01 - Sandy Mitchell - Scourge The Heretic by Scourge The Heretic

Author:Scourge The Heretic
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: none
Published: 2012-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

The Fathomsound Mine, Sepheris Secundus 098.993.M41

FROM THE AIR, the great gash in the earth where the Tonis family clung grimly to their holdings resembled nothing so much as asuppurating wound, the encrusted scabs of waterlogged spoil that surrounded it for kilometres reminding Horst uncomfortably ofhardening pus. As Barda banked the shuttle gently to the left, descending slowly towards one of the villas clinging precariously tothe lip of the vast chasm, the former arbitrator was able to get his first real view of the pit, and shook his head in bemusedsurprise.

'I was expecting something like the Gorgonid,' he said. 'Smaller of course, but nothing as weird as this.'

Drake, who occupied the seat next to him, leaned across for a better view 'T. he Fathomsound's unique,' he said. 'No one reallyremembers if the lake's always been there, or if the workings broke through into an underground river one day and the pit flooded, but there's nowhere else like it on Sepheris Secundus.'

Horst could believe that. Instead of the endless turmoil of the pit under Icenholm, which he'd become almost familiar with durinhis g stay in the suspended city, the shadowy crater below them was filled with black water, extending further back beneath theoverhanging lip of the workings than it was possible to see from this altitude. Almost in the centre of it, like the misshapen pupil of a dark, malignant eye, a jumble of ramshackle buildings and other structures floated like surface scum. Only as the tiny fleckssurrounding it resolved themselves into boats was he able to appreciate the full magnitude of the waterborne slum that the serfswere unfortunate enough to call home. 'How deep is it?' he asked, unable to keep a note of awe from his voice.

'No one knows,' Drake said. 'Deep enough for all kinds of wild stories though.' He shrugged '. The usual peasant bogeymen. Someof the serfs believe there's a drowned city at the bottom, with Emperor knows what living in the ruins, but the water pressure's toogreat for anyone to have really got down deep enough to see. Anyone who's got back up again, at any rate.'

'You'd be surprised how many peasant bogeymen you run into in this job,' Horst told him, enjoying the brief expression ofdiscomfiture that crossed Drake's face, before the former Guardsman nodded thoughtfully.

'A week ago I'd have thought you were jerking my chain saying that,' he said, 'but after what we saw at the Citadel...' He broke off, and tilted his head towards the narrow door leading to the shuttle's cockpit. 'Are you sure the flyboy's still keeping his mouthshut?'

'Pretty much,' Horst said, 'and the inquisitor must think he's a low security risk, or he'd never have allowed him back on-planet in the first place.' Nevertheless, he'd kept the young pilot on constant standby since their patron had departed from the system, along with the shuttle Inquisitor Finurbi had requisitioned from Captain Malakai. Barda's superiors in the Guild hadn't argued, and the

pilot seemed quite happy with the arrangement, no doubt relieved to

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