He was babbling now, trying to avoid examining the corpse more closely.
“Interesting,” Ischade murmured. “I could use a repairman. But you’re sure it
isn’t your friend?”
“Positive. For one thing, Razkuli was …”
“Here’s the other,” Haught announced from the doorway. “Now if you don’t mind, I
think I’ll retire for the night. A little of this type of assisting goes a long
way.”
“That’s him!” Zalbar said pointing at the new corpse.
“I think I see the problem,” Ischade sighed. “You could have saved us all a lot
of trouble if you had been more specific. Why didn’t you tell me he had been
beheaded?”
Sure enough, the corpse which Haught had propped against the wall noticeably
lacked its hatrack.
“I didn’t think it was important. Is it?”
“Certainly. One thing that will always hold a spirit in limbo is if its physical
body has been dismembered … particularly if an important piece, like its head,
has been denied a burial.”
“What? You mean his head hasn’t been buried?”
“Apparently not. As I said earlier, gravediggers are notoriously lazy, so I
doubt they would dig a separate hole just for the head. No, my guess is that
that portion of your friend’s body has somehow gone astray. The reason the
spirit hasn’t been able to instruct you in more detail is because it can’t tell
which part is missing, much less where it is.”
She turned to Zalbar with a smile. “This will be simpler than I thought. Bring
me the head of Razkuli, and I can put his spirit to rest for you. Do you have
any idea where it might be after all this time?”