Chapter 14

At the rudimentary Orbiis surgery in Lacanthim, Commander Raudoti Tauri prepares a secured, remote autopsy of Zansay Burav using threadvine, telltale plants, and reagents. While they wait, he explains that the guiding web has a natural form that lures hosts to water and fruits from the skull, and a domesticated form used to condition drokha-cats to tones.

Tauri details the conditioning sequence—awakening tone then conditioning tones—and warns the web spreads with repeated triggers unless restrained by medicine. He notes cats deprived of treatment reenact tasks in their sleep, aligning with the Armenta heirs’ trap-dream behaviors. A human-effective strain, he argues, could only be trained by breeding the fungus in waters filled with human corpses.

The threadvine splits Zansay’s skull; black fungal stalks surge out. Telltales indicate spores require freshwater cultivation and repeated ingestion, survive high heat, and are deadly once established. Ana infers Zansay’s dosing likely occurred on the Burav grounds and suspects Burilis’s involvement. Tauri reveals Burilis once served in the Orbiis and introduced the agrarian web after leaving under suspicion, strengthening motive and means.

Ana orders Tauri to continue analysis while she, Din, and Princeps Seriv ride to confront Burilis. En route, a harsh fume and tocsin bells warn of disaster. They arrive to see the Burav estate blazing, thwarting immediate confrontation and drastically raising the stakes.