Blood of the Underworld(15)

“It should be you who polices the streets, not them,” Victor said. “And you are no fool, so think. It doesn’t matter if the guilds hold to the agreement, and do not steal. They still extort. They still kill. They demand bribes of merchants, smuggle goods to avoid tariffs, and flood your streets with powders and leaves that addle the minds of your people.”

He gestured to the lines.

“Right now, we gather evidence against them. We get names. We list crimes. When we capture them, we steadily move upward. We take everyone we can, then repeat the process. All of it, written and stored forever, unable to be killed or silenced. Time will not save them from their crimes. I will find them. All of them.”

“But why here? Why in the open streets?”

Victor grinned, and gestured to the dungeon behind them.

“If they refuse, or lie, that is where they go. When their eyes wander, they see the fate awaiting them for such transgressions. Besides, let the whole city watch what we do. Let them know I am here, and will not stop. I will never stop, not until this city is a place of lambs instead of leeches.”

Antonil swallowed hard, looked back to the line.

“You release them when you’re done, correct?” he asked.

“The innocent ones, yes.”

“And then they go home, having been seen by all, known by all to have talked. You know what will happen to them, Victor. You’re sentencing them to death!”

Victor whirled on Antonil, leaned in close.

“If they die, it isn’t by my hand, but the hands of murderers and thieves who should have never been allowed to live as long as they have. I do what must be done to save Veldaren from itself. I am no fool. This is a new kind of war, but blood will still be shed. If your guards do their jobs, those men and women will live. Stop cowering in fear of the dark corners.”

Antonil met his gaze a while longer, refusing to back down. Victor’s respect of him continued to grow. As the silence stretched, a man in a green cloak was led toward the dungeon door, then around to the side. Antonil noticed this, and gestured that direction.

“Where does he go?” he asked.

“I shall show you.”

Victor led Antonil around the back, to where two elderly men stood before a tall table. To the side was a hastily constructed platform made of wood, and in its center was an anvil. Seeing it, Antonil’s jaw clenched, and his eyes widened.

“Calm yourself,” Victor said. “They are your judges, those appointed by Edwin, not myself. They hear our evidence, read what we have collected, and then offer sentencing.”

While the man with the green cloak was dragged before one of the judges, another climbed the two steps of the platform. His face was ashen, and his eyes remained locked on the floor. By Victor’s guess, he was fifteen, sixteen at most. Two of Victor’s soldiers led him to the anvil, where a heavyset man waited, axe in hand.

“How many?” Antonil asked quietly as the thief was flung atop the anvil, his arms tied by ropes looped through holes in the platform.

“Seventeen today,” Victor said. “By tomorrow, it should be twice that. The list of crimes grows by the hour.”

“Seventeen,” Antonil whispered. “How many executed, and how many sent to the dungeon?”

Victor shook his head.

“You still don’t understand, do you? Your judges do. Mercy has extended long enough here. All seventeen have met your executioner’s blade. The dungeon is only for those who refuse to cooperate, who would rather bite their tongue than reveal the guilty. This is war, Antonil. War against the very culture that has twisted and perverted everything great about Veldaren and turned it into something wicked. We have no time for prisoners.”

The executioner lifted his axe. Neither Victor nor Antonil looked away as it descended. There were no onlookers, no gathered crowds, so they easily heard the plop of the head hitting the wood, the sound of the blood dripping across the platform, and the untying of the ropes as they cleared away the body.

“I want every name,” Antonil said. “Every crime, every shred of proof leveraged against the men who died here today.”

“Of course,” Victor said. “I understand your fear that we will execute an innocent. It won’t happen, Antonil. I won’t let it. The only sins I’ll bear shall come from waiting as long as I did. Come with me. I’ll tell Sef to prepare everything you need.”

As they walked back toward the initial five lines, Antonil stepped in his way, grabbed him by the front of his collar, and pulled him close. Victor tensed, but he sensed no anger, no threat. Antonil’s eyes met his, and they were full of fear...and hope.