She shivered, looking at the engraving. She remembered what Claudia and Giovanni had said the hierophants could do. Then she remembered what Clef did to the gravity rig—the vision of the man in the desert, turning out the stars.
She imagined what a man like Orso Ignacio could do with Clef, and shivered again.
Then she heard it—a chattering, a murmuring. But this one was louder than the others.
That’s…unusual.
She shut her eyes, listening to it, and walked to the back of the room. The sound was much louder here.
Just like the gravity plates, she thought. So maybe…it’s either really powerful, or made by the same person?
She realized the noise was coming from a desk at the back, some kind of drafting table where Orso scrawled out strings of sigils. She tilted her head to it, listening to the pencils, the inkpots, the blocks of stone, and then…
A small, golden statue of a bird sat on the corner of the desk. Sweating, Sancia picked it up and held it up to her ear. The sound of it was almost deafening to her.
If it’s anything in this room, she thought, it’s this. She set it back down, feeling quite pleased. She’d never used her talents like this before. As she walked back to the office, she wondered—ever so briefly—what else she could do.
* * *
Ten minutes later they all huddled around a table in Orso’s workshop, watching as he turned the golden statue over. There was a small, copper plate on the bottom with a large screw in the center. Orso glanced around at them, held a finger to his lips, picked up a screwdriver, and began to unscrew it. He gently, gently plucked the screw out, and then, with a tiny, flat tool, pried out the plate.
Orso’s mouth fell open in a silent gasp. Inside the statue was a device—but a device so tiny, so fragile, it was like it was made of spider webs and mouse bones.
He grabbed a light and a magnifying glass and peered carefully at it. His eyes shot wide, and he gestured to Berenice, who also took a look. She blinked, startled, and looked at Orso, who nodded, his face serious.
Finally the inspection was finished. Orso gingerly placed the device on the table, and they all crept back into the office.
Orso shut the door to his workshop—and then he erupted. “I’ve been a goddamn fool!” he shouted. “I’ve been a slack-jawed, crotch-pawing fool!”
“So…it seems your suspicion was correct?” asked Gregor.
“Of course!” cried Orso. “God, we’re in a state. Who knows what they’ve heard? What have I said in front of that stupid little bird? And I never, never, never would have known!”
“You’re welcome,” said Sancia.
“That statue is an exact copy of one that once sat on my desk,” he continued, ignoring her. “I suppose they must have replaced it long ago with an altered version.”
“By flying up using those rigs,” said Gregor.
“Yes,” said Berenice, shaken. “And whoever made that thing is…good.”
“Damned good,” said Orso. “Amazingly good. That’s top-rate work, there! I feel sure if someone was that good in this city, we’d all know about it. Everyone would be lining up to lick his candle, I’ve no doubt!”
Gregor pulled a face. “Thank you for that elaboration.”
“Have you ever seen anything like it, Captain?” asked Orso. “You’re more well traveled than I am, and the houses have used a lot of experimental stuff during the wars. Have you seen any military faction using rigs like this?”
He shook his head. “No. And the only thing I’ve ever seen that was similar to the gravity rigs is a lorica—and those rigs far outclassed any lorica.”
“What’s a lorica?” asked Sancia.
“It’s a scrived suit of armor,” said Gregor. “But unlike the armor we have here in Tevanne, which is scrived to be both preternaturally light and preternaturally strong, a lorica also augments the movements of the person within it. It amplifies their gravity, in other words, making them faster and stronger than a normal person.”
“I thought scriving gravity was illegal,” said Sancia.
“It is,” said Gregor. “Which is why loricas are only used abroad in the wars, and in limited numbers, at that.” He rubbed his face. “Now. Can we focus on the consequential conclusions, please?”
“Yeah,” said Sancia. “What the hell do we do about this? Can’t you look at that thing and figure out…I don’t know, something?”
Berenice took a breath. “Well. What I believe we saw in there was an advanced version of twinning.”
“What, like the explosive I used at the waterfront? And that plate of yours?” asked Sancia.
“Exactly. But what’s been twinned is a tiny, tiny, tiny needle, in the center of the device. A delicate one that’s somehow terribly sensitive to noise.”
“How is a needle sensitive to noise?” asked Gregor.
“Because sound travels through the air,” said Berenice. “In waves.”
Sancia and Gregor stared at her.
“It does?” said Sancia.
“Like…the ocean?” said Gregor.
“We don’t have time to amend your dogshit educations!” said Orso. “Assume that yes, it does! The sound hits the needle, and it shakes it. The needle vibrates. But it’s twinned, so there’s another needle that vibrates with it—somewhere.”
“And that’s the tricky part,” said Berenice. “What then? This second needle vibrates, and then…”
“Oh, come on, Berenice,” said Orso. “It’s obvious! The second needle scratches its vibrations into a soft surface—tar, or rubber, or wax of some kind. Then that surface hardens…”
Her eyes grew wide. “Then you can run another needle through the surface, through all the scratches…and it’ll duplicate the noise.”
“Right. It’d be a shitty rendition, but it’d be enough to catch words.”
“Wait,” said Gregor, holding up a hand. “Are you really saying someone has come up with a scrived method of capturing sounds out of the air?”
“That’s crazy,” said Sancia. “So you could make the same sound or conversation over and over and over again?”
“You just used some magic-ear bullshit to find that damn thing!” said Orso angrily, pointing at the door. “And a flying man just tried to throw me off the roof! Our idea of ‘crazy’ is obviously in need of some updates!”
“But this is some delicate twinning,” said Berenice.
“How is that significant?” asked Gregor.
“Twinning is a proximal effect,” she said. “Usually the two twinned items don’t have to be too close, since the effects you want to twin often aren’t complicated. Like a detonator—it’s motion, friction, and heat. You can twin those effects over miles. But this…This is much more complicated.”
Orso stopped pacing. “So the second needle has to be very close!” he said. “You’re right, Berenice! The apparatus that writes down the sound, that engraves the vibrations in wax—it has to be somewhere near for it to accurately capture all the sounds!”
“Somewhere on the property, sir,” said Berenice. “Probably somewhere in this very building. That’s the only way to make it work properly.”
“You!” Orso pointed at Sancia. “Do the thing again and find it!”
Sancia froze. That was far, far beyond her talents. Hearing a powerful device in a single room was one thing—but combing an entire building to find a specific rig was quite another. She’d need Clef for that—if he ever spoke again.
To her relief, Gregor cleared his throat. “That will have to wait,” he said.
“What!” said Orso. “Why, damn it?”
Gregor nodded to the window. “Because the sun is rising. People will be coming here soon. And when they do, it would probably be best if they did not find a blood-spattered girl wandering the halls with a blood-spattered hypatus.”
Orso sighed. “Goddamn it. We’re running out of time.”
“What do you mean?” said Gregor.
“I have a Tevanni council meeting tomorrow about the Commons blackouts. Tons of merchant-house officers from all four houses will be there, along with me and Ofelia. I’ll be seen by loads of people.”
“So word’ll get out that you’re not dead,” said Sancia. “Which will tip off whoever sent these assassins.”
“And they’ll come for the captured sounds, to see what happened,” said Berenice.
“Right,” said Orso. “We’ve got to get to it before them.”
“We’ll return as soon as we can,” said Gregor. “But for now, we need a place to clean up.”
Orso thought about it. Then he turned to Berenice and said, “Check out a carriage again, and take them to my house. Get them bathed and cleaned up. They can spend the day there. But this is not a permanent fix. Even the inner enclaves aren’t safe.”
15