The priest shook her noble head. “Old Iraska disappeared long ago, taken by things in the jungle after she returned from her mission in disgrace. Most of those living here never knew Iraska at all, and would gag at the thought of a yuan-ti indistinguishable from an ape. But even if you’re right, if this child could be used as a spy-do you imagine we have any need for a spy among the humans anymore? The nearest city of any size is Delzimmer, and to reach it requires an arduous journey through treacherous jungle and over barren plains. How would we use such an infiltrator? Would we send her to their market to buy food for us? How would she bring it back?” The low priest moved closer. “And how would she learn the ways of humans? The last human cultist dedicated to our cause died in my grandmother’s time.” The low priest paused. “As I recall, the anathema ate him. Which did little to win other humans to our cause.”

“We could foster her in a human village, perhaps,” Scitheron said. “Or even leave her for the caravan that passes near sometimes. If we left her near their camp, they might find her, and raise her, and …” He trailed off at the look of disgust on the low priest’s face.

“Let her believe herself human? No. Better to kill her-which is what the humans would do when they realized her true nature anyway. She is a freak, Scitheron. A sport. She turns her face away from meals of meat, and her weak ape’s mouth is good only for suckling. She doesn’t even have teeth. She can only feed by slurping blood from a cloth.” The low priest shuddered. “Perhaps, in the old times, they knew what to do with such creatures, knew how to raise them, but life is harder here. Her birth has been seen as an ill omen since her egg first cracked open. The people mutter that Zehir has turned his back on us, that our serpent nature is being withheld, that all our children will be ape-faces from now on.