‘That’s it,’ Chetta told her. The skeins of power were thickening and becoming more vivid to her warp-sight, but she could sense that they had a long way to grow yet before they reached their full potential. On the one hand, that was encouraging: the rite didn’t look to be near completion.

On the other hand, as a hurting, tired woman on foot, without the protection of a Geller field or a spacecraft, the scope of what was coming terrified her.

‘I can make out a few heat signatures ahead, but the smog is confusing most of my sensors,’ Ngiri announced over the vox. ‘We don’t know how many of them there are, or what abilities they may have, but I don’t think we have the time to reconnoitre. On my signal…’ The inquisitor paused, as though considering, then appeared to come to a conclusion.

‘Kill everything that isn’t us,’ she finished, decisively.

‘What about Niklau?’ Chetta asked.

‘Kill him too,’ Ngiri replied, her tone clearly suggesting that she thought the question to be a redundant one.

‘Yeah, I’d say we should definitely try to kill him,’ Fell put in.

‘Are you certain that killing him will stop the ritual?’ Chetta asked.

‘No, but I don’t have any better ideas,’ Ngiri said shortly. ‘If you, Carmine or Nero gain any insights on that front, then please feel free to share them. Otherwise, I find that killing a Chaos witch rarely makes things worse. Is everyone ready?’

There was a quiet chorus of assent over the vox.

‘Very well, then. Let us bring righteous fury and death to these heretical scum.’ Ngiri raised her power sword. ‘For the Emperor!’

‘For the Emperor!’ echoed the rest of Chetta’s companions, and they all surged forwards. Ahead of them, the darkness and gloom was split by a momentary muzzle flash and the booming sound of a simple but powerful firearm. Grangar sprawled backwards, blown off her feet by the force of the shot, and didn’t rise again. Wroze fired his hellgun from the hip in response, and the muffled scream that sounded indicated that he’d hit his target. Chetta fired blindly, working on the basis that so long as she avoided her fellows’ backs then she was unlikely to do any harm, and might actually hit something; but she was already being left behind and her available angles of fire were narrowing considerably. In a few more moments, her guards and Ngiri’s team would be scarcely more distinct than the shadowy shapes of the cultists picked out against the witch-light of the ritual. She tried to increase her pace. The ground was uneven and her reserves of strength were low, but she didn’t want to be left behind in case Radimir Niklau decided to step out of thin air and add another warp eye to his collection.