“Alittle bit?”
“No!”He gestured in the air, trying to fan out the words.“It’s the term that refersto the question of zoanthrope origin.Namely, it’s the observation that all beastpeoples have a wide variety of superficial animalcharacteristics, with an accompanying difference in strength, stature, stamina,and so on, but they all, to a species, share the same underlying body plan as ahuman.All people like you are essentially human, in the ways that reallymatter.The question is: why?”
“Well,why not?”Zaria asked.“Always seemed to me that us folk work the fields whileyou lot spin your magic.It’s the natural inclination.People work according totheir ability.”
“That’sthe socioeconomic picture,” Isaac corrected.“What I’m discussing isecological.As in, why do these differences exist at all?Why is everyone notmerely human?How did people like you or I come to be in the first place?Naturalists are beginning to understand how species propagate across theenvironment, and the discoveries they’ve made have raised some very fundamentalquestions.”He glanced at her.“For example, who came first?Humans orzoanthropes?”
Zariashrugged.
“TheHuman Paradox,” Isaac said, “would suggest that humans came first, and allzoanthropes evolved afterward, as this fits our observation of shared anatomy.Clearly, that’s the common mold.The fact that the average zoanthrope isphysically superior to humans also suggests an improvement in the basestructure.But where did humans come from?We know now that we must have beenborn of the natural world, rather than created by the gods, but we haven’tfound a single precursor species that would point to the origin.Furthermore,how did zoanthropes multiply into such a diverse collection of species?Why didit matter that one person be a hyena and one person be a cat, or a pig, or anyother animal?What pressure was causing this?”
Zariascratched the fur behind her ear.
“I’mlosing you,” Isaac said.“Sorry.The point I was trying to make,” he gesturedat the relief, “is that the necromancers tried to answer this question, too.You see the different species rising from the coffins?”
“Aye.”
“I’mbeginning to suspect that the necromancerscreatedthe zoanthroperaces.”He gestured at the rest of the artwork, pointing out the helmeted godsand the parting sky above.“Clearly, this is a religious allegory, but thenecromancers did possess some extraordinary technology.There has been growingevidence that they molded flesh as easily as bone.”
Zariamade a noise in her throat.“That three-headed dog did paint a picture.”
“Oh, itdid.”
“Iimagine them bonesuckers had a nasty purpose in mind,same way a farmer might breed a sow for meat.They’d make us strong just towork us harder.”
“Thatseems the idea.I imagine they made you in the likeness of animals to enforcethe idea of slavery.In other words, of being lesser than them.”
Sheblew a raspberry, looking away.“I ain’t a slave.”
“No oneshould be.”
Shegrunted.
“Ishould stress,” Isaac said, “that I’m not an archaeologist, or a historian, oreven a linguist.This is just my interpretation.”He brushed the excesscharcoal from the vellum, carefully sealing the tablet inside his pack.As hestood up, he noted that the god in the mural had the stripes and stars symbolpatched on his shoulder, like a battle standard.“Let’s keep moving.”
Theycontinued on through the street.Above, the giant rib cage continued to spreadout above a black ceiling of dirt.Isaac had been using the colossal bones totrack their progress through the necropolis.Building a city in the likeness ofhuman bones was certainly an inspired architectural direction, but it did makeeverything look the same.It felt like he was passing the same pelvis-shapedapothecary over and over.
“Squire,”Zaria said, poleaxe held loose in hand.“Question for you.”
“Aquestion on ecology?”
“Personalone.”
Isaackept his focus on a perpendicular street, thinking he spieda statue in a distant plaza.The form was human, but stretched.The posture wasagonized.“If you must.”
“Youthought more about what you’ll do with your half of the treasure?”
“Ihave, actually.”
“Oh?Truly?”
“Alittle.”
“Well,come now.Don’t leave me in suspense.”
“I wantto travel the world,” Isaac said, blurting it out.It had taken consciouseffort to talk about his own interests, and it felt even more strange tocontinue speaking after answering the question.“I’ll use the treasure to payfor passage on a ship, and the chartering of caravans, and the help of localguides, and food, and rooms, and wine, and whatever else.I’ll just ...keepgoing until the coin runs out.Eventually, I’ll settle somewhere exotic, ply mytrade as a journeyman, and move on again.”
Zariagave an amused, wordless hum.Once again, she was slowing her long gait to walkbeside him.“Somewhere specific catch your interest?”
