The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)(37)

“Unfortunately,” drawled Kalista, “nothing comes to mind.”

“I see…” said Ana. “Well then. One critical takeaway is that the perpetrator had to be operating here, in Talagray, for weeks if not months. This is the only way they could have known Blas’s movements.”

“That doesn’t necessarily narrow it down,” said Uhad. “There’s a lot of movement here in the months before the wet season.”

“Of course,” said Ana. “But there’s been one distinct signal that dappleglass gives off. One that even Din here, who’d never heard of it before, noticed right away.”

They all looked at me.

“Fernpaper,” I said. “It stains it.”

“Correct,” said Ana. “And I saw quite a lot of fernpaper out there in the city. Lots of quakes here, after all. Has any been found stained? For that would likely lead us directly to the killer—or the site of the poisoning.”

Uhad gestured to Captain Miljin. “If you please, Miljin,” he said, sighing.

Miljin leaned forward, his chair creaking under his bulk. “We read your letter, ma’am,” he said. “And we did look for stained fernpaper. Spoke to a few Legion chaps and discreetly sent them out about the city, asking if anyone had seen any fernpaper blackened since the breach. Heard nothing. Then they toured the city from end to end, examining all the fernpaper walls and windows and doors. Saw nothing. Seems to me, ma’am, that either the perpetrator found a way to contain the spores—which seems unlikely, given all we’ve learned about it—or the poisoning didn’t take place in Talagray at all. If so, that puts us in a spot. We can’t search the whole of the canton.”

I found this news dispiriting—but Ana was just nodding impatiently. “Yes, yes, yes,” she said. “But we need to broaden our timeline! How can we find out if any fernpaper was stained before the breach? Because apparently some mad fucker was running around the city for a good while with this poison in their pocket, possibly leaving a trail behind!”

Kalista laughed, the sound slightly contemptuous. “Well—we can't! There’s no way to find that out.”

“I’m inclined to agree…” said Uhad.

Ana rubbed her hands together, running her pink fingertips over her knuckles. “Captain Miljin—how many fernpaper millers are there in the city?”

“Dozens, ma’am,” he said. “Most of the common structures are made of it, given the quakes.”

“Can you ask these suppliers if they’d replaced any stained fernpaper panels in the four weeks previous to the breach? Or—better yet—can we get a list of all the orders they delivered in that time?”

Miljin nodded. “We could try that, ma’am. I could ask Captain Strovi of the Legion to help—Vashta’s second. He’s been assigned to provide support, as needed.”

“Then I propose we do so,” said Ana. “If we find an unusually big order of panels, that could indicate either the site of the poisoning, or the site where the poison was stored or developed.” She turned her blindfolded face to Uhad. “Though, of course, it’s not my dance…”

Uhad smiled wearily. “How polite of you. Yes, do so, Miljin. While that’s going on, Ana—when will you have your nominees for interviewing?”

“If I can get the lists from Engineering soon enough,” said Ana, “I should have a good idea of who was intimate with the dead by the morning. Will Miljin do the honors of interviewing? And if so—can Din tag along? He’s my eyes and ears.”

Miljin looked me over like I was a burden for his pack animal and he was trying to estimate my weight. “Well…certainly, ma’am.”

“Good. I mean—I could interrogate you, Miljin. But I’m not sure you have the patience for it, and definitely not the time.”

“And I would save him from the punishment,” said Uhad with the tiniest smile. Then he looked to Immunis Nusis. “Though if the young signum is to accompany Miljin outside the city, I believe he will need to have some additional grafts applied, due to contagion…”

“Oh! Yes,” said Nusis, with no small amount of relish. She turned to me and asked, “You’re from Daretana, correct? So you should have all the immunity alterations for the Outer Rim, yes?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said.

“Then we’ll have to add the Tala canton to them,” she said, sighing. “To protect against any wormrot, or neckworm, or wormbone, or fissure-worm you might encounter out there. As well as cheek-worm, of course.”

I stared at her as I absorbed the expansive variety of worms waiting in the wilds to devour me.

Miljin spoke up with a sadistic smile: “She don’t mean the cheeks on your face, son.”

“How…how might I gain those immunities, ma’am?” I asked.

“Normally you’d make an appointment with the medikkers,” said Nusis. “But as we don’t have time for that, just come by my offices in the Apoth tower once you’re all settled. I’ll get you straightened out.”

“Good,” said Uhad. “Evening falls, I believe. With the canton in a state of emergency, nocturnal passage isn’t permitted in the city for anyone except the Legion. Speaking of which…I doubt if you all know the warning system.”