It lunged forward but then backed off slightly, as if stung. It had touched the psychic deadzone around Eleena. Cherubael turned his attention down towards her.
'Hello. Aren't you a sweet little thing? What a pretty face! Shame I'm going to ruin it.'
'Mmmh!' Eleena sobbed.
You're a clever old stick, Gregor. Always careful enough to have an untouchable at your side when you meet with me. This isn't the regular one, though, is it? What happened to her?'
I wrenched the book open.
'She won't save you, mind,' said Cherabael, reaching out with hands that were sprouting thick, ugly talons.
I thrust the book up and held it in front of his eyes with both hands, clamping the pages open so that the daemonhost could clearly see.
It was diagrams of the four chief runes of banishment. They wouldn't banish Cherubael, because they hadn't been properly invoked. But I was pretty sure just reading them would hurt.
Cherubael squealed and tumbled back. I stepped forward a pace, keeping the book raised and open.
Wracked with agony, the daemonhost soared back across the bridge, crashed through the main screen and shattered the hololithic plates in a shower of crystal and sparks. It bounced twice off the ceiling like a maddened hornet fighting a window pane, the colour of its flame-halo turning yellow and then furnace orange.
Cherubael dropped, hit the floor and burned through it leaving a circular, smouldering hole.
'Oh dear Emperor-' Eleena gasped.
'Come on!' I said. 'It won't be long before it comes back for another try. Move!'
Medea ran forward. The last few guards were busy beating out the flames swathing Heldane with their capes. He was still screaming.
'Get her out of here!' I told Medea, pushing Eleena towards her. 'Hangar deck! Go!'
They hurried towards the exit. Deep, bass detonations from somewhere deep in the Essene rocked the floor. Multiple alarms were sounding. Sparks cascaded from the buckled ceiling of the bridge.
I went over to Maxilla. His eyes flickered and he looked up at me. 'I didn't mean it…' he said in a tiny voice.
'Mean what?'
'I told that brute none of you meant anything to me. But I didn't mean it.'
'I know.'
Thank you,' he said, and died.
I ran from the bridge into one of the main longitudinal corridors. Smoke was boiling along it from untold damage below. On the floor, I saw weapons and cloaks dropped by Osma's guards in their panic to leave.
I'd taken about a dozen steps when a loud voice told me to halt.
Fischig was coming after me, aiming his bolt pistol with a straight, firm arm. He was bloodied and bruised by the explosion that had knocked him down, but there was an utterly determined set to his face. I'd seen that look before, but I'd never been on the receiving end of it.
'Stop where you are/ he said.
'Come on! We have to get clear. The ship is dying.'
'Stop where you are,' he repeated.
'Come with me. I'll explain everything and you'll see why it's vital for us to-'
'Shut up/ he said. 'It's all lies. It's always been lies. You know you nearly fooled me back then. I was almost convinced I'd made a terrible mistake going to Osma. But then you showed your true colours. Brought that daemon back and proved that everything I feared about you was true/
This isn't the time or place, Godwyn. I'm leaving now. Come with me if you want/
I turned my back on him and walked away.
'Gregor, please-'
I kept walking. I was sure he wouldn't shoot. We went back too far. When it came down to it, he wouldn't be able to stop me.
The boltgun roared. The shot exploded my left knee. I cried out and fell, leaning on Barbarisater. There was blood everywhere. I couldn't believe he'd found the will to do it.
With a yelp of pain I hauled myself up on the sword. He fired again and now my right leg went out from under me, also mangled at the knee.
I lay on my back. I could feel the death throes of the Essene quaking and thundering through the deck beneath me. Fischig stood over me.
'Stop this…' I gasped. 'Get me to the hangar/
He drew back the slide of the bolt pistol. He was shaking with distress, wracked by grief and disappointment and duty and belief.
