THE BUBONIC VIZIER

As voracious for tiny birds and reptiles as he was for the juicy sweetmeats of gossip,
the Vizier liked to toy with his prey,
caressing each conquest with his tongues before stuffing it gleefully into his lamprey-like mouth.
Courtiers shrank from the effluvia of cinnamon and decay, yet he lurched unmolested through the castle,
flattering the powerful, disgorging the weak.  Flies buzzed around his unblinking eyes.