Page 76 of A Drop of Corruption

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 theyappearedso…” She shook her head, disgusted. “And the side effects—if someone were to be maintaining their augury forfiveyears, 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 heismaintaining 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 himmoredangerous—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—whatwas 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 excretingkani.”

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 beensuccessful,haven’t they? All your augurs, they…they actuallymanagedit, 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’shere.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 didwhat?”said Malo, horrified. “It’s just…over there? Across thebay?”

“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 Yarrowdaleeventually,true?” asked Ana. “It would one day be mere leagues or span from where we sit now?”