Page 112 of A Drop of Corruption

“To somewhere else in the Empire.”

Malo grunted. “Are such powers available to a signum?”

“I have no control over the Apoths, but…I could ask Ana. You could transfer, perhaps, to the Iudex, who could then assign you toother duties deeper in the Empire. The Empire makes it easy to become a citizen, for so many cantons decline in population—but you must be on its soil to do so.”

“Do you know of what you speak?” she demanded. “Have you done this before?”

“No,” I confessed. “But…it could be tried, yes?”

She thought it over. “Would I have to serve under Ana, to do this?”

“Oh, no. She is…not easy to serve, and she only ever has one assistant. Why do you ask?”

“Well. She is brilliant, I suppose, but…” She shuddered. “I confess, there is a strange scent to that woman sometimes. One I don’t quite know. It troubles me. You can ask her, if you like. But to me, your plans taste like the fantasies of a young man, attempting to invent a way out. We are small things, Kol. We are given no charity in this world.” She gave me a sad smile. “But I thank you for thinking of me, even when your own fate takes such a black turn.”

Chapter 41

Once Ana and Thelenai haddecided on how to maintain me during my trip to the Shroud, I bade farewell to Malo and was herded downstairs, then through the many winding passageways of the Apoth manufactuaries, until we returned to the fermentation works. Thelenai brought us to an unusual chamber, wrought of rippling gray wood that formed a curving, rib-cage-like ceiling above us. Set in the middle of the room were many tables, bedecked with vials and pots and casks with little copper spigots.

Yet I recognized the structures at the back of the room: tiny cells with a large glass wall and a slot for food; within each one, a cot and a floor with a drain in the middle; and above these, many pipes, for showering the occupant with solutions.

“We will have to keep Kol here under observation until the time of departure,” said Thelenai. She swooped to one table and rapidly began assembling many cups and pots. She slid out six little copper flasks, all tightly secured with screwed tops. Then she produced a pair of tweezers and began plucking out tiny pellets and pills from the flasks and placing them in six bronze cups on the table. “But I do not wish to give you the impression that I have not prepared for this day at all,” she continued. “For Ihaveidentified two individuals now serving on the Shroud who worked with Pyktis.”

I led Ana to a chair set to the side. “Two augurs?” said Ana. “Only two?”

“We were lucky to get those,” said Thelenai. “Augurs usually serve in three-year shifts, at most. Any more than that, and they begin to experience debilitating apophenia and paranoia. As it has been two years since he left, almost all of Pyktis’s former colleagues are now gone, save these. But there will be more restrictions here…for you shall only get two hours to speak to them.”

“Why?” asked Ana. “We often interview for much longer.”

“Because the Shroud is a clean site in many manners,” said Thelenai, dropping another pellet into a cup with her tweezers, “but it is alsointellectuallyclean. The augurs are by nature driven to ingest information and relentlessly analyze it. When we give them too much stimulation, it distracts them—often to disastrous effects, given their work. Thus, the Shroud is as bare of incitement as we can manage.”

I cleared my throat—I had not spoken in what felt like hours—and said, “You want them focused on the leviathans, ma’am, and not on me.”

“Correct,” said Thelenai. “But theywillbe focused on you, Kol. They are starved for information, so you shall be rather like a mouse dropped within a den of cats. That is why your interview must only last two hours. And that is why I am preparing you this draught.” She muddled the contents of one cup, then took it to one of the casks, turned the spigot, and filled it with a creamy substance. “It is of tinis, katapra, and dosi.”

The names lit up memories in my mind. “Mood stabilizers,” I said. “Far more powerful than what they give the Legionnaires at the walls.”

“Yes, and for many reasons.” Thelenai stirred the creamy cup with a long spoon. “For the augurs see much, and they are skilled at enticing people to reveal what they would prefer to hide.” She tapped the spoon on the edge of the cup, shaking off a few milky drops. Then she advanced on me, cup balanced in her fingertips like a priestess administering a holy balm. “This graft will suppress your ability to emotionally react—to anything. I am hopeful it will not only aid you in the Shroud but keep you from saying too much before the augurs.Still, I must be clear…donotanswer any of their questions. You are only toaskquestions. Is that clear?”

“It is, ma’am,” I said.

“Good,” said Thelenai. “They will doubtlessly tell you this at the Shroud, but another thing you must also avoid is doinganytapping, or making any music in any way. If you create any kind of rhythm, their minds will try to analyze it, even if there is nothing to be found. It often irritates them to the point of fury. Is that understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Immunis Ghrelin will have to consume some augury himself to interpret their tapping for you. That is the exact procedure I have him going through now, for this is no easy thing. He willchangeas he enters the veil, Kol. He may be less reliable than you expect. Is this clear as well?”

I nodded.

She handed me the cup. “Then drink this, please. It will take some time for it to affect you. I wished to avoid the sudden, thundering high, followed by the crash after…”

A soft “Mm” from Ana, as if revisiting a favored memory.

Thelenai watched me swallow. The grafts bubbled away in me until I felt my legs growing wobbly, and I sat on the floor.

“An easy start, I hope,” said Thelenai. Her eyes grew slightly sad. “But is it still salvageable, I wonder?” she asked aloud softly.

“Pardon, ma’am?” said Ana.