Bloodfly

The Bloodfly was a biting insect. The term came from the Seven Cities (Bisbrha and Debrahl) language.Deadhouse Gates, Glossary, UK MMPB p.936
Bloodflies fed on blood. Their bites were agonizing and left permanent pox-like marks. Large numbers of flies could kill a person and flense them of their flesh.Stonewielder, Chapter 9, UK TPB p.455 There was an egg in every bite, each secreting a poison which deadened the flesh around the egg, so that it could serve as food for the larvae inside. Eggs hatched almost instantaneously.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 6, Tor MMPB, p.185
A good protection against them was to cover the whole body in mud. Immersing one's self in water had no effect as bloodflies were capable of diving into lakes and ponds. After a bite it was necessary to use a special tincture, a foul, dark-brown juice, on the wound. It forced the larvae to leave the victim. The tincture was made from a plant native to Seven Cities and it was poisonous. Drinking enough of it could be fatal.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 6, Tor MMPB, p.184-187
Bloodflies usually disappeared with the end of the day's heat when their natural predators, Capemoths and Rhizan, came out to feed.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 1, US HC, p.35
They could be heard from five paces away.Reaper's Gale, Chapter 17, US HC p.516
== In Deadhouse Gates ==
Felisin Paran was bitten by a large number of bloodflies during the escape from Skullcup. Heboric saved her life with the tincture, but she was left with pockmarks.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 2
A D'ivers in the form of a massive cloud of bloodflies attacked Fiddler, Apsalar, and their other companions at Tremorlor.Deadhouse Gates, Chapter 19
==In Stonewielder==
Kiska and Jheval were attacked by clouds of bloodflies within Shadow. Covered in blood from the bites, they were nearly overcome before the Shadow priest Warran intervened. He revealed the flies were actually a D'ivers and negotiated for its departure.Stonewielder, Chapter 9, UK TPB p.455-456
==Trivia==
Bloodflies were inspired by the real-world botflies author Steven Erikson encountered while working in Belize. He and a colleague once had to use tobacco juice to remove more than fifty botfly larvae from beneath the skin of a pig.Ten Very Big Books podcast - Deadhouse Gates (See 25:25)
==Notes and references==
de:Blutfliege
Category:Insects and reptiles