Cherubael squealed and tumbled back. I stepped forward a pace, keeping the book raised and open.
Wracked with agony, the daemonhost soared back across the bridge, crashed through the main screen and shattered the hololithic plates in a shower of crystal and sparks. It bounced twice off the ceiling like a maddened hornet fighting a window pane, the colour of its flame-halo turning yellow and then furnace orange.
Cherubael dropped, hit the floor and burned through it leaving a circular, smouldering hole.
'Oh dear Emperor-' Eleena gasped.
'Come on!' I said. 'It won't be long before it comes back for another try. Move!'
Medea ran forward. The last few guards were busy beating out the flames swathing Heldane with their capes. He was still screaming.
'Get her out of here!' I told Medea, pushing Eleena towards her. 'Hangar deck! Go!'
They hurried towards the exit. Deep, bass detonations from somewhere deep in the Essene rocked the floor. Multiple alarms were sounding. Sparks cascaded from the buckled ceiling of the bridge.
I went over to Maxilla. His eyes flickered and he looked up at me. 'I didn't mean it…' he said in a tiny voice.
'Mean what?'
'I told that brute none of you meant anything to me. But I didn't mean it.'
'I know.'
Thank you,' he said, and died.
I ran from the bridge into one of the main longitudinal corridors. Smoke was boiling along it from untold damage below. On the floor, I saw weapons and cloaks dropped by Osma's guards in their panic to leave.
I'd taken about a dozen steps when a loud voice told me to halt.
Fischig was coming after me, aiming his bolt pistol with a straight, firm arm. He was bloodied and bruised by the explosion that had knocked him down, but there was an utterly determined set to his face. I'd seen that look before, but I'd never been on the receiving end of it.
'Stop where you are/ he said.
'Come on! We have to get clear. The ship is dying.'
'Stop where you are,' he repeated.
'Come with me. I'll explain everything and you'll see why it's vital for us to-'
'Shut up/ he said. 'It's all lies. It's always been lies. You know you nearly fooled me back then. I was almost convinced I'd made a terrible mistake going to Osma. But then you showed your true colours. Brought that daemon back and proved that everything I feared about you was true/
This isn't the time or place, Godwyn. I'm leaving now. Come with me if you want/
I turned my back on him and walked away.
'Gregor, please-'
I kept walking. I was sure he wouldn't shoot. We went back too far. When it came down to it, he wouldn't be able to stop me.