not going to shamble,” Vettan said, his nose wrinkling. “He's barely in—”

“Yes, thank you,” Taroc said crisply.

“What happened to that whole, Dragons are killers thing?” I whispered to Taroc.

“Killing and listening to descriptions of rotting corpses are two different things.”

“Good point.”

“Thank you, Daha, you're excused.”

“Your Majesty.” Daha bowed to the King again and left.

“You are excused as well, Captain. But take the corpse with you.” Taroc waved at Uso.

“The corpse?” Vettan looked at the body. “Where shall I take him?”

“I'm not telling you to keep him somewhere. Put him wherever it is you put random corpses, Captain. I don't care where that is. I just want him out of my fucking dining room!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” The Captain rushed over to the body as I desperately tried not to snicker.

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