The man in black was starting to get nervous.
“But, again, you must have suspected I knew the origins of iocane, so you would have known I knew about the criminals and criminal behavior, and therefore I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”
“Truly you have a dizzying intellect,” whispered the man in black.
“You have beaten my Turk, which means you are exceptionally strong, and exceptionally strong men are convinced that they are too powerful ever to die, too powerful even for iocane poison, so you could have put it in your cup, trusting on your strength to save you; thus I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.”
The man in black was very nervous now.
“But you also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied, because he studied many years for his excellence, and if you can study, you are clearly more than simply strong; you are aware of how mortal we all are, and you do not wish to die, so you would have kept the poison as far from yourself as possible; therefore I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.”
“You’re just trying to make me give something away with all this chatter,” said the man in black angrily. “Well it won’t work. You’ll learn nothing from me, that I promise you.”
“I have already learned everything from you,” said the Sicilian. “I know where the poison is.”
“Only a genius could have deduced as much.”
“How fortunate for me that I happen to be one,” said the hunchback, growing more and more amused now.
“You cannot frighten me,” said the man in black, but there was fear all through his voice.
“Shall we drink then?”
“Pick, choose, quit dragging it out, you don’t know, you couldn’t know.”
The Sicilian only smiled at the outburst. Then a strange look crossed his features and he pointed off behind the man in black. “What in the world can that be?” he asked.
The man in black turned around and looked. “I don’t see anything.”
“Oh, well, I could have sworn I saw something, no matter.” The Sicilian began to laugh.
“I don’t understand what’s so funny,” said the man in black.
“Tell you in a minute,” said the hunchback. “But first let’s drink.”
And he picked up his own wine goblet.
The man in black picked up the one in front of him.
They drank.
“You guessed wrong,” said the man in black.
“You only think I guessed wrong,” said the Sicilian, his laughter ringing louder. “That’s what’s so funny. I switched glasses when your back was turned.”
There was nothing for the man in black to say.
“Fool!” cried the hunchback. “You fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous is ‘Never get involved in a land war in Asia,’ but only slightly less well known is this: ‘Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.’”
He was quite cheery until the iocane powder took effect.
The man in black stepped quickly over the corpse, then roughly ripped the blindfold from the Princess’s eyes.
“I heard everything that happ—” Buttercup began, and then she said “Oh” because she had never been next to a dead man before. “You killed him,” she whispered finally.
“I let him die laughing,” said the man in black. “Pray I do as much for you.” He lifted her, slashed her bonds away, put her on her feet, started to pull her along.
“Please,” Buttercup said. “Give me a moment to gather myself.” The man in black released his grip.