Free Harvest of Gold by Tessa Afshar

royal mark, symbolizing Achaemenes, the ancestor of King Cyrus, and your own ancestor, if I am correct. Why would he bear a Persian royal symbol but spit upon a Persian official?”
    “There are deep secrets at work here. The more I know, the less I understand.”
    They covered the body, placing the clothes and the dagger in a separate bag, intending to study them further once they returned home. The Immortals who had been sent to search for hidden clues came back empty-handed. Darius was past disappointment. Then Mardonius ran out.
    “I have a lead, my lord. One of the customers walked here from his house. He said he saw our man partway down the road, walking toward the tavern.”
    “In which direction?”
    “To the south, my lord.”
    “Good work.” Darius said, trying to sound calm. “Can you lead us to where he was first seen?”
    Darius and Lysander followed Mardonius, leaving behind the rest of the men to guard the body and the Babylonian brothers. Mardonius marched down a narrow road with high walls on either side. He took several turns, arriving at an even narrower road jammed with small houses, which were joined together by virtue of shared walls on either side.
    “Here is where our witness lives,” Mardonius indicated a small house with a brown curtain for a door. “When he came out of his house a couple of hours ago, he saw our man striding further ahead down the road. He remembers him because although his clothes were plain, they appeared new and of good quality. He said he displayed a regal bearing.”
    “Did he go straight to Pardis? He stopped nowhere on the way?”
    “Nowhere, my lord.”
    Darius looked around. “So, in order to get from his lodgings to Pardis, he had to walk down this road. Mardonius, fetch four of your comrades and search this area. Go house to house and ask if anyone has lodged our man or seen him over the past few weeks. It is possible that he rented a room or house somewhere nearby from one of the locals. The landlord probably has no idea that he has been harboring a criminal. But if we find his lodgings, we might discover some evidence amongst his possessions. Lysander and I will question the people down this road. You and the others check out the roads and alleys to the east and west.”
    Mardonius sprinted away. Lysander scratched his square jaw. “I thought of something. In two days, the representatives of the provinces will bring their tributes to the king for the New Year. There must be an official list. If this misbegotten son of a donkey was supposed to offer a gift from a certain province, we’ll know where he is from by virtue of his absence.”
    “Good thinking. We’d best begin our search, though. Every bit of information will help.”
    Darius lost count of the number of residents they questioned. Several of them remembered seeing the man over the past month, but could not recall the location of his lodgings. Nor had they seen him communicating with anyone in particular. It was a girl—young enough to be unmarried and old enough to have discovered the thrill of speaking to the opposite sex—who finally provided them with a solid lead. Darius did not reveal that the object of their search now lay dead at the bottom of a cart. Instead, he hinted that he wished to find him in order to give him some beneficial news.
    “I know the one you mean,” she said, managing to swish her hair, play with her long earrings, and giggle at the same time. “Always clean, that one, and smelling of exotic perfumes. Very pleasant to speak to.”
    “You’ve spoken to him?” Darius tried to hide his impatience and smiled at her with inviting warmth he did not feel.
    “Certainly. He compliments me every time he sees me.”
    Lysander leaned forward, enveloping the girl in a blue gaze so fervent she blushed. The poor child, Darius thought, his conscience a little stung. She stood no chance against two men who could wrap a roomful of aristocratic women around their