Eighteen Million ButterfliesEvery day, Telyr poisoned three hundred thousand butterflies to death.
It might be three hundred thousand of the Vermilions, or three hundred thousand Midnight Blues, but it was always that exact number. Clockwork mechanisms in each Lepidoptarium collecting duct counted the insects precisely. Once Telyr had the requisite number he would open the Collecting Hall valves to release the mist of poisoned gas. Immediately, the insects would begin to fold their wings and glide to the floor. Then an army of palace slaves, rags clutched to their mouths against the toxic air, could begin to pluck the wings from each tiny thorax. Twelve hundred thousand harvested every day, four from each insect, because that was how many it took to carpet the floor of the Great Hall for
