Page 66 of A Drop of Corruption

“I suppose it wouldn’t be uncommon for a smuggler to snatch up one of these,” I said. “Just as so many other stolen valuables come into their hands.”

“No, for there are far fewer of these than there are grafts in Yarrow! I’d imagine there are no more than…oh, twenty oathcoins in all the realm. That is why I was so surprised when this Darhi gave you one so freely! Yet who could have given our man this?”

“Who would normally give them to a person?”

“Well…a Yarrow noble, a member of the court. But they do not consort with smugglers.”

“So you say,” I said. “And yet, here it is.” I stowed the oathcoins away and walked back along the shore.

—

I returned toour landing spot to wait for the wardens to finish their search. I gazed upon the empty throne, its stone seat blank and smooth, and I imagined a figure sitting there, dressed in rags, a white, skull-like helm atop his head, peering out at his supplicants as they approached his presence.

“I say we are done here,” said Malo. “There is no more to see. But at least we finally found something he did notintendfor us to find—true?”

I gazed at the throne a minute longer. Then I turned and walked back to the boat.

III

The Marrow

Chapter 26

It was evening when wemade it back to Yarrowdale. Malo stopped the boat about five leagues from the riverfront and rummaged about in a cabinet until she found what appeared to be a large firework. “I hate lighting these fucking things,” she grumbled as she stuck it in the prow of the boat. Then she knelt and struck a flint and steel over the firework’s dark wick.

A hiss, a rush of stinking smoke, and a streak of red fire roared up and crossed the sky. The captured smugglers screamed in terror while the wardens watched, grim and implacable.

Then all dissolved to hell.

Barges of Apoths came pouring out of the city, and soon we were surrounded by people bound up in warding suits, not a smallspan of skin exposed. They bellowed questions at us as they loaded us off into their barges, waving telltale plants about us like thuribles at a blessing.

Once on board we were ordered to strip nude for inspection, to confirm that our bodies carried no visible blot of contamination. The wardens disrobed with blithe indifference—apparently this was a common occurrence for them—yet I protested, saying, “I am Iudex. Not Apoth.”

“That I can see,” said the Apoth officer inspecting me. “Yet you were amid all that shit back there, sir?”

“I was.”

“Then disrobe, sir. Quickly now!”

I reluctantly removed my clothing and tried to maintain my dignity as best I could. One warden woman turned and studied my naked form with an unabashedly interested eye, then tapped Sabudara on the shoulder and made some remark. Sabudara turned and looked me over, and gave a single satisfied nod, as if to say—As I said. I resolutely fixed my gaze on the back of the head of the man before me, and told myself this would all be over soon.

There I was wrong. Once we passed the first inspection, we were given blankets to veil our bodies—most of the wardens, including Malo, just folded them up and sat on them as cushions instead, perhaps out of protest—and we were shipped off to an Apoth holding facility, where we were each put into cells lined with telltale plants. One wall sported a soft moss pallet for sleep, the opposite one a large glass window. Every hour an Apoth arrived at the window to demand that I stand, drop my blanket, and allow him to inspect my naked body, along with my eyes, mouth, teeth, and undercarriage.

After four of these sessions I was instructed to stand in the center of the cell, and then warm, dripping, dark brown oil came pouring down from a pipe in the ceiling. I was told to rub the oil all upon my person, then sat to wait.

My skin began to tingle, then went numb. Then the man returned, told me to stand beneath the pipe again, and this time a hot, acrid fluid came down, cleansing my skin of the oil. When it was done, every rash, cut, bruise, and blemish upon me had vanished, and my gray skin seemed softer and firmer than ever. I half wondered if it was worth exposing myself to contagion to get such treatment.

A team of medikkers came, reviewed my body again—I was beginning to grow as indifferent to these exhibitions as the wardens—and told me I had passed all their tests, though they would need to keep me here for another twelve hours for observation. I asked them to notify Ana of my circumstances, and they agreed and slid a tray with beanbread and water through a slot in the bottom of the door.

I sat, ate, and drank.Another day in Ana’s employ,I thought, though this one was unusually humiliating. I attempted to calculate howmany such days I’d have to tolerate until my father’s debts were paid, and quickly gave up.

Through noble vessels such as I, the emperor’s justice was made.

—

I slept forso long in my sunless little cell that I lost all track of time. I heard a rapping at my glass, and I cracked an eye to see an Apoth militis smiling hesitantly down at me from the other side of the window.

“I’ve your clothes, sir,” he said. “Would you kindly get dressed?”