“I would have come earlier, of course,” said Fayazi. Again, the fluttering of her enormous eyelashes. “But I had no concept that my father’s manner of death was malicious. It was not until just today, when a commander of the Apoths mentioned to me that several Engineers had perished from a similar affliction—and that it was indeed malicious, a murderous act—that I chose to reach out for aid.”
I glanced about. The edges of the chamber were cast in shadow, yet the armor of the guards along the walls glinted like the eyes of cats watching a campfire from the darkness. Fayazi’s two Sublimes sat on either side of her. The first, an engraver, was a man, short and pale and rather soft of features, with a coral-painted face and a high collar. Eyes alert and resentful, like a top student worried others might surpass his marks. The other, an axiom, was a woman, tall and rail-thin, with little dark eyes like needles, and a large, smooth brow that gave her face a skeletal suggestion. She moved not at all as Fayazi spoke, but her unblinking gaze shifted about the room, and frequently rested on Ana and me.
“Please describe the manner of his death,” said Ana sharply.
Fayazi’s amethyst stare floated over to her. There was a twitch at the edge of her tiny mouth—a smirk. Perhaps a sneer.
“I am familiar with the commander-prificto,” Fayazi said. “But you, I am afraid, I do not ken.”
“This is Immunis Ana Dolabra of the Iudex,” said Vashta. “She is commanding the investigation of some recent murders here in Talagray.”
“Mm,” said Fayazi softly. “This name I know…But I cannot place it yet. No matter.”
A cold, mirthless smile crossed Ana’s face, then vanished.
“My father…” A tragic pucker to Fayazi’s lips. “My father perished from a plantlike growth. It was most strange. It poured out from his body, penetrating him through the breast. We treated it like contagion and locked down the whole of our halls in containment immediately to try to study it. We are often hermetic here in the Outer Rim, you see—the fear of contagion is greatest near the lands where the leviathans fall. Yet we could find nothing, and no one within our halls suffered any more afflictions. It was most mysterious.”
“And you did not report this to the Apoths?” said Ana.
“If we had,” said Fayazi, “then that would have surely broken our containment—correct? The breath of the words that carry a message might also carry death.”
“Then how did you become aware that your father’s death might have been malicious?” asked Ana.
“We lifted containment after seven days, for we had experienced no other incidents,” said Fayazi, “though we continued trying to discover the nature of my father’s death, of course. Just early this morn we received news from…” She turned to her engraver. The man’s eyes quivered, and he leaned over to whisper in her ear. “From Commander Hovanes,” she continued, “that there had been other outbreaks like this—ones kept secret from the citizens of the Empire. Yet we had no idea.” Though her voice was still breathy and childlike, her last words carried a sharp edge to them.
Vashta narrowed her eyes. “We do as we must, to prevent panic,” she said. “For if there’s a panic, madam, we will not survive the wet season.”
Fayazi nodded, her sheet of silver hair tilting back and forth. “Much may be excused,” she conceded, “when we all live under such threats.”
Yet I noted this was not precisely an agreement.
“You lifted this containment a week after your father’s death,” said Ana, “but that would have been nearly a week ago now. So…you still did not notify the Apoths of this contagion during all this time?”
“No,” said Fayazi. “For just after we lifted our containment, the breach occurred. We prepared to evacuate immediately, rather than venture into the city to notify the Iyalets. It was a moment of tremendous confusion and emergency. We simply watched the skies of the east for the flares. I feared for the life of myself and my staff.”
Vashta looked somewhat satisfied by this, but Ana was chewing her lip, head bowed.
“Your father’s death,” Ana said, “however, would have occurred seven days after the death of Commander Blas, in Daretana.”
The axiom’s skeletal gaze was now fixed on Ana. I began to wonder if the woman was even capable of blinking.
Fayazi appeared puzzled. “Commander Blas? Why is that of importance?”