Chapter 19

Din rides with Fotia to Master Gaddar’s shrine, noting pilgrims using mint cloths to blunt the forest’s dread. In the glade, they study the alien statue and Din connects its elongated features to the emperor’s fifty-talint coin. Unease stirs Din’s memories, then he and Fotia search the perimeter for evidence of a crossing.

Din spots faint footprints beyond a wall of trees where branches angle oddly, suggesting a concealed path. Commander Tauri arrives with two Orbiis officers, clears the site, and sends Fotia away. He equips Din with a respirator and reveals a thurible of Orbiis reagents that forces the trees to part, exposing a hidden seam through the forest—technology once accessible to Burilis Burav.

They enter the shivering corridor of trunks, the geometry unsettling and oppressive. Tauri confirms the patterned design is intentional—gates within a fortification of Khanum making. Following signs, the team uncovers a camouflaged trunk netted beside the path.

Inside the trunk they find specialized pipes akin to drokha instruments but built to control human minds infected by the web; a dated vial of contaminated water prepared for seeding; and a booklet of tunes: an awakening tone to advance infection, unlabeled conditioning tones for arbitrary commands, and a final, clearly notated “LYSIS” marked “NOT IMMEDIATE.”

A slip of parchment vows revenge against a patron who promised forgiveness, implying internal discord among the conspirators. Tauri concludes the cache is a prepared kit to educate additional operatives, proving multiple perpetrators and a scalable plan, while the origin of a human-targeted web strain remains an alarming mystery.