Antherose

The Audit of Dryspeaker Moudrost

Auditor Antherose arrives at Sevendor alongside Dryspeaker Nuayas of the Sau'libik pod, summoned to confront Minalan over information their predecessor Dryspeaker Moudrost had concealed during his interrogation:

I am Dryspeaker Nuayas. I speak for the Sau'libik pod of the Leviathan Kyrinsik. This is Auditor Antherose, of the same pod. We have been waiting for you.

— Nuayas's introduction, Preceptor

Antherose is the more thoughtful of the two. Where Nuayas threatens, Antherose recalls each Narasi word slowly “as if he was having to recall every word from distant memory,” and his face registers shock when the Magolith floats into view, then horror when Minalan reveals he has seen the Lost Egg.

The Lost Egg

When Minalan tantalises them, Antherose breaks composure:

You lie! The egg is lost!

— Auditor Antherose, Preceptor

You will tell us where it is at once! This is a matter far outside of your ken, Spellmonger!

— Antherose, Preceptor

Faced with the Handmaiden's evidence and Minalan's refusal to surrender the location, the auditor sighs and concedes the ground. He confesses to having genuinely liked Moudrost — “He was a good Dryspeaker until . . . this” — and gives up the apparent escape destination, Farise, before agreeing to deliver Minalan's message to the Vundel masters.

The exchange is the first time a humani has openly threatened a Vundel pod. Antherose carries the message back; Pentandra, hearing it later, calls it “the wrath of a ferocious and very short-lived race.”