'I never thought to hear one of the Adeptus Astartes say something so naive,' spat Barbaden. 'We were at war with an enemy that fought in the shadows with the tactics of terror. How were we to win the war if not by using their own methods against them?'

'You were once a man, Leto, but you are a monster now,' said Shavo Togandis. 'I was once proud to serve you, but what we did that day was wrong, and we have to pay for it.'

'Pay for it?' said Barbaden. 'And who is there to make me?'

'I told you, the dead seek their vengeance.'

Barbaden laughed. 'The dead? Frankly I don't think I need fear them. I think I'm somewhat beyond their jurisdiction.'

'You're wrong,' said Togandis. 'I've seen them. I've felt their cold breath and the touch of their dead hands. They want us all to pay for what we did. Hanno Merbal couldn't take it any more and took his own life right in front of Daron, and I wish I had his courage. For the love of the Emperor, the dead have already killed Mesira and Verena and the Screaming Eagles! And we're next, you, me and Serj. We're all that's left.'

Leodegarius lifted a hand, stopping Barbaden's reply. 'The cardinal is correct, the dead are here. I have felt them and one does not need to be a psychic to feel the dread presence of their spirits. This planet is rank with them.'

'How is that possible?' asked Uriel. 'How can the dead remain after they are gone?'

'Each of us has a spark inside us, a spirit or soul, call it what you will, and when we die it is released from our bodies to dissipate into the warp,' said Leodegarius, 'but when so large a number of people die, gripped by such rage and terror as must have been felt by the people of Khaturian, their spirits can remain coherent.'

'What happens to them?' asked Pascal Blaise.

'Normally nothing, for such spirits are as swirling embers in a hurricane, but when there is a focus for them, something to direct their energies, they can influence the realm of the living. Even then, it is usually no more than phantasms and does not last for long, but something or someone is directing the power of these spirits and they are growing stronger with every passing moment.'

'Is that what those monsters were that killed Mesira?' asked Daron Nisato. 'The dead?'

'No, they are creatures of flesh and blood,' said Uriel. 'We encountered them in our travels and were bringing them home. Once they were human children, but they were twisted by the Ruinous Powers into…' Uriel struggled for the right word.

'Into monsters,' said Nisato.

'No, not monsters,' said Uriel. 'They are innocents. The spirits of the dead have taken their bodies for their own. What is happening is not their doing.'

Leto Barbaden laughed. 'So am I to understand that these creatures came to Salinas with you, Captain Ventris? Oh, this is too rich. Then the deaths of the Screaming Eagles, Colonel Kain and Mesira Bardhyl are your fault.'

'No, governor,' said Uriel icily. 'Their deaths are on your head. The Unfleshed could have lived their lives out in peace somewhere safe, if it hadn't been for the horror you unleashed on Khaturian. Now they are pawns in the bloody revenge of your victims.'

'Worse, they may see this world destroyed,' said Leodegarius.

All recriminations stopped.

'Destroyed?' asked Casuaban. 'In the name of all that's holy, why?'

The stronger the dead become, the more they draw the power of the warp to themselves, further weakening the walls that keep the immaterium from engulfing this world. If we do not stop this soon, the walls will collapse and the entire sector will become a gateway to the realm of Chaos. I will destroy this world before I allow that to happen.'

A heavy silence descended as all gathered suddenly realised the scale of the danger.

'So how do we stop it?' asked Uriel.

'We find what is holding the ghosts here and destroy it,' said Leodegarius.

'What is holding them here?' asked Togandis.

When Leodegarius didn't answer immediately, Barbaden said, 'You don't know, do you?'

'No, I do not, but one of you does.'

'One of us?' asked Uriel. 'Who?'

'Again, I do not know, but the cards have gathered you here for a reason,' said Leodegarius. 'The energy of these spirits must have a focus that binds them here, someone with psychic ability, who is so consumed by rage that he has the power to wield such monstrous energies.'

Again, silence fell, until Pascal Blaise said, 'I know who it is.'

'Who?' demanded Leodegarius. 'Tell us.'

'It's Sylvanus Thayer.'

'Nonsense,' snapped Barbaden. 'That stupid bastard is dead. The Falcatas destroyed him and his traitorous band after Khaturian.'

Serj Casuaban shook his head. 'No, Leto,' he said, 'he's alive. What's left of him is hooked up to machines in the House of Providence, though to call what he has ''life'' is stretching the term somewhat.'

'You knew Thayer was alive and you kept this from me?' stormed Barbaden.

'I did,' admitted Casuaban. 'It was my penance for what we did. He was one man I would not let die through my cowardice.'

Leodegarius interrupted, turning Serj Casuaban around and saying, 'This Sylvanus Thayer? Tell me of him.'

'What do you want to know?'

'You said, ''What's left of him'', what did you mean by that?'

'I meant that the Falcatas were thorough; they thought they'd killed him and they very nearly did. When Pascal Blaise brought him to me, I thought he was already dead, but he held on to life and just wouldn't let go of it. He'd sustained burns to almost ninety percent of his body and had lost both his legs and one of his arms. His eyes had burned away and he'd lost the power of speech. I think he can hear, but it's hard to tell. A machine breathes for him and another feeds him, while a third takes away his waste. Like I said, it's not much of a life.'

'Imperator, you'd be better off letting him die!' said Pasanius.

'I know,' said Casuaban, his voice close to breaking, 'but I couldn't. After the Killing Ground Massacre, I stayed sane by telling myself that I hadn't killed anyone, hadn't even fired a shot, but if I killed Sylvanus Thayer or just let him die, I'd be as bad as those who had burned Khaturian.'

'If anyone would have enough rage within him it would be the man whose family was killed in Khaturian,' nodded Leodegarius. 'Being trapped in the flesh of his destroyed body… that could have been the catalyst that allowed latent psychic powers to develop.'

Leodegarius gripped Casuaban's shoulders tightly.

'You say this Sylvanus Thayer is in the House of Providence?'

'Yes,' said Casuaban.

'Take us there,' said Leodegarius, 'before it's too late.'

NINETEEN

The Land Raider's engine was loud and the stink of its fuel was an acrid, yet amazingly welcome smell to Uriel. Clad in his borrowed armour and riding to battle in one of the most powerful vehicles in the Space Marine inventory was a tangible sign that their enforced exile was at an end.

Pasanius sat next to him, his attention fixed on a pict-slate displaying a grainy image of the Land Raider's exterior, while five other Grey Knights in burnished silver-steel power armour sat opposite him.

Standing at the frontal assault ramp was Leodegarius, who was once again clad in his colossal Terminator armour. The Grey Knight stood with his long polearm clutched tightly in his enormous fist. In place of his wrist-mounted storm bolter, he bore a weapon that he had informed Uriel was a psycannon. Instead of bolt shells, this weapon fired consecrated bolts of purest silver that were the bane of the daemonic and unnatural.

Uriel held the bolter that Leodegarius had given him tightly, the fine lines and exquisite workmanship far exceeding anything he had ever seen. It was a gift of incalculable worth and Uriel hoped he would prove an honourable bearer of such a fine weapon in the coming fight.