by William King
I was led out into another room.
This room was better furnished. A bottle of Belial whisky sat on the table along with a few glasses. Konstantin poured some and offered it to me. I shook my head.
‘You’ll forgive my reluctance,’ I said, ‘but after my last drink with you I am not inclined to take another.’
Konstantin smiled at that, no hard feelings. ‘I am sorry, but we had to do this. We needed to know that you are the sort of man to do what is needed and not betray us.’
‘A traitor, you mean.’ I could not keep the bitterness out of my voice. No one likes to discover they have a price.
‘You are not a traitor to the Imperium, Macharius is. He refuses to obey orders from his superiors. He refuses to make way for his successors. You said yourself he is slipping. It is time he stood aside and let those who are still capable get on with the job.’
I thought about him and I thought of the vast whirlpool of intrigue that swirled over this planet. I tried to tell myself that this was only to be expected, that the great generals were all products of the Schism, that they were used to thinking in terms of personal ambition and personal glory. Macharius had once overcome them on the field and bound them to his service; now they saw the chance to break away and follow their own personal interests again. All of them looked at what Richter had done and thought I could do that, and Septimus had offered them a way to do it and still remain loyal to the Imperium.
Mikhail said, ‘We must apologise for what we did. We are playing for high stakes and we needed to know whether you were trustworthy.’
‘I think the question is not whether I am trustworthy but whether you are,’ I said.
‘We have no reason to betray you. We must trust each other.’
‘Really,’ I said.
‘Yes. If you betray us then you fall with us. We have a record of all you have said.’
‘I was drugged,’ I said.
‘So you will claim. But your words were true, were they not?’
‘Yes,’ I conceded.
‘And it does no one any good for word of any of this to become public. The crusade must present a united front even after Macharius is gone,’ Mikhail said.
‘Especially after Macharius is gone,’ said Konstantin.
‘He is not gone yet,’ I said.
‘But he will be soon,’ said Konstantin. ‘One way or another.’
‘We will return to the tavern now,’ said Mikhail, ‘and we will drink.’ś
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘That seems like the best thing to do.’
‘You did something to my mind,’ I said to Drake. He sat behind his desk and studied the gargoyle lantern. His face was shadowy in its under light.
‘If I had not you would now be dead,’ he said. ‘Those men treated you with powerful truth drugs in dosages that were very close to fatal.’
‘I said things,’ I said and fumbled for the words to explain what I meant.
‘You said things that you have thought in your secret heart,’ Drake said. ‘You spoke aloud doubts that you have carried for a long time.’
‘Yes. No. But…’
‘Because you have doubts does not mean you are disloyal,’ Drake said. ‘It means you are human and that you are quite intelligent.’
I looked at him. It was not what I would have expected him to say. He always seemed a fanatic in his own way. He smiled. ‘I can assure you that dealing with doubt was one of the earliest parts of my training and the most comprehensive.’
‘They seemed very sure Macharius will go,’ I said. ‘One way or another.’
‘Oh yes,’ said Drake. ‘They ought to be. I have let it be known, through some informers we share, that Macharius has no intention of standing down.’
‘What?’
He raised an eyebrow. He was not used to lowly sergeants taking that tone with him.
‘We are surrounded by conspirators here. They need to be drawn out.’
‘Is that not rather dangerous? We are outnumbered by more than ten to one.’
‘Only if all the regiments unite against us. That will not happen.’
‘I wish I shared your certainty,’ I said.
‘You are assuming that all of Macharius’s potential replacements are prepared to work together, Lemuel,’ he said, sounding like a schoolmaster explaining the facts to a particularly dim pupil. ‘Even a most cursory examination of the situation will show you that is not the case. Simply because a man would like to replace Macharius does not mean that he will support another man’s claim to do so. Indeed there are many here who would rather see Macharius stay than have one of their rivals take his place. That is one reason the Lord High Commander has remained in command for so long.’
‘I thought it was because he was appointed to the task by the Imperium,’ I said.
‘There is no need to sound so sardonic, Lemuel. It does not suit you. Of course, Macharius was put in charge, but many of those generals had no respect for the writ of the Imperium before he forced them to have. They were the most successful warlords of the Schism and many of them served the Imperium in name only and only when it suited them. If they did not fear Macharius and covet his position they might well go back to doing so.’
‘Then you play a very dangerous game by baiting them.’
‘Macharius will not live forever,’ he said. ‘That is a self-evident truth. Before that happens those who serve him must be brought to heel or the Schism will start all over again.’
My realisation of where this was all going must suddenly have become evident on my face. ‘If they are found to be betraying Macharius, they will be discredited.’
He smiled, a teacher whose dim pupil has shown a sudden, unexpected flash of understanding. ‘It’s always good to have a reason to remove someone. It’s even better if that reason is a true one.’
I wondered then at the cynicism of this man, and whether he realised that his own reach might exceed his grasp. The truth of it was that Macharius was surrounded by grasping, opportunistic, ambitious men, and Drake was not the least of them. The difference was that I could understand what it was that the generals sought. I could not understand what it was that motivated him.
‘I seek what is best for the Imperium, Lemuel,’ Drake said. I wondered whether he had read my mind or whether what I was thinking was simply written on my face for him to read.
‘You are playing games with all our lives,’ I said.
‘It is not really your place to judge me, Lemuel,’ he said. His tone was mild but there was steel in his voice.
‘Someone has to,’ I muttered under my breath.
Nineteen
I was not surprised to find Anna awaiting me in my chambers. ‘You look somewhat the worse for wear,’ she said.
‘It’s been a long night,’ I said, stripping off my tunic and sliding into the bed alongside her. She leaned forward and licked my shoulder. It was not in the least erotic. Nor was it meant to be.
‘Penthalium,’ she said. ‘And traces of Morathian anti-venom.’
‘You can taste that in my sweat,’ I said.
‘Along with a lot of alcohol and some mild narcotics,’ she said.
‘It’s been one of those nights,’ I said.
‘You have just come from seeing Inquisitor Drake,’ she said, ‘and someone has been administering truth drugs to you. Given the age of the traces, it was not him.’
‘You are about to amaze me with your powers of deduction, are you?’
She smiled at me. ‘I am not your enemy, Leo. I may be one of the few people around here who is not, right about now.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Inquisitor Drake is using you as bait in a trap for some very dangerous men.’
‘Did he tell you that?’
‘He does not need to. I can see the pattern of things as well as you.’
‘You’re doing better than me if you can see any pattern.’
‘You were abducted this evening and someone ga
ve you truth drugs. Presumably so they could find out what you know?’
‘Very good,’ I said.
‘And what everybody is concerned about just now is Macharius and whether he will go to Terra.’ She looked at me and I could tell she was reading me as she always could. ‘That’s only part of it though. It goes deeper than that. Since Drake is interested in all this, you are part of some scheme of his.’
Some movement of mine confirmed this to her, or perhaps she already knew. She was very well informed. ‘He is using you as bait, feeding you information he wants others to pick up on.’
‘Is that what you think?’
‘Leo, don’t try to deceive me. You are not capable of it. I know Drake is feeding disinformation to the agents of half the would-be Macharius replacements. It is his way. He will draw them out and then he will move against them. Or so he thinks.’
‘What will stop him?’
‘Look around you, Leo. Times are changing. Macharius is no longer secure on his throne. Drake is his shadow, whether he likes it or not. His star rose with Macharius. His star will fall with him, unless he makes a transition to standing behind someone else, whispering in their ear.’
‘You think he would really do that?’
‘You think he wouldn’t? Drake is a political animal, Leo. They all are. You are in a tank full of mud sharks.’
‘Of which you are one, if an exceedingly beautiful one.’
She looked at me rather sadly I thought, and considered her response for a long, nerve-wracking time. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I am. But for my own small personal reasons I am inclined to keep you alive if I can.’
‘That does not sound very cheerful.’
‘Wake up! What is left of the crusade is sliding out of anyone’s control. Macharius is a sick man. Drake is scrambling to try and keep the whole doomed structure from sliding over the edge of anarchy. The generals are pushing and tugging at it from all sides to try to get what they can. This is a disaster just waiting to happen, Leo, and you are standing right in the middle of it. You’ll be right there when the earthquake hits and it all comes tumbling down.’
‘So will you.’
‘The difference is that I already have a way to get out.’
‘I was offered one myself tonight,’ I said and then I stopped and wondered if her whole speech had not simply been a lever to get me to admit that. She showed me the sort of smile a wolf shows sheep.
‘By whom? By the agents of General Crassus? I would not put too much faith in them if I were you, Leo.’
‘I am not entirely stupid,’ I said. She reached out and ruffled my hair.
‘No,’ she said. ‘You are not.’
‘Anna,’ I said. ‘There is no way out for me. Whatever happens, I stand behind Macharius. I always have and I always will.’
She looked away for a moment and then said, ‘Loyalty has always been your strong point, for better or worse. You are loyal to Macharius and you are loyal to me in your way.’ There was nothing much I could say to that. ‘It will get you killed in the end.’
‘I am an Imperial Guardsman, Anna. I have already lived far longer than I expected when I signed up. And far better too. And that’s down to Macharius and to you.’
She kissed me then and we talked no more. There were other things to say and other ways of saying them.
The camp of the Seventh Belial lay on the edge of the city, beyond the circle of those great black starscrapers. In theory, I was simply visiting my old regiment. In practice it was a lot more complicated than that. There were still people there who remembered me, after all these years, although not so many as I would have liked, and I was wearing the green tunic of the Lion Guard, which both made my visit conspicuous and gave it a political undertone. All of the soldiers watching me wondered whether I could be spying or whether I was bringing word from Macharius to their officers. It was a tense little march.
I walked along the ranks of tents and pre-fabricated huts, between the lines of battered Baneblades and shell-marked Shadowswords and I felt a growing nostalgia. I stood in the silhouettes of the great armoured beasts and felt their power and buried rage. I sensed their animating spirits and their fury and I wondered if the time was coming when they would be unleashed on their fellow Imperial soldiers. Such potent armoured vehicles were rare on Acheron at this moment, and whichever side they were on would have a huge advantage in any coming conflict.
Even as that thought occurred to me, I felt a growing fear in my belly. I was taking it for granted that not only was battle possible, it was likely. I was imagining a time when all of these men around me, my former comrades, would be my enemies. It brought back strange memories of Loki and the walking dead. Some of them, too, had once been comrades. Perhaps in this, we were all of us walking dead men.
I nodded to soldiers as I walked past and saluted officers who looked at me with cool, curious looks. There was a time when I would have felt daunted and resentful, back when they had been my social superiors from Belial and I was just a hive-boy who had joined the Guard. Now, I did not really care. I had spent more than half my life around aristocrats with far greater power than these men would ever have, whose families were far better connected, and I had not been so impressed by those. Why should I let these people intimidate me? And yet the fact that I still asked myself that question showed that it was important to me.
I headed towards the tent row and number that Sergei Krimov had given me. He was sitting outside, no doubt waiting for my two old friends Konstantin and Mikhail. I threw Sergei an ironic salute and took a seat outside the tent. We must have looked for all the world like off-duty soldiers, smoking and chatting.
‘Find out anything interesting?’ Sergei asked.
‘I just found out you don’t like sharing your booze,’ I said.
He produced a hip flask and passed it to me. ‘I see you’ve got over your reluctance to drink with me,’ he said.
‘Tell me, Sergei. How well do you know Konstantin and Mikhail?’
‘Well enough. Why?’
‘Are they for real?’
‘You mean can they do what they say?’
‘Yes.’
‘They can and you would do well to believe that. They have powerful backers, serious men with a serious agenda.’
‘And you would know this how?’ I asked.
‘You are the one asking me the questions. If you don’t like the answers it’s not my fault.’
‘How do you know them?’
‘They were with the Seventh right enough,’ he said. ‘They were promoted out to General Crassus’s staff years ago. Kind of like you were, only they rank higher and they do more than bodyguard work.’
‘You are making me feel inadequate,’ I said.
‘Look. I know you don’t like what happened the other night but I was doing you a favour. Play your cards right and you’ll end up rich and powerful.’
‘Just like you?’
‘Be the smart-mouth, but you are in this thing as much as I am, whether you like it or not. You said things you should not have said.’
‘You think that means I will do things I should not do…’
‘What are you trying to do, Leo? Talk me into thinking you want out of this? You could, you know. You would not live very long afterwards.’
‘You think – what if I went to Drake and told him what I know?’
‘Then you’d get me killed and maybe Konstantin and Mikhail and certainly yourself. You don’t think they can be tied to anybody higher up, do you? You don’t think they wouldn’t disappear, just the way you would be made to.’
‘All right, all right. You’ve made your point. I have another question for you…’
‘Fire away.’
‘How much do you expect to make out of this?’
‘I’ve already made enough so I could retire back to Belial and live like a noble.’
‘It doesn’t look that way.’
‘No. Not right now. But when this is over, I can
assure you I will be out of here and away. You will be, too, if you play this sensibly. Look we’ve seen all the high muckety-mucks get rich from these endless wars. Why shouldn’t we do the same?’
‘How rich are you going to be?’ He named a sum that made me whistle. He smiled and nodded and said, ‘Look Leo – you and me are just pawns to these people. We always were. If it wasn’t us, it would be somebody else. This way we at least get something out of it.’
He sounded sincere, just a man looking out for an old comrade, trying to do his best in this mean, old world. Hell, maybe he was.
‘What if I wanted some proof of that up front.’
He nodded affably. This was something he understood. ‘I am sure that could be arranged, with a word in the right ear – leave it to me.’
I was sure that whatever he arranged there would be a cut included in it for him. I could not really begrudge him that. I handed him back his flask. ‘Let’s drink on that,’ I said.
The Red Lantern was the sort of place that soldiers came when they could afford it. Scantily clad women lounged around on red divans. I was greeted like an old friend by the lady in charge and shown through into a private room where I was met by Mikhail and Konstantin. They looked more affable than at any previous time I had dealt with them. I guessed that my session with the truth drugs and my asking for money had reassured them somewhat.
They passed me over a small pouch. It contained three tiny brilliant gems. I had seen their like before. On Belial, they could purchase a large part of a small hive if I traded them to the right person. They were tiny, easily concealed and incredibly valuable. It seemed that my new friends had taken my request quite seriously.
‘You can expect more if you play your part well,’ said Mikhail. He had a somewhat contemptuous manner now, that of a man who has bought and paid for something he expects to get the use of. Or maybe it was just the surroundings that put that thought into my mind.
Konstantin looked more conciliatory. ‘We are all on the same side here,’ he said. ‘We all want what is best for the Imperium.’ He looked and sounded as if he really believed that.
