Part 4 (1/2)

Miriya gave Verity a sideways look. The Sister Hos-pitaller's expression was conflicted, compa.s.sion at the wretched man's mien warring with anger at his misdeeds. The Sister Superior stepped closer, into the circle of light cast by the biolumes overhead. You remember my face, don't you?'

Vorgo gave a jerky nod.

'Let me explain what is going to happen to you. There will be no court of law, no appeals, no due process.

She took in the lawmen and the prison with a wave of her hand. 'You will not be heard by the enforcers judges, you will not submit to a cap-tain's mast aboard the Mercutio! Miriya studied him gravely. 'You have aided and abetted in the murder of a Sororitas, colluded in the escape of a terrorist witch. You belong to the Sisters of Battle for us to persecute as we see fit. You have no rights, no voice, and no recourse. All that remains to be decided is how you will perish.

Vorgo emitted a whimper and said something unintelligible.

'Have you ever seen an arco-flagellant, Vorgo?' Miriya signalled to Ca.s.sandra and the other Battle Sister dropped her bolter into a ready stance. 'Let me tell you about them.' Her voice took on a cold, steely quality. 'As the Emperor wills, those who are found guilty of heresy and crimes of similar gravity are taken into the service of we who hunt the witchkin. Chirurgeons and Hospitallers adapt them to this new life with surgery and conditioning, implanting pacifier helms and lobotomaic taps in their brains.'

For emphasis, she tapped Vorgo's forehead with a finger. 'Imagine that. Your limbs removed, replaced with spark-whips and nests of claws. Eyes bored from your skull and stained gla.s.s in their places. Your heart and organs fixed with stimm injectors and neuropathic glands. And then, proud in your new body, what remains of your drooling waste of a mind will be turned to the good of the Imperium. With a word of my com-mand, you'll willingly fling yourself into the jaws of h.e.l.l, a berserk flesh-machine bound for a long, long death.' When she threw Ca.s.sandra a nod, the Battle Sister took aim at Vorgo's head. 'There is a cleaner, quicker way... but only for the repentant.' Miriya paused in front of the restraint rig. 'I will give you that gift if you tell me who you were working for. What compelled you to free Torris Vaun?'

Who?' said Vorgo, pus.h.i.+ng the word out of his mouth. 'I don't know any Vaun.

'Are you playing games with me?' Miriya growled. 'There are others I can offer my mercy to. Now answer me, why did you free Vaun?'

'Don't know Vaun. The sailor shouted suddenly. 'My daughter. What have you done to my daughter, you b.i.t.c.h?'

'What is he talking about?' asked Verity.

The enforcer sergeant s.h.i.+fted and frowned. This again. Like I said, crying for his family, like all of them.

Can't get a proper answer from any of these wastrels.

Verity took the punch card that showed Vorgo's record and held it up to the light. The Imperial cen-sus notation here shows this man has no family. No daughter.

You can read the machine dialect?' asked Ca.s.san-dra.

The Hospitaller nodded. 'A little. I have worked closely with Sisters of the Orders Dialogous in the past.

Some of their skills are known to me.

'I love my daughter. spat the sailor, desperation making him lunge at the manacles. 'And you took her and put her in that gla.s.s jar. You black-hearted wh.o.r.es-'

Miriya slapped him with the flat of her ceramite gauntlet, knocking out a couple of teeth and silenc-ing him for the moment. 'He thinks our prisoner was his daughter? What idiocy is this?'

”Why in Terra's name would he think we had his non-existent child as our prisoner?' Ca.s.sandra shook her head. ”This man was there. He saw the capsule's occupant first hand. He freed Vaun from the pskyerhood himself.

Miriya cupped the prisoner's chin in her hand. 'Who was in the capsule, Vorgo?'

'My daughter...' He sobbed. 'My beautiful daugh-ter.

'What is her name?' asked Verity, the question cut-ting through the air. 'What does she look like?'

Something went dark behind the sailor's eyes. 'Wh-what?' His face became slack and pasty.

'Her name, Vorgo. repeated the Hospitaller. Tell us your daughter's name, and we'll bring her back to you.'

'I... I don't... remember...'

'Just tell us, and we'll let you go free.' Verity took a step closer. 'You do know the name of your own daughter, don't you?'

'I... I...' From nowhere, the mids.h.i.+pman let out a piercing scream of agony, throwing his head from side to side. Vorgo wailed and his eyes rolled back in their sockets, blood streaming from his nose and ears. Verity ran to him as the man went limp against the rack.

After a moment she shook her head. 'Dead. A rup-ture within his brain, I believe.'

The psyker did that to him?' asked the enforcer with disgust.

'Impossible,' Miriya shook her head. 'Vaun's witchery is all brute strength and violence. He lacks the subtlety for something like this.'

'He would not have been able to control this man's mind from inside the capsule,' added Ca.s.san-dra, 'and certainly not the minds of a dozen men.'

Verity looked at the sergeant. The others from the Mercutio who helped Vaun escape, you say they are all calling for their loved ones?'

A nod. 'Like lost children.'

The Hospitaller turned to face Miriya. 'Sister Supe-rior, your prisoner did not escape of his own accord.

Someone freed him, someone who used these weak men like regicide p.a.w.ns. They were compelled to believe that a person they cared for deeply was in your custody.'

The sergeant snorted. 'You're an inquisitor now as well as a nurse, then, Sister?' He snapped his fingers at the dead man and the trooper at his side took the corpse away. 'Please excuse me if I don't take the word of a dozen lying traitors as to why they took it into their heads to free a ma.s.s-murderer. These men are bilge-sc.u.m, plain as nightfall. They reckoned they might earn some grat.i.tude from Vaun, so they busted him out. There's no witch-play or magic about it, pardon me for my impertinence!' He said the last words in a way that clearly showed he didn't mean them.

The simplest explanation is usually the right one. admitted Ca.s.sandra, and Verity looked at the floor, crestfallen.

When one deals with witches, nothing is simple. commented the Sister Superior.

CHAPTER FOUR .

The Canoness did a poor job of hiding her dismay as Miriya entered her chambers, frowning deeply over the pict-slate in her hand. The Sister Superior gave a contrite bow. 'Your eminence. I would speak with you.' Galatea did not offer her the room's only vacant chair. Instead, she placed the slate on her wide wooden desk and rolled back the sleeves of her day robe. 'I knew, Miriya. I knew it, somewhere deep in my marrow, from the moment the astropaths brought me the message from Prioress Lydia. When I saw your name on the doc.u.ment, I knew this day would not run smoothly' She gave a bitter laugh. 'I was in error, it seems. I underestimated considerably.' Miriya scowled. 'You and I have always read from different pages of the Emperor's book, but you understand me, Sister. We have fought the foe and prayed together afterwards a hundred times. You know I am not so lax that I would have let this hap-pen-'

'But you did. Galatea insisted, 'through your fault or not, Vaun's escape was on your watch and so you bear responsibility. And as our order's prime repre-sentative on this planet, by extension so do I. You have brought disgrace to Saint Katherine's name.

'Don't you think I am aware of that?' Miriya snapped angrily 'Don't you think I would take my own life here and now if that could undo what hap-pened? I lost two comrades to that monster, one buried, one broken.

The Canoness nodded. 'And more will die before Vaun is made to answer for his crimes, that much is certain. She turned to study the view through the room's stained gla.s.steel window. 'You have given me a b.l.o.o.d.y mess to clean up, Miriya.

'Let me do something about it. The Celestian took a step forward. 'No one on this world wants Vaun to pay more than I do. I want your permission to pur-sue my investigation of the fugitive.'He will be found. Neva is sealed tight. Vaun will never make it offworld alive. Galatea shook her head.

'His arrogance in coming home will be his undoing.

Vaun's not going to leave. insisted Miriya. 'Not until he gets what he wants.

'Oh?' The Canoness threw an arch look at her. 'Sud-denly you are an expert on this man? You have some inner knowledge of his thoughts and desires? Pray tell, Sister, of your belated insight.

She ignored the thinly veiled sarcasm. 'He's a brute, a thief and a corsair drawn only to what makes him richer or more powerful. He came to Neva because he wants something that is here.