Vashta stared into the distance for a long time. “What I am about to say to you, Immunis,” she said slowly, “is a very great secret. One we are still trying to understand ourselves.”
“All right, ma’am.”
“You and your engraver cannot repeat it to anyone,” she said. “For if you did, it could very easily cause a panic. And a panic is not what we need right now.”
“That is understood, ma’am,” said Ana.
Vashta glanced at Strovi, then said, “The leviathan did not single-handedly cause the breach. Rather, the walls were destabilized from within. This severely weakened their foundation, leading to a small, contained collapse. This all took place well before the leviathan approached. However, it was this collapse, and this weakening, that the leviathan took advantage of.”
“We think it sensed the collapse in the waters, ma’am,” said Strovi. “Heard it while it was rising through the sea floor, so it knew where to target.”
“We had to remove our bombards from that segment of the walls, fearing further collapse,” said Vashta. “As such, the wall was not only weak when the leviathan came, but it had much reduced defenses. It was the perfect circumstances for a breach.”
Ana shot forward like a mudsnake striking. “A destabilization from within,” she said. “I see!”
Vashta paused, puzzled. “See…what, precisely?”
“That it was likely not one person who was poisoned,” said Ana, “but several, if not many.”
I couldn’t make any sense of what she’d said, but Vashta and Strovi exchanged another look, this one terribly alarmed.
“What do you mean?” demanded Vashta.
Ana’s fingers danced on the edge of the table. “Allow me to make a conjecture, Commander-Prificto,” she said.
“Do so.”
“Did the destabilization within the walls occur because multiple people within the fortifications—how shall I put this delicately—spontaneously sprouted trees from their bodies, damaging the walls?”
Vashta stared at Ana, astonished. “That is so,” she said softly. “Yes, that is so.”
“I see,” said Ana. She nodded, satisfied. Then she sat back in her chair, sniffed, and said, “Well. Fuck.”
CHAPTER 9
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“IS THIS SOMETHING YOU expected, Immunis?” demanded Vashta. “Or predicted?”
“Not at all,” Ana said. “If I had, I’d have notified you all immediately.”
“Then how did you conclude this?”
“Well, I assumed that if you were coming to me, ma’am, then you were here about Blas. And since I’d suspected that Blas’s killer was in Talagray, that meant they could kill again with the dappleglass—and thus, I presumed you were here because they had done so. Yet then you said this was about the breach and mentioned something breaking the walls from within. If that was the case, then I presumed—accurately, it seems—that it was not one person who underwent such a contagion, but many. Enough to bring the walls down.” She leaned forward. I could see it was taking all of her effort not to start grinning like a loon. “Tell me everything about what happened.”
“W-we’re still trying to collect reports,” said Vashta, shaken. “We do not have many witnesses. But we are told that the direct cause of the collapse was two senior Engineers working on a critical part of the fortifications.”
“A support,” said Strovi. “A strut carrying an immense load, as several others had been weakened due to the quakes.”
“And when the two Engineers, ah, sprouted, let’s say,” said Ana, “the trees damaged the support, causing the collapse.”
Vashta nodded.
“Were they the only ones who died in such a fashion?” she asked.
Again, the two Legionnaires exchanged a glance.
“They were not,” said Vashta.
“Eight other people throughout the canton underwent a similar transformation, almost at the exact same time,” said Strovi.
I was so shocked that I forgot myself. “Ten!” I said aloud. “Sanctum…ten Engineers were poisoned?”
The two Legionnaires glanced at me. Strovi offered me a tiny, sympathetic smile. “Yes,” said Vashta. “This is possibly the worst incident of mass poisoning in all the history of the Empire.”
“Four died on the sea walls, including the two who caused the collapse,” said Strovi. “Others were in the city of Talagray. One fellow was even on a horse when it happened.”