Page 50

The guards hesitate.

Not because they fear me. Humans do not inspire that response in armed Volvath. They are deciding whether entering a human's workspace lowers them in the eyes of the others.

The iron-grey guard resolves the matter by ducking beneath the doorway. The other two follow.

Their breathing identifies the problem before Miana explains it. Each inhale is shallow and dry. The mottled guard suppresses a cough until the effort makes the plates along his throat lift. A faint blue stain marks the seam beneath his jaw.

"Lower eastern patrol?" I ask.

The iron-grey guard nods. "Levels four through nine."

"Near the old discharge channels."

"Yes."

"How many shifts?"

"Six consecutive."

I look at the other two. "And you?"

"Five," says the bone-white guard.

The mottled one manages, "Seven."

"Any blood when you cough?"

He considers lying. Miana twists the wire once around her finger.

"A little," he admits.

I point to three stools Grolm provided after Draxon cracked the stone ledge in my temporary workspace. "Sit."

The bone-white guard's crimson eyes narrow.

"We can stand."

"You can also faint. The stools are easier to clean than the floor."

Miana turns her laugh into a cough.

The iron-grey guard sits first. Rank among the three is marked by the bronze ring fitted around his left horn. Once he accepts the instruction, the others follow.

I wash my hands in rirzed water, then examine them one at a time. Their carapace protects most of their bodies, but the tissue lining their mouths and throats shows the effects of charged air. Pale lesions mark the bone-white guard's tongue. The iron-grey guard has swelling beneath his throat plates. The mottled guard's breath whistles through narrowed passages.

"Lung-rot," I say. "Early in two of you. Further advanced in him."

The mottled guard crosses his arms. "The Soz'garoth healer said the channels would clear when our patrol changed."

"Has your patrol changed?"

"No."

"Then his cure depends on an event that has not occurred. Mine depends on drinking something unpleasant."

"How unpleasant?"

"You are a Volvath. Demonstrate courage."