I nodded. He undid the straps. I noticed a small but powerful-looking pistol was pointing right at me. Konstantin held something similar.
I was led out into another room.
This room was better furnished. A bottle of Belial whisky sat on the table along with a few glasses. Konstantin poured some and offered it to me. I shook my head.
‘You’ll forgive my reluctance,’ I said, ‘but after my last drink with you I am not inclined to take another.’
Konstantin smiled at that, no hard feelings. ‘I am sorry, but we had to do this. We needed to know that you are the sort of man to do what is needed and not betray us.’
‘A traitor, you mean.’ I could not keep the bitterness out of my voice. No one likes to discover they have a price.
‘You are not a traitor to the Imperium, Macharius is. He refuses to obey orders from his superiors. He refuses to make way for his successors. You said yourself he is slipping. It is time he stood aside and let those who are still capable get on with the job.’
I thought about him and I thought of the vast whirlpool of intrigue that swirled over this planet. I tried to tell myself that this was only to be expected, that the great generals were all products of the Schism, that they were used to thinking in terms of personal ambition and personal glory. Macharius had once overcome them on the field and bound them to his service; now they saw the chance to break away and follow their own personal interests again. All of them looked at what Richter had done and thought I could do that, and Septimus had offered them a way to do it and still remain loyal to the Imperium.
Mikhail said, ‘We must apologise for what we did. We are playing for high stakes and we needed to know whether you were trustworthy.’
‘I think the question is not whether I am trustworthy but whether you are,’ I said.
‘We have no reason to betray you. We must trust each other.’
‘Really,’ I said.
‘Yes. If you betray us then you fall with us. We have a record of all you have said.’
‘I was drugged,’ I said.
‘So you will claim. But your words were true, were they not?’
‘Yes,’ I conceded.
‘And it does no one any good for word of any of this to become public. The crusade must present a united front even after Macharius is gone,’ Mikhail said.
‘Especially after Macharius is gone,’ said Konstantin.
‘He is not gone yet,’ I said.
‘But he will be soon,’ said Konstantin. ‘One way or another.’
‘We will return to the tavern now,’ said Mikhail, ‘and we will drink.’ś
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘That seems like the best thing to do.’
‘You did something to my mind,’ I said to Drake. He sat behind his desk and studied the gargoyle lantern. His face was shadowy in its under light.
‘If I had not you would now be dead,’ he said. ‘Those men treated you with powerful truth drugs in dosages that were very close to fatal.’
‘I said things,’ I said and fumbled for the words to explain what I meant.
‘You said things that you have thought in your secret heart,’ Drake said. ‘You spoke aloud doubts that you have carried for a long time.’
‘Yes. No. But…’
‘Because you have doubts does not mean you are disloyal,’ Drake said. ‘It means you are human and that you are quite intelligent.’
I looked at him. It was not what I would have expected him to say. He always seemed a fanatic in his own way. He smiled. ‘I can assure you that dealing with doubt was one of the earliest parts of my training and the most comprehensive.’
‘They seemed very sure Macharius will go,’ I said. ‘One way or another.’
‘Oh yes,’ said Drake. ‘They ought to be. I have let it be known, through some informers we share, that Macharius has no intention of standing down.’
‘What?’
He raised an eyebrow. He was not used to lowly sergeants taking that tone with him.
‘We are surrounded by conspirators here. They need to be drawn out.’
‘Is that not rather dangerous? We are outnumbered by more than ten to one.’
‘Only if all the regiments unite against us. That will not happen.’
‘I wish I shared your certainty,’ I said.
‘You are assuming that all of Macharius’s potential replacements are prepared to work together, Lemuel,’ he said, sounding like a schoolmaster explaining the facts to a particularly dim pupil. ‘Even a most cursory examination of the situation will show you that is not the case. Simply because a man would like to replace Macharius does not mean that he will support another man’s claim to do so. Indeed there are many here who would rather see Macharius stay than have one of their rivals take his place. That is one reason the Lord High Commander has remained in command for so long.’
‘I thought it was because he was appointed to the task by the Imperium,’ I said.
‘There is no need to sound so sardonic, Lemuel. It does not suit you. Of course, Macharius was put in charge, but many of those generals had no respect for the writ of the Imperium before he forced them to have. They were the most successful warlords of the Schism and many of them served the Imperium in name only and only when it suited them. If they did not fear Macharius and covet his position they might well go back to doing so.’
‘Then you play a very dangerous game by baiting them.’
‘Macharius will not live forever,’ he said. ‘That is a self-evident truth. Before that happens those who serve him must be brought to heel or the Schism will start all over again.’
My realisation of where this was all going must suddenly have become evident on my face. ‘If they are found to be betraying Macharius, they will be discredited.’
He smiled, a teacher whose dim pupil has shown a sudden, unexpected flash of understanding. ‘It’s always good to have a reason to remove someone. It’s even better if that reason is a true one.’
I wondered then at the cynicism of this man, and whether he realised that his own reach might exceed his grasp. The truth of it was that Macharius was surrounded by grasping, opportunistic, ambitious men, and Drake was not the least of them. The difference was that I could understand what it was that the generals sought. I could not understand what it was that motivated him.
‘I seek what is best for the Imperium, Lemuel,’ Drake said. I wondered whether he had read my mind or whether what I was thinking was simply written on my face for him to read.
‘You are playing games with all our lives,’ I said.
‘It is not really your place to judge me, Lemuel,’ he said. His tone was mild but there was steel in his voice.
‘Someone has to,’ I muttered under my breath.
Chapter Nineteen
I was not surprised to find Anna awaiting me in my chambers. ‘You look somewhat the worse for wear,’ she said.
‘It’s been a long night,’ I said, stripping off my tunic and sliding into the bed alongside her. She leaned forward and licked my shoulder. It was not in the least erotic. Nor was it meant to be.
‘Penthalium,’ she said. ‘And traces of Morathian anti-venom.’
‘You can taste that in my sweat,’ I said.
‘Along with a lot of alcohol and some mild narcotics,’ she said.
‘It’s been one of those nights,’ I said.
‘You have just come from seeing Inquisitor Drake,’ she said, ‘and someone has been administering truth drugs to you. Given the age of the traces, it was not him.’