Bylyric's Taster was a female Kielian Snake of cyan celadon coloration, who was the unwilling taste tester of Bylyric after being condemned to a fate that was the living dead to Kielian Snakes — excised.
History[]
Before the Books[]
At an unclear point in time, this Kielian Snake found herself among the owls of the Ice Talon League, though, if her actions are anything to say for it, it seems unlikely that she, like Gragg, was a willing member and it is more probable she was captured or forced into servitude. Eventually, after Bylyric's previous taster was flayed to death in punishment after being found expectorating tested food, this snake was selected as her replacement and experienced the ultimate fear of Kielian Snakes — having the extension plates that connected to the muscles that formed a snake's shape-shifting head — thus making her what was basically the breathing dead.
The Rise of a Legend[]
Along with a Northern Saw-whet, Bylyric's Taster was the only servant employed by the Tyrant of the Talons. She and the Saw-whet steward were encountered by Octavia during her infiltration of Bylyric's army as she was being escorted to see the Orphan Maker himself. Initially only acknowledged by a toss of the head by the churlish servant as she cowered in a corner, as the Saw-whet argued with a Pygmy Ice Talon, Bylyric's Taster locked eyes with Octavia as she cast her kinsman an agonized look before taking a fearful bite from midsection of a fish presented to her for testing, swallowing the capelin as the Saw-whet counted down the seconds. As the Ice Talons departed the chamber, Octavia approached Bylyric's Taster, who, at her questioning, swung her head with a glazed expression to indicate where one could go to escape the Ice Talons, tears swelling lusterlessly in her eyes. Asked by Octavia if she wished to attempt to escape with the Kielian League slipgizzle, the taster replied she could not in a soft whisper, revealing to the horrified Octavia she had been excised and nodding in confirmation when Octavia guessed this. Telling Octavia that she was desperate for the freedom death could provide and that every day, she hoped to be poisoned, Bylyric's Taster begged Octavia to kill her. Confirming Octavia's questioning that Bylyric was now situated in the middle talon, the Taster again pleaded for death and Octavia relented, killing the poor soul with a painless headbutt to the skull and glimpsing, in the moment before she was free to move on to the next life, a flash of green joy in the cyan celadon snake's eyes.