current work now is highly specialized – and commercialized, if you will. You may have noticed that there is an abundance of food in Villiren, which seems odd given the desperate times we live in.'
'You work on providing food?'
'Indeed, and there is an ample meat supply – essential during the ice age, and also a period of war. I am responsible for that supply – or rather, Nanzi and myself are.'
Jeryd had a bad feeling about this conversation. He thought back to the garuda he had witnessed being carried into the abattoir building. 'Garuda meat?' Is that why it smelled off?
'On occasion, yes, but mainly human or rumel meat. Good, lean chunks of it, distributed though the markets. To feed the people, and nourish our city. Our culture does the same to animals, so what difference does it make regarding humans?'
Was the man lying just to show off?
Jeryd turned to catch the expression of shock on Bellis's face. 'How can this even be possible?' she managed to say, but Jeryd had already put together the picture in his head.
'Quite simple, really,' he offered. 'Nanzi here ventures out at night in her other form. She drags citizens from the streets, leaving no evidence – hence they're considered missing persons, and not murder victims. Then she brings the corpses back to Voland. He performs whatever sick rituals he needs. They then sell the cuts of meat to the gangs, who in turn sell it on to the traders. In essence, the city is now full of unwitting cannibals.'
'And we once suspected you weren't all that bright.' Voland was clearly getting some pleasure from listening to this explanation. The man pushed himself up to his feet, flicked back his sleeves and approached Jeryd, till the two stood almost face to face. There was some sinister elegance about the man, some deep connection with thoughts that were too sickening for Jeryd to contemplate. 'Why did you kill soldiers? You knew they're helping the city.' 'They provided good meat that would feed numerous families.' 'Where did you draw the line? Women, children?' 'We never took children,' Voland declared with pride. 'Couldn't look into their innocent little faces? Too much guilt?' Jeryd suggested.
'No, too little meat,' Voland replied. 'There was no point.' Scumbag… 'This high-level contract you mentioned, is it in any way connected to Emperor Urtica?'
'You know him, then! He's an old school chum, from back in Villjamur. Never thought he'd rise so high in the Council, let alone become Emperor.'
'You're not one of his cult, are you?'
'I know of no cult. He merely wanted his people here fed, and this is such a simple solution, isn't it? For me, it's an interesting little job, and it keeps the money rolling in – certainly a more interesting challenge than making trophy beasts for the gangs. In a free-market economy such as ours, dear investigator, everything has a price. All those deaths… well, they're merely the externalities of the market. Would you rather have people starving?'
How free do you think the market is, in an Empire like ours that cripples one endeavour and props up another? Jeryd thought. Bohr, how can anyone even begin to justify any of this?
'Is it just Urtica you're working for?'
After a moment's reflection, staring into the darkness and absent-mindedly rubbing his arm, Voland declared, 'Might as well drag the rest along with us: our Portreeve Lutto knew about it, for a start.' A grin slid up one side of his face.
Jeryd composed himself from the shock, turned away, then methodically paced the room in a soundless rage. He was not at all surprised to learn that Urtica was at the root of this evil. Even from afar, the Emperor seemed able to disgust him with his sick machinations, his secret dealings, his whispered words and cult worship. In this Empire, the innocent were considered merely numbers and statistics, overlooked in a relentless drive for expansion and the centralization of power. But Lutto too? Would Jeryd even be able to report this connection, and risk being hunted down by the portreeve's henchmen?
He glanced at Nanzi, who still sat hunched on the floor, knees drawn up to her chin, utterly silent.
'Do you eat the killings yourself?' Jeryd asked Voland.
'Oh heavens, no,' Voland laughed. 'I'm a strict vegetarian. To me, all meat involves killing.'
'How many citizens have you killed in total?' Jeryd demanded. 'All those people who have disappeared off the city streets – are they all down to you?'
'Quite probably,' Voland replied coolly. 'Although I'm sure quite a few may have gone missing for other reasons. I couldn't really put a number on them since we've been operating for some time. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a couple of thousand. It's been the devil's own work…'
The doctor seemed totally detached from his activities. In his own head, the man must clearly rationalize the impossible and the immoral, to the point where he considered he was actually doing something commendable.
'You sick, sick bastards,' Jeryd declared. 'You don't regret any of this carnage, do you?'
'Why should I regret it?' Voland replied. 'I've been keeping people alive and healthy enough to face a war. One must always look at the bigger picture, investigator.'
In all his decades of working for the Inquisition, Jeryd had never encountered such large-scale horror. Thousands dead and distributed along the food chain: Villiren had unknowingly become a city of cannibals. He might have even eaten such meat himself.
Jeryd indicated for Bellis to disconnect the intervening light-bars separating the captives. After a tentative movement, as they contemplated the removal of the barrier, the pair of them embraced for all to see in the chilling darkness of the cell.
Jeryd left the room with Bellis, too depressed to speak to her at first.
Having made sure the cell door was locked firmly, with as many security measures as possible, they made their way along the corridor heading back to Jeryd's office. There he lit a fire before the two of them slumped into chairs in contemplative silence.
Bellis spoke first. 'Well now, you've caught them, at least.'
Jeryd exhaled deeply. 'I'm a lousy investigator, and I just have to face the fact.'
'How d'you mean?'
'I took far too long to put all the pieces in place. I'm inept. How could I not consider Nanzi being involved…' Jeryd shook his head. 'I'm struggling at this job, even though I try hard. I'm too old maybe. I guess reality catches up with you eventually.'
'Nonsense, you miserable sod. The killers are caught, that's all that matters. So what will you do with that pair of freaks?'
'I'll have to search their dwellings and see if there's any further evidence. We've already got witnesses to Nanzi's transformation, and their own confession, so it should be quite a straightforward case that'll result in their execution according to Empire laws. That's if we can manage to convince our superiors – they claimed the portreeve is in on this racket, too.'
Bellis nodded. 'We don't know that for certain since we only have their word for it.'
'True,' Jeryd murmured. 'And thanks for helping me. It was you who did all this – brought them in so easily, and helped me get over my own fears. You're a remarkable woman, and I realize there's very little in this for you…'
'Little in it?' Bellis said. 'You are silly! I do things because I choose to, helping others because I'm not thinking of myself all the time.'
'That why you're here in Villiren, to help others?'
'More or less,' Bellis admitted cryptically.
'You're never going to tell me, are you?'
'Next time we have drinks, perhaps I'll tell you then.' Bellis gave him a distant smile.
Jeryd realized then that, if anything emerged from all of tonight's debacle, he had at least made a friend, and that you could never be too old for that sort of thing.
'And what's the situation with Ramon and Abaris then? Always giving each other funny looks.'
'Oh, those old queens,' Bellis said lovingly, 'they're such wonderful cultists. Never give me a dull moment. Their actual speciality is necromancy believe it or not, but despite that there is more life and wisdom in what they do and say than I get from nearly anyone I've met. I don't like to say too much about them – you know, with the laws and such, primitive as our culture is. But you seem the sort who wouldn't make an issue of it.'
'Well, I'm not too stuck in my ways, despite being an old-timer. But I notice Ramon never says anything,' Jeryd added.
