The Beast Arises

‘You too, Drakan, although I think very little of the company you are keeping.’

‘Can we not concentrate on the matter at hand here?’ said Vangorich wearily. ‘What’s an assassination attempt or two between friends?’

‘So speaks the Assassin,’ said Wienand.

‘He has a point, Wienand,’ snarled Veritus, then calmed. He turned to face Wienand but did not look her in the eye, instead gazing fixedly over her shoulder. ‘Maybe I acted hastily, but things had come to a shocking pass and—’

‘You did not agree with my actions as Inquisitorial Representative, very good. You had recourse to options other than murder and usurpation!’ she interrupted.

‘We had no time!’ said Veritus. ‘You would not have gone quietly, and we would have fought as stupidly as the fools in the Senate, jockeying for power as the Imperium burned around us.’

‘So my death was a matter of expediency? How very comforting.’

‘Yes.’ Veritus sighed. ‘I am old, Wienand. So much older than you. I have seen so much stupidity. I could not take a chance.’

‘And now I am stupid.’ She aggressively sought out his eyes with her own. ‘Did you not think just to ask? No?’

Veritus’ aged lips pressed thin, going grey.

‘Tell me then, Representative Veritus. How goes your management of the crisis?’ said Wienand.

Vangorich cleared his throat. ‘This glass, it is psychically blocked, is it not?’

The inquisitors looked over his head.

‘Really,’ he said, ‘I have spent many long years perfecting an air of unimportance, I am used to being ignored, but this is too much. Answer me! Veritus? Is this glass warded?’

‘Yes, yes of course,’ snapped Veritus. ‘Why?’

‘Because if you stopped glaring at Wienand there, you’d see that our prisoner is looking right at you, and she finds something amusing.’

Wienand shook her head dismissively and returned her attention to the prisoner. ‘Have you actually spoken to her yet, Veritus, or did you just plan on killing her too?’

‘Not yet!’ said Vangorich lightly. ‘How about we attempt that right now? There is no time like the present.’

Veritus cleared his throat. A phlegmy, old man’s sound. ‘Very well,’ he said.

Wienand, Vangorich and Veritus entered the room, the inquisitors still eyeing each other warily. The interrogator ceased his questioning, bowed and withdrew without a word.

‘At last you come out!’ said the prisoner. ‘So pathetic are your attempts at masking that any child of my people could better them without effort.’

The three humans lined up in front of the prisoner. She stared at them contemptuously. The removal of her mask had brought a marked change in her manner. She had become more aloof, more cautious, more direct in speech, but it had only sharpened her defiance.

‘It is time to discuss your message,’ said Wienand.

‘As I told your friends, I come in peace.’

‘I have a strange appreciation of the word myself,’ said Vangorich.

‘You are a murderer. I smell blood on you,’ Lhaerial said.

‘Quite,’ said Vangorich. He found the anger in her quite beguiling. ‘My point is, arriving armed and shooting is not covered by any definition of peace.’

‘Would you have listened?’ she said.

‘Probably not,’ said Vangorich.

‘Drakan,’ said Wienand, ‘this is our prisoner.’

‘Of course, of course, please, inquisitors. Inquire.’

‘You are a psyker?’ said Veritus.

‘And what is that?’ Lhaerial said.

‘A witch, a seer.’

She nodded. ‘A seer of the shadows.’

‘Then let it be known I am warded against your powers,’ said Veritus.

‘I know your mind regardless,’ said the eldar.

‘Tell me of your mission,’ said Wienand.

‘I already have,’ said Lhaerial.

‘Again,’ said Wienand. ‘To us.’

‘I should repeat myself? And then you will ask me again, and again, and you will attempt to hurt me. You are so primitive. I do not know why Eldrad Ulthran wishes to save you. The galaxy would be a cleaner place were you to be exterminated.’

‘You lack the power for that now,’ said Wienand, surprisingly gently. ‘And I think when your kind did have that might, something stayed your hand.’

Lhaerial cocked an eyebrow and gave a sudden, savage smile. ‘Maybe. Doubtless you think our positions reversed? You cannot hurt me. I am Cegorach’s.’

‘She speaks of one of their gods,’ explained Wienand.

‘Do not be so sure, eldar,’ said Veritus dangerously. Wienand held up her hand behind her irritably.

‘Tell us,’ said Wienand. ‘The last time.’

Lhaerial closed her eyes. They were so big, thought Vangorich.

‘I was to deliver a message to the Emperor, not to you.’

‘Tell us what was in this message. We are the representatives of His will,’ said Wienand. ‘The Emperor cannot be spoken to, He is entombed.’

‘You think we do not know this? Eldrad Ulthran, greatest seer of all, entrusted me with this task. I was chosen because I am a seer, I have opened my mind, the old ways are mine. I do not fear She Who Thirsts.’

‘He cannot be reached even psychically,’ said Wienand. ‘It has been tried. You would have died. You must tell us.’

‘What was the message? A threat?’ challenged Veritus.