‘Things are going to have to change,’ he said suddenly. ‘Too much corruption at the top. Too many people doing too well out of things. Not enough supplies for the fighters at the front.’
‘A lot of people seem to think that.’
‘Don’t you?’
I shrugged. ‘Maybe.’
As quickly as it had come on his mood changed. ‘What the hell? Why talk about the politics? Let’s talk about Belial and the old neighbourhoods.’
I ordered more drinks. They kept coming. It was good to meet someone from the old hive.
I staggered back into our chambers at the palace. Anton and Ivan had returned from their stint on guard duty. I slumped in my chair, nursing a drink. ‘You’ll never guess who I ran into?’ I said.
‘A brewer’s truck,’ said Anton, ‘judging from the look of you. Otherwise, I guess you ran into the nearest bar and then ran back out again when you had spent all your money.’
‘Sergei Krimov,’ I said.
‘Slick Sergei?’ Ivan said.
‘None other.’
‘You’re telling me the Seventh are here?’ said Anton.
‘Just got in, apparently.’
Anton folded himself into an armchair and poured himself a drink. ‘That’s news,’ he said. ‘I haven’t run into anybody from the old regiment since we signed up with the Lion Guard.’
‘They are part of Battlegroup Crassus now. Were assigned to it right after Kassari.’
‘See any other faces from the old days?’ Ivan asked.
‘Just Sergei. He was out wandering on his own, checking out the sights of Acheron.’
‘Checking out the bars and looking for a criminal connection, if I know him,’ said Anton.
‘He paid his way,’ I said.
‘Did you check your wallet afterwards?’ Anton asked.
‘What have you got against the guy?’
‘He was always a fly man,’ Anton said.
‘People change,’ I said.
‘And even if they don’t, why is it our problem?’ Ivan asked. ‘Leo was drinking with him, not going into business.’
‘Suit yourself, but listen to me. The guy would sell the fillings from your teeth and then come back for your gnashers.’
‘Part of Battlegroup Crassus, eh?’ said Ivan. ‘That’s the fourth regiment that follows him arrived then. He has more regiments here now than anybody else.’
‘They should be in the field, fighting heretics,’ said Anton.
‘I’ll be sure to mention that to Crassus the next time I run into him,’ I said, but I was doing the sums in my head. Four regiments, at least one of them heavy armour, made Crassus the most powerful man on the planet now. And given the proximity of Macharius and the crusade’s other leaders, that probably made him the most powerful man in the Imperium. I wondered how he was enjoying the feeling.
‘He’s got Baneblades and Shadowswords backing him then,’ said Ivan. I could tell he was making the same sort of calculations as I was. It was sad how quickly our thoughts had degenerated into forebodings of treachery. It says something for the atmosphere of the time and place as well, I suppose. I think all of us had suspicions about the outcome of this conclave.
‘Maybe we should hold a sweepstake on it,’ Anton said.
‘On what?’ I asked.
‘On who is going to stab Macharius in the back first.’
‘It won’t come to that,’ I said.
‘Won’t it?’ Anton asked. ‘How do you know?’
I had no answer for that. There was nothing I could really say. I did not even believe in my own words myself.
‘You really think we’re going to end up fighting against the Seventh?’ Ivan said.
‘If we agree with Anton, it’s possible.’
‘It won’t come to that,’ Ivan said. His flat mechanical voice gave his words a certainty I was sure he was very far from feeling. It was hard to believe we were even talking about this, the possibility of having to defend ourselves against the men we had once fought alongside. Was this what the high ideals of the crusade had finally come to?
Maybe Macharius had made a mistake coming here with only his personal guard and the tattered remnants of the Grosslanders. Given the mauling they had taken on Loki it was possible that even they might not stand with us.
Cardinal Septimus strode into Macharius’s throne room, his servo-skulls orbiting around him. I stepped forward to bar his way. He looked at me the way a man might look down on a particularly venomous insect. His guards stared at me, but there was not a lot they could do. I had a shotgun and they did not. They had all been thoroughly scanned before entry and their weapons had been removed. I had been instructed to perform another set of checks before they got close. Just to make a point.
Once I had completed the search the cardinal was allowed to approach Macharius’s throne bearing the great sealed documents, which he presented to the Lord High Commander. The parchment looked impressive enough and Macharius gave every sign of scrutinising them closely.
‘Are you satisfied with my credentials?’ the cardinal inquired. He studied the luxurious furnishings of the chamber with a connoisseur’s eye. I felt sure he was putting a value on every mobile statue, on every dragon-fur rug.
‘It never hurts to be careful,’ Macharius said.
‘Now that we have established my bona fides, perhaps we could discuss the business that brought me here.’
‘By all means,’ Macharius said. The cardinal turned and looked at me and the others. It was clear he was not expecting to have to speak in front of underlings.
‘You can say what you wish in front of Sergeant Lemuel and his men,’ Macharius said. ‘I trust them with my life.’
‘You are entrusting them with more than that if you allow them to overhear the secrets of the Imperium.’
‘These men swore the same oaths of loyalty to the Emperor that I did. They can be trusted to the same extent.’
The cardinal looked as if he wanted to argue, but it was clear that Macharius was not going to be moved on this point, and perhaps that was the point. ‘As you wish,’ he said.
‘Speak your piece,’ Macharius said.
‘You have done extraordinary things,’ said the cardinal. His voice had changed a little. He was now an orator speaking to a crowd, even if that crowd was just the Lord High Commander and the guards present. Macharius made a small ironic gesture with his right hand. ‘You have done a greater service to the Imperium than any man in a score of generations, ten score generations. The time has come for the Imperium to show its appreciation.’
Macharius was smiling now. The smile did not reach his eyes. ‘And what form does this appreciation take?’
‘You are to be presented with honours suitable to the scale of your triumphs.’
‘You have brought these with you, I presume.’
‘How could I possibly do so? You are to be granted a triumph on Holy Terra itself. You and select regiments are to present yourself there and be acclaimed by the elite of the Imperium.’
‘I see,’ said Macharius. Of course he did. Even I could see it. He was being removed from command of the crusade. Once separated from his armies it was doubtful he would be allowed to return. ‘Of course, the commanders who are present on this world will come with me. I could hardly neglect them, or fail to share the glory with them, since they are as responsible for victory as much as I.’
Cardinal Septimus paused for a moment as if this were not quite what he expected to hear. ‘They will be honoured in their time. You are the one to whom all the glory has accrued. You are the one whose sole triumph must be celebrated.’