by William King
‘That remains to be seen,’ said Mikhail.
‘What do you want from me?’
‘Macharius has plans to defeat Richter,’ Mikhail said.
‘He does not tell them to me.’
‘If you hear anything you will let us know.’
‘I won’t hear anything.’
‘Don’t be so certain.’
‘If it happens, you’ll know,’ I said, ‘but don’t get your hopes up.’
‘If there’s anything else that seems relevant let us know.’
‘What do you deem relevant?’
‘Any plans Macharius might have, where he might go, who he might talk to.’
‘He’s not doing a lot of any of those things right now. He spends most of his time in his chambers studying maps of Loki.’
‘There now,’ said Mikhail. ‘That was not so difficult. That is information worth knowing and for which you will be rewarded.’
Again there was a hint of a sneer in his manner. Again Konstantin stepped in, ever the conciliator. ‘Anything might be relevant, Leo. We need to know Macharius’s intentions and anything you might know about the people around him. What do you know about the Space Wolf presence on Acheron?’
‘I did not know there was one.’
They both looked at me as if they did not quite believe that. I shrugged and said, ‘The Space Wolves have left. There was a farewell feast. I was a cupbearer at it.’
‘So we heard. It’s one reason you are of interest to us.’ I considered that. Perhaps they did not intend to just kill me once they were finished with me. I could see how they might think that. I had enjoyed the favour of the leader of one of the most powerful and noble forces in the Imperium. They might think me a useful person to have around in case of any future dealings. I told myself not to get my hopes up. The Space Wolves were a long way away and likely to remain so.
‘So you don’t know anything about a small Fenrisian vessel in orbit over Acheron?’
‘It’s news to me,’ I said. ‘Whether it’s news to Macharius or Drake I do not know.’
I could see another reason for them to worry. If the Space Wolves were supposed to have left and one of their ships was still in orbit, who knew what that might represent. Any Imperial commander would be wary of offending the Adeptus Astartes. Perhaps they thought Macharius had cut some sort of secret deal with Grimfang. Hell, perhaps he had. My ignorance was very far from being entirely feigned. As a bodyguard you get to hear far more of what is going on in the Imperial headquarters than any normal soldier, but this does not mean you are privy to all of its secrets.
‘If you hear or see anything, let us know.’
‘How am I supposed to do that?’
‘Leave a message at the tavern for Krimov. He will set up a meeting.’
‘Very well. Is that all?’
‘No,’ said Konstantin. ‘We may as well enjoy what we ostensibly came here for.’
He pulled a long cord. The drapes swished open. Three women came in.
‘It’s getting worse,’ said Drake. He rose from the table, strode around the command chamber and studied the great map of the city. All of the armed camps and their commanders were marked on it.
Macharius sat hunched on his commander’s throne. He looked tense, not at all like the relaxed, effortlessly calm leader he had always been. He hunched forward, crooked his hands and then stood up himself. ‘What did you expect?’ he said.
‘It is a problem,’ the inquisitor said. ‘A real problem. There has been a six hundred per cent rise in disciplinary offences. Seventeen officers have been killed in duels. One has lost an eye. Three have lost limbs. Seven hundred and fifty-two enlisted men have been injured in brawls, one hundred and seven of them fatally.’
‘Those are not bad numbers for an encampment this size,’ said Lazlo, one of Macharius’s staff officers.
‘That was yesterday,’ said Drake. ‘Normally we would not see such a rate in a month.’
Lazlo looked as if he wanted to protest but did not dare. The inquisitor turned his attention back to Macharius. ‘It’s all part of the same thing.’
‘I know,’ Macharius said. He sounded distant, as if his mind were still elsewhere, dreaming up schemes to defeat Richter. It was the first time I could ever recall seeing him like this.
‘Surely the officers and commissars can bring this under control,’ said Lazlo.
‘They are part of the problem. The crusade is losing all cohesion. Our officers fight duels. Our commissars punish petty infractions of discipline and yet allow the rot to spread unopposed. It starts at the very top. The High Command is too busy jockeying for position to concentrate on any other problem. Their juniors are lax from want of supervision and communicate the ambitions and prejudices of their superiors to the troops. Followers of General Tarka and General Crassus turned their weapons on each other in the streets yesterday. They did not stop until their commissars shot sixty men for disobedience of orders. Even then three commissars were killed.’
Macharius looked at Drake. ‘We all know there is a problem,’ he said sardonically. ‘The question is, what are we going to do about it?’
‘No,’ said Drake. ‘The question is, what are you going to do about it? You are our leader.’
Macharius appeared to consider this. ‘We have come too far,’ he said. ‘Our most experienced troops are old and tired. Our new recruits are untested and lack the zeal our veterans once had. Their officers are disillusioned by the venality of their superiors. It’s no wonder things are falling apart.’
‘Again, what are you going to do about it?’
‘I will speak directly to the troops. I will explain our plans. I will rally them back to the cause of the crusade.’
‘It will take more than words,’ said Drake.
‘Then I will give them more than words. I will lead them forward to crush Richter and his lackeys and after that we shall gather even these Halo Worlds into the Imperium’s embrace.’
I wondered at that. I wondered at how distant he now seemed from reality. He made it sound so simple. He would do this and the result would inevitably follow. It was the way he had always spoken and I had always believed him. Maybe the change was in me. Maybe I no longer had the faith I once did. Or maybe the magic of Macharius’s charisma had become stretched too thin over too long a time. Maybe it had always been a trick and only recently had I been able to see through it.
I pushed my doubts down into the dark cellars of my mind, but they kept trying to rise up again.
Twenty
‘You say he has a plan?’ Konstantin asked. We were once again in the Red Lantern, seemingly met by chance, and in a private room. This time hookahs full of dream smoke had been produced to give a cover story for the lack of girls being summoned. Mikhail got them lit and even sucked away at the mouthpiece for a bit. I shook my head when offered one and stuck with the vodka.
‘So he says,’ I said.
‘And what would that plan be?’ Mikhail spoke now, ever the gadfly, ever mocking, ever seeking to provoke a response.
‘He declined to tell me,’ I said. ‘I could ask if you like. I’ll tell him you are interested and would really like to know.’
‘I am sure Leo is doing his best,’ Konstantin said. I noted the fact that I was Leo now. We were old friends, Konstantin and I. At least that was the implication. And Konstantin was on my side, or so he would have me believe.
‘Does Leo have even the faintest idea what the plan might be?’ Mikhail seemed to be mocking Konstantin now. I wondered if there was real needling there or whether it was just a very good act. It might have been a little of both.
‘No, but he seems convinced it will work. He plans to address the troops in three days. Perhaps all will be revealed then.’
‘That gives us three days,’ said Konstantin, dropping out of character.
‘And you didn’t see fit to mention this first,’ Mikhail said. He was glaring at me.
‘I was going to, but
I thought I would enjoy a few more of your sneers first,’ I said. ‘They are always entertaining.’
‘Where will this address be given?’
‘In the Grand Plaza.’
The two of them exchanged looks. ‘He might be able to rally the troops to his side.’
I saw it then in the dismay their glances contained, and heard it in the awed quiet in their voices. They still feared Macharius. They still thought he had it in him to rally even the loyal followers of the conspiring generals to his side, if only he could speak to them. Having heard Macharius on numerous occasions I could understand their fears.
‘We’d best get word back to the general,’ said Konstantin. ‘He’ll want to do something about this.’
He turned and stared at me, all pretence of us being old friends and comrades gone. ‘Hold yourself ready. We’ll be in touch. This is where you earn your baubles.’
There was the same obvious undercurrent of contempt in his voice that Mikhail usually showed. I kept my face bland. I was about to find out exactly why they were hiring me.
‘They said the general,’ Drake said. His face was a mask but I had known him long enough to detect the unmistakable tone of interest in his voice.
I nodded. ‘A small slip,’ he said, ‘but perhaps an important one.’
‘They think that if Macharius has a chance to address the troops, he might be able to rally the crusade.’
‘They said that or is that what you think?’
‘It’s what I think, but I was there and you were not.’
Drake tilted his head to one side and studied me, an owl contemplating a particularly tasty-looking mouse. His mask remained in place, though. ‘I will trust your judgement on this.’
‘They might be right to fear it,’ I said.
Drake shrugged. ‘Once, perhaps. Now… I do not know.’ His shoulders had slumped and just for a moment I thought I caught a glimpse of a tired and desperate man. I wondered then at how old Drake really was. He did not look any older than me, but he too had access to juvenat.
‘They told me to stand ready, that they would be in touch. If they are going to ask me to betray Macharius, it will be now.’
‘They will not ask you,’ said Drake. ‘They will order you. They think you are in too deep to back out.’
I felt a faint twinge of unease. ‘You think they will ask me to kill him.’
‘No. They cannot trust you enough for that or know whether you will do it. You will be involved and implicated,’ Drake said.
It came to me then that only he would know I was not. I could be executed as a traitor and no one would ever know differently unless he said something.
‘They might try to assassinate him while he speaks to the army.’
‘In full view of all the troops. That would make Macharius a martyr and anyone implicated in his death the worst sort of traitor.’ He sounded thoughtful as he said it and I wondered what was going on in the cold clockwork of his mind.
Looking back I can see that it was perhaps then that he got the seed of his last and most terrible idea.
‘You’ve brought the security codes and passwords?’ Mikhail asked. I looked around the now familiar chamber at the Red Lantern, taking my time just to annoy him, and then I nodded.
‘Good.’
‘And you will personally ensure that the lock is opened. We do not trust anyone else to do it.’ I had a sudden vision of me opening the great service hatch door and being shot down for my pains. I kept it to myself.
‘Of course,’ I said.
‘Once our men are inside, leave them and go your own way. It will soon be over.’
‘Very good,’ I said.
‘If things go well you’ll soon be a very wealthy man.’
Or I’ll soon be a very dead man, more likely, I thought.
‘Midnight tonight and everything changes,’ Konstantin said. He sounded elated, like a man on the verge of realising a long-held dream. Or perhaps a man about to wake up from one.
Midnight found me at the great armoured door on the upper level of the palace. I had dismissed the sentries and stood waiting with the shotgun on my back, wondering for the thousandth time what in the name of the Emperor I was doing. I had the same fluttering feeling in my stomach I have had many times before in the lead-up to a battle. My mouth felt dry and my heart thumped against my ribs. I held up my hands and they were steady. I checked the chrono on my wrist and the smallest hand ticked down towards the stroke of midnight. There were still a couple of minutes to go.
I thought about my life, of all the long mesh of moments that had led me to being in this place at this time. I felt the faint spark of excitement as well as fear, that feeling that something was about to happen, that I had better be alert or I might die, that I was taking my life in my hands. It’s a feeling that once experienced is never forgotten, which can be as addictive as any drug.
My mind conjured phantoms. There could be an army out there approaching in the night. There could be an unstoppable horde of assassins. I pictured a vast conspiracy out there in the darkness. I saw tanks revving their engines and soldiers grabbing their weapons and a cabal of trusted generals preparing to strike against their former commander. I was caught at the sharp end of all that. I could be executed by either side for my role in this.
For a moment, I felt as if I were in free-fall. I just did not care. There was nothing I could do but keep my eyes open and my wits about me. It was the only way to survive. I had been doing it for a very long time.
The second hand, the minute hand and the hour hand all reached the same spot at the same time. I opened the door and stared out into the night. At first it looked as if nothing was there, but then I saw a black outline of a Valkyrie gunship and shadowy shapes moving in the darkness. I knew I was outlined against the light and an easy target. I beckoned once and stepped back out of the line of sight.
Black figures scurried forward, moving with professional skill, the ease of men long trained for their task. I backed away and they moved into the light, dark-clad, masked, heavily armed. I became aware of a knife glittering in a man’s hand. I levelled my shotgun and said, ‘Be careful where you point that thing.’
‘Are you mad?’ a voice asked. I thought it belonged to Mikhail. ‘If that thing goes off it will be heard right through the floor.’
‘Then you’d better do nothing that will make it go off,’ I said.
‘You’re not a very trusting man.’
‘You are the one with a knife in his hands. I would prefer it stayed there and not between my ribs.’
‘You’ve done your job,’ Mikhail said. I recognised the shifty look in his eyes now, just as I recognised Konstantin’s huge form looming behind him.
‘And I intend to live long enough to collect my payment.’
‘You’ll do that,’ said Mikhail. I suspected that if he had his way I would not live a moment longer than I had to.
‘We can stand here all night and bicker or we can get on with things,’ I said. ‘The choice is yours.’
‘Lead on,’ he said. I prodded him with the barrel of the shotgun.
‘You go first,’ I said. ‘If a knife should somehow find its way into my back, the shotgun will go off and your head and any chance of surprise will go with it.’
He nodded. ‘You think you’re clever, don’t you?’
‘Move,’ I said.
We moved quickly and quietly through the top floor towards Macharius’s apartment.
‘It’s very quiet here,’ said Konstantin from just behind me. ‘I don’t like it.’
‘It’s past midnight and the Lord Macharius requires quiet for his rest. If you like I can summon some servants and you can explain to them what we are doing here.’
He said nothing. I knew that behind us armed men were fanning out through the upper floors of the palace, prepared to bring silent death to anyone they encountered. I prayed that Drake knew what he was doing. I began to entertain a strange fantasy that Drake wa
s the traitor, that his entire plan to entrap the assassins was merely a flimsy excuse to get me to open the door and let them in. It sounds strange now, but at the time with a company of killers at my back and the palace turned into a silent death-trap around me, it was an oddly convincing idea.
‘How much further?’ Mikhail asked. He sounded a little nervous. I would have been too, creeping through a palace with the assassination of an Imperial hero on my mind and a shotgun pointed at the back of my head.
‘It’s just ahead,’ I said. And it was. It felt like a strange dream to be approaching Macharius’s chamber with so many armed strangers around me. I took another breath and counted to seven in my head as I let it out. I was all too aware now that each breath might be my last and I was determined to enjoy them.
We approached the doors and Mikhail stopped. ‘No guards,’ he said. ‘There should be sentries here at least.’
He turned to face me and the knife was raised menacingly in his hand. I sensed Konstantin behind me. I stepped away, putting my back to the wall, and looked at the pair of them.
‘I’ve done my part,’ I said, wondering where Drake and his men were, wondering where the others were, wondering what I could say that would keep me alive for another few moments.
‘You’ve betrayed us,’ said Mikhail. He moved closer. There was a glittering madness in his eyes. I wondered if he had taken any combat drugs before coming here tonight. ‘You fool!’
I swivelled the shotgun to point at him. ‘You have a knife,’ I said. ‘I have a shotgun. I would think twice about calling anyone a fool if I were you.’
Konstantin chose that moment to spring. He moved very quickly for such a big man. The butt of my shotgun had less distance to travel though and it connected with his jaw as he moved. There was a snapping sound as the hinge of his jaw broke.
Mikhail threw himself forward, knife blade glinting in the glow-globe light. It flickered out, aimed at my stomach, point up. He was going to rip towards my heart. I brought the shotgun down, parrying, deflecting the blade. It ripped my trouser leg, and drew a line of blood along the top of my thigh. I hoped he had missed a vein.