Black Library Celebration 2023 by Various authors

Author:Various authors
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2023-01-09T11:04:08+00:00

GOTHGHUL HOLLOW

by Anna Stephens

The once illustrious Gothghul family endures seasons of isolation in their castle overlooking the Hollow. But when the town is threatened by a spate of sinister manifestations, they must uncover a diabolic mystery to which they have but one clue: Mhurghast.

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Unnatural Causes

Jude Reid

Martia Lyviska didn’t need a diagnostor to know the man in the bed was dying.

His future was laid out before him, clear as the spread of a diviner’s tarot. It was etched in the gaunt hollows of his eyes, his cracked, cyanotic lips, the rigid cords of neck muscle straining beneath his papery skin. It wouldn’t be long, ­either. Every case of grey lung ended the same way. When the air hunger became too great for his fibrotic lungs to satisfy, desperation would turn to limb-thrashing panic, and the attending Sister Hospitaller would administer the Emperor’s Mercy in the form of a large syringe of morpholox. The hospice provided care from the cradle to the grave, but they made no promises about the length of the journey.

‘Martia! So sorry to keep you waiting!’

The heels of Medicae Superioris Emilja Vermannen’s boots beat out a staccato rhythm on the marble as she approached, echoing around the hospice’s high vaulted ceiling. In the subdued lighting, the white synthweave of her tunic glowed like the halo of an illuminated saint, the gold staff and skull of the Officio Medicae gleaming on each immaculate epaulette.

‘Hello, Emilja. You’re looking well.’

Fifteen years had passed since they had attended the collegio together, but Emilja’s complexion was as youthful as when they first matriculated. The signs of microdosed ­juvenat treatment were subtle, but they were there if you knew what to look for – start early enough and you could avert the stigmata of ageing before they first began to show. Martia smoothed back the flyaway strands of her own greying hair and forced a smile onto her face.

Emilja kissed the air on either side of Martia’s cheeks. ‘How are you? How’s Issak? Keeping well, I hope?’

‘Not really.’ There was nothing new about her son’s condition, but that didn’t make it any easier for Martia to articulate. ‘I wondered – I’m sorry – I wondered if you could take another look at him. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t urgent.’

Emilja waved an expansive hand. ‘I’m never too busy for Issak. Bring him in, I’d be happy to help.’

Martia glanced around the hospice. The level of bed occu­pancy was an accurate predictor of the current quality of the local air. ‘Looks like you’re full already.’

‘It’s never full for long. Think about it. He’d be in safe hands – you could visit every day.’

It was a tempting offer. Work would be so much easier knowing Issak was in the care of the Hospitallers, instead of her half-blind neighbour across the hall. She was on the cusp of agreeing when Emilja’s meaning dawned on her.

She wasn’t offering Issak admission for treatment and recovery. She was offering him a place to die.

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