I felt the psi-surge from across the room and it made me wince. Hel-dane's inhuman features folded into an angry, animal roar and Maxilla stumbled, cried out and fell to his knees, showers of sparks exploding from burned-out servos in his neck, right shoulder and right wrist.
'Now will you answer, metal man/ Heldane leered at Maxilla, 'or shall I burn out another part of your blasphemous body?' 'There are five/1 said loudly. 'Five of us/
'Aha… the heretic speaks/ Heldane switched round to face me, his attention drawn from Maxilla, at least for a moment.
'The other member of my party is my savant, Aemos. I'm sure you remember him. He's in the infirmary/
'How very obliging of you, Gregor/ Heldane said. I prayed that I had outwitted him. Heldane could undoubtedly feel from our minds that someone was missing. If I showed him Aemos, I hoped he would be satisfied and miss Kara entirely. 'I would advise you to leave him there/ 'Why?'
'He… there was an accident/1 said. 'He is damaged/ ЛУагр damaged?' 'No. He will recover/
'But he is infirm because of contact with the warp?' 'No!'
Heldane turned to a couple of his men. 'Go to the infirmary. Locate this man. Kill him and incinerate his remains/ 'God-Emperor, no!' I cried.
I tried to get up, tried to reach out with my mind to wrest Barbarisater from Heldane's hands. I was too weak and he was too strong. Another psychic assault smashed me to the floor.
'Is everything all right?' a new voice asked. 'There was a lot of unseemly shouting just then/ 'Everything's fine, my lord. Welcome aboard/1 heard Heldane say. I rolled over and saw the newcomer enter the Essene's stateroom. He was resplendant in his brass power-armour, his augmetic jaw as stubbornly set as the last time I had seen him. 'Osma…' I whispered. 'Grand Master Osma of the Ordos Helican, if you don't mind/ he said
sourly.
He had been elevated. Orsini was dead and Leonid Osma had finally achieved the rank he had spent his life chasing. So much had happened in the Helican sub-sector since I had become preoccupied with mnning and staying alive. Osma, my nemesis, the man who had once tried to have me declared
extremis diabolus and who had imprisoned me, tortured and hunted me, had now become the master of the Ordos Helican and my supreme overlord.
The guards dragged me up onto the mezzanine area of the Essene's stateroom and sat me in one of the chairs facing the long banquet table. They stood back, and Osma and Heldane approached. Osma was holding Barbarisater and studying the intricate workings of the blade. His own huge power hammer was anchored to his belt.