Fear And Fire Part 8

The psyker witch is still loose in the tower. While we tarry here, his every breath is an affront to the G.o.d-Emperor.'

'Can you fight?' asked Miriya, eyeing her.

'Need you ask?' Isabel glanced at the b.l.o.o.d.y laser wound on her thigh. 'A mere flea bite. It appears worse than it is.

Then what of you?' Sister Miriya turned back to Ver-ity. You won't catch Vaun unawares like his thug here. You can't engage him.'

The Hospitaller gave her a defiant look. Then be quick, and I will have no need to.

Miriya accepted that with a nod, and then recov-ered the dead thug's lasgun. Take this until we can find you a better weapon. she said, handing it to Verity. 'Use it if you must.

'But you said I would not be able to fight Vaun.

The Celestian shook her head. There are only two charges left in the weapon. If Vaun comes, I would suggest you use them to grant the Emperor's Peace to the good governor here and yourself. She gath-ered up her fallen plasma pistol and walked away. 'It is a better fate than letting that beast lay open your mind.

The witch melted out of the mist choking the chapel with bubbles of burning air dancing about his fin-gers.

He tossed streamers of fire at the aristocrats and swept them around, using them as a Repentia Mis-ttess would a neural whip. Wherever the flames touched skin or cloth, people were instandy flashed into screeching torches. Behind Vaun came his men, spreading further the touch of witchfire.

'Here they come. Galatea snapped. 'All guns to bear. She led the Sisters in a quick subvocalised litany, each of them murmuring prayers of blessing to their firearms.

Portia brought up her bolter and Reiko - who had liberated a clumsy ornamental rifle from a dead honour guard - did as she ordered, but the gun servitors and the other men at arms fell apart in a rout. The servitors, too slow of brain to react with anything other than brute reflex, marched into Vaun's firecasts and burnt to death standing up. Internal ammunition magazines cooked off in wail-ing cracks as limbs and torsos were shattered. The bodyguards and sentries lost their nerve when they were confronted by a psyker of Vaun's deadly prowess, breaking ranks and making themselves per-fect targets for his men.

Fire-streaks buzzed past Galatea's head like hover-flies, humming and slow in the melee. The Battle Sisters had come with little to replenish their weapons, and where Vaun's killers fired for effect, the Canoness and her fighters paced their shots. Each had to be certain death for the target. They could not afford to spend more than one precious bolt sh.e.l.l on each attacker.

Vaun's flame-whips guttered out and the psyker dropped low, masking himself and minimising his target silhouette. An eerie glow cast about from the witchkin's eyes. Galatea had seen the like before on those kissed by Chaos or touched by the sign of the mutant.

'By Katherine's heart, what is he doing?' Portia hesitated, trying and failing to get a good firing angle on the crouching man.From behind her where the liquor fountains gur-gled and frothed, Galatea heard the squeal of building pressure and a rush of hot bubbles. Sud-denly she understood. 'Get down. Get down!' she shouted, throwing herself into Portia and Reiko.

Vaun released a 'Ha!' of effort and threw a spear of psionic force into the wine drums. Superheated by his mindfire, the volatile alcohols combusted and shattered their wood and iron kegs. With a whoop of air, the atomised liquids turned a pocket of atmosphere into an inferno. A miniature tidal wave of burning Nevan whisky and foaming spice wine threw itself across the cowering n.o.bles. The searing flood boiled them red and screaming, the agony of it so fierce that some of the merchants died instantly.

LaHayn clung to the pulpit as it rocked and sank into the burning tide around it. Before him, striding across the flaming pool without a hint of discom-fort, Vaun met his eyes and gave the priest a theatrically contrite bow of the head.

'Forgive me, father, for I have sinned. The last word was drawn out and sibilant, turning into a harsh smile.

'h.e.l.lo, Viktor. I'm willing to bet that this isn't how you had imagined things would go when we met again.

With a callous kick, he shoved a wailing n.o.blewoman out of his path. 'It's time for you to reap the whirlwind, old man.

'You will regret your arrogance, creature. spat the priest. 'I will see to it!'

Vaun snorted. "You?' He opened his arms. 'Look around, Viktor. The wastrels you surrounded your-self with are dead or dying. Even your precious Sororitas lie defeated by me. He pointed at the spot where Galatea and the other women lay wounded and unmoving. 'Meet your end with some decorum, dear teacher. If you ask me nicely, I may even let you spout off some prayers first to your precious G.o.d.

dare not speak the name of the Lord of Mankind!' LaHayn's rage rolled across his aspect in a dark thunderhead. 'Pirate. Petty thief and brigand. Your tiny mind lacks even the smallest inkling of my unity with Him!' The ecclesiarch stabbed an accusing finger at the psyker. You could have been great, Tor-ris.

You could have known glory the likes of which have not been seen in ten thousand years. But now you are fit only to die, remembered only as an anar-chist and a criminal!'

Vaun let out a laugh. 'And who will kill me, you decrepit fool?' He drew back his hands and cupped the air between them. The molecules of smoke and haze he held there flickered and condensed, catching fire. This ridiculous monument of yours will be your funeral pyre - and once you are ashes' I'll plunder your dirty little secrets for myself.'

He was close enough now, reasoned the priest. Close enough to be certain. T think not, child. said LaHayn, and from his voluminous sleeves he pro-duced an ornamental box that ended in a finely tooled argentium muzzle. He squeezed the device and it shrieked, projecting a mid-calibre bolt sh.e.l.l at the witch's chest.

The recoil from the weapon was so strong it almost broke the priest's wrist, but the gun was just the means to deliver the sh.e.l.l to the target. The bolt itself was not the typical carbide-fusion matrix bullet that issued forth from countless Astartes and Sororitas weapons - the very matter of the round was impregnated with psionic energy, culled from the minds of dying heretics. Each molecule of it reeked with mental anguish, pain and psychic terror imprinted on the sh.e.l.l down to the atomic level. These munitions were very rare, but Lord Viktor LaHayn had taken a long time to build up the position he now held, and along the way many such items had come into his possession.

The psycannon bolt struck Torris Vaun in the chest, tearing through the heat wards that had turned the lesser shots of other men, and spent its ma.s.sive kinetic energy punching through the flexsteel armour of his batde vest. The impact threw him back into the puddles of burning liquor, ripples of contained psy-force licking around him, fading. He coughed hard and brought up a mist of blood.

'Fool. growled the priest. 'Did you think I would go about unprepared when I knew that you were on the loose?' He holstered the spent weapon, ma.s.saging his throbbing wrist. 'Now I will have the prisoner I promised for this day' LaHayn glanced down as Miriya and Isabel entered the chamber, guns questing for a target. What perfect timing,' he remarked. 'Here, sisters. Here is your witch, ready for the cages-'

A whoos.h.i.+ng jet of fire erupted from where Vaun had fallen, pus.h.i.+ng the criminal back to his feet. Curls of heat enveloped him and he bared his teeth, chewing on new pain. 'Well played, Viktor. spat the psyker.

'But I'm not beaten just yet.'

LaHayn's world turned red as the pulpit burst into flames about him.

'Take him!' screamed Miriya, her voice streaming into the concussive blast of noise from her plasma pistol. Isabel fired with her, both of the Battle Sisters throwing their shots at Torris Vaun, knocking him back off his stance.

The psyker stumbled and snarled at them, blood from broken capillaries in his eyes trickling down his face in red tracks. The glowing brand where the psycannon shot had struck him still flickered with desultoryglimmers of blue-white energy, and Vaun picked at it with sweat-slick fingers, using his other hand in a warding gesture to banish the incoming bolts. The rounds struck the heat-wall conjured by his mind and deflected, some breaking and melting, others skipping away, but Miriya could see the agony caused by the injury LaHayn had inflicted was taking its toll. Vaun met her gaze for a split sec-ond and she knew he realised it too.

'I won't let you run again. she spat. 'Take the witch!'

Groggy and wounded, Portia dragged herself into the fight alongside her squadmates. Near the wrecked pews, Galatea, a shock of her perfect auburn hair crisped into white ash from the fires, stumbled up from where she lay bearing Reiko on one shoulder.

'You should not have come back. shouted LaHayn. 'Now you will pay for daring to defy the church. The priest pointed at the corpses of the raiders where Galatea and the other Battle Sisters had terminated tiiem along the way. 'All your reavers and cutthroats have fled or died, fiend. You are alone and naked before the G.o.d-Emperor's righteous vengeance!'

'Always the lectures with you, eh?' Vaun barked out a harsh laugh and shook the sleeve of his coat, revealing a bulbous, ornate device of jewels and metals wrapped about his wrist. 'You make the same mistakes over and over again, Viktor. You never fail to underestimate me. The psyker squeezed a trian-gular emerald switch and delicate, century-old microcircuits sent an activation signal.

The Battle Sisters heard a chug of static across their vox channels. Instants later, the shaped charges of detonite that Vaun's men had secreted all about the cathedral exploded. Under cover of the fires and the panic they had gone unnoticed. Still, there were enough in place to do what Vaun wished of them.

The coughing crashes of noise blew out stained gla.s.steel windows and threw doors off their hinges. They cut through support pillars as saws might fell trees, or dashed ancient pews and unlucky people about the place in clouds of vapour.

Stonework from the upper tiers dropped to punch ragged holes through the mosaic floors, and Lord LaHayn threw himself off the pulpit just as a granite angel smashed the thing to matchwood. Blinking through brick dust and pain, the priest cursed the psyker's name as Vaun's mocking laughter echoed back at him.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

The Tier of Greatest Piety shuddered beneath Ver-ity's feet and she sprawled, falling away from where Governor Emmel lay. His skin was waxy and sallow, and death was close to him. The Hospi-taller heard the sounds of rock grinding on rock, and in horror she saw the high spire of the Lunar Cathedral above her twitch and break off, cascad-ing down past the terrace. Growing up on the st.u.r.diness of Ophelia VII, Verity had never experi-enced earthquakes, and the occurrence of a solid, rooted building s.h.i.+fting around her was new and terrifying. The thunder of explosions from the lower level set the whole church humming, and the woman threw a fearful look to the smoke-choked sky. Where was the rescue s.h.i.+p? If she were here much longer, Emmel would be dead from his injuries or she would perish with him when the great terrace crumbled.

From above, a narrow-beamed spotlight suddenly stabbed down at the tier, probing at the cluttered s.p.a.ce.

Verity leapt to her feet, the weapon in her hand forgotten, and waved. 'Here. Here!' The sound of ducted rotors reached her ears and in the thick of the haze she saw the dark shape of a coleopter mov-ing against the night sky.

The spotlight pa.s.sed over her, lingered for a moment and then moved on, tracing towards the entrance arch that led down into the chapel. A fig-ure emerged into the sodium glare, dark coat and tunic spattered with fresh blood, s.h.i.+elding his eyes from the light. The beam faded away and the 'copter swept about for another pa.s.s. With a great chill the woman realised that the flyer was one of the s.h.i.+ps she had seen strike at the cathedral.

Torris Vaun walked painfully towards the middle of the terrace and halted there, panting hard. For a moment, Verity was struck dumb by the sight of him. The psyker examined the red on his hands and returned to cupping the wound on his chest, sparing her gun a quick look. 'Axe you going to use that, nursemaid?'

Verity tried to speak, but no words came. Vaun stepped closer.

'How is the esteemed governor?' He peered at the injured man lying in the shadows. 'Dead, or near enough? Pity. I wanted to use him a little before he died. Oh well.' A rueful smile crossed his lips. 'Plans change.

The Hospitaller gulped air. Where were Miriya and the others?

'I know what you are thinking-' he began.

'Stay out of my mind. shouted the woman. More used to handling a boltpistol, she brought up the lasgun in a clumsy stance.Vaun gave a hollow chuckle and winced in slight pain. There's no need for me to exercise my attrib-utes to know your thoughts, Sister. You know what fate befell poor Sister Iona on the Mercutio, yes? You are wondering, if he could do that so easily to a hardened warrior like her, what chance does my fragile little mind have?'

'I will kill you.

He raised an eyebrow, amused. You don't have that in you. I think perhaps you wish that you did, but you don't.

'I killed your man. she retorted, jerking her head at Rink's remains. 'I can end you too.

'Oh. Vaun eyed the dead body. 'Impressive. Per-haps I was wrong about you. He coughed a little. 'Go on then, shoot me if you dare, little nursemaid.

Verity took careful aim at the psyker, and she was rewarded by the very slightest twitch of dismay on Vaun's smug face. 'Do not profess to know me when you do not. Your arrogance is sickening. How dare you dismiss me, you heartless fiend!' The safety catch flicked off beneath her thumb. 'Any other soul, and perhaps I might have felt distress at taking their life, but you? One look at your face and I am willing to throw away every oath to ethics I have ever sworn!'

The criminal was very still now, watching her care-fully. Then before you do, I would ask you grant me one thing. Tell me what I have done that has earned such enmity.

She gasped. You... You don't even know? Does killing mean so little to you that you dismiss it from your mind with every murder?'

.For the most part, yes. Vaun noted. 'Let me see if I can guess. A father? Or a brother, perhaps?'

'My sister. she snarled. 'Lethe Catena, of the Order of our Martyred Lady, dead by your blade. A sob caught in her chest. You ended her like some com-mon animal!'

'Ah. He nodded. 'Of course. There's a bit of a fam-ily resemblance between you, isn't there?'

His words were enough. 'Die In Terra's name, die. she bellowed, and jerked the trigger of the gun.

'No. said Vaun, and snapped his fingers at her. Before the lasing crystal in the slender pistol could even energise, the psyker caused the molecules of the emitter matrix to superheat and fracture. Verity knew nothing of this until the gun became red-hot and sizzled against the flesh of her hand. By reflex, the Hospitaller threw the weapon away and cried out. Her shriek was drowned by the thrum of coleopter blades as the flyer banked around and dropped towards the terrace. The Hospitaller fell to her knees, clutching her scarred hand to her chest.

'Keep that as a reminder not to test your betters. Vaun's voice was an icy whisper in her ears, pus.h.i.+ng into her thoughts. 'You are a foolish, maudlin child. I killed your sister because I had to, not because I took pleasure in it. She was an obstacle to me, noth-ing more than that. Don't complicate matters by making it personal.'

'Emperor curse you...' sobbed the woman.

The psyker reached up to grab a dangling tether as the coleopter dipped low. The noise of it was deafening, but still she heard his words as clear as day. 'This is not about you, Verity. You have no comprehension of what is hidden on this planet, you or that other wench. Your simple minds, sti-fled by dogma, cannot grasp the notion of anything beyond your experience.

Verity screamed. 'Get out of my headV 'Let me leave you with this. My crimes are legion, of that you may have no doubt, but even in my worst excesses, nothing I have ever done can hold a candle to the sins of Viktor LaHayn. Hate oozed from the mindspeech. 'You have impeded me tonight, but in the end nothing will stop me from paying back tenfold what that wh.o.r.eson owes me. . swear it.'

Vaun's last words struck her like a physical blow, and she doubled over and vomited.

The coleopter fled into the night, leaving the Sister Hospitaller and the comatose governor for the medicae to find when the aeronefs finally arrived.

Dawn brought rain with it from the sea, a cold and lonely downpour that was grey with spent smoke and powdered stone. The smell of black-ened wood was dense in the air.

The eventual arrival of units of Guard and enforcers came too late to save the lives of many a n.o.ble, although by the grace of the Golden Throne there were barely a quarter of the city's highly ranked pastors lying dead as the sun rose. Those who had pa.s.sed away were laid out in the viewing galleries of the central hospice, where their parish-ioners could file in and out and pay respects to the men and women who had led them to the light of the Emperor.

Miriya found visitors clogging entranceways to the upper floors of the building. She was given to understand that many of the sobbing mourners had also lost family members, but in accordance with Nevan church mandates the funeral rites of priests took precedence over those of all other citizens.Noroc was as wounded as her people. The stark light of day showed the places where rockets from the air attack had burnt out apartment warrens and gutted hundreds of chapels. In some places, where broken street cables meant the fire engines could not reach, pits of ruined ferrocrete still smouldered. Miriya had seen the same scene repeated on every street corner as she rode to the hospice. Anguish, blank fear, terror on every face.

The Battle Sister's countenance was set in a frown. Twice now, she had laid Torris Vaun beneath her gunsight and twice he had escaped her. The thought of it made her stomach churn, and in darker moments she caught herself feeling the weight of all the turmoil around her. Had she stopped him back there on the Mercutio, none of this horror would have come to pa.s.s. Her mood dark as the storm sky, Miriya pressed on to find her way to the cubicl where Sister Verity was being attended.

'Of course you understand the deacon's concerns, said Dean Venik, looming over the serf boy minis-tering to the bandage on Verity's forearm. 'I do not mean to imply that is not so, Sister Hospitaller, but nevertheless it is important to ensure a full and cor-rect picture of the witch's intentions.'

'How can I know that?' Verity replied. She found the man to be intimidating, in his arch, unctuous way.

'What did the criminal say to you?' Venik looked her in the eye. 'Did he speak of anything... unto-ward?

Did he take the names of Lord LaHayn or the G.o.d-Emperor in vain?'

'It happened very quickly. He... He used his power...' She held up the livid, inflamed hand, flesh scabbed with new scarring peeking through the white gauze. 'I was unable to prevent his escape.

'A pity.' Venik nodded to himself. 'I imagine you would have liked to take a part in Vaun's downfall, after what transpired with your sibling.

Sister Miriya entered behind the cleric, startling the man. There's still time. She made the sign of the aquila.

'Lord dean. If it pleases you, I would speak to my fellow Sororitas.

'Sister Superior. Venik returned the gesture. 'Of course. I have completed my interview and there are others with whom I must speak, to gather informa-tion for the lord deacon.

'Sir, a moment. said Verity. 'What of Governor Emmel? Does he still live?'

The dean flashed a brief, shallow smile. 'By the G.o.d-Emperor's grace, he does. It is my understand-ing that the governor is being attended by ten of the finest medicae in Noroc.

Ten?' Miriya eyed him. 'Does one man need so many healers, especially on a day such as this?'

'I am not an apothecary, Sister, I cannot answer to that. I know only that he may never fully regain his faculties after such a brutalisation. sniffed Venik.

'Who governs Neva now, then?' asked the Hospi-taller. '( Venik arched an eyebrow. 'His lords.h.i.+p the eccle-siarch, of course. It is only right that in this time of moral outrage the church take the whip hand. He turned to leave. 'Lord LaHayn's first edict in his new capacity was to reinforce the order for Vaun's cap-ture. The witch is to be taken alive.

'Dean, perhaps you might furnish us with solu-tions to another matter. Verity's nervous voice wavered.

There are records within the halls of Noroc's Administratum librarium that might a.s.sist in tracking the fugitive Vaun. With your permission, I should like to examine them...'

Venik gave a cold smile. The enforcers have already performed a thorough check of those docu-ments. All information gleaned will be acted upon.

'Nevertheless...'

'Attend to your recovery, Sister Verity. snapped the dean. 'Don't expend energy on pointless endeav-ours.

He glanced at Miriya. 'I'm sure there are many avenues of investigation to follow in this affair.' With a sniff of finality, he manoeuvred past the other woman and out into the corridor.

The Hospitaller waved away the boy and patted the bandage on her forearm. The youth bowed as low as he could without touching his forehead to the floor and averted his eyes. The Battle Sister in turn dismissed him with a curt gesture and the two women were alone.

'You are unhurt. said Verity. 'And the other Celestians?'

'As well as can be expected. Miriya frowned. 'Canoness Galatea was burned, but she bears the pain with a fort.i.tude typical of her. She paused. 'I come to you to apologise for an error, Sister Verity. I pressed the Canoness to have you remain here on Neva and in doing so exposed you to a threat you should never have faced.