Page 109 of A Drop of Corruption

Malo bowed her head until her red cloak hid her face.

“Who was the primary negotiator for the court of Yarrow?” asked Ana.

“Satrap Darhi, of course,” sighed Kardas. “He has been managing these secret talks this entire time. He does not know we plan to leave, however! He thinks we merely wish to delay the adoption and pay a fortune for the privilege of doing so. Darhi kept this a secret from the rest of the Yarrow court, for many nobles don’t want the contractextended at all! Yet I wasalsoto insert a clause stating that if we ceased our payments, we would be forced to begin withdrawals immediately. Darhi believed this was a punitive arrangement—yet for us, it was always agoal.We stop paying, and then we go.”

“Only if the marrow is secured, however,” said Thelenai, her voice quiet and cold.

“True,” said Kardas.

She shut her eyes and shouted, “But…but by hell, Kardas…By hell!”

It was a rare emotional outburst from the commander-prificto, so much so that all eyes turned to her.

“You thought you worked toward protecting the Empire, perhaps,” Thelenai cried, “but so focused were you that you’ve weakened it evenmore! Your damned signum is the one who helped Pyktis get those reagents and put the marrow in such danger! And now it is in no way secure, and we grow desperate!”

She stood there, hands pressed to her sides, eyes shut and her face trembling.

“What might you mean by that?” asked Ana. “How desperate?”

Thelenai grabbed a small stool and sat, legs quaking. “I have my own ill news to share,” she said hoarsely. “For we mean to move the marrow, to get it out of this dangerous place. And damned soon at that.”

—

“Movethe marrow?”asked Ana, aghast. “Move it how? You don’t mean up the canals? Not with Pyktis still lurking about?”

Thelenai laughed, a deep, melancholy sound. “No! Yarrowdale is not safe, and we will not wait and let it grow even less so. Instead, we have been laboring to secure the marrow foranothervoyage, one that is far more treacherous—not upriver, but east, across the ocean to the mouth of the Great River Asigis, and thence into the inner rings. We shall skip the canals altogether and float the marrow to safety that way.”

“Is such an ocean voyage even possible, ma’am?” I asked.

A bleak smile. “We hope it is so. The marrow is far smaller than a leviathan’s carcass, and easier to transport. It is safer than staying at the Shroud, which Pyktis could attack at any moment, and far safer than the canals! But it will take all the wit and art of my people to move it, and countless valuable resources. And even then, it is no certain thing.” She shook her head. “How I lament now all the Treasury’s maneuverings! I can hardly think of a blacker time in all my career.”

Kardas looked away, ashamed.

“But let us recall, ma’am,” said Ana, quietly yet curtly, “that it wasn’t the Treasury who created Pyktis, who is the source of all this peril.”

Thelenai closed her eyes. “So I remember. None of us are free of guilt here.”

“Yes,” said Ana. She cast her head back, her sightless face turned to the ceiling. “But we must consider what to do now.”

“We move the marrow,” said Thelenai. “With all due haste. That is all we can do, surely.”

“Perhaps. But I would like to see if you and I could retreat to a private place, ma’am, to discuss something else. An even more unpleasant matter on this most unpleasant of nights. Though the murders of the High City are but hours old, many paths there now seem closed to us. So…we must resort to the radical options I mentioned, and hope to win wisdom there.”

Thelenai nodded. “I see. We should withdraw to my offices, then. For though I am no augur, I feel I know what you are about to ask of me, Dolabra. Come.”

I stood to guide Ana but glanced at Malo, confused, as Ana had not mentioned any such revelation; yet Malo’s face was still hidden behind her cloak, and it remained so throughout our winding journey through the Apoth works.

Chapter 40

Ana had once remarked tome that an Apoth officer gathers specimens like a hog might collect burs in the forest, and indeed, Commander-Prificto Thelenai’s office was no exception: though hers was a stately chamber, with a high fretvine ceiling and teardrop mai-lamps hanging about the oval windows, much of the walls were consumed by hanging pots and trellises, each containing a flower, vine, or shrub. Though it was too dark by now for me to make much out beyond the riot of stem and leaf, the room was so redolent with aromas and fragrances that I could tell each little plant received a great deal of care.

“I apologize for the state of things,” Thelenai said absently as she fetched pillows for us to sit on the floor: the traditional Rathras method of seating. “This place mostly acts as a nursery for my courtyard garden, where I nudge the little ones along before being planted…”

I guided Ana to her pillow, and then Malo and I sat on our own. Thelenai gracefully rearranged her robes: again, the Rathras method of swooping the skirts forward, sitting with one’s arms out, and then folding the fabric of the arms in the lap. It was quite a production, especially on a person so tall as she. “How shall we begin, Immunis?”

“With where our story begins, I think,” purred Ana. “With Sunus Pyktis. I would like to tell you all we have collected of him—and I hope these comments shall spark some memory in your mind, Commander-Prificto.”

Thelenai nodded, her bald pate gleaming blue like a new moon. I touched Ana gently, indicating she could proceed.