The Emperor's Legion (Watchers of the Throne #1) - Chris Wraight Page 0,67
it from any other lips, I would have snorted in derision.
‘Then you’re saying we can’t hold this world in its entirety?’ I asked, wanting to be sure I understood.
‘I am.’
‘This is Terra.’
‘I’m aware of that.’
‘We have billions under arms. We have Titans. We have Naval support.’
‘Indeed. And they’re all going quite, quite mad.’
She said it so calmly. I knew she was right – Throne, I’d seen the reports from overrun Arbites stations and watched the vid-feeds of hab-towers descending into anarchy. The age-old grip of the priests was breaking. Reality had cracked. The skies were on fire and no one had slept for days.
‘You’ve spoken to Haemotalion about this?’ I asked.
‘You’ll do that. You’ll speak to the others too. It’s about priorities. We can’t afford to make mistakes now.’
I had that horrible sinking feeling then – that she was right, and that very few others would see it, and that all that lay ahead was more grind and conflict.
‘We’ve lost the beacon temporarily,’ I said. ‘We’ve some work to do to restore order. You can’t be suggesting we cede our control just when things get difficult.’
At that, Arx leaned forwards, resting her elbows on her knees. She was a hard woman to look at – all bones and severity.
‘I had a man delivered to my care some weeks ago,’ she said. ‘He was sent up to me by a watch division of the south-eastern wall sector. I think he was detained by a Custodian, one whom you may possibly know, but that is unimportant. What is important is this – he was no ranting demagogue. He was steeped in the kind of corruption I’ve only seen on worlds far from here and riddled with the warp. And once we applied the instruments, we began to understand what has been happening.’
I couldn’t look away. Arx had the air of a woman who had nothing more to lose – the almost fey resolve of the damned.
‘He knew so much,’ she went on. ‘He knew things even my adepts don’t. There’s a blind and mutilated sorcerer down in the gaols calling himself Iskandar Khayon, and others, and they’re all in agreement to a startling degree. They’re telling us all we could ever wish to know, these people, because they aren’t afraid of anything any more. They’re telling us of the Crimson Path. They’re telling us of the Great Rift. They’re telling us things that weren’t possible before are possible now, and it’s becoming hard not to believe them.’
‘They’re lying.’
‘No, chancellor. They’re not. Why would they?’ She pressed her palms together. ‘Every war we’ve ever fought, every crusade we’ve ever launched, every Black Crusade we’ve ever fended off, it’s all been leading up to this. Ask your Custodian friends – they know it too. That’s why they’re paralysed by doubt. They know things we’ve forgotten. It all rests on this moment. Our decisions now can damn us.’
As she spoke, I felt increasingly sick. I had lived for so long at the epicentre of the empire, far from the wars and the squalor, and it had made me flaccid.
‘Why are you telling me this?’ I asked.
‘I’m telling everyone the same thing,’ she said. ‘We have anathema psykana returning, some running ahead of the storm, others caught in its approach. We’ll need as many as we can gather, and the Captain-General has been active in bringing them back.’
I hesitated. ‘He didn’t know we’d ordered them home.’
‘You believed that? You’re losing your touch, chancellor. He’s been doing everything he can to collect them for some time. They always fought together, those two. He recognised the signs a while back, and I suspect only he had the knowledge to get a message to them in time.’
I felt foolish. Events were racing ahead of my ability to comprehend, let alone influence. I wondered how long this had been going on, and how much it had been governed, if at all, by my entreaties to them.
‘Then Lamma was right,’ I said. ‘We’re going back to the old templates.’
‘Some of them.’ Arx stood up then, brushing her long robes about her. I did likewise. ‘I supported you in Council, chancellor, because you were right. This changes nothing – for now. Things will have to alter in time, but first comes survival. You understand this?’ She came closer, and I saw the fine lines of care around her eyes. ‘You’ve seen us all come and go. We must keep the Council together on this.’