The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)(38)

“I’ve read of it,” said Ana. “But Din likely hasn’t.”

Miljin squinted at me. “You know the flares, Signum?”

I shook my head. “No, sir.”

The captain stuck his thumb eastward. “You see green flares in the eastern skies, that means a leviathan’s been spotted—so, keep watching the skies. You see red ones after that, means it’s come ashore, and is close to the walls, so get ready to evacuate if the worst happens. If yellow flares follow, that means it’s made it past the walls—so run like hell.”

There was a stark silence.

“Blue flares means it’s wandered off or been killed,” he said. He grinned mirthlessly. “Don’t see those too often.”

“On that note…” said Uhad. He stood, wavering slightly. I wondered if his lack of sleep made him light-headed. “I should take you to your quarters, Ana. If I recall correctly, it does take you some time to get acclimated to new environs.”

“The problem with being an engraver, Uhad,” said Ana, “is that you can’t pull any of the ‘not sure if I recall’ politeness bullshit, because we all know you can damned well recall perfectly.” She stood, grinning, and said, “Take me up there. Din can follow with my trunks.”



* * *



—

THE IUDEX TOWER was a grand, circular, curling structure, creaking and wheezing as the wind played with its fretvine walls. Frail leaves bloomed at the edges of the ceilings and balconies, and occasionally one spied the odd flower. Yet it was stable, and safe, and I was glad to be in it and not out in the city.

Uhad had put Ana up in a small office on the east side of the Iudex tower, on the third floor, whereas I was on the fifth. I guessed the more senior you were, the fewer stairs you had to run down while escaping a leviathan. The two of them sat in her chambers talking merrily while I hauled Ana’s trunks up the stairs, delivering them one after another. When I finished hauling up the final trunk—Ana had apparently brought several loads of books, despite my warnings not to—they were chatting like old friends.

“…never could figure how you lasted so long in the inner rings,” Uhad was saying to her as I dragged in the last trunk. He was leaning against a wall and attempting to smile, yet he seemed such a gloomy sort that the effort threatened to sprain something. “Sounded like a viper’s nest.”

“Though Talagray sounds hardly any better,” Ana said. “I wonder how many horrors are trapped in that head of yours, Tuwey.”

“More than my fair share, maybe,” he admitted. “And though my fits are few, I do have them now and again…I have to keep going to Nusis to get grafts to help me manage my headaches.”

I paused in my labors as I heard that. Engravers, I knew, tended to experience mental breakdown the more information they engraved in their minds: depressions, fits of rage, moments of dislocation. As an engraver myself, I wondered if this was a glimpse into my future.

“I’d settle for a station in the third ring of the Empire, frankly,” sighed Uhad. “Some canton where cow thievery is the greatest crime. And yet…the years grow short, yes?”

“Maybe this will be your last parade, Tuwey,” Ana said. “Save the Empire, get sent to greener pastures.”

I shoved Ana’s trunk into the corner, then sat on its top, panting and puffing.

“Maybe,” Uhad said. “But you—you’ll keep chewing through the world like a crackler’s pick-hatchet, yes?”

Ana grinned. “As long as they’ll let me.”

I wiped sweat from my brow, glaring at them as they laughed. With one final goodbye, Immunis Uhad departed. I bowed and shut the door behind him.

Instantly, the grin melted off Ana’s face. “Odd,” she said. “Odd, Din! What the hell was that?”

“Ahh. Pardon, ma’am?” I said.

“I mean…What was your read on that?” asked Ana. “Wasn’t something missing from all that? Or am I mad?”

I silently reviewed her friendly discussion with Uhad. “Did…did you expect your discussion with Immunis Uhad to go…elsewhere, ma’am?”

“What?” she said. “No! Not that! I mean that whole goddamned meeting down there! Didn’t you notice something wrong with that, Din?”

“Besides your consistent use of wildly inappropriate language, ma’am?”

She glared at me from behind her blindfold. “Come, come. Think. Did that meeting feel right to you?”

I thought about it. “No.”

“Good. Now tell me, honestly—what did you see that felt wrong? This is important.”

I thought about it, my eyes fluttering as I summoned each memory of the meeting: each fleeting glance, each gesture, each turn of the head and twist in the seat.

“They were…nervous,” I said finally. “About the breach, yes. But also about…something else.”

“Go on,” said Ana.

“It was something when you asked if they knew Blas,” I said. “They all went quiet. Nusis stared at the floor. Kalista only watched you. Tried to pretend she didn’t care what you were saying, but she very clearly did. Uhad was all up in his own head. Looking at memories, trying to figure out something on his own, probably. And Miljin…Well. He looked mostly at me, ma’am. Not sure why. But the man stuck his eyes on me and didn’t take them off.”