The daemon king is dead. Khanjar cannot hope to raise him/
'Unless he has the Malus Codicium,' I said.
'Not even then/
'So what, then?' I snapped.
'Traditionally/ Gideon put in, 'in human culture, anyway, a king is buried with great treasures and artefacts beside him/
'So there's something in this tomb. Something so valuable that the Malus Codicium is just a key to get it. Where is Ghiil?'
'We don't know/ said Ravenor.
'Does Glaw know?'
'I think that's why he was here/
The eldar withdrew and I was glad to be out of his presence. I found it hard to know how Ravenor tolerated him.
Outside, the final preparations were being made. All of Ravenor's people except Kenzer and the six astropaths were withdrawing to his ship. Nayl and Kara were going to the Essene.
A message from Maxilla/ Nayl said to me. 'You've had a communique from Fischig/
'Fischig? Really?'
'It seems he's changed his mind. That he regrets his clash with you and wants to come back/
'I think it's too late for that, Harlon/
Nayl shrugged. 'Cut him some slack, I say, boss. You know how hardline he is. He's had time to think about things. Get his head around stuff. Let him come back. From what Gideon's been saying, we could probably use him/
'No. Later maybe. Not now. I don't think I can trust him/
'He probably thinks the same thing about you/ grinned Nayl. 'Joke!' he added, raising his hands to pacify me. 'Good luck/ he finished, then walked off to the shuttle where Kara Swole was waiting.
It was iust dawn. Before their departure, the technicians had extended the antigrav walkways to form a circular path across the bayou fifty metres in diameter. The astropaths spread out around the suspended walkways under the thick, steaming vegetation. I stood with Gideon and Kenzer on one of the central sections. The evenly spaced astropaths began to murmur as they sank into their trances and the air became charged with psypathic energy. Instead of focusing on a single object, as Jecud Vance and I had done with Midas's jacket, the astropaths were opening the entire area up,
conjuring its psychic traces. A cold, blue glow began to spread around us, quite at odds with the light of the rising sun. Things became filmy and misty.
'I see something…' Kenzer said.
So did I. Shapes, like clouds, writhing and forming above the water at the centre of the circle. Nothing distinct.
I felt Ravenor reach out with his mind and fine tune the coherence of the image. Just standing there beside him, I could feel how strong his mind had grown. My old pupil was frighteningly powerful.