She lay on her back on a wooden trestle table which stood under a palm leaf awning in the shady corner of a broad courtyard in the Place of Healing. They had placed linen wadding soaked in water around her to keep her body cool, but despite the attentions of the attendants there was no stopping the persistent flies, and although it was still early enough in the season of shemu for the sun’s heat to be mild, her face was already puffy. Huy could see no mark on the body to indicate how she had died. She was naked, except for golden anklets and bracelets set with emeralds. A rich girl, then; but he could see that already from the delicacy of her skin, and the fine soft hands which lay crossed over her small breasts. ‘What is this?’ he asked Merymose cautiously. The two of them stood side by side by the corpse. From time to time a little breeze, trapped in the courtyard, eddied and gusted in their direction, bringing with it the first hint of the sweet smell of decay.
