Page 49 of A Trade of Blood

“To answer your question, Dolabra…yes, a simple cranial split will give us much of what we need,” said Tauri. “The guiding web is a very, shall we say,robustspecimen. I’ve also prepared a spectrum of telltale plants that should inform us of how the fungus operates the moment the aperture is completed.” He waved at the constellation of tiny, leafy cages hanging above Zansay’s corpse behind the glass.

“And how long will that take?” asked Ana.

“Twenty, thirty minutes. Not long.”

“Then I hope I can ply you with many questions while we wait, Commander. Namely, about what the hell the guiding webis,how it works, and how it might have come to infest and condition human beings.”

“Ohh,” said Tauri. “And here I thought the evening was already quite poor. I will have to create a concoction before we speak. My saline levels are all awry, I’m afraid.”

“What?” said Ana impatiently. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I sweated a great deal in there, Immunis. My head now spins.”

“Can it not wait?” she demanded. “We’ve something of a critical situation, true? I can’t imagine darting away for a sip or a bit of sup right now!”

I coughed. “I suddenly recall, ma’am, that evening when you insisted on staying at your table to finish your pork rib roast, even though a good portion of the inn had caught fire at the time…”

“Well, that was because I was very hungry, Din!” she snapped. “And the seasoning on that roast was particularly fine!”

Tauri bowed. “Apologies, apologies! Give me a moment, it won’t take long…”

He bustled about at the well pump in the corner of the surgery bay, scooped up a cup of fresh water, and poured in a pinch of powder. He stirred it as he returned to us—Icaught a whiff of something acrid and tangy, like salted lemons—and he sipped it with a wrinkled nose. “I stay here so rarely,” he muttered, “that I forget the intense mineral concentrations in the well water…”

“Hum,” said Ana. “You are an efthiki, then?”

A prim smile. “Correct. Like most in the Orbiis, I have been altered to be preternaturally sensitive to all compounds entering or engaging with my person. It has rendered me very perceptive, true, but…I’m also perhaps the worst dinner guest in all the world now.” A flash of a sad smile—this one directed at me. “So! The guiding web.”

—

Commander Tauri boundup his blond hair in a great, sloppy bun and sat beside Ana. I studied him as he did so. He was a strange creature, but he was also without a doubt one of the most beautiful people I had ever encountered. He sported high, hairless cheeks and a small, curled nose, and of course his hair was a strange, bright gold. Though he’d identified himself as male, there was something androgynous to him, perhaps even otherworldly, as if he was from a species of being that did not conform to my concepts of biology.

“There are technically two forms of the fungus known as the guiding web,” Commander Tauri began, sipping from his brew. “The first is the natural, unaltered version. It’s most commonly found here, in Sapirdad, in pools and streams. Creates a cloudy, hazy structure in the waters. Creatures drink from the water, consume the fungus. Then something very strange happens to their brains.”

“It doesn’t condition them like we do the cats, surely…” said Ana. “I am guessing it makes them sensitive tosounds,then?”

“Ah, correct! Very clever. The web makes the animal drawn to thesound ofwater.Running water, dripping water. It rewrites their desires, makes them addicted to tarrying near water like a sotman is addicted to the tavern. It even augments their aural faculties slightly, so they can hear the sound of water at a long distance. They arecompelledto linger near these places. It gives them a rush of all sorts of pleasant hormones when they do. It rewards them, you see. They stay there. Then they starve. Then they die. Then it fruits.”

“Fruits?” said Ana sharply.

“It comes from behind the ear. A great, black stalk. But though the host’s skull is now marred, and the creature itself technicallydead,the fungus isn’t done yet! Once it’s sprouted, it will force the host’s body towalkalong the water’s edge. As it does this, its stalk releases its spores. It covers its distance, you see! Wants to contaminate all the waters it can! A very ingenious,veryunusual evolution, really, always spreading to new sources of water.”

Ana began rocking back and forth. “Does this natural form of the web affect human beings?”

“Oh, certainly. If you categorize a miserable, awful death as ‘affect,’ that is. It isveryadept at invading any creature with functional ears and a nervous system.”

“I see,” she said. “And the other?”

“The other form of the guiding web,” said Tauri very heavily, “is known as thedomesticatedweb, or the agrarian web. It is much reduced and very refined, harnessed to condition living beings to respond to notes, pitches, and sounds in specific ways. It hasnotbeen proven to affect humans—though it can cause a dreadful headache if they consume a good deal of it. It only works upon the drokha-cats, however, and few other select creatures.”

“And how is this done?” demanded Ana. “How have they fashioned it so that the webonlyworks on select species?”

“A very good question!” said Tauri. “The answer is—with corpses.”

“Beg pardon, sir?” I said.

He smiled weakly. “Yes. Hundreds if not thousands of dead drokha-cats, rotting in giant tanks of water polluted with the guiding web. Only through this is the domesticated web able to learn how toinfest and control such a creature. Andonlysuch a creature. So you can see that if we have a strain of web that works on humans…”

My bones turned to ice within my flesh. “You are suggesting,” I said, “that whoever made this strain of the web that can control humans…”