Eisenhorn Omnibus

attempted.

* * *

Gideon called me to the force tent.

'Ghiil is the name of a planet/ he said.

The dead world in the vision?'

'Quite probably/

And where is it?'

'We don't know/

'Who's we? Where did this information come from?'

He sighed. 'Lord seer?' he called.

One of the inner screens drew aside and a slim, very tall figure in a long, hooded robe stepped through from the privacy of the inner rooms. The robe was made of a gleaming blue material that flashed like shot-silk but seemed heavier and more fluid. There was a strange, unpleasantly sweet scent, like burnt sugar. I knew that hood would never be drawn back in my presence. I was not fit to see the face beneath.

This is Eisenhorn/ the figure said. It wasn't a question. The words flowed melodically with a strange cadence that no human could ever approximate.

Who am I addressing?' I said.

The book is in his coat/ the figure said to Ravenor, ignoring me. 'An insult that he carries it so casually/

'Gregor?'

I took the Malus Codicium from my pocket. The figure made a warding gesture with its gloved right hand.

'It's an insult that your friend will have to tolerate, I'm afraid/ I said. 'This isn't leaving my person/

'It has contaminated him. It smoulders in his blood. It has yoked him to daemons/

And more besides, no doubt/ I countered. 'But take one look into my mind and tell me I'm not dedicated to the salvation of all of us/

I dropped my psi-shield provocatively, but though I could sense the eldar's temptation to look, he did not touch my mind.

'Ravenor vouches for you/ the hooded figure said after a moment. 'I will content myself with that. But do not come any closer/

'So what do I call you?'

You won't have any need to/ the eldar replied bluntly.

'Please/ Gideon cut in. He was clearly very uncomfortable. 'Gregor, you may refer to my guest as 'lord seer'. My lord, perhaps you could tell Gregor about Ghtil?'

'In the First Days, a race came from the maelstrom and raised settlements in this space. Seven worlds they made, and the greatest of these was Ghtil. Then they were overturned and left no trace behind/

'From the maelstrom? From the warp? You mean a daemon race?'

The lord seer said nothing.

'Are you saying daemons once colonised seven worlds in our reality?'

'They fled a war. Their king was dead and they carried his body for burial. On his tomb they raised the first city, and then made six worlds around it to honour his rest forever/

'Ghiil is the tomb of a daemon king?'

There was no response.

'What? Are you just going to answer every other question? Is Ghiil the tomb- world? Is that what Glaw is after? The tomb of a daemon?'

'I have not seen the answer/ said the eldar.

'Then take a wild guess!'

The daemon king is dead. Khanjar cannot hope to raise him/

'Unless he has the Malus Codicium,' I said.

'Not even then/

'So what, then?' I snapped.

'Traditionally/ Gideon put in, 'in human culture, anyway, a king is buried with great treasures and artefacts beside him/

'So there's something in this tomb. Something so valuable that the Malus Codicium is just a key to get it. Where is Ghiil?'

'We don't know/ said Ravenor.

'Does Glaw know?'

'I think that's why he was here/

The eldar withdrew and I was glad to be out of his presence. I found it hard to know how Ravenor tolerated him.

Outside, the final preparations were being made. All of Ravenor's people except Kenzer and the six astropaths were withdrawing to his ship. Nayl and Kara were going to the Essene.

A message from Maxilla/ Nayl said to me. 'You've had a communique from Fischig/

'Fischig? Really?'

'It seems he's changed his mind. That he regrets his clash with you and wants to come back/

'I think it's too late for that, Harlon/

Nayl shrugged. 'Cut him some slack, I say, boss. You know how hardline he is. He's had time to think about things. Get his head around stuff. Let him come back. From what Gideon's been saying, we could probably use him/

'No. Later maybe. Not now. I don't think I can trust him/

'He probably thinks the same thing about you/ grinned Nayl. 'Joke!' he added, raising his hands to pacify me. 'Good luck/ he finished, then walked off to the shuttle where Kara Swole was waiting.

It was iust dawn. Before their departure, the technicians had extended the antigrav walkways to form a circular path across the bayou fifty metres in diameter. The astropaths spread out around the suspended walkways under the thick, steaming vegetation. I stood with Gideon and Kenzer on one of the central sections. The evenly spaced astropaths began to murmur as they sank into their trances and the air became charged with psypathic energy. Instead of focusing on a single object, as Jecud Vance and I had done with Midas's jacket, the astropaths were opening the entire area up,

conjuring its psychic traces. A cold, blue glow began to spread around us, quite at odds with the light of the rising sun. Things became filmy and misty.

'I see something…' Kenzer said.

So did I. Shapes, like clouds, writhing and forming above the water at the centre of the circle. Nothing distinct.

I felt Ravenor reach out with his mind and fine tune the coherence of the image. Just standing there beside him, I could feel how strong his mind had grown. My old pupil was frighteningly powerful.

Suddenly the image resolved. Three figures, wading through the bayou's knee- deep water. One, a massive ogryn with a blaster cannon, followed in the splashing wake of a sturdy male human dressed in beige combat armour, his face hidden by a rebreather. This human was scanning the area with a hand-held auspex. The third figure was beside him. It was tall, broad, and moved with a strange stiffness, its body partially draped with what looked at first like a cape of feathers.

They weren't feathers. They were blades. Tongues of polished, sharpened metal