‘But still,’ he said, frowning. ‘They cannot believe that it is over simply because one little band of fanatics strayed into the marshes.’ He heard again the shrill screams in his mind. Goosebumps rose on his skin and suddenly the morning light didn’t feel so warm. ‘What happened out there last night?’

‘Perhaps it was divine vengeance,’ said Romilla, avoiding his eye and sipping her metha.

‘Really?’ asked Hendrick. ‘Is Sigmar so jealous in his worship? Does he truly have time to inflict a curse of displeasure upon an entire city because a deluded cult worshipped him the wrong way?’

‘Hendrick, the regent militant was a mighty servant of Sigmar back in his youth,’ said Romilla. ‘He founded an entire city upon faith alone, defeated a mighty champion of Chaos and all his armies, defended this place without any aid from the Stormcast Eternals. His deeds are little short of miraculous. Doesn’t it seem plausible that the God-King might take a personal interest in this place? And can you not at least entertain the notion that perhaps the regent militant’s prayers were answered with clarity, and a terrible blight was expunged?’

‘Didn’t get plucked up in lightning though, did he?’ asked Bartiman. ‘Surely someone that marvellous should have been reforged, no?’

‘From what I saw, Romilla, those fanatics were dead-set on leaving anyway,’ said Hendrick, giving the serving girl a brief smile as she placed his breakfast before him. ‘What did the regent militant really do?’

The girl’s return smile faltered at his words, but she kept its remnants plastered on her face as she hurried back into the inn.

‘For all we know, it was the strength of his faith that repelled the heathens and drove them to go marching out into the storm as they did,’ replied Romilla. ‘I do not disagree that last night was unpleasant, cruel even. But this is a cruel time, Hendrick, and deviance swiftly brings the curse of Chaos down upon us all.’

‘Doesn’t matter why it happened,’ said Borik as he joined them, and his manner was brisk. ‘Fact is, the city’s open, we’ve done what we were hired to do, and we’ve an overdue contract to complete. I’ll talk to the barkeep about hiring that wagon and a beast to pull it. We can be gone by noon.’

‘You want to leave?’ asked Hendrick, finding himself unsurprised.

‘Why would we stay?’ asked Borik, sounding genuinely surprised. ‘Whatever this was, it’s done. We’ve a job to finish.’

‘I’m not convinced we’ve finished this job,’ said Hendrick.

Borik’s expression darkened. ‘We’re done with Draconium, Hendrick,’ he said, his words hammered out like flint. ‘We warned them. We helped. We’re done.’

‘It doesn’t tie up,’ said Hendrick stubbornly. ‘Varlen’s warning wasn’t about some band of deluded cultists. And just because the storm’s stopped–’