‘She asked you nicely anyway. She asked you a favour. A last favour. Save her daughter. I suppose that’s what you’re going to do. You’d do anything for her.’

The daemonhost saw Eisenhorn looking at the spectral city.

‘Or have you changed your mind, Gregor?’ he asked. ‘Are you still tempted? One final push to bring the Archenemy down?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know if any of it was true.’

‘Seems to me you have a choice. Do the right thing, or do the right thing. I know that doesn’t sound like a choice. You know what I mean. Do the big thing that matters, or the small thing that counts.’

‘Can’t I do both?’ asked Eisenhorn.

‘I don’t know?’ asked Cherubael. ‘Can you?’

Eisenhorn didn’t reply.

‘I suppose,’ said Cherubael, ‘it comes down to what matters most. To you. Obligation to… you know… I don’t like to say His name. Let’s call Him the Rot-God-King. Or obligation to those who counted on you. Personally, I mean. Let’s call them… and here’s another word I don’t like to use… friends.’

‘I don’t have any friends,’ said Eisenhorn.

‘No, you don’t, and I’ve always liked that about you,’ said Cherubael. ‘But… How can I put it? Friends have you. People have befriended you, to their cost. They have stuck to you. They have stayed with you. They have been loyal through everything. You’ve just never really been loyal back. Which is odd, because loyalty is your big thing.’

‘The two things have always conflicted,’ said Eisenhorn.

‘But?’

‘I want to do the right thing,’ said Eisenhorn. ‘I have always wanted to do the right thing. I’m damned because of it.’

‘So?’

‘I choose both. And choosing both means I don’t start here.’

Cherubael sighed.

‘We’re not staying then?’ he asked.

‘I’m not. I have something to finish. I have to… retrace my steps.’

‘Have I got to carry you?’

‘I don’t think you do.’

‘Well,’ said Cherubael. ‘I’ll be waiting for you then.’

‘You will?’

‘Like a good boy. That’s what you want. So that’s what I’ll do. I’ll wait right here until you get back. See you in… oh… about twenty years.’

Eisenhorn looked at the daemonhost and shook his head.

‘Off you go,’ said Cherubael. He gave a little wave. ‘Good luck and all that. That is what friends say, isn’t it?’

‘Why…’ said Eisenhorn. ‘Why are you being so nice to me?’

‘Well, because, quite frankly,’ said Cherubael, ‘and please don’t tell anyone, but right now you scare the absolute shit out of me.’

Eisenhorn smiled.

‘Hang on,’ said Cherubael. ‘I didn’t think you could do that any more.’

‘Neither did I,’ said Eisenhorn.

He raised his hand.

The fire leapt up.

Twenty-Four

TWENTY-FOUR

Whatever Day Yesterday Was

Davinch clutched Gobleka’s shoulder for support.