‘Those aren’t your words, that’s the commander speaking,’ Malum grunted, but he didn’t seem angry. ‘It’s all right for the likes of the powerful — they can get to make decisions and influence whatever they want. For the average man or woman on the street, this is really frightening.’
‘Do you see yourself as a man of the people?’ Jeza asked.
Malum eyed her. She couldn’t tell a thing about his thoughts from his neutral expression.
‘Not as such.’ He smiled. ‘But there’s money to be made in representing their concerns.’
‘At least you’re honest,’ Jeza chuckled dryly.
‘That, young lady, I am.’
There was a pause in conversation while two men ordered drinks from the bar, and Malum and Jeza waited until they had moved on.
‘So,’ Malum continued, ‘I find myself in an interesting situation. I might be looking for all sorts of solutions, to help appease concerns of the city folk, so I’d be intrigued as to the kinds of things you deal in. Tell me what you’re all about.’
Jeza explained the operation at the factory, glossing over the new armour and finishing with her ambitions for synthetic creatures. She skirted over the intricacies of the operation, but let him know just enough — that they were good, that they could be trusted. Malum remained silent as she talked, letting her do all the work.
Once she had said her piece, Malum spoke again.
‘Now, I can’t tell you my specific business with representing the interests of the people of this city, but I can tell you this — I’m interested in all you have to say, particularly with these
‘I don’t want our creations causing harm!’
‘They won’t be — I wouldn’t worry. All I’m interested in is
‘You’re sure?’
‘You make me out to be the monster here — you’re the girl that makes them. I’m a businessman, plain and simple.’
‘Good.’
‘Now,’ Malum said, standing. She could see a small blade sheathed at his hip, and for the first time she became nervous. ‘I’ll be in touch, Jeza. I needed to know what you had and I’m impressed.’
Jeza had a vague thought that if he was a criminal of sorts, he wouldn’t be able to match the military. ‘We do charge quite a lot, given what the commander has given. .’
Malum gave a wry smile. ‘I can afford twice whatever he’s paying, don’t you worry. I’m a professional. I’d also like to see some of these creatures for myself, when they’re finally finished. How long, do you think, until they’re ready?’
‘They’ll be ready when they’re ready,’ Jeza replied, ‘but you should know that most of them never make it.’
Malum seemed satisfied with her answer, and slunk out into the night, leaving Jeza with an uneasy feeling. However, if she cancelled potential business purely because someone made her feel uneasy, they would never make a living.
When Jeza arrived back at the factory, the others were still up making their usual racket. They were eating fried fish, which she could smell from some distance. The place was a mess again. It seemed no matter how much money they had, no matter how much respect they were accumulating, they would forever be kicking around boxes of junk, food containers, or empty bottles.
‘Guys,’ Jeza announced profoundly. ‘I think it’s about time we hired a cleaner.’
‘Place is fine as it is,’ Coren called out. ‘Besides, we’ve too much sensitive stuff here — cleaners could go messing with things they don’t know about. Anyway, how’d it go tonight? Who was the mystery man?’
‘It went pretty well actually,’ she replied. ‘His name was Malum and he seemed interested in the monsters. Said he could pay well, too.’
‘That’s the main thing,’ Coren replied.
‘Yes. The thought occurred to me that we’d need a back-up if the thing with the commander fell through. If we can get this guy on board we can build up a decent and secure set of projects. Diggsy, did you buy those new relics that were uncovered in Saltwater the other day?’
‘Yup,’ he replied. ‘We’ve got two crates of them sitting in the next room. It was a good idea to spend some money investing — there might be some really useful things there. I’ve heard about a few underground markets after buying these — there are levels below ground that not even cultists know about. We’re about to enter a much bigger scene. There’s also a few pieces that might help with the development of the Mourning Wasp and speed that process up.’
‘Jeza, what’s on your mind?’ Coren asked. ‘You look as though not a word of that went in your ears.’
‘I also saw something weird tonight. There was this woman — decent-looking, well-to-do type, and she was. . well, she had a child’s arm in her mouth. It was like she was in a trance.’
‘Oh, you’ve seen the Cannibal Lady,’ Coren said excitedly. He stuck his fork into a piece of fish before dropping it on the floor. ‘Aw shit.’
‘You know about her already?’ Jeza asked. ‘Is that her name then?’
Coren leaned back up and put the fallen fish in his mouth, much to everyone’s disgust. ‘They’re calling her that, yeah,’ he continued, while munching. ‘And I don’t know all that much, just that there’s been talk in a few of the bars around the Ancient Quarter. She’s been spotted quite a few times, and on each occasion she’s been seen, it’s been the same thing — her, somewhere secluded, munching on flesh. They say she’s some kind of animal.’
‘Do they say where she came from?’ Jeza asked. ‘Is she one of the creatures from the south of the city? Malum mentioned there had been sightings of things coming into Villiren and taking people.’
‘Could be.’ Coren nodded. ‘Though they say this one didn’t so much as come from the south, but was here already. People are whispering that the Cannibal Lady comes from the Citadel.’
FIFTEEN
Malum spotted the poster nailed to a decrepit noticeboard outside a Jorsalir church, deep in the Ancient Quarter.
It was late morning, the skies had just cleared after a quick shower, and the cobbles shone brightly in the sunlight. A flock of seagulls swooped by overhead. The day’s traffic had calmed after the throng of the dawn markets, allowing him to contemplate the notice in peace.
But Malum read the information in disgust.
The notice was a piece of pro-alien propaganda from the military; it played on the fears of the populace and tried to appeal to their sense of self-preservation. It explained what was happening with the alien peoples camped to the south of the city and that without their aid against the Okun — or worse — Villiren, and the whole island, might be destroyed.
How many of these posters were around the city, he had no idea, but the military were obviously trying to get the people to accept the aliens.
‘Imperial filth,’ he muttered to himself, and ripped the poster down, chucking it into a puddle.
Malum buried his hands in his pockets, and headed to an agreed meeting point outside a tavern.
Four members of his gang were loitering outside, one of them with a huge hessian sack at his feet. A black horse and a large, sturdy wooden cart pulled up a moment later, and the cloaked driver nodded to Malum. One by one, his comrades climbed up onto the back of it, the final one hauling the sack and carefully lowering it on board.
‘We’re good to go,’ Malum called over to the driver, then hopped onto the back.
The cart turned in a large circle and rode south-west through the city.
