by Dan Abnett
Kys shook her head. ‘Go on.’
‘We were locked up, as suspected enemy agents. Ravenor’s rosette was no use. No one could confirm we were who we said we were, but I convinced them to help Ravenor. There was a medicae, Bashesvili. We owe her a lot.’
‘And?’
‘I think Ravenor managed to form some kind of bond with her while she worked on him. He got into her mind, and showed her the truth. He persuaded her how important it was for us to get out. He died, technically speaking, several times on her table. Once she had resuscitated him and got him stable, she was able to show a partial monitor record of one of his “deaths” to the station commander. With her key prisoner dead, the commander turned her attention to other priorities. They were expecting a raid.’
‘A raid?’
‘There was a war going on. Anyway, it bought Bashesvili enough breathing space to fix up and clean up the chair, get Ravenor back into it, and spring us. By the time the station commander noticed her other prisoners were gone, Bashesvili had got us out of the compound and into the thorns.’
Kys held up a hand. ‘Whoa. The thorns?’
‘Ah, sorry,’ said Nayl. ‘I missed a bit. The Rahjez station was surrounded by psy-active thorn growth. Ki-kid, they called it.’ ‘Ku’kud,’ said Angharad from the back of the room. ‘Get it right, man.’ ‘Ku’kud. That was the key, you see? That was what Ravenor had realised.’ ‘I don’t see,’ said Kys.
‘His mind was too weak by then to operate the door properly,’ said Nayl, ‘but the psy-active weed gave him a boost, an amplifier. He willed us home, and the thorn scrub magnified the thought. He wanted to go back to his ship.’ ‘And this Bashesvili woman?’
Nayl sighed. ‘She had as much desire to be displaced a thousand years out of time as we did. She stayed.’ He paused. ‘So, we opened the door.’
‘I opened the door,’ said Iosob with a giggle, holding up the key. ‘That is my function.’
‘That’s right,’ said Nayl. ‘Iosob very cleverly opened the door, and we stepped through, and we weren’t on the Arethusa at all.’ ‘They gave me a bloody scare, I can tell you,’ said Preest. ‘You were on the Hinterlight?’ asked Kys.
‘In dry dock anchor, at the Navy Yards at Lenk.’ said Preest. ‘This blooming door had taken your lord and master literally again. It had brought him to his ship, all right. My bloody ship.’ ‘How long ago?’ ‘Two weeks ago,’ said Nayl.
‘I’ll tell her this bit,’ Preest cut in. ‘I was walking the rounds one afternoon. We’d just signed off repairs the month before with the Navy architects. I was considering my options, developing plans to open a trade line down to Caxton, small perishables and quality goods, you know the sort of thing. My dear Patience, the last thing I intended was to get entangled with the Inquisition again.’
‘They’d given us some bother,’ said Halstrom. He looked at Kys. ‘We’d been inspected and interviewed by ordo agents three times. They were aware of our links to your master.’ ‘The last time was by some high-faulting bitch called – what was it, Halstrom?’
‘Inquisitor Lilith,’ said Halstrom.
That’s the bitch,’ said Preest, clapping her hands.
‘That’s the bitch, that’s the bitch!’ Iosob sang out, not looking at them.
‘Play with your lovely key, dear.’ Preest told her. ‘This Lilith, she turned up just a few days before this door did. I became very aware that Gideon was a wanted man. I wondered what the bloody hell he’d been up to. Anyway, I told her we hadn’t seen him in months. She searched my darling ship, and buggered off. So I was walking the rounds, as I say, and was just going though the enginarium. I’d given the crew some shore leave, a last hoorah before we disembarked, and there shouldn’t have been anyone around. Then this bloody voice says out of nowhere—’
‘Hello, Cynia,’ said Nayl.
‘I nearly wet myself,’ said Cynia Preest. ‘I turned around, and there was your man Harlon, the little girl, the big lass with the sword, and Gideon in his chair, gasping his last. More importantly, there was a brand new wooden door opening out from the left ventricle of the drive assembly.’
‘He’d got you home,’ said Kys to Nayl. She sighed. ‘You know, Kara never doubted him? Kara said he’d beat the odds, even certain death. I didn’t believe her. I should have.’
Nayl shook his head. ‘In your place, I wouldn’t have. We played the longest shot possible, the odds stacked up against us. We went the long way round. I’m still amazed we made it.’
‘Is the door still there?’ asked Kys.
Halstrom nodded his head. We check on it regularly. Its presence in engineering, the impossibility of it, troubles the crew. If it doesn’t disappear in due course, I don’t know what we’ll do about it.’
Kys rose to her feet. She swayed slightly. ‘I’m sorry,’ she told them. ‘That amasec’s gone straight to my head. I haven’t eaten much. What I want to know is, after all of that, how in Throne’s name did you end up here?’
+Hedgerow birds, pollen and the local constellations.+
‘Gideon?’ she asked. They could all hear him. Iosob stopped playing, and Angharad looked up sullenly.
+I’m sorry for eavesdropping, and I know I should be resting, but I’ve come too far to stop now.+
‘Birds?’ asked Kys.
+Through the door, I met Orfeo Culzean. Remember him? We had a conversation.+
‘What kind of conversation?’ asked Kys.
+It doesn’t matter. We were in a field. I had no idea where, and he wasn’t going to tell me, but knew it was wherever he and Molotch had gone to ground. A planet somewhere, in affordable jump distance of Utochre, no more than a subsector or two away at most. There were birds, local flora, evening stars. Once I got here, and the excellent medicae Zarjaran made me comfortable, I started to go back through the records I’d made, comparing them to the Hinterlight’s extensive database. The asset of having a support chair with perfect recording systems is that you can store things in the most extreme detail, more extreme than a regular mind could remember. I compared star patterns, the cellular detail of crop husks, the patterning of small birds. It took a while, but ultimately, there was no doubt at all.+
‘Gudrun,’ said Kys.
‘We set off immediately,’ said Preest. ‘I could tell Gideon was in no mood to tarry.’
‘Oh Throne, you pinpointed Gudrun by some birds and corn husks?’ asked Kys.
+Every planet has its own specific and quite characteristic microculture. And, actually, I didn’t pinpoint Gudrun.+
‘What then?’
+I pinpointed the Upper Sarre provincial zone of Gudrun, within twenty kilometres of the Kell Massif.+
Kys started to laugh.
‘I knew you’d like that,’ said Nayl, grinning. ‘Now, it’s your turn. What happened to you?’
Kys looked at her empty glass and Halstrom refilled it.
Then she told them everything that had happened since they had broken free of the dying Wych House.
‘ANY RESPONSE FROM Carl or Ballack?’
‘Nothing,’ said Nayl grimly.
‘Not even a hint?’ Ravenor’s repaired voxsponder had a slightly lower, droning quality. They were still getting used to it.
‘Wherever they are, they’re not answering,’ Nayl said.
‘We must tread carefully with Ballack,’ said Ravenor. ‘I’m not sure what he is yet, but he’s hiding something.’
‘Interrogator Ballack is beyond reproach,’ Angharad snapped from the back of the launch’s cabin.
‘No, he’s not,’ said Ravenor. ‘When I was waring him, I found a Black Dam block.’
‘Yes, you do like to ware people, don’t you?’ sneered Angharad. ‘Against their will.’
‘Shut up,’ said Kys. She had showered – for a long time – and was wearing clean clothes, Hinterlight crew fatigues that didn’t quite fit. She felt ungainly and unfeminine. She imagined that was how Maud Plyton felt much of the time. The thought of Maud made he
r tense. ‘Are you sure you’re up to this?’ she asked.
‘He shouldn’t be doing it at all,’ said Nayl.
‘Well, I am,’ Ravenor replied. ‘From what you’ve told me, I haven’t got time to sit around and heal. Mister Halstrom?’
‘Two minutes to dock,’ Halstrom called from the launch’s helm position. He had insisted on piloting them.
‘Thank you.’
Nayl, Kys and a nervous-looking Unwerth sat in the cabin behind him. Ravenor’s chair, repaired but still showing the marks of its damage, sat in the cargo space behind them. Angharad reclined in one of the rear seats. She was wearing her restitched armour, and Iosob had patiently rebraided her hair. None of them had any idea what they should do with the child housekeeper.
Evisorex lay in its scabbard across Angharad’s long legs.
‘A Black Dam?’ asked Kys. ‘That’s a Cognitae technique.’
‘It is,’ said Ravenor. ‘Our friend Ballack was concealing something, something big. It is possible he is the one hiding Slyte.’
‘Nonsense!’ Angharad spat.
‘I tend to agree with obnoxious sword-girl,’ said Kys. ‘It’s Zael. I have no doubt. He’d got to Frauka somehow, turned him. I know what went on aboard the Arethusa.’
‘I saw it, in all fair point,’ said Unwerth. ‘Psychic chaos, the breadth of the warp relapsed. If it wasn’t a daemon, I don’t know what.’
‘We’ll see,’ said Ravenor.
Halstrom guided the launch expertly into the Arethusa’s docking bay. Automatic systems clamped them in place and folded the hull doors, equalising pressure.
‘We’re good,’ said Halstrom, taking off his headset, unbuckling his harness and turning to look back at them.
‘Mister Halstrom, please stay here. Stand by to leave at a moment’s notice.’
‘Understood, sir,’ said Halstrom.
The others unbuckled their restraints and rose. They clambered down out of the launch’s aft hatch into the echoing docking bay. Nayl held a shotgun. Unwerth fumbled with a laspistol that Preest had lent him.
‘You may stay with the launch, if you like, Master Unwerth,’ said Ravenor as he floated down the ramp.
‘Thank you. I will deblige you, however,’ said Unwerth. ‘I want my ship back.’
They advanced towards the access way. The air, oddly fresh, smelled of cinnamon or fresh-cut grass.
‘Do you feel anything?’ asked Kys. ‘I couldn’t lock him down, but I was too afraid to try. You’re much stronger than me.’
‘Not today,’ said Ravenor. ‘I may have to rely on all of you. In answer to your question, Patience, not yet. I can feel something. I can hear…’
‘What?’ asked Kys.
‘Sobbing. You hear that?’
They turned down one of the Arethusa’s empty spinal corridors. The deck lights were still guttering. Angharad pulled out her sword in a fluid movement. ‘Evisorex thirsts.’ she said. ‘I’m sure it does,’ said Ravenor. ‘I’ve got something, something very clear. It feels like… Wystan.’ ‘How can you feel him?’ asked Nayl. ‘He’s a blunter.’ ‘He’s compromised,’ said Kys. ‘I said he was.’ ‘It’s Wystan,’ said Ravenor, ‘or, at least, it’s something that wants us to feel it’s Wystan.’
Kys shuddered. Unwerth looked up at her and calmly held her hand. She looked down at him, saw his nervous smile, and squeezed his hand.
‘How close?’ asked Nayl.
‘Very close,’ Ravenor replied. The forward hold.’
They approached the hold hatch. Unwerth let Kys’s hand go and scurried forwards to key in a code. The hatch groaned. Tutting, Angharad strode up, put her shoulder to the hatch, and slid it slowly open with a grunt. ‘Gotta love her,’ said Nayl.
Kys snorted.
They entered the forward hold. It was empty, derelict. Packing cartons, pulped and shredded, littered the floor space.
‘I hear sobbing,’ said Kys.
They looked up.
Wystan Frauka sat on one of the iron cross beams high up in the hold’s roof. How he’d got up there, none of them would ever know. He was sobbing, every breath jagging out of him like a gasp. His upper lip, mouth and chin were wet with blood. It was dripping out of his nose.
‘I tried,’ he murmured. ‘I tried. Protect him you said, and I tried.’ He coughed, and blood sprayed from his mouth. Zael hung in his arms like a string-less puppet.
+Wystan?+
‘Yes, Gideon?’
+Glory, you can hear me?’+
‘Yes, Gideon. That’s… that’s really frigged up, isn’t it? I mean, I’m an untouchable, right?’
‘Not any more,’ said Ravenor. Frauka sobbed some more. Blood dripped down onto the deck beside them.
+Is he awake?’+
‘What?’ asked Frauka.
+Is Zael awake?+
‘No. Yes. In his head, he is. He has been for a long time.’
‘I told them! I told them!’ Kys exclaimed.
‘Sorry about that, Patience, but if he’d known, he would have killed him.’
‘Who?’
‘Slyte, of course.’
+Wystan…+
‘I had to hide for so long, Chair,’ said Frauka, hugging the limp body to his chest with both arms. ‘For so long. He was here all the time, and I didn’t dare look out. He’d have seen me. He’d have killed me as if I was nothing.’
+It’s all right.+
‘It’s not all right!’ Frauka barked. ‘I was scared. I was tired of hiding, but he was there all the time. Right there. You couldn’t hear me, Chair, or you didn’t want to.’
+I always wanted to.+
‘Huh,’ said Frauka. ‘Well, I woke up once he’d left the ship. When it was safe. I think I scared the crew a bit. I’m sorry I scared them.’
‘What the frig is Frauka babbling about?’ Nayl asked.
‘It’s not Frauka,’ said Ravenor, ‘it’s Zael. He’s channelling Zael.’
Nayl looked up at the figures perched in the rafters. ‘Zael?’
Patience stepped forwards.+Zael? Hello? I need to know something.+
‘Hello, Patience. You’re pretty.’ said Frauka mindlessly.
+Thank you. Zael, if you’re not Slyte, who is?+
‘Ballack,’ said Ravenor emphatically.
‘Ballack’s nothing,’ said Frauka’s mouth. ‘Slyte’s been with us from the start.’
+Zael?+
‘Thonius Slyte – Thonius Slyte, Thonius Slyte.’ Frauka cackled.
Incremental terror filled Nayl, Kys and Ravenor simultaneously. Disbelief. Horror.
‘Watch above!’ Unwerth yelled out.
Frauka had slumped forwards, letting Zael’s body go. Both of them dropped like stones from the cross beam and plunged towards the hold deck.
+Kys!+
‘I’ve got them.’ she said.
FOUR
CARL THONIUS CLIMBED down out of the cargo-8 they had leased at Dorsay. His boots kicked dust up off the rural track. Behind him, Plyton, Ballack and Belknap got out of the vehicle.
They had parked under a stand of trees on a lonely country road. Evening was closing in across the fields. Ahead of them, two kilometres away the sudden, grim bulwarks of the Kell Mountains rose like a threat. They were sheathed in mist and storm cover, almost invisible.
The country around was still and quiet. There was a soft breeze, and the evensong of birds heading to roosts in the woods. But there was a persistent ringing, buzzing sound in Carl Thonius’s head, like tinnitus. Carl started to breathe deeply, checking the rings on his fingers. One, two, three—
‘Up there? Is that the place?’ asked Belknap, shouldering the worn, ex-Guard issue lasrifle he had brought.
Plyton nodded. ‘I’m sure. The lander left the Allure in parking orbit and dropped at Dorsay field. Then it came out here.’
‘You’re sure?’ Belknap asked her, dubiously.
‘Magistratum skills, Belknap, trust me,’ she said. ‘I know how to ask around on the sly, and how t
o track a suspect vehicle. It came here. The flight path was keyed and logged at the field office.’
‘I don’t think they know we’re here,’ said Thonius. ‘If they suspected we were right behind them, we’d know it.’
He stared up at the almost invisible summit above them. ‘I am going to kill Zygmunt Molotch,’ he said in a whisper none of the others heard.
Belknap had crossed to the far side of the track and was playing his electro binoculars at the crags ahead. The lenses whirred and clicked. None of them had wanted him to come along: they all considered him a non-combatant. But he had insisted, for Kara’s sake, while there was still a hope. None of them could argue with that.
‘Big place up there,’ Belknap said, squinting through his field glasses, ‘like a palace. We’ll have to get closer for me to make anything definite.’
‘Then let’s get closer,’ said Thonius.
‘I still can’t raise the Arethusa,’ said Ballack, shaking his vox link. ‘What the hell’s up with that?’
‘Atmospherics,’ said Thonius. There’s a storm coming in down the mountains.’
‘I couldn’t raise them in Dorsay either,’ said Ballack.
‘Atmospherics,’ Thonius repeated. ‘They’re all right, sitting pretty. What’s important is down here. Let’s spread out and scope the area.’
They fanned out. Plyton and Belknap followed the track down to fields. Ballack and Thonius followed parallel paths into the creaking woods. They could feel the pressure of the gathering storm. The boughs sighed and groaned as the wind stirred them. Leaves fluttered. The rot-dry husks of wind-felled trees attested to the power that local storms could develop.
Carl Thonius came to a halt in a sighing glade. The others were out of sight. He could see the mountains a little better through the swaying branches ahead of him than from the road. They were a black shape smeared in cloud. Behind them, the sky was clean and ochre, stippled with stars.
