Nights of Villjamur - Mark Charan Newton [55]
“There’s far too many that like to avoid being reminded that life tends to be a little shorter than we’d like.”
“Some think it’s too long,” Jeryd said. “Suicide is less rare than you’d think, especially with the ice age on the horizon and families being split because of the lack of accommodation in the city.”
Tarr walked over to inspect a young woman. “This one was raped, slaughtered, left on her doorstep.” Her face was pale, calm-looking, as if her death came as a relief to the terrible moments leading up to it. “What a waste every time this happens. Very few people have a true appreciation of life. If we realized death might come upon us at any moment, do you think we’d waste time arguing or fighting or being idle?”
“You can’t force people to appreciate such things,” Jeryd said. “They’ve got to come to terms with it for themselves. And I suspect that it’s rumel nature too, as well as human, not to want to think about it. It’s all too sobering for most of us to cope with. Now, we really must be on our way. Do contact me if you need anything from us. Good day, Doctor Tarr.”
Tarr watched the two investigators leave, closed the door, then headed back into the chambers. He found the lute player. “You can stop now. They’ve gone.”
Tarr heard that hum again, louder than before. The lute player disappeared into the darkness, leaving Tarr alone, where he waited until the humming ceased.
Dartun Súr entered the chamber.
The cultist leader had been working somewhere else in the building, the doctor did not know where. Maybe it was that damn strange cloak that allowed him to hide so effectively in the shadows. Tarr felt the tall man bearing down on him.
“Dear doctor, that was a wonderful tour you gave our investigator.” Dartun gripped the other man’s shoulder.
“Thank you, sir.”
“So, what else’ve you got for me today? I’ve just finished working on that last fellow.” Dartun clasped his hands, and looked eagerly around the room as if he were in an iren.
“Another one?” Tarr said.
“Yes, we must keep busy, you know,” Dartun said. “That’s what I was doing in the other room—just a bit of practice on an older corpse. And that was a nice touch of yours, covering it up with the lute player.”
“Well I couldn’t have the investigator poking around and getting suspicious. You should have warned me you were coming. The lute player was the best I could do. I bet our friend Jeryd now thinks I’m totally insane.”
Dartun clasped his hands together. “Can’t have the Inquisition prying around too much. I heard you saying you had some fresh ones? The fresher they are, the easier they are for me to work with.”
“But those ones all have families,” Tarr protested. “We’ve not had any unclaimed bodies arrive today.”
“That’s a bit of an inconvenience, really.” Dartun frowned, rubbing his chin. He ambled around the room, his boots loud on the stone. “Listen, d’you think I could reserve the next unclaimed one that comes in? I’m having to … begin some other schemes of mine very shortly, and I might need to leave the city very soon. And I could do with a few more corpses, no questions asked.”
He hated Dartun for this secretiveness, but he had been embroiled in it for far too long now. And it was no longer out of choice, since every time Dartun made a suggestion, it seemed to come across more as a threat.
“Right,” Tarr said, “look, I’ll try and keep one for you, but you know this really is most abnormal.”
“So are most things, doctor.” Dartun turned, something flashed in his hands, and even before he walked into the wall he had vanished.
“Why can’t he just use the door like everybody else?” Tarr muttered.
CHAPTER 10
RANDUR MADE HIS WAY THROUGH THE INCREASINGLY BAD WEATHER UP toward the Imperial residence of Balmacara, his traveling bags slung across his shoulder, his shirt soaked and clinging to his skin. Sleet to rain to snow to sleet, Villjamur was now only differing shades of gray, and he prayed to Bohr that the waxed leather on his bags was holding the water at bay or the rest of his clothes would be ruined otherwise. His long hair trailed