I sat down on the floor and hid my face and both hands in the scarf to chase away the horrifying images. The reckless promise had been inevitable to get out of the daemon shrine but the idea of sacrificing a random person to the dark gods gave me chills, something even my late mentor would have shunned till his fateful meeting with Imudon. I thought about embarking to the closest Malleus fortress, entrusting my friends to the protection of the Grey Knights and confessing everything to get executed before one of these Chaos-worshippers came to claim me.

'Imudon's going here! We'll all get sacrificed!' I heard a desperate cry in the nave, and other voices repeated it all over the hall. 'Outta here! Away! To the docks!'

Thousands of worshippers rushed to the doors past me, trampling those who'd tripped on the run. All of a sudden Imudon appeared from a side passage and entered the niche, his face so stern and grim I didn't dare to tease him anymore.

'Treason within,' he grumbled. 'Your bloody Ravens have turned the sanctuary into utter mayhem. They've even released your team, luckily, the captives didn't have time to wander far from the shrine.'

'Everyone's running for their lives.' The unexpected vanishing of his solemn tone was surprising.

'That won't change anything. My own barge cannot be reached from the docks, and I've led enough soldiers here to stand on guard while I'm finishing the ritual. Are you ready to say farewell to your petty life?'

'You'll kill my retinue before?'

'I don't have to. They're currently trapped in one of the valleys leading to the docks. They'll go by the path for days but will never get a step closer to their goal. Soon they'll start starving, and stray hunting daemons will sense live red-blooded prey among the rocks.'

'You old despicable shithead.' I clenched my fists. 'One day the brave fellows of Titan will blow up your daemon hut.'

'I won't be very sad.' He leaned to me and lifted my face by the chin. 'I say, has anybody tried to talk to you while I was absent?'

'Not at all. I was just sitting here in the corner.'

'Are you sure? That's important for both.'

'Stop pestering me with silly questions. I've already told you.'

He frowned with visible doubt but didn't say anything. A squad of Word Bearer legionnaires was waiting outside, a decorated sergeant holding Plodia by the neck, another marine leading the Canoness. Imudon took me by the hand and led me to the altars where his creepy second-in-command was waiting, half-circled by a dozen shadows. He smiled with the corners of his mouth when he saw me. I looked aside with posed indifference.

Imudon turned to the central gate, his jaws clenched with strain, and uttered a chilling phrase of unwords paying no attention to the stampede behind his back. The shadows started chanting bloodcurdling canticles in high-pitched inhuman voices, sulphurous fumes oozed from numerous cracks in the walls and columns. Plodia was standing by my side ignoring everything around, her null field shrunk to virtually nothing. The Canoness muttered prayers as if to muffle the unholy hymns, and I followed her example. The long-familiar words of the Death Incantation, the most fitting for the desperate situation.

'Plodia Interpunctella!' Imudon bellowed. 'You had renounced the false faith in the Enthroned Corpse before you arrived here. Are you ready to curse the Anathema and pledge your worthless existence to the Great Powers of the Immaterium?'

Plodia said nothing. Imudon repeated his invocation but gasped in the middle of the phrase. The legionnaire who stood behind him stabbed the Dark Apostle in the side with a dagger of black flint. Imudon fell to his knees, and bright red blood streamed out to the ground. Two more drew their swords and attacked the sergeant at the same time. The First Acolyte and the shadows didn't move, simply watching over the skirmish.

'Frigging run away!' I was the first to come to my senses.

The shadows had vanished, and their master walked up to the disguised Ravens finishing the few Word Bearers. Raaf swung the black blade at him, but the weapon slipped out of his hand the moment it touched the red ceramite. The sergeant brought the First Acolyte down with a punch to the face and made a sign to the others. I gave Plodia a shove and pointed at the exit. The Ravens picked us three up to their shoulders and ran to the exit kicking aside cultists who came in their way. I undid the clasps of the marked carapace and tossed it down.

The very earth of the daemon world was shaking beneath our feet when we broke through the panicked crowd and left the shrine. Crushed, trampled, choking cultists on the ground marked the way to the docks.

'Three of the ours have taken a small ship for us to escape,' Raaf said. 'We're only sorry about your friends. They were nowhere to be found.'

'Imudon said they're trapped in one of the nearby valleys. Please.'

'How shall we take them out? Are your psychic powers enough?'

'I will try. Along with Plodia.'

Raaf took Plodia from another marine's shoulder and seated her to the other pauldron. Skinny to the point of emaciation, she barely looked like herself now. As soon as we got out of the nave, her abilities started returning, and I felt uneasy when the edge of her null field came in touch with my aura.

'Get to the port, bluds,' Raaf shouted to his crew. 'If we don't come within an hour by your chronometers, leave without us.'

I leaned back to fall out of the suppressing blankness and concentrated on my psyker-sight. The cacophony of human and daemonic presences was a tangle impossible to undo. I tried to stray away from the main flow of people aiming for the side valleys. After minutes of fruitless search, I felt a hint of human souls but soon other entities were startled by the intent stare. I clutched the pauldron edging not to fall down at an unexpected psychic attack.

'Head to the south-east.' I pointed to the valley drawing my laspistol.

With Plodia's helpful aura, we were approaching the distant narrow passages between high barren rocks quicker than expected on the warp-twisted planet. Finally, I saw four little figures climbing a steep footpath to the top of a high cliff separating them from the docks. They didn't stop but couldn't get even a meter closer to the goal. A pack of winged shadows was circling over their heads, one or two diving down at them every second. All their ammunitions had been left in the owl so all my team could do was swinging primitive melee weapons taken from cultists at the attacking entities.

Plodia had fully come to herself, watching the pack of daemonic predators in combat concentration.

'Furies. Cowardly but dangerous when in numbers. Give me your pistol, Volentia. Time to remember Lord Mentor's trainings. Get ready for a blast.'

We stopped atop the footpath, and Plodia leapt to the ground, no more a scared abused captive, but a determined fighter. She cried out a battle litany, and my ears just popped at a powerful discharge of anti-psychic energy. In a few minutes she was already halfway down the slope, shooting at the furies scared more by her null field than the laser beam. My friends noticed her approach and speeded up to finally get out of the trap. With Plodia in the middle of the group, they climbed up where we were waiting.

'My buddy, sergeant Raaf of the Raven Guard,' I presented the marine to my retinue.

Angel frowned at the unholy armour of the Raven but didn't say anything. All still clad in their vacation clothes, now torn and dirty, they had wounds from the daemons' claws and fangs but luckily none of the injuries were grave. There was no time to exchange impressions so we hurried to the other side of the mountain pass where crowds of fugitives were struggling to get a place in a ship or shuttle.

Raaf pointed at a small trader escort tethered to one of the dock towers. As the planet was so distorted there was likely no real orbit at all, private vessels not belonging to the legion were simply 'parked' over the dock area. Larger ones had rows of lighters and landing modules now soaring up one by one with parties of both cultists and slaves.

'Me crew had led almost all quarry slaves to capture this one,' Raaf said proudly. 'A squad of traitors met us at the gates but they stood no chance against a whole crowd running for their lives. Many have perished fighting for their freedom but there's no serious battle without fallen.'

'That's where you've got a new groove,' I chuckled.

Bolter fire made us fall back when we were about to board the remaining shuttle guarded by two Ravens. Still suffering from their battle wounds they'd got in the convent basilica and protected only by working uniforms and parts of trophy armour, both leapt out to join us in the skirmish against a fresh squad of Word Bearers.

Their leader shot a few warpflame blasts at the guards but they died out as soon as they got in Plodia's null range. Angel roared in a bout of blood fury raising his crudely forged axes over his head, the Ravens took cover behind the lander keeping the enemies away by non-stop bolter fire.

'Volentia, let's start the engine now!' I heard Fluffster shouting.

I ran after him into the lighter. We got to the trashed, battered cabin, and Fluffster started tapping on the cracked sensor screens to prepare the shuttle for boarding the escort. The operation system, as always on looted cultist vessels, was buggy and slow, it started only after he had tried a few Martian codes to pacify the haywired Machine Spirit. I tried to be of help adjusting additional options and sending requests to the ship to prepare the landing deck and turn on a beacon so we could get there despite the unnatural geometry of the place.

Through the cabin windshield I saw Angel hacking at the enemies, his own blood streaming down his chest and shoulders along with theirs. Two of the attackers lay dead or mortally wounded on the ground, hit by a dozen bolter shots and mauled by the Blood Angel's furious strikes. One of the Word Bearers jumped back, a krak grenade in his hand, and aimed right at the cabin. As the lighter had no guns, Fluffster just pulled me down to the floor. A deafening blast thundered outside.

I lifted my head and sat up. The glass was intact. Two more Word Bearers had turned into a bloody mess of torn flesh and fragmented armour. I heard our fighters run up the ramp. Angel entered the last, hardly able to stand as his side and chest were blooded up by the explosion. Raaf and another Raven helped him to sit down and handed him a trophy stim-pack, leaving aside their usual irony for the Blood Angels.

'Specs on the henching fellow,' Raaf said with approval. 'He's absolutely wicked. Kicked the grenade back to the traitors. Got bitta grazed himself but nothing that won't heal.'

Led by the experienced Magos, the lighter left the ground and headed to the ship. The remaining Ravens along with Canoness Chrysopa had already divided the ex-slaves to groups and distributed them between the decks and halls. To our relief, the Navigator spire wasn't empty. When the marines broke the locks and seals on the door, we found an elderly emaciated man chained to his chair. We removed his facial mask, unlocked the shackles, and Sister brought him some water from the ship's plumbing.

'What do you want from me?' he wheezed out on drinking the big cup to the bottom. 'I've already been captured twice and got used to slavemasters.'

Instead of an answer I pulled the rosette out of my pocket. His reaction surprised me as most citizens of the Imperium felt either fear or hostility towards the bearers of this imposing emblem. He fell to his knees, tears running down his peaked cheeks, grabbed my hand and pressed the rosette to his lips.

'No one will come to the rescue, the bastard daemon-worshipper said. The Emperor has sent you, my lady.'

Raaf got rid of his tainted armour and was waiting us on the bridge along with a few leaders chosen by the ex-slaves. The vessel was decrepit and distorted by long years in the warp but there was enough fuel to make a one-way trip to the Imperial space.

'Good sirs,' said one of the miners, a bulky grim man with underhive tattoos. 'We'd never be welcome in the Imperium. Half of us are either former mobsters or cult penitents. But most likely, they'll just blow up the mutated ship on sight.'

The navigator descended to the bridge, supported by Uncle and Sister. He shook his head sadly.

'I know only a few warp routes from here, all to the Ocellatus sector. I won't risk venturing to random locations lest we jump out to the core of a star or, even worse, a xenos domain.'

'Ocellatus is close to my home sector,' I said. 'You have to trust the Emperor who's taken you out of this hell on earth.'

'Most of us have been raised in hatred for Him,' another fugitive objected.

'But He's pardoned you instead of letting you perish there and have your soul fed to the Neverborn,' Canoness Chrysopa supported me.

'We'll be sent to penal colonies at best, ma'am.'

'None of you will be put to death as you've assisted us in our escape. I'm ready to witness that before the conclave. You'll be checked for taint and get a chance to start another life in a city or an agri-world. If any of you is guilty of really grave crimes, that one has to remember no prison world can be even remotely as horrifying as the shrine undervaults.'

After a consideration we chose the shortest of the routes leading to the edge of the sector. The ship storages had a stock of dried rations but the fugitives were so numerous I called Fluffster to help me calculate and distribute the daily portions. If the rations were used in the regime of strictest economy, we had about two weeks before the passengers started starving. The ship had an almost working system of water recycling but it took a couple of days to repair it enough to get three quarters of its max capacity. Sister took command of the medical duties, using what little was stored in the infirmary to treat wounds.

After another distribution of food, I joined Fluffster in the corner of a mess-room where he was writing a daily entry in the ship logs checking the data from vessel cogitators.

'The previous owner was a total asshole in the terms of dealing with machines,' he complained. 'Still a lot to do to prevent daemonic abominable intelligence from messing into the functioning of the engines. The cogitators are so bugged I wonder how they work at all.'

'The stocks have already been used to a half.' I was browsing the ration inventory. 'The navigator's doing his best but he's too weak to combat the tides. A day behind the planned course.'

'Warp is rarely predictable. We might spend here minutes as well as aeons.'

'We have people to care for. Have to admit, I wish I could get as far from the memories of that nightmarish place as possible. Wonder how you've spent so much time there and are still sane.'

'I have to admit, I was aware of the place even before so it wasn't as traumatic for me. As for your other friends, only prayers kept them alive.'

'I've been truly impressed by Imudon. The meeting I tried to evade for so long. He's different from Aphedron, or the Flying Fox, or the Iron team. One of ancient great strategists of Old Terra said, if you know the enemy and know yourself, in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. If you know yourself but not the enemy, your chances of winning and losing are equal. Now I know more about the enemy, but I'm not sure whether I really know myself.'

'I think it's exactly the opposite. You've got a chance to learn more about yourself during the uneasy ordeal but you're yet to find out who the real enemy is.'

We left the Immaterium two days later than planned, already running out of fuel and rations. I hoped we could land on a shady trading outpost to bargain for the replenishment of our stocks but we got intercepted by a border flotilla right on entering the sector space.

I heard a harsh voice from the bridge dynamics. 'Stop immediately. You're wanted all over the sector by order of Lord Astronotus.'

The High Inquisitor who'd nicked Plodia and removed her tainted tooth implant, I recalled the story told by Lady Melitara. I typed in my inquisitorial password before answering.

'This ship has been taken by the Imperial forces, sir. I'm Inquisitor Volentia of the Botian Hereticus Conclave, accompanied by a squad of the Raven Guard Adeptus Astartes.'

'Delighted to hear, m'lady. Let me escort you to the Inquisitorial citadel.'

As I'd learned from Plodia, the reputation of Lord Astronotus was far from perfect. A staunch narrow-minded Puritan, he was mostly renowned for checking up everything with paranoid zeal. She remembered with a laugh how she'd encountered him at a city fair in her rogue trader times. He'd arrived there in a full suit of power armour, mounted on a mechanical throne, surrounded by an illustrious retinue of warrior acolytes and Battle Sisters, tasting sweets displayed on the stalls to find out whether there were any with Chaos taint. He'd have solved the Alackaday case better than the hapless Domna Drago, I had to admit.

Astronotus received us in his stateroom in the heart of the operation base that reminded not of a neat office like that on Uebotia but of a perfectly armed fortress ready to counter any attack. He nodded at us from his lofty throne, clad in armour even at civil duties. More a warrior than an official or a sage himself, he was an unusually tall man with a muscular neck, a buzz cut and a suntanned face with a massive lower jaw.

'You're welcome in our headquarters, Lady Volentia. Lady Interpunctella.' He seemed surprised by Plodia's radical transformation. 'We'll praise the Emperor for leading you out of the enemy domain. Greetings to you, honoured Battle-Brothers. And I'm especially delighted to see you again, venerable Sage.'

To my surprise, Fluffster walked up the throne dais and shook hands with the High Inquisitor. He must have encountered Astronotus during one of his joint ventures with Corydoras and his team.

'All of your fellow fugitives will be thoroughly examined, and if there's no mutation beyond repair, they'll get a list of vacancies in nearby systems. As for you, sirs and ladies, I have to apologise but we are obliged to put you on quarantine till we get an official response from your superiors. I personally promise you will be provided all necessary comfort and treatment for the wounded but we have to record your accounts of the daemon world and put you through a series of tests.'

We spent about three weeks in the stronghold till the end of the formalities. My most serious concern during the long interrogation and recording sessions was to keep the malign secret of the shrine even from my team. Unwilling to damage his perfect working reputation and having friendly obligations to his distant relative, Platydoras did his best to throw off any suspicion. Even a man as noncompromising as Astronotus was satisfied by my characteristics issued by the Ordo. There were questions about Plodia as the Inquisitor Lord was aware of the latest scandals but her service with the Malleus meant atonement for all previous sins.

A week later Aeneus finally arrived to pick us up and embark for Uebotia. I was especially delighted that he shipped us the owl the Sororitas had found in the ravine while searching for us in the woods. His eyes watered when he finally saw his mother who he hadn't even hoped to see alive again.

'I owe you, Volentia. You may count on me and Ephestia even in your darkest hours.'

I said my goodbyes to the Ravens and Chrysopa with mutual assertments of future cooperation. Unfortunately, I didn't have time right now to get to the convent of the Revelation for another acolyte for my retinue but I knew I had sages to rely on during my future investigations. Leaving back the hardships of the uneasy mission, we sailed forth to our sector as there was a lot of new work to do.