Nights of Villjamur - Mark Charan Newton [87]
The two younger men went on discussing the jewels that Randur had stolen for over half an hour. Denlin meanwhile had remained quiet, merely observing the transaction while keeping one eye open for trouble. With his first commission payment in his pocket, Denlin bought exotic drinks from the counter, including the legendary Black Heart rum. At first Randur refused, but the old man insisted they were not that strong. After Coni had departed with much less coin, but a good stash of jewelry, the men drank progressively. Candles burned low around them, men came and went from the tavern. Denlin related tales of his exploits in the military, himself and Randur talking the way an old man and a young one tended to do. Wisdom was shared: Randur happy to listen, Denlin happy to talk.
Randur drank and his eyes became heavy. He wasn’t used to such quantities.
It wasn’t long until he reached that point where he knew, in his heart, he was well …
… and truly …
… gone …
CHAPTER 18
JERYD ENTERED THE CHAMBER OF INQUISITION, A DUSTY, CEREMONIAL office in which the arch-inquisitor and his three aides of justice were already seated at a large marble table. They greeted him with the barest of glances.
Not a good sign.
It was a wood-paneled room with an expensive stained-glass window overlooking several of the lower levels of the fore-city of Villjamur. Shafts of colored light filtered through, and a fire crackled welcomingly at the far end. Various ancient decrees, written on cloth, hung from the walls, something to inspire the current officeholders, they said. Or in Jeryd’s eyes, something to remind him of all the forms he had to fill in daily. Still, it was nothing compared with the level of state control that the Council could impose elsewhere.
The arch-inquisitor himself was a brown-skinned rumel who had served nearly two hundred and twenty years in the Inquisition, and he could tell you about his life all right, giving endless narratives that always ended in him wondering what had happened to so-and-so. Because his tough old skin was so wrinkled, Jeryd initially had trouble making out where the aged rumel’s eyes were. All three were dressed formally in the uniform of the Inquisition: crimson robes, with a medallion representing a crucible.
“Investigator Jeryd, please be seated.” The arch-inquisitor gestured to an empty chair.
Jeryd pulled his own formal robes aside and sat down. How he hated these meetings. He felt as if some people in the Inquisition lived only for moving paper from one file to another. They were not his kind at all, as he liked to get out and about. He placed his notebook on the table, met the drifting gaze of the senior inquisitor.
“My aides inform me that you intended visiting the Council Atrium. Is this the case?”
“Yes, arch-inquisitor,” Jeryd replied. “And it’s been approved, I believe, by these very same aides.” He indicated the three rumel sitting next to him. “They’ve all given me the go-ahead, so we can maybe make this investigation quick.”
The arch-inquisitor leaned inquiringly toward each of his aides in turn. They muttered their agreement in unison, like a hypnotic lament for Jeryd’s boredom.
“Very good then. Now, Investigator Jeryd, I’ve asked you here very simply to impress on you the fact that whenever one of our investigators ventures up there, inevitably a commotion is caused. We’ve famously not got on all that well with councilors. They don’t like us poking around in their matters.”
“I understand, arch-inquisitor, but I’m investigating the death of Councilor Ghuda. In this case I think they’ll be very cooperative, in case it should happen to any of them also.”
“Indeed, Investigator Jeryd. But we can’t be certain it wasn’t one of them who had him removed.”
“That’s a possibility. But if they’ve nothing to hide, they’ll let me go about my work.”
The arch-inquisitor gave a hollow laugh, which evolved into a cough. His aides passed him a wooden cup, and the old rumel slurped gratefully. “Well, we’ve a frayed relationship with the Council, I fear, so please don’t ruin it further.