Book One – Chapter 18

The selder’s fur was short and straight. It clung tightly to his body. Between the strands, from his shoulder blades down to his hip, ran a pattern. It was neither of natural colouring, nor paint. Not healing like wounds but also not raised like scars. Not quite a tattoo. Something between all those things; a network of deliberate markings coiled just beneath the skin. The shapes were geometric: circles nested within circles, lines with sharp angles cutting across symmetrical curves. The fur had not been cut or torn out, but because it was white, just like the skin beneath, the lines shone clearly through. They were distinguished by different colours. Grays, pale oranges and muted blues marked what looked like separate symbols seeping upward from the inside. They were etched close, with individual lines of one symbol often running into the empty spaces around the other shapes, though never crossing.

A clicking sound made Yu look up. Another made him turn his head.

Deltington entered the room. He stopped just one step in and gave Bubs a short nod.

Yu realised then that he had just been staring. Exactly as before, while Bubs had undressed the human. Yu had then gone off to fetch Deltington, vanished without a word, made more of a mess in the bathroom, and now returned only to continue where he had left off — again standing around and staring around.

Be involved. Be caring, like a guard should be. Be … harmless.

“Uhm, so, is this what makes him sick?” Yu asked. His voice went out flat, not aimed at anyone in particular. “These … markings?”

It was the best he could do to sound open, unjudging — to show that he bore no disdain for the shaman. At the same time, it was a chance to soften Bubs’ earlier suspicions. The easiest way to suggest that Yu had of course not listened in on their conversation, or on anyone else’s, for that matter, was to say something presumably obvious but wrong. He had to make that a habit. To ensure the guards that Yu was not eavesdropping by default, he then and again had to utter some dumb assumptions that were still more plausible than random as long as you knew nothing.

So Yu said, “Are these witch runes? I mean, they look like curse marks?”