Page 29

Chapter 29

“Tell me about this Sunus Pyktis,” demanded Ana. “Hold nothing back! The more I know, the faster we can respond.”

“I can tell you little!” sighed Thelenai. “He was one augur of many. The only significant thing about him to me was his death—for he died in a disaster on the Shroud, or so we thought.”

“A mishandling of the blood,” said Ghrelin quietly. “Two other augurs died as well. Such were the…the warpings that no bodies could be recovered.”

“I assume neither of you witnessed this disaster,” said Ana acidly, “otherwise you’d both be dead, too?”

“True enough,” murmured Thelenai.

Ana crossed her arms. “Hmph! I want all records of this Sunus, and all records of this disaster. Nothing omitted, either! There is a time for secrecy, and it is not now.”

“I shall make it so,” said Thelenai. “You will have them in hours.”

“Good,” said Ana. “But is there anything of use you can give me now? What are these augurs like? What do they desire? This man is an utter mystery to us. Surely you can help describe their nature!”

“What you ask is difficult to provide,” said Thelenai, cringing.

“Damn it, why ?” demanded Ana.

Ghrelin swallowed and said, “Augurs cannot converse like normal people. It is terribly difficult to know any one of them intimately when they are elevated to such a state.”

Malo squinted at him. “Eh? What do you mean, they did not converse like normal people?”

I glanced at Ana, who was by now practically vibrating with impatience. “Or did they not talk at all?” I asked. “Did they tap instead?”

Ghrelin’s eyes widened in surprise. Then he nodded. “Y-yes. You already know, then. Of course you do…”

“Yes!” snapped Ana. “Of course!”

Malo looked around at us, bewildered. “What is this? What the hell do you mean, they tap?”

Ana extended a hand to the two Apoths— Go ahead.

Ghrelin swallowed again. “The…the augury affects the mind so greatly that normal conversation is exceedingly difficult, especially when conveying large amounts of information. The augurs read things into the slightest inflection, or word choice, or hesitation. So, on the Shroud…they do not speak aloud, but rather tap to communicate, in a very old code. This method is much less affected by nuance.”

“I go to the Shroud very rarely,” said Thelenai quietly. “But when I would visit the augurs, they…they’d sit in a circle, their fingers drumming on little boards about their necks. It would seem to make no sense at all, just noise and tapping, but then…they would take their ashpens, and all together, they would draw up diagrams and figures and calculations so brilliant and so accurate, they would take your breath away.”

“And that is who this Pyktis was,” said Ana. “One of these silent, dreamy drummers.”

Thelenai nodded. “Yes.”

“How long do the effects of this augury last?”

“A decent dose can elevate them for up to three to four months,” said Ghrelin. “We cycle the doses up and down throughout the year, to avoid excessive cerebral damage.”

“But being as Pyktis has been missing for two years,” said Ana sourly, “I’m guessing you have discovered some doses missing in the time since?”

Ghrelin’s eyes grew very round. “Oh…Well. Y-yes. We did notice some…some small discrepancies in the dosages…”

“I thought those were quite small,” said Thelenai, startled. “Rounding errors in dosages, no more.”

Ana scoffed. “I’m sure they appeared so…” She shook her head, disgusted. “And the side effects—if someone were to be maintaining their augury for five years, as opposed to the usual three? For Pyktis first went to the Shroud some five years ago, true? How could he manage that?”

Ghrelin contemplated it. “I would guess that he is maintaining a very low level of augury. Not the full, for to do that in the wild would be utterly debilitating. Too much to analyze and predict. Yet even so…I would assume Pyktis is now experiencing high levels of paranoia, volatility, and violence. He is likely sleeping little, eating little, and having unstable reactions to…well, nearly any human interaction.”

A bleak silence.

“Fucker’s a damn lunatic, then,” said Malo.

“That is one expression,” admitted Thelenai. “But even if he is maintaining his augury at a low level, eventually it would overcome him—correct, Ghrelin?”

“Yes,” said Ghrelin. “The effects should be permanently disabling within…well, a few months. Perhaps another year. No more.”

“So could we simply wait him out?” said Malo.

Ana chuckled morosely. “Oh, I doubt it. For we should assume Pyktis, being a genius, knows this, too! He is conscious that his time is running out. Thus, this makes him more dangerous—which means we must move ever faster.”

—

“So,” sighed Ana. “We know almost nothing about this man, except that he is brilliant, mad, he should be dead, and he grows more dangerous by the day. We don’t even know why he…” Then she went very still. “Hm. The bank, yes…Before we go galloping along, I suppose we should go back to the very beginning of this, yes?”

“How might you mean?” asked Thelenai.

“Why, the very crime that brought us all here,” said Ana. “The murder to acquire the item that was in that damned safe!”

At this, Ghrelin’s and Thelenai’s expressions changed yet again: first they looked surprised, like they realized they’d forgotten this, and then, in unison, an expression of utter devastation fell upon them.

“The stolen item obviously wasn’t instructions for a healing graft,” continued Ana, ignorant of their change. “But I am now troubled…for I know it wasn’t some component or reagent necessary to help Pyktis kill those smugglers. He’d already stolen everything he needed to do that. Then— what was in that safe that Pyktis sought to steal?”

Another pause.

“A…a report, from the Shroud,” admitted Ghrelin. “One destined for the first ring of the Empire.”

“And the nature of this report?” asked Ana.

Thelenai made a face as though to say these words were akin to having a limb lopped off. “It concerned the leviathan marrow. Namely, a…a report on how to ship it up the canals…and then how to embed it within a nutrient brewery to begin excreting kani. ”

Ana froze. Then she shivered, the fronds of her snow-white hair trembling like a beetle’s antennae. “I…see,” she said. “And…the reason why you were sending this report…it was because your efforts here have been successful, haven’t they? All your augurs, they…they actually managed it, yes? They successfully excised and stored a titan’s marrow.”

The Apoths sat still as stone.

“That is so,” said Thelenai huskily. “We succeeded last wet season.”

“Yes…” said Ana. “And this marrow you have bound up in ossuary moss. This tremendously unstable, dangerous chunk of titan flesh…it’s here. In Yarrowdale. It’s stored on the Shroud. Isn’t it?”

Ghrelin nodded, his face crumpled like he might dissolve into tears at any moment.

“And now a brilliant, murderous madman knows it,” said Ana faintly. “And that is what he was telling us, with the sign he left in the warped clearing. He was flaunting that he’d figured it all out.” She scratched her head and muttered, “Well, fuck.”

—

“You did what ?” said Malo, horrified. “It’s just…over there? Across the bay ?”

“The marrow is in a very stable state!” said Thelenai defensively. “We have bound and preserved it most securely in moss, and it is hidden behind vaults and walls and armored doors deep within the Shroud!”

“But it would pass through Yarrowdale eventually, true?” asked Ana. “It would one day be mere leagues or span from where we sit now?”

“Yes,” admitted Ghrelin. “It would. We would have to do so, to deliver it to those who so need it in the inner rings.”

“You want to just float that shit up the canals ?” said Malo.

I shut my eyes, my whole body trembling. “Oh, by the fates,” I whispered. “By the Harvester…”

“Understand that we have considered every precaution!” said Thelenai. “We know all the risks! But the greatest risks, ironically, are here in Yarrowdale, in this very dangerous land that the Empire does not control at all! And we obviously cannot ship the marrow now. Not if there is some madman lurking in the trees who knows it is coming!”

“The augurs have calculated the chances that they could duplicate their efforts,” whispered Ghrelin, “and succeed in extracting the marrow again. The odds are far lower than we’d like. This may be our only chance for years to come. And yet we are forced to sit.”

Ana raised a hand, her expression merciless. “Do the inner rings know?” she demanded.

“They know I have succeeded, but not how,” said Thelenai miserably. “Of the augurs, they know nothing.”

“And Prificto Kardas? Is he aware that he is here pursuing a diplomatic agreement you hope to neuter within mere months?”

“I have had little communication with Kardas at all,” said Thelenai. “My people observe his movements, as they do for all who might bring contagion into Yarrowdale. He comes to and fro from the High City in the west and goes nowhere else. He is there even now, I understand…”

Ana impatiently flapped a hand. “And if the marrow was successfully attacked? If, say, Pyktis again used his titan’s blood weapon and managed to penetrate all your defenses about the marrow, there upon the Shroud?”

A taut silence.

“Then…then the marrow would act like…a fissure in the earth dripping lava, layer upon layer,” whispered Thelenai. “Releasing more blood, and more alterations.”

“How much land area would be affected?” asked Ana.

Thelenai shrugged helplessly. “Leagues. Enough to destroy most of the city. Perhaps enough to block up the canals entirely.”

“Which would bring the Empire to a shuddering halt,” said Ghrelin.

Malo shut her eyes. “By hells…”

Ana tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Yes…yes, it is a most excellent target for him! We must assume this is exactly what he wants to achieve. And, you know…I very much think he could do so!”

“He…he could?” asked Ghrelin.

“Well, it depends on how you answer this next question, Ghrelin. The warpings Din and Malo saw in the wood—how much fertilizer would he have needed to do that?”

“Oh, I am not sure, offhand,” said Ghrelin. “Perhaps a few smallstone’s worth. It was a small effect, really, if Kol and the rest were not affected.”

“I see,” said Ana. “A bare drop of corruption. Yet from my analysis of the thefts, Pyktis has stolen six crates of this fertilizer—with their contents totaling nearly fifty stone’s worth.”

Nobody moved for a long while. Then Malo placed her face in her hands. “Fucking fates alive…” she whispered.

“Yes,” said Ana. “So he is very capable of a far worse attack. Enough to imperil the entire Shroud itself! The question is…why has he not done so yet ? Why did he not strike quickly, before we even knew he was there? Why aren’t we all just fucking dead, really? It is most troubling to me.”

Ghrelin now looked so horrified I worried he might collapse.

“We…we have to find it,” said Thelenai weakly. “We must find those reagents before he can use them.”

“But the jungle is wide and wild,” said Malo. “And one can hide six crates nearly anywhere.”

“True,” said Ana. “Thus—we find the man, we find the reagents.”

“But I still cannot comprehend why he does this at all. Is it all revenge, Dolabra?” begged Thelenai. “Is that why Pyktis plagues us so? Because we put him to a task that nearly killed him?”

“I cannot say for sure,” said Ana. “I know nothing at all about the fellow! And how I tire of lists and records and codes! Besides the diseased bastards Din and Malo scooped up in the woods, we have no real witnesses of the man.” Then she went very still. “So…so, so, so. Ghrelin, if you will indulge me…”

“Yes?” said Ghrelin warily.

“The only people who did know this Pyktis are still inside the Shroud. Is that correct?”

“I…I think a few of his colleagues are still there, yes.”

“And…these colleagues are also augurs,” said Ana, “which means they, too, possess hypersensitive abilities of prediction and analysis?”

“Yes?”

“Ones that would be enormously useful if they were put to the task of analyzing Pyktis?”

“Well. Ye—”

“Then would it be possible for Din here to go to the Shroud,” asked Ana, “and simply chat up these augurs of yours to figure out this man’s nature?”

Everyone stared at Ana in utter alarm—but none more than I.

Panic rushed into my belly, and up my throat. The idea of traveling to the Shroud—the most dangerous place in the Empire after the sea walls themselves—filled me with horror.

“Ah…” I said quietly. “Well, ah, wait, ma’am, I…”

“That is not possible,” said Ghrelin.

“The Shroud is a clean site,” said Thelenai firmly. “Visitors are tremendously restricted.”

I nearly sighed aloud with relief.

“Can we not get Din here clean?” said Ana. “That can’t be so hard, your colleagues just basted him in oil like a fucking pheasant!”

“But it is even more complex than that,” said Ghrelin. “The Shroud is a biological envelope. It is perhaps even more reactive than the Plains of the Path! Penetrating it is a dangerous procedure. We do so only on regulated schedules!”

“Then when is the next penetration?” demanded Ana.

“Well…I believe the next restocking ship shall leave in twenty days…” admitted Ghrelin reluctantly.

“That’s far longer than I’d like,” growled Ana. “So long that the idea is nigh useless…yet this bastard is a clever one. It may take just that long to catch him!”

I squirmed in my seat. “Ma’am…are we really sure it’s a good idea to…to send me to the Shroud ?”

“No, Din,” said Ana. “I think it is a very good idea to send you to the Shroud! These marvelous bastards apparently see much, and know much—and they’re the only people who’ve known this man. They would be an invaluable resource in hunting him!”

“Yet it is not as easy as you think!” said Thelenai. “As we just said, the officers you would send him to interview do not communicate like normal folk anymore. They tap far more than they talk.”

“But we have a translator, don’t we?” Ana’s blindfolded face swiveled to Ghrelin. “Correct, Immunis? Are you still an augur? For I notice you tap as well.”

Ghrelin blanched. “I…I was an augur, during my time within the veil,” he admitted. “I often go with the restocking shipments to study the axioms inside. And I must consume augury, very slightly, in order to communicate with them, and to study their works and reports—for they do not make sense to the normal mind. I could translate, yes.”

“Good!” said Ana cheerily. “Then this all sounds agreeable to me.”

“I…I will consent to this,” said Thelenai reluctantly, “but only as a last resort. It takes tremendous preparation for a person to pass within the Shroud. We should try everything else, and only then send in the young signum along with the shipment in twenty days.”

“If it takes twenty fucking days to catch this man,” said Ana, “then I suspect I’ll be resorting to all kinds of preposterously stupid things.”

Thelenai nodded gravely. “Then you have my approval.”

I looked away. My mouth felt hot and thick, and I felt the unpleasant rumble of vomit at the back of my throat.

That was it, then. I was doomed. We’d have to catch Pyktis in twenty days, or I’d catch some vile blot of contagion while within that unholy veil and be transmuted into something unspeakable. My family would go bankrupt, and all the grand machinations and systems of the Empire would spin on, and I would be ground to dust, and go forgotten.

Thelenai spoke on, ignorant or indifferent to my distress: “Before those twenty days elapse, Dolabra…what tactics shall you now pursue to catch this man?”

“Oh,” sighed Ana, and she rubbed her face. “Well, for one thing, it would help if I got a full briefing from my investigator in an environment with a little less pressure ! I’ve hardly had any time to question poor Din on what he saw. It’s all been panicked whispering in your little meeting room here, like a lord and his maid attempting to arrange a furtive fuck.”

Malo glanced at me, appalled, but I was still so shaken that Ana’s words hardly registered.

“Then how shall we assist?” asked Thelenai. “Do you need simply time?”

“I need time, and to return to my quarters,” said Ana, wrinkling her nose. “There are too many vapors and sounds and surfaces here. And— and! —I shall need to dine. Great thought, after all, works up a great appetite.”

“To…dine?” said Thelenai. “Can you not simply sup as you please?”

“Well, I could, ma’am. But you are a senior Apoth officer, with access to many reagents, and precursors, and specimens…” She grinned. “So, I am sure you could acquire many exotic classes of flesh—true?”