City of Ruin - Mark Charan Newton [56]
Jeryd was impressed that Brynd, despite his seniority, saw fit to sit there with his subordinates. Says a lot about a man, a gesture like that. Jeryd watched him eat with precision and fine etiquette, so much so that he was almost scared to continue eating himself, in case he spilt sauce down his dark robes. Every now and then, he couldn’t help but be held captive by those burning eyes.
‘I’m no closer to finding Private Haust, I have to admit,’ Jeryd muttered eventually. ‘Finding just one man in a city as large and as chaotic as this one isn’t going to be simple. The fact that he had no friends outside the military makes things worse – because that leaves us very short on leads to explore. But I have since confirmed there have been a lot of other disappearances, just like you said. An extraordinary amount, in fact.’
‘You seem somewhat surprised, investigator,’ the commander drawled.
‘I am, to be honest.’
‘Could it be fear of the war?’
‘Nah, I thought that,’ Jeryd replied. ‘But folk are safer here than out in the wilds during the Freeze. Plus, they don’t seem to care much – haven’t you noticed?’
‘I have actually. I’ve found, by and large, that people focus on what’s in front of them, rather than the big picture. And, with this severe weather, I don’t blame them. Any other thoughts?’
‘Well, I don’t know why it should be the case, but most of the missing have vanished – that’s if they’re reported at all – from between the Scarhouse area and the Ancient Quarter, also around the Citadel, Althing, Shanties and the Old Harbour.’
‘The wealthiest areas, more or less,’ Brynd observed.
‘Right,’ Jeryd agreed. ‘Now don’t you find that all a tad strange?’
‘Could be, investigator. So what are your thoughts?’
Jeryd paused to finish a mouthful of crab. Damn this is tasty. ‘Well, I’ve a couple of theories. It could just be that the poor don’t bother reporting their missing people. And these aren’t murders, either, as we’ve got too few corpses to support that suggestion. Deaths, otherwise – well they’re mainly gang-related affairs. No, these are people being taken straight off the streets, in my opinion, and then completely vanishing.’ He waved his fork as he voiced his thoughts. ‘Could be that the wealthier ones are simply being kidnapped.’
‘Being held to ransom, you mean? There’s plenty of money around,’ Brynd observed. ‘Half the city has been thriving here in recent years, what with Lutto’s expansion policies. Some people are much better off than ten years ago. Many less so.’
‘Exactly. Except we’ve got no evidence of demands for ransom, no contact so far from whoever’s snatching all these people.’
‘So how many, precisely, are we talking about?’
‘Four hundred and eighty-five reported so far in the last six or seven months – and that’s just reported.’ Jeryd nodded at Brynd’s reaction of surprise. ‘Yeah, that’s a lot, isn’t it? Doesn’t take into account anyone missing who lived alone, those who didn’t have any friends, things like that. People vanish all the time for any number of reasons. And this doesn’t fit with any conventional theories about criminals that I’ve come across. They’d almost certainly die out there, on the ice.’
‘They certainly would,’ Brynd agreed.
‘So,’ Jeryd said, fancying a change of subject, ‘you any closer to knowing when the fighting will begin, or what the rest of the city’ll be doing?’
‘Goes no further,’ Brynd warned, and Jeryd nodded. ‘Enemy units are gathering on the opposite shore in frightening numbers – reaching tens of thousands at the moment. They mass like a swarm of insects, and I’ve witnessed their capabilities for violence first-hand. Meanwhile, our own army is spread too thin. I’m calling in as many Dragoon regiments as we can get – the Fourteenth, Sixteenth just came in, and we soon expect more of the Regiment of Foot. Garudas are constantly on patrol, or dropping Brenna devices to serve as ice-breakers – anything to stop the enemy simply walking across the ice to us. And although the city is well prepared for evacuation through its numerous