Fire and Earth by James Wallis

Author:James Wallis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 1995-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Part 2

It was late. To the east the first hues of dawn tainted the sky, while the red glow and high fingers of flame in the west testified to the strength of the fire that still raged there. Above it all, the chaos moon Morrslieb watched over the sleeping capital like an all-seeing and none too benevolent eye.

In his room in the Reiksguard barracks, Lieutenant Andreas Reisefertig licked his finger and turned the final page of the book on his desk. It was blank save for a woodcut, a strange abstract pattern. In the chamber beyond, his fellow officer and mentor Gottfried Braubach grumbled for a moment in his sleep before breaking into a deep snore. The day had been a long one for them both, but Andreas had not been trapped in a burning building by a diabolical old mage, so it was Braubach who slept and Reisefertig who had sat through the night reading Volume Thirteen of the New Apocrypha.

The candlelight flickered over the strange pattern and Reisefertig stared at it. He could see no picture in its lines and swirls, but it reminded him of something. Standing, he turned to the bookcase behind his desk and began to methodically take down the thirty-seven volumes of the Ancient Army Lists and Battle Reports of Johann Wissden. Hidden behind them on the shelf lay another row of books, smaller and with newer bindings, flat against the wall. Only the two of them knew of this secret cache: even for members of the Reiksguard’s little-known Untersuchung section, charged with protecting the Imperial court from the conspiracies and machinations of Chaos followers, possession of blasphemous material was a burning offence.

Reisefertig took down the seventh volume of the twelve, flipping to the final page. His memory had not fooled him: the woodcut there was similar, but not identical. He glanced out of the window, eyes unfocused, remembering. It had been in Middenheim. The day was snowy, and the large flakes had hissed as they landed on the bone-fires of seventeen heretics and minions of Chaos, the air full of the rich smell of burnt flesh and hair.

Braubach had been elated, sensing an end to their search. They had found the seventh volume in a secret drawer in a rich merchant’s desk. It had contained a scrap of parchment used as a bookmark, and that had led the two of them to Parravon, and the ambush by the Bretonnian swordswomen. He rubbed the deep scar on the back of his left hand, as it itched at the memory. That had been an eventful year.

The woodcut caught his eye again. Reisefertig replaced the seventh volume, strode back to the desk, and stared at the pattern on the endpaper. It was almost like a maze, a labyrinth, a single line curving in and around itself, yet leading ever inwards, towards one centre. The lieutenant’s brow fur rowed as he tried to focus on the diagram. It seemed to swim before his eyes… no, his eyes could see it perfectly well, but his mind could not take it in.

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