As Yet Unsent

The Second House Skull Painting by Gregory Manchess

**Cohort Intelligence Files: As Yet Unsent** is a short story set in The Locked Tomb Universe written by Tamsyn Muir. Released on 21 September 2021 with the paperback of Harrow the Ninth, As Yet Unsent chronicles Judith Deuteros, Coronabeth Tridentarius, and Camilla Hect's time with Blood of Eden directly following the events of Gideon the Ninth.

## **Introduction**

In accordance with Cohort procedures, the contents of "Cohort Intelligence Files: As Yet Unset" are a report assembled by Captain Judith Deuteros during her period of captivity with the insurgent group known as The Blood of Eden (BOE). The report is coded and stored in a subdermal implant.

## **Plot**

### Untitled Entry (1)

Five months into captivity, Judith Deuteros, Coronabeth Tridentarius, and Camilla Hect are taken off a shuttle and moved to a ground encampment allowing Judith to begin her log. She describes the area as "temperate," noting green foliage, animals, birds, and a distant ringed planet.

She recounts a lengthy treatment and recovery from the wound she suffered at Canaan House, including multiple infections, faux-bowel and stomach appliances, severe reflux, and a surgical procedure (in which Judith attempted to use necromancy on herself to attach an appliance to her esophagus).

Judith notes that the corpse "has still failed to rot".

### Entry: Camilla Hect

Sometime later, Judith states her concerns for her fellow captives, primarily Sixth cavalier Camilla Hect. Camilla and Corona have been given a fair amount of freedom by the BOE—controlled by a security anklet with a disabling but not fatal shock. Camilla received a shock that hospitalized her for a week (when she refused to relinquish Palamedes Sextus's bones), but Judith worries she is being "converted."

Judith recounts Camilla's "conversion," explaining that the BOE Commander, known as We Suffer, claimed to have ownership of something called Source Gram which originated in the Sixth House around six thousand years ago. BOE's knowledge of Sixth House secrets and insider information, though now outdated, won them Camilla's attention. Judith laments Camilla's willingness to listen to propaganda and tries commanding her, chiding her, and pleas for her to stop, but Camilla refuses.

Judith recounts playing chess (mentally, without a board) with Camilla, and the two reminisce about playing chess with their respective late necromancer-cavalier partners.

### Entry: Coronabeth Tridentarius

An unknown amount of time later, Judith states that Corona has been radicalized. She recounts Corona as a youth, claiming she "cries over every sob story and her blood boils at any perceived injustice." Judith also remarks that she has been let into the secret of Corona's lack of necromancy and states her belief that the ruse would have been Corona's idea. As Judith is being nursed, she and Corona have several conversations about BOE.

Judith outlines the two main grievances of BOE. First, the "resettlements" (necromantically killing a planet and moving its inhabitants to a Nine Houses installation), which BOE claims to be "unprovoked war." And secondly, BOE business contracts—originally signed with the understanding that they would end upon the Emperor's death (who then failed to die). Judith dismisses these arguments, but they cause considerable arguments between her and Corona.

She defends Corona's radicalization as a result of the trauma she suffered at Canaan House (the death of Naberius Tern, the abandonment of her sister, Ianthe, and the general stresses of combat). Judith claims that Corona's lack of experience in the field and how BOE targeted Corona as the primary convert doomed her. She notes Camilla's disagreement as well as her assertion that Corona's intervention saved both of them. At the end of her entry she questions which interpretation of Corona is correct.

## **Characters**

* Judith Deuteros
* Camilla Hect
* Coronabeth Tridentarius
* We Suffer