‘So?’ I asked.
‘I’ll reduce it to simple terms,’ Eisenhorn said. ‘Whatever he’s doing, whatever his intent, I know he is not doing it with the authority or approval of the Imperium. He is outside the law as we know it. That means he is operating against the spirit of the Imperium of Mankind, and by extension against the Emperor. On that basis alone, I need to find him and stop him. On that basis alone, he may be considered heretic.’
‘And that’s enough for you?’ I asked.
‘It should be enough for any servant of the Ordos,’ he said.
‘What of the Cognitae?’ I asked. ‘Tell me of them.’
‘They are a secret society,’ said Eisenhorn. ‘A secret order. Vastly clever, vastly knowledgeable, and possibly vastly old. The Cognitae may pre-date the Imperium. It may even run back into Old Terran history, to before the Unification. It may be the oldest institution known to the human species.’
‘But you don’t believe that?’ I asked.
He scratched the side of his neck.
‘I think it’s more likely to be a repeated re-use and repurposing of an old name. There may have been something called the Cognitae once, way back before the Unification. In the ten thousand years since then, other groups and orders have discovered the name, claimed it for their own ends, and pretended to carry the flame. I think the Cognitae has been thousands of different cults down the years, sometimes even cults at war with each other. I don’t doubt that if you made a search, you’d find dozens of fraternities throughout human space who claim to be the true Cognitae. It’s not likely that one secret body could have endured so long.’
‘The Imperium has,’ I said.
‘Rather different,’ he said. ‘If nothing else, because it is driven by the undying will of the Emperor. There is nothing to give the Cognitae such continuity.’
He looked at me.
‘In simple terms,’ he said, ‘the Cognitae today is best thought of as a kind of counter-Inquisition, a shadow version. Their operations, actions and goals are very similar to ours, except they do not operate in the Emperor’s name.’
‘So they are another shadow-twin, like the City of Dust. A hidden and opposing half?’ I asked.
‘Yes.’
‘And like me too, I suppose,’ I said. ‘A covert version of something – someone – else?’
‘I suppose so,’ he admitted.
‘I want to help you,’ I said. ‘I think I can get you close to the King. If I am what you say I am, then I am a valuable instrument. He will want me returned for his use. He invested time in making me, after all. I think you should let me be what he wants me to be. Then I can lead you to him.’
He nodded.
‘That is a sound suggestion,’ he said.
‘A dangerous one,’ warned Medea. I loved her for the concern she could not help but show.
‘Yes, but sound,’ countered Eisenhorn. ‘As a long-term plan, that is valid and we–’
I stopped him.
‘I appreciate what you were saying last night about patience and long-term strategy, but we have an opportunity that we must seize before it vanishes. It may already be too late.’
Medea got up and came over to listen. Eisenhorn signalled for me to go on.
‘I know we must not rush into things,’ I said, ‘and I know you prize the long game, but I have a chance to reconnect to the Cognitae of the Maze Undue and be returned to the fold. Another week, another few days even, and that chance will go. I need to move quickly to keep the door open.’
‘I don’t like it,’ said Medea.
‘Neither do I,’ said Eisenhorn. ‘But let’s hear her out.’
It was agreed. At the end of the day, Eisenhorn would allow the Curst to escort me to the rendezvous.
‘Can we not force the location out of him?’ asked Nayl, who struck me as a man who always thought it best to force whatever was needed out of things.
‘No,’ I said. ‘Think of it as a function, Mr Nayl. The Cognitae sent Lightburn to recover me. They will expect to see him if I come back to them. He has become part of my role.’
‘But can we trust him?’ asked Nayl.
‘I trust him,’ I said. ‘He has taken this duty upon himself out of some sense of penitence, and he has never failed to come back for me. He is quite dogged, and he has faced much that would have caused a lesser man to desert his duty.’
Nayl shrugged.
‘He exhibits a fortitude and a devotion that I find impressive,’ said Eisenhorn.
That it seemed, was enough for Nayl and Medea.
‘Do you know what he did to become Curst, this Lightburn?’ asked Nayl.
‘He has never told me,’ I replied. ‘He has never told anyone, I think.’
Nayl took me to the Bifrost armoury, a reinforced room on the tenth floor that I think had once been a gymnasium. There was an impressive array of blade, las and hard round ordnance stacked in boxes, crates, cases and cartons, or wrapped in oil cloth.
He found me a good laslock pistol, and a rugged little snub auto to use as a hold out. Both were in very good order, but old and apparently battered enough for it to be credible I had obtained them on the street.
‘Do you have a blade?’ I asked.
‘I have this,’ I said, producing the silver pin.
He took it from me and looked at it for a long time.
‘This belonged to Kys,’ he said. ‘It was one of her kine blades.’
‘You knew her?’
He nodded.
‘Medea said you… killed her,’ he said, without looking up at me. There was a slight break in his voice.
‘It was self-defence,’ I said. ‘She attacked the Maze Undue. She attacked me. I thought she was an assassin sent by the Cognitae. It was self-defence. I said that, didn’t I? I’m sorry. How did you know her?’
He tapped the bent silver pin against his open palm.
‘We served together, under Talon,’ he said quietly. ‘Talon was Eisenhorn’s interrogator, in the very early days. Talon and I were members of the warband in one of its first iterations. Then Talon was promoted to full rank, and established a warband of his own. I joined it. Eisenhorn had retreated into semi-retirement at that period. Kys and me, we served together for a long time. Saved each other’s lives more than once.’
I felt suddenly and terribly ashamed of my deeds.
‘I’m sorry, Nayl,’ I said.
He shook his head.
‘Death comes. Death walks with you,’ he said. ‘You can’t ever know when it will tap you on the shoulder. Kys was always fierce, always rash. That’s what I loved about her.’
‘Were you–?’
‘Me and Patience? Throne, no,’ he said. ‘I’d have had a better chance with Kara.’
‘Who?’
‘Doesn’t matter. The point is, fierce was Patience Kys’s thing. She knew the score. She made her choice. You weren’t to know. I’m actually a little impressed you out-did her.’
He looked at me.
‘She was actually a lot like you, you know, Beta,’ he said. ‘An orphan, raised in a cruel parody of an orphans’ school to become something she was not. She finally broke out and ended up serving the Holy Ordos. She would have felt a bond with you.’
He handed the pin back to me.
‘Keep it,’ he said. ‘I’ll find you a proper blade too. Keep that thing to remind you how tough it is to come from what you’ve come from.’
I put the silver pin back in my pocket. He started to sort through a collection of daggers and fighting knives.
‘Why did you rejoin Eisenhorn’s crew if you had served with this Talon?’ I asked.
‘There was a big operation,’ he said. ‘This would be back in, what, 404? Talon moved against a heretic called Molotch. Funny thing, this Molotch was the product of a Cognitae breeding programme. Anyway, it ended up on Gudrun. A place called Elmingard, in the Kell Mountains. It isn’t there any more.’
‘Elmingard or the Kell Mountains?
’ I ask, amused.
‘Neither,’ he said. ‘Talon stopped Molotch, but there was major collateral. Talon had to play fast and loose for a while to get close to the bastard. He’d almost gone rogue. What with that and the mess left afterwards, Talon went to trial for misconduct. Palace of the Inquisition, the whole thing. They couldn’t properly condemn him, because he’d saved half the damn subsector, but they retired him from active service, just to make sure no other mavericks got funny ideas. So, the band broke up. I went freelance for a while, a long while. Then I heard Eisenhorn was recruiting again. Eisenhorn’s always been a fringe player, you see. He’s not well liked by the higher-ups. Bit of a loner. So he can’t call on serious resources any more. Just old friends. He got Medea too. He knew we couldn’t say no. This was about 450. He was already chasing the Yellow King by then.’
‘That was over fifty years ago,’ I said, surprised.
He handed me a twin-edged glevil to try for weight.
‘Then I’ve been in the ground for fifty years,’ he said. ‘I staged my death around that time so I could rejoin his crew and not bring my past with me. A few years after that, Medea “disappeared” too. Left her family business on Glavia and rejoined the old firm. I guess we’ll be with him to the actual death now.’
‘He said there were two other members of the team,’ I said.
‘There are,’ he said. ‘You’ll meet them. They’re specialists.’
‘Why is Talon active again if he retired to desk duties all those years ago?’ I asked.
Nayl shrugged, and handed me a hand-long ferichute to try instead.
‘I guess he got bored writing books,’ he said.
I didn’t understand.
He made a ‘never mind’ gesture.
‘I imagine the real reason is that he’s on to the King too. Talon’s got a hell of a mind. A hell of a mind. Smartest man I ever met, all due respect to the old boy. He’s on to the King and he thinks it’s important. That’s what’s got him a pass back into the field. That’s why he’s moving with so much haste and fury.’
He balanced an inlaid severaka in his hand, and flipped it a couple of times.
‘The King must be a serious thing,’ he said. ‘Eisenhorn thinks so. Talon thinks so. The Inquisition thinks so, because they’ve let Talon off the leash to get him, and they know that the last time they did that it kind of left a big dent in Gudrun.’
He handed me the severaka.
‘This’ll do you,’ he said.
‘Good choice,’ I said.
The battered, peeling door of the old gymnasium opened, and Medea came in.
‘You’re taking ages,’ she said.
‘What can I say?’ said Nayl. ‘The girl’s picky, like her mother.’
‘You all knew her, didn’t you?’ I asked.
‘Why do you think we have taken so much effort with you?’ asked Medea.
‘We knew her, loved her, mourned her,’ said Nayl.
‘What happened to her?’ I asked.
‘She got hurt,’ said Nayl. ‘Brain dead. It was bad. We put her in stasis, in the hope that one day…’
‘And?’
‘The stasis tube holding her was kept aboard a ship,’ said Medea. ‘The ship went missing, lost, during a routine jump, about 460.’
‘461,’ said Nayl.
‘I guess someone must have found it after all,’ said Medea.
‘Do you have any picts of her?’ I asked.
‘Not any more,’ said Medea. ‘It was a long time ago.’
‘The boss might have some,’ Nayl said.
‘I wouldn’t ask him,’ said Medea to me. ‘In time, he’ll show you if he feels he can. It’s a sensitive issue.’
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘He loved her,’ said Nayl. ‘As much as he can love anyone. Losing her would have broken his heart… if he’d ever had one.’
‘If you want to know what she looked like,’ said Medea with a smile, ‘go look in a mirror.’
It was getting late in the day. We said an unsentimental goodbye. I had memorised contact codes. Carrying an actual vox seemed counter to the spirit of my role. It would raise questions.
‘My specialists will shadow you,’ said Eisenhorn.
I nodded.
‘I still haven’t met them,’ I said.
‘Probably better for your cover if you haven’t,’ said Eisenhorn.
‘We will wait for you to break silence,’ he added.
‘But try not to make us fret,’ said Medea. She hugged me.
‘Look after Lucrea while I’m gone,’ I said.
She nodded.
Lightburn and I left by one of the upper hatches, and made off across the jumbled landscape of the Talltown roofs as the sun began to set.
CHAPTER 39
The burdener’s tale
‘Will you tell me where we’re going?’ I asked Lightburn.
‘If I haven’t so far, I won’t hardly do it now, will I?’ he replied.
‘You take your burden very seriously, Curst,’ I said.
Lightburn nodded.
‘I cannot shrive away my burden of sins if I take things on that I do not do precisely as they have been asked for. That’s just sloppy. The lady, she told me not to tell anyone her place, but to bring you to her. My burden won’t ease if I can’t do things correct.’
We were heading east, towards Feygate. It was a close evening, but there was a threat of rain. The sky was still stained from the fire at the basilica. We left the rooftops level by level, following slopes and wall-tops, pipes and embankments, and by the time the huge grey shape of Feygate loomed ahead of us, we were at street level, cutting through the alleys and sub-habs of an area called the Salleys. It was not busy. We were walking comfortably, but on our guard for knife gangs and street chancers.
‘What was your sin, Renner?’ I asked.
He did not reply.
‘Will you not tell me?’
‘I worked the temple,’ he said quietly. ‘The basilica, like you guessed. I was a temple guard. A warden. I was a dutiful man. I served at the blessing of the Golden Throne.’
He fell silent. I did not press him. We walked on through the dingy lanes and hab courts. I waited for him to resume.
‘One night, this person come to the temple,’ he said. ‘I was on duty. This person, she wanted sanctuary. There was a mob chasing of her. Hunting her.’
‘It was a she? A girl?’
He nodded.
‘Young thing, she was. Frightened. I thought she might be a harlot or a happy-girl who had offended some customer or caused some scandal. I thought the mob was pompous-minded arses, chasing her down to beat her and thrash her. But she was not.’
‘No?’
He shook his head.
‘She was psykana,’ he said. ‘She’d never been picked up or tested. Just grew up not knowing. That week, her power had come out. Her age, I suppose. Just the age she was, making her grow into it. Anyway, her psychomagic was manifesting, scaring her, scaring her family and neighbours. She had run. They had hunted her.’
He looked at me.
‘She was so scared, Beta. So very scared. Scared of the mob, scared of what would happen, scared of herself. She only wanted someone to help her. So I gave her sanctuary. I let her into the crypts and gave her sanctuary there.’
He fell silent.
‘What happened?’ I asked.
He sighed.
‘The confessors found us. I was kicked out, banished. I was made a sinner, and cursed to be a burdener.’
‘And her?’
‘I think they burned her the next holy day.’
We walked on, through gathering shadows, through the dark places of the city.
‘Is that why you are helping me, Renner?’ I asked.
‘Is what why?’
‘I am a pariah too. Are you helping me so diligently because you couldn’t help her?’
He snorted.
‘Rubbish!’ he declared. He laughed as
though the very notion was riotously funny.
‘You’re just my burden, you are,’ he said. ‘And soon the weight of you will be off me.’
We went deeper into the Salleys, moving north towards the Undergate district. The amber light from the smelteries on Emberyard lit the night sky. A couple of times, purse gangs had tailed us, but lost interest when they saw the imposing mass of Lightburn.
He caught my arm and stopped.
‘You hear that?’ he asked.
‘What?’
‘You feel that?’
‘Just the wind,’ I said. ‘It’s getting up. Rain is coming.’
‘I’m not so sure,’ he said. ‘For a few streets now, I’ve had the feeling we’re being followed.’
‘Yes, the yard gangs,’ I said.
‘No, not the yard gangs and chancers,’ he replied. ‘I know what it feels like to be tailed by them. Something else.’
‘I didn’t feel anything,’ I said.
It started to rain suddenly. The drops fell fast and heavy. Then it became a really fierce downpour. The water frothing in the gutters was black with street muck. Thunder rolled.
We ran for shelter in the mouldering arch of an old building. We stood, peering out into the curtain of rain.
‘I hope this lets up, or we’ll be soaked,’ he said.
I nodded. I wondered how much further we had to go.
‘Holy Throne,’ he murmured, very quietly. ‘Beta, look.’
I looked. A handful of tiny, bright objects were floating down the rainwater brook that had formed in the street gutter beyond the arch, bouncing and swirling on their way to the culvert.
They were pink rose petals.
‘Oh no,’ I said.
We turned to run.
A gleaming smile hung in the rain behind us.
CHAPTER 40
Eusebe
Teke the Smiling One stepped out of the darkness so we could see him. The rain streamed off his pink and black armour. His two gold ribbons fluttered from his hip.
‘I have been looking for you,’ he said. He held up Shadrake’s sighting glass like a lorgnette. It had a crack in it where I had dropped it. ‘I have been looking for you for a while. You left me at Feverfugue. You hurt me with that word. I had to fight those animals. Fight them. They cut me. I hurt them back.’