Page 74 of A Trade of Blood

“It wasn’t what you think.”

“Isn’t it? I’ve heard what imperial officers get up to as they gallivant about.”

“It was not like that, with her. We were respectful peers who dutifully served in an investigation with the utmost decorum.”

“With her,then. So itwaslike that with others.”

I ignored her, reached into my satchel, and fumbled about for a tiny mai-lantern I always brought with me. I slotted in a bit of food for the grub, flicked the lantern a few times, and waited for the little beast to grudgingly awake and begin to flash. Then I gauged the distance and tossed the lantern into the trees so it landed next to where I’d seen the footprints.

“You’re never getting that back,” said Fotia.

I leaned in—my nerves and pulse protested furiously—and did my utmost to engrave the sight in my memories. “Two footprints. One leading in—and one leadingout.”

“By hell…then I was right!” said Fotia. “This was where your Burav killer slipped into and out of Lacanthim, so no one saw them on the road. Yet how inhelldid they actually get through the wood? I can’t imagine how they even got from here to where that footprint lies!”

I studied the footprints, then raised my eyes and studied how the pale light filtered through the leaves.

The branches just above the footprints were strangely bent. Whereas many of the trees were interlocking, with twig and bough tangled together to form a wall, these grew at right angles where they became close, as if avoiding each other’s touch.

I looked about, studying the rest of the trees. Nowhere else did the branches grow in such a fashion.

“A path,” I said softly.

“What?” said Fotia.

“There are paths through the wood,” I said. “Secret ones, hidden ones. I don’t know how they’re accessed, but…those branches there, they make me think of the latch of a gate, awaiting a ke—”

Then came a commotion from behind us. We turned to see pilgrims grouping at the entrance to the glade, muttering and staring as something approached. Then Commander Tauri entered.

Tauri stopped at the entrance and looked about. His eyes were grim, but he wore an algaeoil apparatus about his nose and mouth, similar to the breathing contraption he’d sported when I’d first met him. He was flanked by an Orbiis militis and a signum, both wearing similar masks. They studied the trees with a wary eye as if passing through a hostile country.

Tauri’s eye fell on me, and he swiftly crossed the glade to us. He carried a large case in his hand, with several very complex locks.

“Kol,” he said lowly as he grew close. “Have you found anything? Please tell me you haven’t.”

I pointed in at the trees where my lantern lay beside the footprints.

Tauri gazed at it for a long while. Then he waved to his officers and said, “Clear the glade and lock this site down. No one else may enter.”

“Why?” said Fotia. “What’s going on?”

“Is it the web?” I said. “Is there risk of infection?”

Tauri looked Fotia over as though he’d just noticed her. “Who’s this?” he askedme.

“She’s my sister, sir,” I said. “She’s the reason we thought to search here to begin with.”

He looked at me. “She’ll have to go.”

“What?” said Fotia. “You tell me to leave after I led you right to the spot you needed to see?”

“Technically, Kol,” said Tauri to me, “I shouldn’t even letyoustay. You are not approved for what is about to happen. I’ll permit you to see this only as a kindness to you and your immunis.”

“See what, sir?” I asked.

He said nothing.

A thrum of panic began to dance behind my heart. I looked at Fotia. “Go,” I said. “I’ll see you after.”