by Warhammer
He gestured with his arm, summoning a passing palanquin. The litter’s curtains were open, showing it was for hire. The two burly bearers approached him deferentially. Felix was startled for a moment. Normally two such bravoes would have cursed him or exchanged coarse jibes, but now they were all attentive respect. Of course, he realised, it was the clothes. They saw him as a rich noble and a potentially lucrative fare. It was an impression which was in no way diminished when he said: ‘The palace, and swiftly.’
He clambered into the plushly upholstered seat and the bearers set off at a fast striding pace. Felix pulled open the curtains at the back of the palanquin, checking to see if he was being followed once more. Was it just his imagination or had someone just ducked back into the mouth of that alley?
The way to the palace was steep and winding. The townhouses of the nobility arrayed themselves around the highest hill in the city. From where Felix sat he could see a fine view of the roofs of the merchants below, and the great curve of the River Reik. He could see the spires of the temples and the great building site where workmen laboured to rebuild the College of Engineering.
Horses’ hooves clattered on the cobbled streets. Coaches swept past. Servants in the liveries of a dozen famous families swarmed everywhere, carrying messages, leading beasts, holding great satchels full of provisions. The lowest of them were better dressed than some of the city’s merchants, and the highest ranking wore uniforms scarcely less ornate than a mercenary captain’s. Everyone looked cleaner and better fed than the commoners down below.
Here and there nobles garbed in splendid raiment walked with their retainers and bodyguards, the crowd parting as if under the influence of some mysterious force before them. Felix studied their haughtiness, thinking that he recognised a few of the younger ones who played at being poor in the Blind Pig of an evening. He doubted that any of them would recognise him now.
Ahead of them loomed the walls of the palace. It dwarfed the stately townhouses around it. Even now, with its walls replastered and ornate statuary lining the approach, it looked far more like a fortress than a palace. The great arch of the gateway was huge, and the heavy oaken gates were shod with bronze and looked like they could resist a hundred battering rams. Sentries barred the entrance and scrutinised all who attempted to pass. Some were recognised immediately and allowed to go in unhindered. Others were stopped and challenged, and Felix guessed he would be in the latter category.
He tapped on the canopy of the palanquin to indicate that they should stop, paid the footmen the two silver shillings and added another shilling for a tip, then watched them depart. He patted his tunic to make sure his summons was still there, then strode as confidently as he could manage in the direction of the gate.
When one of the guards asked him his business, he showed them the letter and the seal and was surprised when a tall, lean man garbed all in black emerged from within the gatehouse. He looked at Felix with cold, grey eyes.
‘Herr Jaeger,’ he said in a calm, emotionless voice. ‘If you would be so good as to accompany me? I will explain the nature of this business on the way.’
Filled with sudden trepidation, Felix fell into step beside him. He could not help but notice that two armed guards dogged their steps. They moved down long corridors, passed through a series of galleries and an enormous ballroom, before going down some steps into the dungeons below. Somewhere in the distance, the evening bell tolled.
Felix studied the office warily. It was large and sumptuously furnished, not at all what he had expected. He had expected a torture chamber or a cell, but not this. Nevertheless, the two men-at-arms had followed them in and positioned themselves against the far wall where they stood, immobile. As Felix watched, a lamplighter in the livery of the palace entered, carrying a small ladder. Another bearing only a lit taper clambered up the ladder and lit the candles set in the massive chandelier. Its light dimmed the rays of the setting sun that filtered in through the narrow window.
The tall man gestured to the massive leather armchair which sat in front of his equally enormous desk. ‘Please, Herr Jaeger, be seated.’
Felix allowed himself to sink into the chair. The tall man wandered over to the window and stared out for a moment, before pulling the heavy brocade drapes closed. He considered the window as if he were looking at it for the first time. It was narrow, obviously designed as an arrow slit.
‘This place was a fortress before it was a palace,’ he said.
His words hung in the air. Felix turned them over, wondering if there was some hidden meaning. He did not respond but waited for the man to continue, to amplify his statement if he was going to. The man considered this and smiled for the first time. His teeth were a brilliant white and made even his pale skin look sallow.
‘Forgive me, Herr Jaeger; you are not quite what I expected.’
‘And what did you expect, Herr…?’
The man bowed as one would to an opponent who had just scored a point in a fencing match. ‘Forgive me, once more. It has been a long and harrowing day and I quite forget my manners. I am Heironymous Ostwald. I am the personal secretary to Her Serenity.’
Felix was not sure whether he should rise and bow back. He was not given the chance. Ostwald moved swiftly behind his desk and sat down. Felix noticed that even in that comfortable chair he sat with his back straight, like someone used to the iron discipline of a soldier.
‘In answer to your question, from the description I had of you, I expected someone less… polished than yourself. Serves me right, I suppose.’ He opened a small leather book in front of him. ‘You are a member of the Jaeger family, I see. Good. Very good.’
‘Why am I here?’
‘Dieter! Johan! You may wait outside.’ Ostwald gestured to the men-at-arms. They opened the door and quietly and discreetly vacated the room. Once they had gone, Ostwald steepled his fingers and started again.
‘Tell me, Herr Jaeger, are you familiar with the skaven?’
Felix felt like his heart was about to stop. His mouth felt suddenly dry. He considered his words very carefully indeed. ‘I know of them. I am not personally acquainted with any.’
Ostwald laughed again. It was a cold, mechanical laugh and there was no humour in it. ‘Very good. I had understood that this was not the case.’
‘What are you getting at?’ Felix’s nervousness made him sound snappish. He did not know the way this conversation was going but he could imagine several possible outcomes, none of them pleasant.
‘Merely that you have served in the sewer watch and you claimed to your superiors there that you had encountered them. Is that not the case?’
‘You know it is.’
‘Yes. I do.’ Again Ostwald smiled. ‘You do not seem to me like a typical sewerjack, Herr Jaeger. The sons of rich merchants rarely leap at the chance to hunt goblins in our sewers.’
Felix was getting used to this now. He was not as surprised as he might have been by the unexpected nature of the statement. He could see that this was all part of Ostwald’s technique. He liked to keep the people he was dealing with off-balance. It was like getting the measure of your opponent in a duel. Felix smiled back at him.
‘I am the black sheep of my family.’
‘Indeed. How interesting. You must explain to me how that came about some time.’
‘I suspect you already know.’
‘Perhaps. Perhaps. Let us return to the skaven, Herr Jaeger. How many times have you encountered them?’
‘On several occasions.’
‘How many precisely?’
Felix counted the number of times he was prepared to admit to. There was the encounter in the sewer. There was the attack on the Blind Pig. There was his fight in the Gardens of Morr. He decided that under the circumstances it might be undiplomatic to mention his meeting with the rat-ogre in von Halstadt’s house and his battle with the warlocks of Skryre in the College of Engineering.
‘Three.’
Ostwald consulted his book again. An
other piece of the puzzle fitted into place, Felix thought to himself. He doesn’t really know anything. He’s just fishing. His style is to intimidate people and then see what they let slip. Of course, thought Felix, this knowledge will do you no good, if he orders you taken down into the dungeons and tortured. He decided to try a few questions himself.
‘On whose authority are you doing this?’ he asked.
‘The Elector Countess Emmanuelle’s,’ Ostwald said with absolute certainty. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘I am just trying to work out what is going on here.’
Ostwald gave him a long cold chilling smile. ‘I can explain that to you quite easily, Herr Jaeger. What do you know of Fritz von Halstadt?’
Once again, Felix felt his heart leap into his mouth. He fought to keep his guilt and his surprise off his face. A slight amused flicker in Ostwald’s eyes told him that the man had noticed something.
‘It’s a familiar name,’ he said. ‘I think I saw him once at my brother’s club.’
‘Very good, Herr Jaeger. Allow me to share something with you – on the understanding on your word as a gentleman, that nothing I tell you goes beyond the confines of this room.’
The tone in which the words were said told Felix that Ostwald was not simply counting on his word as a gentleman. Felix did not doubt that there would be serious and violent reprisals if he betrayed the man’s confidence.
‘Please go ahead. You have my word I will tell no one.’
‘Fritz von Halstadt was murdered.’
Felix thought he was going to be struck down on the spot. He felt sure that his guilt was written all over his face and that Ostwald was going to summon the guard to have him thrown into the dungeon.
‘By the skaven.’
Felix let out a long, rushing sigh of relief.
‘I can see you are appalled, Herr Jaeger.’
‘Am I?’ Felix collected his scattered wits. ‘I mean – aren’t I just?’
‘Yes. It’s a terrifying thought, isn’t it? I will tell you something else. Fritz von Halstadt was no ordinary servant of the crown. He was the chief of Her Serenity’s secret police. We think he must have discovered some skaven plot and been murdered because of it.’
If you’d used the word ‘joined’ instead of ‘discovered’, I would have to agree with you, Felix thought. What he said instead was: ‘What makes you think this?’
‘In the burned-out remains of his home we found the skeleton of a creature that was not human. We suspect that it was some monster conjured by the skaven to assassinate Von Halstadt. He must have fought with it and killed it, then died of his wounds. The house was probably set on fire during their struggle.’
‘Go on.’
‘Interestingly enough, soon after that there was an attempt on your life. As far as I know, you and your associate, the dwarf Gurnisson, were the only people who had then claimed to have seen the skaven. Perhaps this was an effort to cover their tracks.’
‘I think I see what you mean.’
‘There are other things you may not know, Herr Jaeger, and I tell you them now only so you will realise the seriousness of the situation. You may have heard that there was a fire at the College of Engineering?’
‘Yes.’
‘What you may not be aware of is that the fire was the work of the skaven too. I assure you, Herr Jaeger, this is nothing to smile about. The gods were against those rat-man devils in one way. There seems to have been some sort of accident, for we found many skaven corpses at the scene.’
‘Why have I not heard more of this?’ Felix said.
‘You would have, except that Her Serenity deemed it wise to avoid a panic, and panic there would surely be if the common herd were to find out that our city is under siege by the skaven!’
Felix was astonished. After many fruitless attempts by himself to get someone to take the skaven threat seriously, someone was now trying to convince him of it! He did not know whether to laugh or be angry. He decided to play the part allotted to him, for on consideration he realised that showing more knowledge than Ostwald believed him to have could easily prove dangerous.
‘I am not joking, Herr Jaeger. Since you and Gurnisson reported the presence of skaven war parties in the sewers, there have been other sightings, skirmishes even. And bands of the rat-men have even raided our docks by night, stealing food and even a grain barge. I tell you, we are under siege.’
‘Siege? Isn’t that a little strong? Where are the armies, the war engines, the chittering hordes?’
‘They are strong words, Herr Jaeger, and in truth the situation calls for them. The chief of secret police assassinated. Citizens assaulted. A great Imperial armoury destroyed – and now the threat of plague!’
‘I–’
‘Now, Herr Jaeger. I know you take this seriously. I know you have some knowledge of this. We have a mutual acquaintance and he has told me all about your actions in this matter.’
‘Mutual acquaintance?’
Ostwald produced a pomander similar to the one that hung about Felix’s neck. He held it beneath his nose and breathed deeply from it before setting it down upon the desk.
‘I refer, of course, to Herr Doctor Drexler. He has told me about your visit to the Gardens of Morr and what you found there. He treated your henchman, after all.’
‘How do you know Doctor Drexler?’ Felix asked to buy some time. He fervently hoped Ostwald never referred to Gotrek as his henchman within the Slayer’s hearing.
‘As a patient and as a friend. He is the physician to many noble families.’
‘But–’
‘I see that you are aware of another and deeper connection. I suspected a man of your resources might.’
Felix had being going to ask ‘But why did Drexler tell you all this?’ but he decided to keep his mouth shut and see what coldly clever explanation this cold and clever man came up with.
‘I tell you this only because the situation is truly desperate, Herr Jaeger, and we badly need your help.’
Things must be desperate indeed, thought Felix, if you need my help. Particularly when I haven’t a clue about what you’re talking about.
‘Drexler and I are both initiates of the Order of the Hammer.’ As he said this, he made a peculiar variation of the sign of the hammer over his heart, reversing the normal order, of left, right, centre, down. ‘You have heard of us?’
‘Some sort of Sigmarite secret society,’ Felix guessed. It was not a difficult guess to make. The hammer was the sign of the Imperial Cult, and there were many strange hidden societies with their own signs and passwords.
‘That is correct. An order of dedicated men sworn to protect our ancient civilisation from the threat of Chaos. We share many goals and much ancient knowledge. He tells me that Aldred himself chose you as his successor.’
‘Successor?’ Felix was bewildered.
‘You bear his blade, Herr Jaeger. You knew the man.’
‘Mmm…’
‘I know Herr Aldred was a member of several secret orders as well as the one to which he nominally belonged. He was a devout and fearless man, Herr Jaeger. Much like yourself he dedicated himself to fighting the forces of Chaos wherever he found them.’
‘I do not belong to his order.’
‘I can understand that you would deny this, Herr Jaeger. Herr Aldred belonged to many orders with even stricter vows of secrecy than our own. I will not press you on this.’
Just as well, Felix thought wryly, otherwise you’d find out exactly the depth of my ignorance.
Ostwald paused for a moment and then spoke as if trying to change the subject: ‘Drexler tells me that you possess a great deal of knowledge yourself.’
‘I possess only a little.’
‘It may be that the little you know is actually a great deal, Herr Jaeger. Tell me about this strange skaven who writes you the letters of warning. How did you meet it?’
So, Felix thought, this is where all this talk of secret societies and grave threats is l
eading. It is an attempt to get this information.
He realised that Drexler must have reported their entire conversation to Ostwald, so he saw no sense in hiding anything about the letter.
‘I have never met it,’ Felix said honestly. ‘In truth I have no idea why it has selected me to communicate with. Perhaps it hasn’t. Perhaps it has chosen Gotrek.’
‘That seems unlikely, Herr Jaeger, given the dwarf’s avocation. No, I am convinced that you are the chosen one. Why?’
‘Perhaps because I can read.’
‘You can read skaven runes?’
‘No, but I can read Imperial script.’
‘So the letter was written in Imperial script?’ Ostwald looked astonished.
‘Of course. How else could I read it?’
‘You have these letters on you?’
‘No, they vanished in a puff of smoke five heartbeats after I read them,’ Felix said ironically. He was going to add that he did not normally carry the letters on his person but Ostwald interrupted him.
‘Powerful sorcery indeed! Herr Jaeger, you must understand something. I have taken over Fritz von Halstadt’s duties. The security of this great state of Nuln lies in my hands. Should this skaven contact you again, well, you must inform me at once.’
‘Nothing would please me more,’ Felix said sincerely.
‘No, please take me seriously, Herr Jaeger. I sense that you know more than you are currently willing to tell me. That is fair. We must all have our little secrets. But I must insist that you let me know. I want no more midnight forays into the graveyards. I know you are a brave and resourceful man, but these things are best dealt with by the authorities.’
‘I agree completely.’
‘Good, Herr Jaeger. Do not attempt to deceive me in this. My reach is long.’
‘I would not dream of it. You have my word.’
‘Good. Then you are free to go. Just remember–’