Pip and Vorgrok continue their own investigation, while the show goes on nearby. Pip has trouble recalling anything useful about the various snakes he's heard are native to this area and can't shake the nagging thought that he's mistaken, anyway. Vorgrok, for the moment, proves wiser- First in that there's no normal way to get this many snakebites. Vipers tend to strike either out of defense or hunting. When hunting, they would hit once and leave the animal to perish before eating it leisurely. When defending themselves, there would be no way for someone to accidentally get surrounded, but he bites cover the front and back of Myron's legs. Somehow, someone did this to him.

Also, while it's perfectly typical to have snake charmers working in a circus, it's very rare to have actual vipers. The flashy, wide-cowled cobras popular for their visual appeal have fangs that lack a hinge- and are therefore shorter. These puncture marks are swollen into large mounds, indicating a deeper puncture- the kind that a normal (relevant in this context for being drab in color and difficult to tame) viper would cause. So it's highly improbable that the bites came from animals one would find in a circus.