'He's an incredibly gifted individual, as his career testifies. He has a reputation, however unwarranted, for straying too far to the radical side. He has… dabbled with the warp. We can say that much. Just because we've heard nothing of him these last hundred or more years, doesn't mean he isn't still active/
'And that activity?' Neve smacked the tip of her crutch down twice on the tiled floor. 4Vhat? What? Utilising daemonhosts? Perverting inquisitors? Hunting for abominated texts like your Necroteuch? Triggering the dreadful atrocity of Thracian?'
'Perhaps? Why not?'
'Because that would make him a monster! The exact antithesis of everything our order is about!'
Well, yes it would. It's happened before. A powerful man who gets so close to the evil he is sworn to combat he gets dragged into it. Inquisitor Ruberu, for example.'
Yes, yes! Ruberu, I know…'
'Grandmaster Derkon?'
'Granted. I remember…'
'Cardinal Palfro of Mimiga? Saint Boniface, also called the Deathshead of a Thousand Tears?' intoned Aemos.
'For the Emperor's sake!'
'High Lord Vandire?' I suggested.
'All right, all right-'
'Horus?' Aemos dared to whisper.
There was a long silence.
'Great Quixos/ Neve murmured, slowly turning to face me. Will he be added to that unholy list? Is one of our greatest to be condemned so?'
'If he must be/ I replied.
'What do we do?' she asked.
*We find him. We find out if the passing centuries have truly changed him into the being we fear he is. And if they have, Emperor pardon me, we declare him Heretic and Extremis Diabolus, and we destroy him for his crimes.'
Neve sat down hard, staring into her glass. There was a knock at the sanctum's door, which Aemos answered.
It was Fischig.
'Sir… madam…' he said, acknowledging Neve.
'Well, Fischig?'
'Further to your discoveries today, we have been monitoring inter-orbit traffic. Two hours ago, a craft made planetfall at Kasr Gesh. It cleared Cadian airspace using the inquisitor general's authority code.'
Gesh was the site of the last known cult activity.
I gathered up my coat. 'With your permission, inquisitor general?'
Neve rose with me, her face set hard. 'With
Kasr Gesh was three hours flight from Kasr Derm. Cruel winter had blown in from the upland heaths, and the gun-cutter was vibrating its way against powerful ice storms.
My band was all aboard, preparing weapons. So was Inquisitor General Neve and a six-man squad of Cadian Elite Shock, impassive troopers in winter camo armour, prepping matt-white lasrifles and stubbers in the crew-bay
'God-throne, they're tough-ass bastards/ Nayl muttered to me as 1 passed him coming out of the bay.
'Impressed?'
'Scared is more like it. Regular Cadian is soldier enough for me. These are elite. The elite of the elite. The Kasrkin/
The what?' It wasn't like an experienced fighter to show deference to other fighting men.
The Kasrkin. The Cadian best, and you can imagine what that means. Holy Terra, they're stone-killers!'
'How do you know?'
'Oh, please… look at their necks. The Caducades sea-eagle brand. Come to that, just look at their necks. I've seen slimmer trees!'
'Good thing they're on our side/ I said.
'I bloody hope so/ Nayl returned, and moved forward.
The deck lurched again. I walked back down the bay, steadying myself on the overhead handloops, and approached Neve.
She was dressed in Cadian mesh armour, and was adjusting her winter hood. I saw she had exchanged her silver crutch for a lift-assisted cane fitted with a compact cylindrical grenade launcher.
In my fur coat and bodyglove armour, I felt underdressed.
Your usual attire?' I asked.
'Necessary clothing. You should come out with me sometime, cult-hunting in the islands after dark/
'My staff are… worried. These men are Kasrkin?'
'Yes/
Their reputation precedes them/
'So did yours/
'Good point. But, anyway…'
Neve looked round at the row of Cadian elite. 'Captain Echbar!' she shouted, raising her voice above the roar of the buffet and the thrasters.
'Inquisitor general ma'am!' said the warrior on the end.
'Inquisitor Eisenhorn wants reassurance that you are the best of the best and will be careful to watch the backsides of him and his band/
Six snow-visored faces turned to look at me.
We've logged the bio-spoors of you and your company into our sighting auspexes, sir/ Echbar announced to me. 'We couldn't shoot them now even if we wanted to/
'Make sure you don't. My staff and I will be leading the way in. The situation may not call for firepower. If it does, the vox or psyker command is 'Rosethorn'. Vox-channel is gamma-nine-eight. Are you prepared for a psychic summons?'
We're prepared for anything/ Echbar told me.
The gun-cutter stopped shaking.
We've come out of the storm/ Medea voxed me.
A moment later, she crackled, 'I see approach lights. Kasr Geth landing field in two/
The pylon stood three kilometres outside the earthworks of Kasr Geth. The night was clear and glassy, with a heaven full of stars. The Eye of Terror throbbed dimly at the top of the sky. It seemed to me more lurid and brighter than ever before.
Somewhere up there, I knew, orbital detachments of the Cadian Interior Guard were hunting the hidden starship from which the visitors to Kasr Gesh had come. Neve had scrambled them before we left, with strict orders not to move until we had engaged on the ground.
We didn't want our visitors tipped off.
My team moved in up through the frost-caked scrub of the moorland slope. The pylon was simply a black, oblong, absence of stars. I could hear it moaning.
