She didn’trespond.The laboratory ceiling hung low, the tremendous weight of rock andearth seeming to bulge above their heads.Every sound felt ready to be crushed.
“ThoughtI heard some scuffle,” she said, after a moment.“Might just be nerves.Unsettlin’ ain’t even close to describing all this.”
Isaacgrunted in agreement, continuing to write.Around them, the laboratoryglassware was filled with skulls preserved in jars, cross-sectioned femursstill lying under primitive microscopes.A few sections of the wall werewrapped in the vine-like tangle of ossein, the matrix of fibers that made upall skeletal bones.A brush of his hand confirmed that the fibers were composedof actual bone.He wasn’t sure if the ossein had been planted there fordecoration, or if it had grown by some unspeakable festering process.The wayit spawned across the walls suggested the latter, which only made Isaacquestion if the necromancers had discovered a way to grow bone from acontrolled medium, like others grew wheat.
Was itstill growing now, like a plague, deep in the heart of the earth?
Hedecided to leave that question for later.
A shortdistance away, Zaria examined the scratch marks carved into the metal of aparticularly large cell.“Got a question for you, love.”
“I’d besurprised if you didn’t.”
“Howdid—” She paused.“What’s that mean?”
“Nothing.”
“Youcalling me stupid?”
“Not atall,” Isaac said.“I’d characterize it as a vast inexperience in the matters ofacademic pursuit.”
“Talkinglike a book will get you pressed like one.”
“Askyour question, please.”
Shegestured at the cages.“So, these cannibal wizards—they sucked the souls fromthe prisoners and ate them, right?”
“Iwouldn’t use those words, but yes.That was their practice.”
Zariaprodded a rusty bar.The metal flaked with a touch of her naked toe.“Theycould just ...suck your soul, right away?I mean, right outta you?”
“Yes.”
“Wouldyou ...be aware?Of it happening, I mean?”
“Yes,”Isaac said.
“Youwould be?”
“Oh,yes.You would be aware of your fate, until the soul itself was destroyed.”
“Andyou know that, for a fact?”
“Someexperiments were done before the Scorch.They produced some ...immoralresults.”He read the label on a vial of moldering acid.“Once the Diet wasformed, it heavily regulated the field, to ensure ethical development.”
Zariagrunted, kicking the cage again.The rusty bar snapped and tumbled away.“Couldthey do it the other way ‘round?”
“Whatdo you mean?”
“Couldthey put their own souls in someone else’s body?”
“Thegoal,” Isaac said, “was to replenish their own soul energy, to extend thelength of their life.Putting a soul in a new body wouldn’t fix that.There’sno energy being added to the equation.”He continued to write.“They weren’tjust consuming the souls, either.The corpses had a purpose in fighting fortheir armies.They made furniture of them.They had uses for the bone.”
“Furniture,”Zaria said.“Outta people.”
“You’rewearing leather armor, aren’t you?What do you think leather is made of?”
“Cows?”
