Rain had stopped, and dim light of the twin moons oozed through the arches of boughs. The few remaining leaves fluttered in the wind amid tangled branches above. Locals rarely ventured to the old forest even at daytime in the gloomy last days of autumn. The spooky days when spirits leave the lands beyond to stalk the borders of human villages. The Forest of Ghosts, they called it, telling long tales of mean wood spirits and vanished lone wanderers during winter nights. Trying to stay in the shadows, I sneaked between two dead firs and crawled over a fallen oak. Angel would warn us if any of the Coven noticed our presence.

The owl stood hidden in piles of fallen leaves at the bottom of a deep ravine that separated the woodlands from village pastures already abandoned till the end of the long winter. None of the locals should see us. Their space-faring past forgotten after the Old Night, they lived a simple life of farming and mining. Their elders believed in mysterious angels from the stars sent by the Lord of Heaven but most of them hadn't seen any with their own eyes. Once in a century, sub-sector authorities sent a messenger to the High King to collect a symbolic tithe of crops and silver, but mostly to remind them about the Emperor watching them from the starry skies.

Psykers were rare among the population, and most members of the Coven had arrived to the backwater world from the other end of the sector to hide from the attention of the Ordo. The last tithe mission had returned to the capital ten years ago. Even Black Ships of the Astra Telepathica paid little attention to the system. They had probably spent more than a year in the Forest of Ghosts until weird images started appearing in astropathic messages all over the sub-sector cluster. Future investigation found out the traces of the Staff of Everchange, a lost artifact of terrible power, also led to this desolate region. It had been sold on a black market auction for a price enough to buy a whole planet. There were rumours that the enigmatic seller had brought along a few tomes of warp lore and a whole squad of Rubric Marines but neither the confirmation nor the customers hadn't been revealed yet.

After the successful completion of my previous commission my curators from the Conclave had decided I could be trusted a harder challenge. Along with a team of Ordo Malleus operatives led by High Inquisitor Lady Cichlasoma herself, we made our way to the planet where my crew was to sneak to the den of the heretics and retrieve the tainted weapon. The adepts of the Coven were a close-knit group of medium-level psykers devoted to the Lord of Change. There were no trained soldiers among them, but their witch-skills made them quite tough enemies.

'Found them,' Angel voxed drawing his bolter. 'Half a mile to the east. Human presence on the riverbank.'

A big owl took wing from a spreading hawthorn bough, and rainwater drops fell down tapping on my hat. Hooting echoed in the trees. I tried not to make noise as I stepped on the wet moss, fully concentrated to hide my aura from the psykers' glance. Sounds of running water came from beneath when we crossed a moonlit glade and started walking down a slope, knee-deep in withered grass.

'Nobody there by now,' I heard Angel's voice again. 'That's disturbing.'

'Skedaddled, as usual,' Uncled grunted and covered his mouth to muffle a bout of coughing. His lung wound hadn't fully healed yet, so he was walking a few steps behind to cover us with gunfire out of the skirmish.

At the foothill, where the river was winding between crooked willows, the entrance to the Coven's underground dwelling was hidden under the roots of an old overturned tree. The place stank of death. My psychic senses felt it once I ran down to the riverbank. I let Angel approach the den first. He scanned it with his auspexes and waved at me.

The door at the bottom of the steep stairway was open, and a stripe of reddish light fell on the ground steps from the inner chambers. I followed Angel in with both weapons ready. We passed through a few living rooms lit by oil lamps and torches. Full bowls of soup had been left on the tables, wet raincloaks hung at the doors. They had been here a mere hour ago. No guards or even traps left behind. But for the psychic reek, I'd be sure they had left through another exit, startled by the strangers.

I carefully examined the rooms looking for any clues, traces of rites or fights. I was still reluctant to use my psychic powers until we were sure there was no daemonic tricks involved. The cultists had probably felt safe in the forest as their door locks were simple, and all household goods they used were crude utensils and furniture made by local craftsmen.

The hall of worship was located a level below and separated from the living chambers by a wooden hatch. I prepared for the daemon weapon's mind-attack once Angel tore out the cover and jumped in. Nauseating echo of violent deaths struck me instead, much stronger than above. Ten bodies in whimsical garbs of coloured feathers lay on the floor around a wooden altar in the center. The carved wood still kept a faint trail of the weapon's presence. Sister bowed down to examine the corpses.

'Lasgun wounds. And abhorrent signs of mutation.' She frowned at the sight of bird claws and patches of blue feathered skin.

'Quite swift robbers,' I said. 'That's whom your auspex noticed on the riverbank, Angel. Take a pict of the place and burn the corpses before they attract something worse. The scoundrels couldn't have gone too far, Fluffster would notice any shuttle leaving the surface.'

I hurried out trying to catch at least a feeble trace of the robbers' souls. Nothing. Blanks, a guess popped into my head at once. If so, we're screwed. Either a powerful Radical or a crime boss who had hired them would remove the witnesses before Lady Cichlasoma came to the rescue. I typed a quick ciphered message to our ship waiting in orbit. Thanks to Fluffster's Martian lore, we could use the most intricate ciphers to feel safe. Rourke's unlucky death and the following bureaucratic troubles had made me abandon the idea of hiring his vessel for permanent cooperation. We had had to spend half a month on Uebotia during the tourist season until Lady Melitara returned from another business trip. I felt uneasy to distract her but her steadfast devotion to the Emperor made her postpone all other duties.

The answer came quickly. 'No other spacecraft spotted nearby. Will scan the area for stealth vessels.' If really so, there was a chance to intercept the agents and leave the planet before their patrons enter the game. Angel kept on scanning the vicinity. On the very edge of the auspex range he spotted a moving object. The forest was too dense to use vehicles, so the robbers were going by foot. We didn't have time to return to the owl but Angel's jump pack would ease the task.

Despite the protests of my overprotective friends, I climbed up on Angel's shoulder. Fresh wind hit me in the face when we left the shady thickets and plunged out towards the countless stars scattered over the clearing skies. I caught my breath rushing through the cold night air and then falling down from the heights in a few moments when the very feeling of reality was lost.

'In the gully.' Angel landed in thick grass and put me on the ground.

On the way down the slippery slope I tripped over and fell on my side. My left leg got numb up to the knee. A gust of icy cold made me shiver. I swept my arm out but pulled it back the same second. A jet-black rod lay in lush hair moss at my feet, tiny silvery sparks running over the obsidian surface.

'So not blanks,' I said rubbing my leg. 'But little better. Especially when they're rich enough to drop a weapon like that. I'm not surprised the cultists were taken with their pants down.'

'They're heretics that must be stopped,' he answered with one of his favourite clichéd phrases. 'Tell us what to do, and we'll purge the unclean for you in the Emperor's name.'

I sighed. 'You're puzzled indeed if you started preaching again. Trace the presumed route.'

He shrugged his shoulders. 'It ends down there.'

He stayed on the top with the rod, and I hurried down to the empty bottom of the ravine. Nowhere to hide, not even a small hole in the moss carpet. Plain calm of midnight. But for distinctive warp unrest. My flashlight beam caught a dark line crossing the bright green. I raised the flashlight to light up the distant part. An uneven circle of burnt moss in the middle of the gully where the disturbance was the strongest.

'They evaded through a warp gate.' I walked round the circle in a vain hope to find out something more. 'Smart. That's why ghosts scare the locals and unlucky latent psykers end up half a galaxy away just going out to pick wild berries. The moment I wish I had a stronger ability. Let's check up the skills of Lady Melitara's astropaths then. Only real masters of their job can find the wanted criminal with clues as subtle as this. Just keep your head up, brother.' I smiled at him to cheer him up.

He sighed in response. 'Sorry, Volentia. A memory from the past. Something I wish I had forgotten long ago. Let's return to the ship.'

Lady Melitara accepted the news with stoic patience. Initially, she had planned to carry us to the Malleus outpost with the relic and proceed to her business duties. I chose five big gemstones from the Casbah in our emergency stock and left them on Melitara's table despite her protests of politeness. Her astropaths took the moss samples from the warp gate to study the trail while the leader of the choir went through the closest areas of the Empyrean looking for subtle fluctuations. I suggested activating the gate but Melitara dismissed the idea at once.

'My lady, pardon my impudence, but I don't want to even discuss such heretical things.' She slapped on the panel in anger. 'I answered your call because you're known as a pious Puritan. Radicalism is the plague of modern Ordos.'

There were facts of my recent biography she'd better not to find out at all. 'Well, Captain, some ultimate Puritans deem all usage of warp to be heresy.'

She didn't smile back. 'Navigators and astropaths had been blessed by the Emperor Himself. Your circumstances didn't allow you to pass the soul binding, but I hope you won't skip the rite once your superiors permit you to leave for Holy Terra. But, to be honest, I've heard a few unflattering facts about Lord Platydoras. You're not the first psyker among his subordinates to be encouraged to practice psychic disciplines without due education.'

I shook my head. 'I'm a small person and prefer to stay away from big dogs and their business. As long as they give me work and pay good wages.'

'Cynicism doesn't do a lot for people of your honourable office, my lady. The scandal with Plodia was utterly outrageous. Especially how easy they all came to ignore open treason. Must have been heartbreaking for her parents. The cartel shares dropped by half when our rivals started spreading rumours about heretical trade deals.'

The image of starving Plodia locked in the horrible cage in the Chaotic temple made me grit my teeth. 'She's changed greatly, Captain. I found her in captivity on my worst enemy's daemon world when he kidnapped my retinue. But for her, we couldn't return to the Imperium.'

'You have a kind heart,' she said sadly. 'But I wouldn't draw premature conclusions. The coming war shows who is who.'

'We'll see her in action soon. She's been serving with Lady Cichlasoma since the Panther affair, until her penance is over.'

'I haven't met Lady Cichlasoma in person yet, but I heard that her degree of Radicalism is already disturbing. She's openly admitted to negotiate with xenos. And her patrons from high echelons silence those who question her strategies.'

Sailing with Lady Melitara was the very kind of economy that people complain about in cheap family hostels, where the owner treats you like a child from the very beginning. She didn't openly mock the state of my wallet or my lack of imposing facade, but the need to act like a poster girl kind of a Puritan was already getting tiresome.

Using her methods of reconnaissance, we got stuck in orbit for eight days. Finally, the chief astropath proudly presented the results of their sniffing around. Fluctuations similar to warp gate openings had been found in a cluster of neutral uncharted space aside from main passenger routes. Melitara demanded to send the data to our Malleus partners and leave but I had other plans. After a successful cause, I needed more completed by my own to get out of our financial crisis. Prices for space transfer were getting higher before the Black Crusade, and we had ended up with most of our reserves spent for buying a new chainsword and treating Uncle's wounds. I had sent receipt copies to Fungata but we had to wait for at least a month when the financial department sent the compensation. The null rod we'd found was a pricey thing but I had to give it out to the Ordo as the rules demanded.

'Fluffster, you should know where it is,' I sent a message with attached coordinates to the Machine Spirit chamber where my Magos was debugging the navigation software. 'You had an archive of old maps'.

'Funny, this place is still popular millennia after the Great Crusade,' he answered in a few minutes. 'A pirate port mentioned in a few Remembrancer accounts. Magnus the Red stopped there along with Perturabo on their way to Morningstar.'

I caught a glimpse of Lady Melitara's expression. Luckily, the names of two traitor Primarchs weren't familiar to her and caused no further suspicions.

'Captain, you own a rogue trader patent,' I said to her. 'You surely have been to corsair planets in your young years at least.'

She lingered for a second. 'Youthful ignorance I'm quite ashamed of. But I need to emphasize, for the sake of my reputation, that I had never spoken a single word to heretics and traitors, let alone foul xenos.'

'You've got a trading patent by His authority. It's not just suspected but expected from you.'

She pursed his lips. 'I've got a different upbringing. Beware, my lady, while your superiors haven't corrupted you.'

She sat on her navigator throne in sullen silence when the ship left the Imperial space for Oldhaven. Formerly a croneworld of the Aeldari, as Fluffster told me, it had been abandoned after the Fall due to its proximity to the Eye. For two weeks and a half we were sailing through tumultuous tides still plagued by the aftermath of the birth of Slaanesh until the navigator saw the beacon light.

The orbit of Oldhaven was crowded with armadas of ships. Most of them belonged to renegade traders and Aeldari corsairs but we saw a looted junk-frigate of a Greenskin Freeboota as well as a formidable battle barge with skull sigils and hazard stripes favoured by Perturabo's sons. We chose a cheap parking place in high orbit quite far from the main port. Lady Melitara ordered the engine shutdown, and we heard the port dispatcher's drunken voice from the bridge dynamics.

'Ahoy there, on the Perseverant! Buying, selling, hiring sailors?'

Her answer was polite and dry. 'Looking for rare commodities for special customers of the Interpunctella cartel.'

Damn her excessive honesty. But sudden joy in the dispatcher's tone astonished me.

'That's Captain Plodia who sent you, for sure. Please, good lady, tell her many still miss the Morning Glory and her merry crew. She hasn't visited us for three decades, hope she's fine.'

Melitara's face blushed furiously red as a beetroot. 'Thank you for your kind words, sir,' she said through gritted teeth.

'You've arrived just in time, Cap!' The dispatcher ignored her animosity. 'You've probably noticed the proud Galeos Parthenos on your way to the parking space. Warsmith Limax is waiting for a priceless sorcerous staff to be delivered to him. He would enjoy trading with his old buddy's partners, he's already sold tons of wonderful goods to dear Captain Plodia. But hurry up, the bounty hunter is already in the port.'

I winked at Melitara when he mentioned the staff. Thanks to the fickle nature of the warp, we managed to get back in time and come to Oldhaven even before the robbers left the Forest of Ghosts. She looked down at her boots.

When the conversation ended, she reached for a drawer under the panel and took out a flask of amasec, her cheeks still flaming red. She drank a glass with a single gulp, the first time I saw her drinking.

'Outrageous, my lady.' She could barely speak. 'That's what consorting with Chaos leads to. Bad publicity for the whole cartel. I'd started working for the Interpunctella family two centuries before Plodia was born, but the filthiest renegades know me as Plodia's partner. Two decades after she got the rosette. And if it reaches Uebotia...'

I climbed the ladder to her platform and put my finger to my lips. 'Bad publicity means the opposite in places like that. Do you have a spare helmet or any other headwear that can cover my face?'

She stood up with her arms crossed on her chest. 'I still hope I misinterpreted your intentions. I wouldn't go to the traitor barge for the world. That's the same despicable warlord who bought factory slaves for his campaign.'

I took the rosette out of my pocket and held it up in her face. 'Well, Captain, you've got to.'