Ciaphas Cain: Choose Your Enemies

Defroy, of course, had no idea of the significance of the exchange. ‘There’s nothing unusual in that,’ he said. ‘The governor always entertains his special guests in the heart of the maze. It’s traditional.’

‘The maze people occasionally disappear without trace in?’ I said, inflecting my voice with a trace of levity for the benefit of anyone who might have overheard.

Defroy laughed. ‘Those are just stories,’ he said. ‘I told you, the trick to finding your way around in there is childishly simple. No one can really get lost.’ But a quick glance at Amberley and Vekkman was enough to reassure me that they’d realised precisely what I’d meant. Chaos cults tend to go in for sacrifices, and however careful they are, little ripples of rumour and disquiet usually ensue, even if no one takes them seriously or recognises their true significance.

‘We need to get to the maze, now,’ Vekkman said decisively, and Amberley nodded.

Defroy looked confused, and a little petulant. ‘And you’re suddenly in charge because?’ he asked.

‘Because the Emperor says so,’ Vekkman snapped, revealing the electoo in the palm of his hand.

Defroy boggled at the universally recognised symbol of Inquisitorial authority for a moment, then back at Amberley. ‘I thought she was the inquisitor,’ he said.

‘She is. So am I.’

‘Hurry.’ Rakel looked up, her expression even more haunted than usual, the edge of fear in her voice all the more disturbing for her ­unusual lucidity. ‘Before it’s too late.’

‘Right,’ I said, reaching for my weapons and adopting the sort of resolute pose expected of me in this kind of situation, though with any luck the inquisitors would lead the way. I turned to Defroy. ‘Better get a squad or two of your people over there too.’

‘No.’ Amberley forestalled him before he could issue the order. ‘We’ll handle this ourselves.’

‘If you say so,’ Defroy agreed, clearly affronted by the implied slur on his troopers’ martial abilities.

‘I do. If there’s warpcraft involved, the fewer people exposed to it the better.’ She nodded at me as she spoke, and I divined her meaning at once: however comforting the extra firepower they might provide would be, she wanted the number of potential witnesses to Jurgen’s remarkable abilities kept to a minimum.

‘Good point.’ Defroy vacillated, thoroughly spooked by the casual reference to warpcraft, but determined to do his duty whatever that involved. ‘But at least let me get the maze sealed off once you’re in there.’

‘Sound suggestion,’ I said, reasoning that he’d be easier to keep on side if he was feeling appreciated. ‘The coven we found on Drechia had just summoned a daemon. Don’t want anything like that getting loose.’

‘No, we don’t.’ He considered this for a moment, looking a little green around the gills, then swept his gaze across the merry throng of partygoers. ‘And I’d better get the guests evacuated.’

‘Yes, you’d better,’ Amberley agreed. She glanced at the gibbering psyker. ‘And take care of Rakel.’ Who was clearly in no fit state to accompany us.

‘Of course.’ Now he’d got a definite job to do, Defroy was looking a lot happier. So, leaving him to it, the rest of us set off towards the maze.

The closer we got to it, the more sinister it seemed, the dense foliage looming over us like a wall of small, dark interlocking leaves. Cheerful partygoers in garish costumes, many of them carrying drinks or finger food, mingled and chattered around us, oblivious to the danger they were in, while faint strains of music drifted from the direction of the house, where the dancing had already begun. Blue-and-gold clad guards were beginning to fan out through the crowd, leaving little ­ripples of consternation in their wake, and I felt a faint stirring of relief at the thought that Defroy was already on top of things.

Which was more than I can say for myself. Remembering what we’d found in the caverns of Drechia, I was understandably reluctant to hurl myself at what looked suspiciously like another nest of cultists.

‘Do you think Fulcher knows what’s going on?’ I asked, and the two inquisitors turned identical expressions of pitying surprise in my direction.

‘Try to keep up, Ciaphas,’ Amberley said. ‘He’s the cult magister. It’s the only explanation that makes any sense.’

‘Of course it is,’ Vekkman added, in case I wasn’t feeling quite stupid enough. ‘Who else could sneak an assassin into his household without leaving any trace an experienced investigator could uncover?’

‘And who had the authority to order the harvesting of spirit stones from the eldar casualties?’ Amberley added rhetorically. ‘The man who had a crate full of them in his personal baggage.’

‘That must be why he took the risk of running the blockade,’ I said, trying to show I was catching up at last. ‘To bring them here. But why now?’

‘I think we’re about to find out,’ Amberley said and, with a nod to the guards standing sentry at the archway leading within, strode past them and into the green-flecked twilight.

Twenty-seven