Page 131 of A Drop of Corruption

“Ah, no,” said Ana, smiling. “But…can anyonetrulyflee from the wardens of the Empire, who are so famed in powers of nose and eye?”

There was a silence. We all slowly turned to look at Malo.

Malo blinked for a moment, surprised. Then she considered it.

“I presume he has flown far, through dense woods,” said Malo. “That will be no easy thing for us. So…it will take a lot of wardens. A lot of noses. And a method of scent distillation that is most…unpleasant.”

“But you can do it?” asked Ana.

“Probably,” she said grudgingly. “But it will depend mightily on whether someone in the Yarrow court still has some of his undergarments.”

Ana’s smile turned into a grin. “Let us have hope in the lethargy of Yarrow maids, then—and move quickly to follow him!”

—

While Malo andthe wardens mustered and prepared, I kitted myself out in the Apoth works with all the supplies I might need for such a pursuit. The last time I had followed such a killer had been across open plains on horseback, yet I would have no such advantages in the hills of Yarrow. Thus, I packed as lightly as I could: rope, healing grafts, water, augmentations to aid my thirst or energy, and last, a standard-issue imperial knife and my sword. I also shed myself of my traditional blue cloak and garbed myself in blacks and grays, and tied down every metal buckle and clasp to ensure that it made no sound and would catch no moonlight in the trees. It was a queer thing to transform myself in such a fashion: no longer an instrument of justice but rather stealth and violence.

“I have one other gift for you, boy,” said Ana’s voice as I finished.

I glanced up and saw Thelenai leading her toward me, one pale hand trailing on the wall. Again, I tried to ignore how worn Ana looked; Pyktis seemed a parasite within her innards, feasting upon her from the inside.

“Yes, ma’am?” I asked.

“Not a reagent, nor arm, but advice,” she said. She managed a weary grin. “For I think the commander-prificto and I have found a way toidentify Pyktis.One that cannot mislead you!”

“Truly?” I said, surprised. “If so, that is tremendous luck, ma’am.”

“Luck has no damned part of it, child!” Ana snapped. “This prize took great work and much reading. Bare your right arm, Din, and show it to Thelenai here.”

I did so, though I cringed as I raised the sleeve, as my arm was now pained with several more blotley welts.

“Do they persist?” demanded Ana. “Are the blotley wounds there upon him, Thelenai?”

“They are,” said Thelenai. “I admit you…you may be right, Dolabra.”

“What’s this about, ma’am?” I asked.

Thelenai cleared her throat and looked at me hard. “When blotleys were first created by we Apoths, Kol, they were not intended as a mechanism for testing blood for contagion. Rather, we planned them as a method oftransfusion.For the blotley fly does not actuallydigestblood. They do not break it down like you or I would our sustenance. That is why they are so useful as contagion tests to begin with. Rather, their systems first alter the blood with a venom so that it can be directly integrated into their own bodies. Theyconvertit, in other words, which is why we hoped we could make them useful transfusion mechanisms—for not all folk have the same kind of blood within them. We theorized that if we could drain the blotley of its altered blood, and place this blood within a new body, then the venom still within the sample would help convert it again, so it could reside within a new host. However, this never worked, for very obvious reasons…”

“Because blotleys are an accursed pain in the ass,” said Ana, grinning.

“Again, true,” sighed Thelenai. “Blotleys could only transfer minuscule amounts of blood, and the welts they leave behind were too painful—and worse, they are most resistant to healing grafts. Thus, we abandoned it.”

“But recall now, Din!” said Ana. “Recall what the medikker Tangis said would happen if you left a blotley attached to you for too long!”

My eyes fluttered, and I summoned the comment: “This is an altered, unnatural creature, created for this one purpose. It can’t survive in the wild anymore. It can’t even eat properly. If I let it go long enough, it’ll actually start leaking your own blood back into you.” I paused as the memory left me, and murmured, “Back into you…ma’am, are…”

“Yes?” said Ana, giddy.

“Are you suggesting thatthisis how Pyktis got into the Treasury vault, and used so many blood rights he could not possibly have possessed?”

“Correct!” she sang. “It’s quite simple, is it not? Pyktis, being both a genius and an Apoth, saw a way to cleverly misuse the horrid little things. He stole a crate of them from an Apoth barge, stuck countless larvae on Sujedo, let them drink their fill, then stuck them on hisown body! He left them there long enough so that they leakedSujedo’sblood into him—and that allowed him to just walk into the vault like he belonged there!”

“And that is why Sujedo’s body was so queerly marred!” I whispered, eyes fluttering. I recalled the sight of the curious wound: a circular section of skin, excised from the flesh on the back of the torso, about the size of a talint coin. “He…he had a patch of skin removed, shorn away on the back shoulder. You think he was…”

“Yes!” said Ana. “I think he, so cautious and ever-wary, had done this to the body because he did not want us to know how he’d taken the blood rights from Sujedo! Because the little bastards leave a stubborn visible trace behind!”

“So if you, Signum Kol, in your pursuit of Darhi, happen to find a soul you suspect to be Pyktis,” said Thelenai, “then the way to confirm it is to see if this man hasblotley weltsupon his body, in many hidden places.”