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1“Winter was no time to travel in Kislev. The snow, the wolves, the unending tedium of sleigh travel made this journey even more miserable than my usual experiences when travelling with the Slayer. This was in no way helped by the recurring illness that plagued me, or by the general gloominess of my companions. Nonetheless, after what I experienced on arriving at our destination, I would rather make a hundred trips across the ice wastes of Kislev, than a single journey through the bleak pine forests of Sylvania.” 
2  
3—From My Travels With Gotrek, Vol IV, by Herr Felix Jaeger (Altdorf Press, 2505)  
4  
5FIVE 
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7  
8“How long have I been… ill?” asked Max Schreiber. He felt weak, and there was a horror in his mind that had not been there before. He raised his hand. It looked more like a claw, all muscle and bone. His nails were long and untrimmed. The skin appeared near translucent. Moving it took so much effort. 
9“Three days,” said Felix Jaeger. 
10Max raised himself up in the bed and focused his eyes on the renegade poet. Felix did not look so good either. His eyes were red and he was unkempt and unshaven. Max could smell him from where he lay, a mixture of booze and unwashed clothing. He coughed hackingly into his bunched-up fist. Max attempted a smile. It felt as if the skin of his face would crack from the effort. 
11“And you have been on a drinking binge all of this time, by the look of it.” 
12“Near enough,” said Felix. He sounded grim, and he looked even grimmer. There was a wildness in his eyes that had not been there before. He looked more like the Slayer than his usual amiable self. 
13The effort of sitting up had drained Max. He allowed himself to slump back onto the bed and stare at the ceiling. It was whitewashed. The room smelled of mint and healing herbs. The walls were white as well. From the corner of his eye he caught sight of a dove icon. 
14“It pains me to be so clichéd, but where am I?” he asked. He could guess the answer but he wanted to know for certain. 
15“The hospice of the Temple of Shallya.” 
16“I have been that ill?” 
17“Yes.” 
18Max let out a long breath and tried to gather his thoughts. The last thing he could remember was the house of the nobleman Andriev. No. He had examined something, a talisman. After that, his memories were… confused. He could remember nightmares, a skeletal giant with a face of death and horror, teeth that grinned like those of a skull, flesh peeling away from the face, eyes that were pits of greenish putrefying slime. He remembered strange visions of a desert land and a huge black pyramid; of wars in which the dead fought the living and pale aristocrats drank blood from bronze chalices and practised dark sorcery to prolong their unnaturally extended lives. From his studies he thought he could put a name to that figure and to that distant dusty land of death. He did not want to. He found his thoughts shying away from those memories. There were things there he was not ready to deal with yet. Perhaps not ever. 
19He reached up with his hand and felt his face. His beard was long and unkempt. His cheeks felt gaunt. He touched his heart. It still beat. Somehow he had been afraid that it would not. “You look like a man who has seen a ghost,” said Felix. 
20“In a way, I think I have.” 
21“When you were ill you were raving. You kept mentioning a name.” 
22Max could guess what that name was. He did not want Felix to say it, to remind him of the things he had seen. The man would not stop though. 
23“Nagash.” 
24Max stiffened. He knew he would have to face the thing sooner or later. He had not become a master sorcerer through lack of a strong will. He forced himself to breathe normally, to control his racing heart, to ignore the cold sweat on his brow. 
25“Yes,” he said eventually. “Nagash.” 
26Memories flooded back. There had been so much power concealed in that amulet, woven with such cunning and skill that Max could still not quite believe it. The thing had been trapped against just such an investigation as Max had attempted, and he had triggered the trap. It was a wonder that he had survived at all. He guessed he almost hadn’t. Nagash had certainly gone to a lot of trouble to protect his secrets but that was understandable. The Great Necromancer was hardly the only magician who had ever tried to keep his secrets from other mages. His protections has simply been more effective than most. 
27With just an instant’s warning Max had managed to shield himself against the brunt of the attack, yet still it had overwhelmed his defences. He knew he needed time now, to check for damage, to see if his mind had been tainted, if his memories were whole, if his skill… 
28Instinctively he reached out to grasp the winds of magic. Power flowed. He grasped at its flows and wove them into a probe; then, realising how weak he still was, he released the power. At least he could still work magic, he thought. His skills were still intact. 
29He realised that Felix was gawking at him and his hand was on his sword. “What is it?” 
30“Your eyes started to glow and you sat directly up. From the look on your face I thought you might attack me.” 
31“No. I was just testing to see if… if I was still capable of working magic.” 
32Felix nodded, although it was plain from his expression that he still did not understand. “What has Nagash got to do with the Eye of Khemri?” 
33“He made it. He made it a long time ago, and with a specific purpose. I managed to divine at least that much before the trap was sprung.” 
34“What does it do?” 
35Max thought about it. He was sure that he had known the purpose of the Eye, but it was buried in his mind now underneath the cascade of horrific dreams and visions. Given time, he would be able to put it all back together. Given time he would remember. At least he hoped he would. “I don’t know yet.” 
36“Yet?” 
37Max did not feel like explaining the whole situation to Felix at that moment. “Things are still a little confused in my mind. It will come back.” 
38Another thought struck him. “Where’s Ulrika?” 
39Felix’s reaction surprised him. If he had blasted the young man with magic he could not have looked more pained. Suddenly it occurred to him that there might have been a reason for Felix’s drinking, and his slow, hesitant tone of voice. “She’s not dead, is she? What happened? What happened in Andriev’s mansion?” 
40Felix told him. Max listened. What he heard did not make him happy. When Felix finished, he glanced around. “Where are my robes? I must be up and about. We must find her.” 
41Felix gave him an ironic grin. “How? Gotrek and I have walked our feet off looking for her. We’ve wandered all over the city, checked every graveyard, and followed every rumour of a magician’s presence. Nothing. Ivan Petrovich has had his men sweep the area around the city. Nothing. The duke has given Krieger and Ulrika’s description to every gate guard. Guess what? Nothing.” 
42Max did not like Felix’s tone or his appearance. “So after that you took to investigating every tavern and the bottom of every beer glass to see if you could find her there?” he asked nastily. 
43Felix’s fingers whitened on the hilt of his sword then a guilty expression played over his face. “I could think of nothing more to do. I tried everything I could think of and nothing worked. I was hoping that you would be able to do something, when you recovered. That is why I was waiting here.” 
44He sounded so obviously distressed that Max took pity on him. “You did the right thing then. I can find her. At least I hope I can.” 
45“How? Magic?” 
46“Yes.” 
47“Then you are better at this than half the diviners in the city.” 
48“I have an advantage over them.” 
49“What is that?” 
50“I cast a spell of location on the talisman before I began investigating it. With any luck it still holds and I can track it down.” 
51“So you can find the amulet. That doesn’t mean you can find her.” 
52“Don’t be obtuse, Felix. Krieger went to a lot of trouble to get the thing. I doubt he would just fling it away. Particularly not if it’s as powerful as I believe it is. No dark magician would do anything other than keep it and try and use it. If I can find the talisman, I can find him, and if I can find him, we can find Ulrika.” 
53“If she’s still alive. If he hasn’t offered her up as a sacrifice to some dark god. If…” 
54Max cut Felix off with a gesture of his hands although his words had almost stopped his heart with fear. Ulrika must be alive. She could not be dead. Max loved her and he would not allow it to be so. Realistically, there was every chance that Felix’s suspicions were correct but he would not allow himself to consider the possibility. 
55“Pull yourself together, man. If we find him and she’s alive, we will free her. If she’s dead…” His mouth went dry just saying the words, and he felt like his tongue would not move. He forced himself to go on. “If she’s dead, I will have vengeance on Krieger and all who might follow him.” 
56Felix straightened, and the wild glint in his eye died down slightly. He let go of his sword and ran his hand across his chin as if realising for the first time how unkempt his stubble had become. 
57“How soon can you start?” he asked. 
58“As soon as I am out of this bed. And Felix…” 
59“What?” 
60“Get some rest. You look like hell.” 
61  
62“Are you sure this will work?” asked Ivan Petrovich Straghov for the hundredth time. 
63Max sighed with exasperation and glanced back at the walls of the city. Felix could tell he was still exhausted. He was keeping himself going by sheer force of will, and the march boyar’s constant badgering was wearing him out. 
64“If you do not trust in my magic you are welcome to take your men and ride off in any direction you please,” said the wizard. His tone made it clear he was at the end of his patience. For a moment, the old man looked as if he might just do that. Worry about his daughter was making him even less restrained than usual, and he had not been a patient man to begin with. 
65“I am sure Max is more than capable of finding your daughter,” said Felix diplomatically. Felix wanted the old man and the twenty riders he had brought with him. Riding through Kislev in the depths of winter was bad at the best of times. Now, with the Chaos horde on the move, and maybe skaven in the area, it could be downright suicidal. This might well suit Gotrek and Snorri but Felix had every intention of living to set Ulrika free, and twenty hardened veterans of the northern marches along with their stout leader greatly increased the odds of this. 
66Ivan stood for a moment, then slapped Max so heartily on the back that he started a coughing fit. “I did not mean to insult you, Max, my friend, it’s just…” 
67Max looked wretched but he gave the boyar a wan smile, and said, “I understand. We are all worried about her too.” 
68Felix looked at their small caravan. Each of the riders had brought two extra ponies. There were three sleds, for the supplies, for Max and for the dwarfs. All of the sleds were piled high with food and grain. Felix hoped that it would be enough. Not for the first time he wished he had known when or if Malakai Makaisson would return with the Spirit of Grungni. There had been no word of the great airship for days and they could wait no longer. The Slayer engineer had muttered something about refitting at the Iron Tower when last he had seen him. If only he were here now, their mission would have been so much simpler. 
69Gotrek and Snorri eyed the ponies warily. Both dwarfs were of the opinion that horses were only good for eating but even they could see the point of taking sledges in this weather. Felix only hoped the beasts could endure the cold better than he was doing. Even through two layers of clothing and the thickest cloak and gloves he could find he was freezing. He wished he were back inside the White Boar warming his hands by the fire and glugging down hot spiced wine. The illness that had plagued him for weeks had returned during his drinking spree, and neither the priestesses’ herbs nor Max’s spells seemed to be of much help. He just hoped things did not get any worse. 
70“Time to go,” said Gotrek, clambering onto the sled behind Felix and giving the ponies a threatening look. If the animals were capable of reading murderous glares they would have known that they had better behave themselves. Snorri clambered up beside Max. Ivan himself took the reins of the third sledge. The riders spread out in formation. A pair of scouts moved ahead, another two pairs watched the flanks, and a rearguard dropped back to watch their tail. The rest rode along in a double line ahead of them. 
71Snow crunched beneath hooves and hissed beneath runners. The sledge jerked forward as Felix tugged the reins. They were off. Behind him the golden-domed towers of Praag receded into the distance. 
72  
73Max closed his eyes and invoked the finding spell once more. Flows of magic swept into him and reinforced the long, thin cords that tied him to the Eye of Khemri. It was as if a long incredibly fine cable bound him to the talisman. He could not tell exactly how long, but he knew the distance was great, and that the direction they had to go in was south-west. 
74Hopefully, as they got closer, he would be able to divine more, but at the moment this would have to be enough. He was lucky the tenuous link held at all over so great a distance. Hell, he was lucky to still be alive, after his encounter with the traps left by the Great Necromancer. 
75Max had spent a great deal of time over the past few days wondering about that. He was still capable of invoking the power. His skills and memories seemed to be more or less intact. He could discover no taint on his soul left by that overwhelming tide of dark magic. In itself that meant nothing. Any spell capable of corrupting his thoughts would also be able to prevent him from seeing it. Max knew that it would take a mage of incredible power and skill to be able to do that. Until a few days ago he would not have believed it was possible. Now he knew it was. Just from the weaving left on the Eye of Khemri, Max knew Nagash would have been capable of such a thing. The man, or whatever he had become, had been a being of almost god-like power. 
76How was that possible, Max wondered? How could any mage have been so powerful? Perhaps magical energy had been more abundant when the world was young. Perhaps he had lived in a time when the tides of dark magical energy had risen to peaks undreamed of in modern times. Perhaps that was what was happening now, as the Chaos Wastes expanded and the armies of the Dark Powers marched south. 
77Or perhaps the Great Necromancer had simply been born with powers far beyond those of any modern magician. It was possible. All sorcerers varied in power and potential. Max had known men twice his age and experience that did not have a tenth of his current strength. He had seen apprentices who he had thought with practice could become stronger than he. At least, he had believed that at the time. 
78His encounter with the defences Nagash had laid on the Eye of Khemri had left him filled with doubt. In all his life he had never encountered the work of a magician so much superior to him. The mages who had cast the spells for the Chaos horde during the siege had been stronger than he, but at least he had understood what they were doing. And he had known that their power came in part from the huge torrent of dark magic they were tapping into. That skaven grey seer had been more powerful because he had used warpstone to enhance his strength, and Max doubted that he had truly been that much stronger or better when it came to working magic. 
79But Nagash was something else entirely. Max had never encountered spellcraft as sophisticated as that laid on the amulet before, nor natural strength so great it could leave a resonance down through three millennia. When he had discovered the defensive spell on the Eye he had encountered the work of a being as far beyond him as he was beyond most ordinary people when it came to magic. He knew that no matter how hard he struggled to learn or how much power he acquired he would never be a match for that being. 
80What had happened to him had been more than the hideous visions and nightmares. It was corrosive to his self-esteem, damaging to his confidence, and Max knew that for a mage that could be fatal. So much of spellcasting was dependent on sheer willpower, and anything that weakened your will diminished your ability. If you suffered a lapse when weaving a dangerous spell, it might have deadly results. Max had heard of it happening. The outcome had not been pleasant either for the mage or for the people around him. He knew that he could afford no such lapses at the moment. Not with Ulrika’s life at stake. 
81He wondered if his feelings of inferiority were in some way a product of the defences on the talisman. It would be a very subtle way of destroying an enemy magician, to undermine his confidence in this way. He doubted that Nagash would have need of such subtlety, although doubtless he would have been capable of it. Why had he concealed the power within the talisman? Why had he protected it with such defences? 
82Max could at least answer the latter. He had brooded on it long enough. A magician as powerful as Nagash would have had many adversaries, and it would have been only common sense to shield his work against falling into the hands of his enemies. The thought of enemies brought another image out of the whirling chaos of nightmares and visions into his mind. He saw those pale blooddrinking nobles again, and knew that the talisman was something to do with them — but what? All he could hope for was that soon the turmoil in his mind would settle and he would be able to make sense out of the mad whirl of strange thoughts the talisman had left there. He told himself that Ulrika’s life depended on it. And just as importantly, his own life depended on it too, in more ways than one. He needed to know what they would face when they finally overtook Adolphus Krieger. And he needed to start rebuilding his own self-confidence. 
83Think, he told himself. Look on the bright side. Learn what you can from this experience and use it to make yourself a better man, and a better magician. You have always known that there were more powerful mages than you. It in no way diminishes your accomplishments. You have done the best you can with the gifts you have been given. 
84You survived what happened, and you have not been broken by it. You’ve learned things. Granted you could have lived without learning some of those things but it happened. How many people can say they have had direct insight into the mind of the Great Necromancer? How many people have survived being crushed by one of his spells? 
85Slowly, a little at a time, Max wrestled with his self-doubt. He knew that finding himself again would be a long slow process but at least he had made a start. He only hoped he would be ready to face this dark magician when the time came. As his thoughts raced another, more frightening possibility, entered his mind. 
86He had triggered the trap himself, had taken the full brunt of its energies. Would the spell reset itself? Or would Krieger find the way open to easily attune the amulet? Another thought struck Max. The defences on the amulet had not been triggered until after he had tried to analyse its structure. 
87Perhaps the amulet was intended to be used: perhaps it had some sinister, secret purpose the Great Necromancer wanted hidden. For a moment, Max could almost feel that vast skeletal hand reaching out across the ages to tug at the destinies of mortals. 
88He shivered, and wondered whether or not they would be doing Adolphus Krieger a favour by killing him. 
89  
90Ivan Petrovich Straghov clutched the reins of the sled through hands made clumsy by the thick furlined gloves he wore. Snowflakes fell, muffling the stamp of ponies’ hooves and the jingle of harnesses. The wind bit at his skin. All around thick pine forests loomed over the road. Behind him he could hear the other sledges moving over the snow. 
91He cursed the weather. He cursed the man who had kidnapped his daughter but most of all he cursed himself. He had not been there when his daughter needed him. He had been indulging himself at the duke’s banquet when she was being borne off by some crazed magician. He had spoiled her shamelessly since the early death of her beloved mother, let her do most anything she wanted, even run after that young outlander Felix Jaeger, when she should have been safe at home. 
92Only there was no home, not now. His mansion had been all but destroyed by a skaven assault months ago, and doubtless anything left had been reduced to rubble by the oncoming hordes of Chaos. All of his vague hopes for a quiet old age, surrounded by grandchildren, had gone now. He felt strangely restless and rootless. The previous month of guerrilla warfare and riding with the muster had made him realise that he was not a young man anymore. He was a fat old man, used to his creature comforts and grown soft with good living. It had taken an enormous effort of will to keep up with the younger men in his troop and not to show his fatigue and despair. It was taking an even more enormous effort not to give in to it now. 
93He tried telling himself that she was a brave and resourceful young woman, as well schooled with weapons as any warrior in his band. It made no difference. He could only hope and pray that Ulrika was still alive, and not sacrificed to some dark god. He could only hope that Max Schreiber knew what he was doing. He drove on, guilt and worry eating at his heart, his thoughts as bleak as the weather and the desolate surroundings. 
94  
95Adolphus Krieger looked around the inside of the coach. It was comfortable. The seats were plush leather; there was plenty of room for himself and the girl. It had been built for Osrik by the best coachwright in Kislev and the quality showed. It was a rich man’s toy. A luxury coach built on runners. Perhaps in a country where the winters could last six months, and where snow covered the ground for most of that time, owning it made as much sense as owning a coach. In any case, whatever the reason, he was glad Osrik had indulged himself. 
96The girl gave him a sullen look. She looked pale, drawn and defiant. She did not understand what was happening to her. Few mortals did understand the effects of the dark kiss. She was fighting against it. That was all right, Adolphus thought. He would enjoy breaking her will. He smiled at her, not showing his teeth. 
97“Admit it,” he said silkily. “You enjoyed it. Last night you bared your neck before I even asked.” 
98That was not quite true but it was close enough. She had not fought very hard when he had embraced her. He knew the pleasure that most mortals took from being tapped. It was an ecstasy unlike any other. Once addicted to it, they would do anything to experience it again, even if it killed them. As it often did. 
99The girl glared at him, unwilling to admit that there was even the slightest grain of truth in what he had said, unable to acknowledge even to herself that there might be. And yet, he knew there was. Slowly that knowledge would become undeniable. Slowly it would overcome her fears, revulsions, and denials. Just the element of doubt it created would undermine her resistance as she learned she could no longer trust her own judgement, her old sense of morality. He had seen it happen many times before over the centuries. Once begun, the process was inevitable unless he chose to stop it. 
100He flipped open his book, an old tattered vellum copy of the Prophesies of Nospheratus, bound in manskin leather. It fell open at the section concerning the portents of the Age of Blood. Sure enough, the signs were all there. The armies of beasts were on the march. The hungry moon was devouring the sky. The cities of men burned. And now the Pale Prince had recovered the Eye of the Great Undying. It was here, burning on his throat. He could feel the subtle power of the thing. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of sudden movement. 
101Swift as a snake the girl went for her dagger. He smiled. He had expected her to. It was one of the reasons he had let her keep the weapon. She was very fast. The dagger would have been in a mortal’s heart before he could even have reacted. Adolphus was no mortal though. He caught her wrist and almost gently forced her hand back. The pressure was no less irresistible because of the gentleness. Within moments, he had forced the weapon back into its sheath. He let the book fall onto his knees. 
102“Temper, temper, my sweet,” he said mockingly, and caught her wrist again as she attempted to slap him. She would have to learn that she was helpless here; that there was nothing she could do to stop him. First, she would learn that physically, and then inevitably she would learn it in her heart and soul too. 
103“Bloodsucker,” she said spitefully and turned and glared out the window. Adolphus could see the two small punctures in her neck. He found the sight strangely arousing and felt the urge to sample her blood once more. He forced the urge down although it was difficult — there was something in the girl’s blood that gave him great pleasure. Perhaps that was why he spent so many waking hours working on her, subtly questioning her about her companions. He was pleased that he had managed to resist temptation. The more leagues they put between them and Praag the less the beast within troubled him. Or perhaps it was the distance they put between themselves and the north. In any case, it did not matter; what was important was that his self-control was returning. 
104“I am,” he said, allowing some of his pride to show in his voice, “and it’s no bad thing to be. I have lived for centuries, and I have seen wonders beyond your ability to imagine.” 
105“You bought those centuries with the blood of innocents.” 
106He laughed. “Most gave themselves to me willingly enough, as you will soon.” 
107“Never,” she said, and sounded like she meant it. “I would rather die first.” 
108“Oh, don’t be so melodramatic. You have no idea of what you speak. You are a long time in the grave, after all. Why rush to get there? Why hurry to let the worms eat those beautiful eyes, or maggots crawl through those full and lovely lips?” 
109For a moment there was no answer, then she spoke: “What do you know of death? Of true death? Of eternal rest? You are a walking corpse kept alive by the blood of the living.” 
110So she was going to be difficult after all. Good. The struggle always made things more interesting. Breaking her would give him something to do, until he got to the keep and could attune the talisman to his will. “I know enough to realise that I would prefer not to experience it.” 
111“That is not an answer.” 
112“What would you have me say? I am not a priest to speak knowledgeably of things I have never seen, nor talk of realms I have never been. I tell no lies.” 
113Adolphus suspected he had gotten her attention now. He sounded sincere, and while he was perfectly capable of counterfeiting sincerity when he wanted to, he was not doing so in this instance. There was no need to. He merely addressed himself to the doubts and fears that all mortals felt, that he himself had felt when he still breathed, and which he still felt even occasionally now. 
114“You are saying the priests lie? That the Book of Morr is not true? That the words of the gods are lies?” 
115He reached out and grabbed her by the chin, gently but inexorably turning her head so that he could look into her eyes. “Have you ever spoken to a god, pretty one?” 
116“I have prayed.” 
117“And has the god ever spoken back to you?” 
118“My prayers have been answered.” 
119“I do not mean did you get what you asked for, or something you thought you had asked for. I meant: has a god ever spoken to you directly?” He saw she was breathing harder now. Her gaze met his challengingly. 
120“No. Of course not.” 
121“Yet you are willing to take the priest’s words for what they claim to be true. You are willing to believe in entities you have never seen.” 
122“I have never seen Altdorf but I know it’s there.” 
123“You could go to Altdorf if you wished, but could you speak with your priest’s gods?” 
124“There have been miracles, worked by priests in the name of their gods.” 
125“We both believe in magic. I believe you know a wizard. I am sure he could duplicate the effects of most of those miracles. Who is to say that the priests are not simply magicians themselves?” 
126Silence. He let it draw out and smiled at her mockingly. She did not flinch but glared at him. He decided to surprise her. “I do believe that gods exist. I have seen enough evidence to know it. I just do not believe they are what the priests tell you.” 
127“You have seen evidence?” 
128“So have you if you think about it. Only a fool could have looked on the Chaos horde and deny the Lords of Chaos exist.” 
129“What about our gods?” 
130“Your gods, you mean?” 
131“If you would have it so.” 
132“I believe that something exists but I do not think they are what mortals believe they are.” 
133She refused to be drawn so he continued. “I think the gods are beings as much beyond ordinary mortals as mortals are beyond dogs. When a dog looks at you, do you think he understands what goes on in your mind?” 
134“My old dog did.” 
135“Could he understand poetry?” 
136“I don’t see what that has to do with it.” 
137“I mean there are things that you can understand and think about that no dog ever could, no matter how well he understood your emotions or moods. I think your gods are creatures like that. I think they look down on you mortals and are amused. After all, they have the perspective of aeons and knowledge that far surpasses yours.” 
138“I think you are projecting how you see yourself onto the gods. I think you no more understand them than you claim I do.” 
139Adolphus looked at her, surprised at how perceptive the point was. Obviously the girl was intelligent. Excellent, she would provide stimulating company on this rather dull trip. He had become rather bored with the company of Osrik and the rest of the coven. Fawning respect and devotion grew as wearisome as anything else when overindulged in. Anything else except blood. 
140Now that the immediate threat was past he found he rather missed the prospect of the Slayer and his companions showing up. It had added a touch of excitement to the proceedings. Still, these lands were said to be dangerous. He was fairly sure that something interesting would turn up before the trip was over. 
141  
142“At least we are heading back towards the Empire,” said Felix, squinting into the snowfall. The cold wind made his eyes water, and the liquid was freezing on his cheeks. He was glad he had invested in an extra pair of gloves before they left Praag. Even through the thickness of both pairs he thought his hands might freeze to the reins. All of it increased the misery brought on by his illness. Perhaps going out drinking all of those nights back in Praag had not been such a good idea. He had never recovered properly. 
143Gotrek said nothing, merely glared out into the snow as if it were a personal enemy. His face was set in the grim expression that dwarfs always wore when forced to endure hardship. Underneath it he suspected the Slayer was quite enjoying himself. Dwarfs seemed to delight in undergoing physical travails. It was one of their least appealing characteristics as far as Felix was concerned. Hardship was something he could cheerfully live without. 
144Ahead of them, Max and Snorri were barely visible, and the riders were but dim shadows in the snowfall. Felix wondered how the scouts would ever find their way back through this grim weather but somehow they did. He supposed they were used to weather like this coming from the wilds of Northern Kislev. They had sneered at Felix’s claims concerning how cold it was, saying that this was like spring compared to the weather back home. Felix was unsure whether they were kidding him or not. He suspected they were not. 
145Certainly, they had shown an uncanny aptitude for finding and building shelter. Last night Ivan Petrovich had even showed them how to build a little circular house from snow and ice. It had proven surprisingly warm once they were inside, certainly more comfortable and less drafty than the tents had been. 
146Their progress was slow though. Moving across this part of Kislev as winter’s grip tightened was a nightmare. Had it not been for his concern over Ulrika, Felix would have begged them to turn back. He was fed up with the unending chill, the biting wind and the distant howling of wolves. They reminded him only too well of his encounter with the Arisen of Ulric under similar circumstances back in the Empire. Three days of this was more than enough for one lifetime. He knew though that he would have to endure much more. According to Max there was at least a hundred leagues between them and the talisman, and it had not stopped moving. 
147There were times moving through these white wastes when Felix felt the sheer futility of what they were doing. It was a kind of madness to chase after a magician with such a long head start through this dismal chilling landscape, in the faint hope that they might find Ulrika alive. 
148At least that was what he and Max were doing. He was certain that Gotrek and Snorri and Ivan would follow this Krieger to the ends of the earth now, for vengeance if she was killed or, in the case of the Slayers, simply to fulfil the oaths they had sworn. 
149There were a few small mercies to thank Sigmar for. So far they had not encountered any beastmen or Chaos warriors. From the airship the landscape seemed to have been teeming with them, but on the ground things were different. The speed of the Spirit of Grungni had been deceptive. On the ground, you came to realise just how vast and empty a land Kislev was, and quite how much distance really separated the various forces. 
150He wondered what was going to happen afterwards, if they did overhaul Krieger and reclaim Ulrika. The danger was not past. The winter had merely slowed down the great Chaos invasion and prevented almost any movement at all on the human side. Once the spring came, it would be total war on a scale the world had not seen for two centuries. Maybe trying to save a single woman in the midst of all this was futile. Perhaps they would all be dead soon anyway. At Praag they had succeeded only in slowing down and defeating one small part of an immense army. The forces of Chaos seemed limitless, and their daemonic masters did not care how many lives they expended in the pursuit of their goals. In the face of such opposition, it sometimes seemed inevitable to Felix that they would be defeated, and the world would end in fire and ruin. 
151But what could he do? Only what he saw best. And to tell the truth he would not mind a little fire right now, even if he could live without the ruin. Poor as the joke was, it cheered him up a little, for a few minutes until the cold started to sink into his bones again and his hacking cough returned. 
152It had been a village until quite recently. Now, the few stone buildings were soot-blackened rubble. The wooden palisade had left a few charred stumps rising above the snow. The evidence of human habitation had been buried beneath the drifts, along with most of the corpses. Felix felt guilty, as if somehow his thoughts of a few minutes ago had brought this into being. Don’t be ridiculous, he told himself, this place was destroyed days ago. Still, the feeling stayed with him and added to his gloom. 
153“Look at this,” said Marek, the tracker. He brandished something long and white and mottled with brown. Felix joined Gotrek as he stamped over. Ivan Petrovich was already there. Flakes of snow drifted down from the sky. All around the rolling plain was silent save for the eerie sweep of the wind. 
154“What is it?” Felix asked. 
155“Human bone,” said Gotrek, glancing at the thing in Marek’s hand. 
156“A thigh bone,” said Marek. He had a long thin thoughtful face, and he rarely spoke more than he had to. “Part of one, at least. Broken for marrow.” 
157“Wolves?” asked Felix hopefully. As soon as the words had left Marek’s lips other, more horrible possibilities had entered his mind, but he did not want to be the one to voice them. Wolves did not attack fortified villages and burn them to the ground. 
158“Nah, this was split lengthways, and the break’s not made by wolf teeth. Men or things like men did this.” 
159“Beastman work,” boomed Ivan Petrovich. “I’ve seen enough like it up along the marches to recognise it.” 
160“They must have got hungry and stopped for a snack on their long march,” said Gotrek. His scowl was ferocious. He loathed beastmen. 
161Max came over and joined them. He moved slowly as if still husbanding his strength. A huge bearskin robe covered his thick woollen robes. His gloved hands clutched his staff. 
162“Do you think Ulrika and Krieger might have been here when the attack came?” Felix asked, voicing a question that was in all their minds. 
163Max shook his head. “The talisman is still on the move.” “The beastmen might have it,” said Felix sourly. 
164Max glanced at him coldly. “There is no residue of magic about this place. If it were attacked, Krieger would surely have summoned the dark to defend himself. If he had I would know. I do not think he was here when this happened.” He sounded so certain that Felix let the matter drop. 
165Perhaps he just did not want to acknowledge any other possibility. 
166“Do you think the beastmen are still about?” Felix asked, casting a nervous glance about them. 
167“No. This is two days old. They’re long gone,” said Marek. 
168“Pity,” muttered Gotrek running his thumb along the blade of his axe till a drop of bright blood was drawn. 
169“Do not fear, Gotrek Gurnisson. There will be plenty of work for your axe before we’re done. All the hordes of hell are on the move this winter.” 
170“Bring them on,” said Gotrek, gazing bleakly out into the woods. “Some exercise will help ward off the chill.” 
171  
172From out of night and distance, Adolphus heard the howls: wolves, baying in pursuit of prey. His little caravan was the prey. Normally, the beasts would not have given them the slightest trouble, but there were other voices mingled with those of the wolves: goblins, wolf riders. The greenskins must be desperate, he thought, to come so far into the lands of men this winter. No doubt they had been displaced from their homelands by the southward drift of the Chaos horde. Not just men were running before it like deer before the beaters. Well, let them come on; they would soon learn the folly of attacking him. 
173Ulrika’s blood filled him with its sweetness. It left a warm glow in him like fine wine once had. He had heard that some of the Arisen drank down the memories and emotions of those they tapped but he had never experienced anything like that himself until now. It seemed some of the girl’s fire had found its way from her veins into his. It was an odd feeling but not unpleasant. The girl herself lay asleep and drained on the leather seat, a satiated smile on her face. Adolphus knew that look from other times and other feedings; she would be asleep for hours. He could sense some of her emotions now. The blood bond between them was growing. 
174The sledge shuddered to a halt. There was a tap on the window and Roche’s ugly face appeared, as pockmarked as the face of the greater moon. “It seems we are pursued, master,” he said as calmly as if there had not been half a hundred hungry greenskins on their trail. “Do you wish me to drive or tell the others to make ready to fight?” 
175“I do not believe there will be any need for a fight, Roche,” said Adolphus. “I doubt the wolves will attack us. I have an understanding with their kind.” 
176He opened the door and stepped down into the chill night air. He did not feel the cold the way he had once done, and he found the wind’s chill bite refreshing. All around them snow blanketed the trees. He had always liked snow. It was the colour of bone, of blank paper. It spoke to him of innocence and fresh starts. Osrik and the other nobles gazed worriedly at him from the windows of their own sleds. The surviving bodyguards looked as if they could not decide quite whether to make ready to fight or to run. Adolphus favoured them with a smile that he guessed they would find in no way reassuring. “Don’t worry, my brave friends,” he said. “I will protect you.” 
177He strode back along their trail, until he stood between the small circle of sleds and their oncoming pursuers. He inspected his nails while he waited. There was just the faintest of pink flushes beneath them from the blood he had just drank. 
178The baying was coming closer. The sound was lonely, even coming from the throats of a pack, and it spoke to him. Despite what he had said to Ulrika about dogs and poetry, he felt that there was a bond between him and the creatures. They both understood the loneliness of the predator. He shook his head. Such thoughts had no place in his mind at a time like this. It must be the girl’s blood, or the presence of the talisman. 
179Suddenly the pack erupted from the woods, snow fountaining behind them as they ran. Huge creatures, larger than normal wolves by far, white furred for the winter, red eyes burning with fierce hunger. They were beautiful creatures, but their riders were not. 
180They were smaller than men, perhaps the size of a big ten year-old boy, green-skinned, and wrapped in the thickest of furs and clothes that looked like old chequered coloured rags. Their mouths were filled with huge, sharp snaggly teeth. Their eyes were yellow and the size of saucers, and Adolphus knew they could see in the dark almost as well as he. Their arms were long in proportion to their bodies, perhaps half as long again as human arms. In their huge gnarled hands they clutched spears and bows and scimitars. Adolphus strode confidently towards them. 
181This took them aback. It was not what they were expecting. One of the goblins, larger and more ugly than the rest, raised his paw and the line of riders came to a ragged halt. A rider took aim with his short bow and loosed an arrow. Adolphus stepped to one side and let it pass by so that it thunked into the side of the coach behind him. He doubted that the stone-tipped arrows could harm him, but they would smart, and Adolphus was no more fond of pain than anyone else. The leader turned and glared at the smaller goblin who had shot. Sensing Adolphus’ approach and catching his scent on the wind, the wolves began to snarl and slink alternately. The leader of the pack, a massive beast, glared at him with eyes that matched the goblin chieftain’s for fury. 
182Adolphus stopped twenty paces away from the goblins. By now, he knew Roche would have unlimbered his crossbow behind him and have taken a bead on the leader. It would not be necessary but he supposed it gave his servant something to do. He doubted that the bodyguards would be much use if it came to a fight but he did not care. He put his hand on the hilt of his sword and surveyed the wolf riders contemptuously. They shifted uneasily in their saddles, not sure of what they were dealing with now, but knowing it was well outside the ambit of their usual experience. 
183“Go now and I will let you live. Stay and you will surely die,” Adolphus told them confidently, eyeing the leader directly. He felt the connection as their eyes met and the battle of wills began. The goblin was fierce, stupid, ambitious, and did not like being balked. The contest was far from being one-sided. 
184The rest of the riders brandished their weapons and howled challenges and jeers in their crude guttural tongue. He doubted very much whether they understood a fraction of what he had said. It was just their nature to behave this way. The leader looked at him, clearly uncertain what was going on. He sensed the presence of magic, and it unnerved him. And his anger was turning to fear. 
185“Kill magic man,” he shouted then bellowed orders in his own speech. The wolves snarled, and crouched to spring. The goblins couched their lances, and raised their scimitars. Adolphus shrugged. It had been a slim hope but it had been worth trying. Now he would have to use his alternative plan. 
186His gaze flashed over the wolves, and he let them see the beast that dwelled within him, let them know they were in the presence of a predator far more dangerous than they. The change was immediate. The wolves’ hackles rose and they cringed like beaten curs — their tails drooped between their legs, their mouths hung open and their tongues lolled out. Their riders’ battle cries dropped to feeble protests of dismay. 
187Adolphus reached for the dark magical energy that filled the night and projected his will onto the animals. Perhaps it was his imagination but it seemed easier now that he had the Eye. He sensed momentary resistance from the animals but his will was too strong. In moments, the beasts were his to command and he drove his orders directly into their minds. 
188Almost as one they reared and bucked, throwing their riders from the saddle and pouncing on them to rip their throats. It took long moments for the goblins to get over their surprise and realise what was happening. By that time, over half of them were dead. 
189They were not going to go down without a fight. Some of them managed to stay in the saddle. Adolphus saw the chieftain reach forward and slash his mount’s throat with a dagger. Wolf blood crimsoned the snow. The chieftain rolled clear of the saddle and came racing at Adolphus, dagger dripping red. Adolphus almost smiled at his foolish bravery. 
190He strode forward to meet the creature, not even drawing his sword. As he met the goblin he sidestepped and got his arm round his throat. With a single twist, he snapped the chieftain’s neck. Vertebrae ground. Something wet and sticky flopped down the goblin’s leg into the snow. He raised the corpse above his head and tossed at another struggling rider. 
191A crossbow bolt flashed past him and took another goblin through the throat. He could hear the bodyguards begin to advance towards the melee now that it appeared won. It was all too much for the greenskins. Within heartbeats the survivors had turned and fled, only to be run down by their own mounts. Within a minute the snow was awash with yellowy-green blood, and all the goblins were dead. 
192Adolphus gave the wolves permission to feed. They fell to with a will. Obviously the winter had been hard and their former masters had not fed them well. He turned and strolled back to the coach. Roche watched him expressionlessly. His coven gazed on him with expressions somewhere between worship and terror. Fear blazed in the eyes of the bodyguards as they parted to let him through. 
193“When we move on,” said Adolphus, “I believe we will have an escort.” 
194“Very good, master,” said Roche. “I shall wait for your new followers to finish their repast.” 
195  
196“I don’t like the look of this at all,” said Max Schreiber. “These tracks are unnatural.” 
197Felix felt a deep-seated unease. The woods were thick and dark all around them, the trees frosted with white flakes. Ahead of them the snow had been churned as if a large number of men or other things had passed this way quite recently. Felix seriously doubted that any sane or honest man would be abroad in this weather without some overwhelmingly important reason. As the cold intensified and the weather became grimmer and grimmer, he himself found the thought of giving up becoming ever more appealing. 
198It was not that he did not want to save Ulrika. It was just that the more time passed, the less chance there seemed to be that she was still alive. Swearing to avenge her was all very well, but men frozen to death in the snow, or losing their limbs to frostbite were not very likely to avenge anyone. 
199For the moment, Felix was keeping these thoughts to himself. They were not likely to find much favour with the Slayers, Max or Ulrika’s father. There were times when they did not find much favour with him. They sometimes left him disgusted with himself, but more and more often recently they had been creeping into his mind. He knew he was ill; the flux had returned with a vengeance. He hoped he was not going to go down with pneumonia. 
200He tried telling himself that no hero in the stories he had read as a boy ever gave up just because he was cold, hungry, had a splitting headache or the thought of eating another mouthful of beef jerky left him feeling nauseous. But as the days had drawn out, he had found it was just these things that left him feeling the most discouraged. 
201The threat of violence Felix could deal with. While he was not completely enamoured with the idea of facing physical danger, he knew he had done it in the past and acquitted himself well. It was the little things that were slowly but surely wearing him down and out: the way his lips were cracked, the way his belly rumbled, the constant pain in his temples from the flu that never quite went away no matter how often Max healed it or gave him herbal infusions. He was just feeling strung out, as if his vitality were being leeched away by the spirits of the winter woods. Sometimes he thought that if they did overtake Krieger he would be too weary to fight him. 
202He found that it took an effort of will to conjure the image of Ulrika to his mind now, to imagine her in peril. It was alarming. You thought you loved her. No, you did love her, and yet now you are seriously considering abandoning her. This was another area he had discovered where things were not quite like the storybooks. There all the heroes dared everything to rescue their loved ones. They blazed with unquenchable passion and utter certainty. They never suffered from doubts or wondered whether they really were in love at all. 
203Such feelings were all too common for him. Sometimes when he was hungry or tired or hungover or scared, he could easily forget that he loved her. He could easily remember all the times she had hurt him, or snubbed him or told him he was foolish. All the little resentments he harboured crowded into his brain and clamoured for his attention. Detlef Sierck had never bothered to mention any of this in his plays. He wondered if he were the only man on the face of the earth who felt like this. Somehow he doubted it. 
204Then, just when he thought all feelings were extinguished, they would return in the oddest ways. He would find himself remembering the strange Kislevite way in which she stressed certain syllables, or the way she shook her head but smiled when he said something particularly stupid. He was not sure why he found these things endearing, he just knew that he did. They were some of the links in the chain that still somehow bound him, even when he thought time, distance and hunger had corroded it. He might never be really certain of how he felt about her, but he knew that as long as she lived he would have the chance to find out. If she died… 
205Just keep moving, he told himself. Just keep following this trail. Just keep eating the disgusting Kislevite iron rations. Just put up with the cold and the aches and the grumbling of the dwarfs and the boasting of the Kislevites and Max’s constant worried expression. Just endure them. One way or another, you will get through this. One day, if you are lucky, you will look back on this and remember it fondly, in the way you can look back on hardships you have endured once they are safely long in the past. 
206He knew the strange tricks his memory could play would, if he lived, somehow edit this trial down into its highlights. He would remember the camaraderie, and the shared dangers survived. He would remember the sudden, surprising way beauty would spring on you even in the depths of this winter wilderness. He would remember enchanted vistas of frozen forest groves glimpsed from the corner of his eye as they bumped along the trail. He would remember a startled deer bounding off into the distance as it caught sight of them, its hindquarters flickering as it covered the ground in mighty leaps. He would remember the clear, clean frozen air, the sound of the runners cleaving the snow, and the ponies whickering to one another as if to keep their spirits up. He would remember the odd feeling of tranquillity as the horse-soldiers sang their winter hymns around the fires in the ice huts they carved for themselves each afternoon. 
207Without the immediate feelings of pain and nausea and worry and fear his memory would translate this into a wonderful adventure. 
208It would all be a lie of course, but it would be a glamorous lie far, far better than the real thing, and perhaps like all the other taletellers he would pass on that lie and make them think there was something wonderful about it too. And strangest of all, he knew that he would be sincere when he did it. He would genuinely believe what he was saying. 
209Marek had dropped back to look at the tracks. He was studying them carefully. “Not too far ahead of us, I would guess,” he said. “Not friendly either.” “How can you tell?” Felix asked. 
210“Easy. Some of the footprints are mixed with hoof prints. Cloven ones. Beastmen are the only things that leave tracks like that. If we’re lucky we’ll overtake them soon.” 
211There will be nothing lucky about it, Felix thought, nursing his aching head. 
212  
213Max was worried. Not by the prospect of facing an indeterminate number of beastmen but by the length of time the pursuit was taking. They had been on the move for almost a week now and were still no closer to the talisman. If anything, the distance was increasing. Whoever Krieger was, he certainly knew how to move through this winter landscape. 
214In a way it was good. He was reassured that the dark magician could keep going, and not be slowed by any of the perils of the way. It implied that if he wanted to keep Ulrika alive he was capable of it, and that was Max’s one remaining source of hope. It was not a good one, though. Knowing that Krieger was powerful boded ill for their chances of recovering the girl, particularly if he had learned to tap the powers of the talisman. 
215Max shivered, and not with the cold. Since Ulrika’s capture he had driven himself far beyond anything he would have believed possible. He sometimes felt he was keeping himself going by sheer willpower alone. He had turned into a man of stone. He did not feel the cold, he did not feel weary and he did not feel any hunger. He just wanted to get the woman back. 
216In a way he was almost grateful for the situation. It had helped him recover from the terrible mental ordeal of putting himself back together after his encounter with the wards on the talisman. It had given him a reason to overcome his feelings of weakness and self-pity and to confront the abyss of doubt that loomed within his mind. He knew that he must pull himself back from the brink as much for Ulrika’s sake as for his own. 
217He had thought he had loved her before but what he had felt then was but a pale shadow of what he felt now. The prospect of losing her was almost more than he could bear. He had never felt anything so deeply before in his life. The urge to find her was an overwhelming drive; it dwarfed any of his bodily needs or any of his own weaknesses. 
218He begrudged every minute lost on the trail. He resented the possibility of encountering the beastmen as much because it would slow them down as because there was a possibility of injury or death. He hated every moment lost that enabled Krieger to put distance between them. He resented the time it took to make camp at night, to build the icehouses, make fires. If he could, he would have gone without them, without food or drink or sleep if need be. 
219Part of him knew this was madness. If he did not get those things he would die, and be of no help to anyone, least of all Ulrika. But it was one thing knowing these things rationally and another to feel them in the depths of his soul. 
220His life had simplified down to one true and real thing: he must save Ulrika. He thought he might go mad if he did not. 
221  
222So far, they had found nothing, overtaken no monsters, and seen no sight of any beastmen. The only ones who were sorry were the Slayers. Everyone else was relieved. Felix wondered how the beastmen could survive in the depths of winter. Ivan had the answer. 
223“They eat each other when they can’t get manflesh. The big ones eat the little ones. The strong devour the weak. I suppose they think it’s their gods’ way of testing them, so that only the hardiest survive. I don’t know. I only know that I have seen enough corpses and fought enough battles against them in the winter to know the truth of it.” 
224Gotrek nodded as if he agreed with every word. Felix shuddered. This was the sort of knowledge he could cheerfully have spent his entire life without ever acquiring. Unfortunately it appeared that fate had other plans for him. 
225“Best keep moving,” said the Slayer. “Every foul Chaos beast in the world appears to be moving this winter. Sooner or later we’re going to run into some of them.” His evil smile left Felix in no doubt as to what would happen then.  
226  
227SIX 
228  
229  
230The moons blazed brightly overhead. The snow lay thick upon the forest. Gnarled ancient trees surrounded them, growing out over the road. Adolphus breathed deeply. Finally they were here. The air tasted different: it was sharper, with a tang of blood and dark magic and ancient secrets. He knew he was home. There was no place in the world that smelled quite like Sylvania. 
231He had not been born here, of course, but he had spent many centuries of his undeath here. It was a haven for his kind. A land which had been ruled by undying counts for centuries, where the peasants and the lesser so-called aristocrats had long ago realised their true place in the great scheme of things and bowed their heads and given their service to the Arisen. He would see that those days returned once more. The Time of Blood was here. The Council and those who followed them would change their ways or go to hell. He would send them there personally. 
232With the wolves trailing along behind him like a pack of obedient dogs, he strode in the wake of the coaches. It was easy enough for him to keep pace with it even in the deep snow. It was no obstacle to one such as he. The cold did not slow him, and he had long ago left such human weaknesses as suffering from frostbite behind him. On this night, the night of his return, he wanted to be outside, to stalk the night like the hunter he was, to sniff the wind for prey, to seek blood in the old way. Here of all places it was possible to do so without fear of reprisal. And he wanted to be alone to savour the moment, away from the pettiness of the coven and the cold amusement of Roche. 
233In this ancient stronghold of vampiric power, the cattle knew better than to rise up against their masters. Even in the dark times, when the forces of the so-called Emperor had driven the Arisen underground, they had been feared and respected in Sylvania. The mortals knew that no matter who claimed sovereignty over this land, there would only ever be one true set of rulers. Human power was transitory here. The sway of the Arisen would always return. An accommodation had been reached between the mortals and their masters that Adolphus knew satisfied a deep-seated need in both. For the brutish short-lived peasants what could be better than one who combined all the characteristics of feudal liege and undying god? Such people always needed to know their place in the world, and the Arisen had made sure that they did. In a way, the cattle were even grateful to feel the smack of firm government. They were happiest when they knew their place, when their thinking was done for them. 
234Adolphus knew that one day the whole world would be like this. Sylvania was a model for what was to come. Now that the talisman was in his hands, he would soon have the power to make it so. He had never been the most accomplished of magicians — his talents had always lain in other directions — but once he reached Drakenhof and tapped the ancient node of power there, he would claim the Eye for his own. 
235He smiled. It had taken decades of research and years of studying cryptic books and prophecies but the key to ultimate power was now in his grasp. In his hand, he held an artefact of the Great Necromancer, created at the peak of his power, an item that the mighty liche had once held in his own claw, and imbued with a fraction of his own limitless strength. Nagash had been subtle and relentless in his hatred of all the powers that might challenge his. He had forged the talisman when it became obvious that the ancient Vampire Queens of Lahmia and their followers might eventually rise to challenge him. He was not going to risk having such potent undying sorcerers dwelling in the same land without taking precautions against them, so he had created the Eye of Khemri to work their undoing. 
236It contained runes which when properly activated would bend the Arisen to its wearer’s will. With it he had created the Hounds of Nagash, kin who served him loyally while under its spell. The rest of the Arisen had fled and hidden themselves in the distant corners of the world. Of course, Nagash had never intended for the Eye to leave his presence. For all his power he had not foreseen his own defeat first by the hero-king Alcadizaar then by the man-god Sig-mar. Upon his destruction the Eye had vanished into history, passing through the hands of a succession of unknown bearers until it had re-appeared on the throat of Vlad von Carstein. Not even his closest associates had known what it was even as they fell under its sway. Sometimes, Adolphus wondered whether the first and mightiest of the Vampire Counts had truly realised what it was he owned. Vlad was gone forever now and Adolphus regretted he would never have the chance to ask him. It had passed through the hands of his successors, none of whom had guessed its true power until its eventual loss at the Battle of Hel Fenn. It had been years later, perusing the section of one of the three extant copies of the dread Liber Occultus dealing with the history of ancient Nehekhara, that Krieger had realised what the Eye was. So had begun his long search. 
237Now the talisman was in his hands, and he almost had it attuned to his will. With it, he could make himself undisputed ruler of the Arisen. He could unite all of Sylvania behind him and create an invincible army. It would take time and patience, of course. In many ways the Arisen fancied themselves the secret rulers of the world, but the main thing that prevented this, in truth, was their disunity. They spent more time plotting against each other than they did seeking to extend the dominion of their kind. 
238Adolphus would put an end to this. He would organise the Arisen and replace the vacillations of the Council with his own ironhanded rule. He would be their king, but he would see to it that they had a hierarchy as strict as any Empire with every one knowing their place, and having their own clearly defined fiefdoms. He had travelled. There was enough room for all of them, and big enough herds of human cattle to keep them all through eternity. He was excited now. Visions of what was to come burned in his brain, and he found he wanted to share them. 
239Leaving the wolves, he strode back past his followers and vaulted up into the coach. The girl looked up at him. He could see the resistance was slowly draining out of her along with the blood. Her anger was mixed with desire now and yes, even need. The ecstasy of the dark kiss did that to them, no matter how much they denied it. Still she reached for her dagger; still she intended to make a show of fighting him off. Casually he reached out and took it from her, the way a man might take a toy from a child. He was in no mood for games this evening. He wanted to talk, and it was either to her or Roche or the wolves. He felt somehow that telling her was the right thing. 
240“I am going to rule this land soon,” he said. 
241“You are mad,” she said. Her weakness made her voice soft and breathy. Adolphus felt the urge to sip from her blood rise in him once more. He pushed it back. He wanted to explain his plan to her, to force her to see what he saw, to make her acknowledge him for what he was and what he would be. 
242“No,” he said. “I am not. I am in a position to do everything I claim.” 
243She shook her head disbelievingly, but he could tell he had her interest. “The Arisen are many and their covens have a great deal of influence in the world. You would be surprised how many of the rich and powerful are secret members.” 
244“So?” He liked the way she raised her chin challengingly as she spoke, despite her weakness, despite the way the kiss must have made her head spin. It made things interesting. “I am going to rule the Arisen.” 
245“How?” 
246“Don’t be sullen, Ulrika. It doesn’t become you. I am going to use this talisman, which you and your friends so valiantly defended. It has a great deal of power within it. It was created by the Great Necromancer Nagash to allow him to command my kind many centuries ago. The power is still within it. I will rule the Arisen, and through them I shall rule this land.” 
247“The Emperor might have something to say about that. You may have money and influence but that won’t defeat an army.” 
248“Ulrika, Ulrika, sometimes I think you deliberately pretend to be stupid in order to make me underestimate you. We both know that money and influence can recruit soldiers, and we both know that many of the people who have them also already employ soldiers. More to the point, Nagash was the Great Necromancer. I can use the power of this talisman to raise an army from every cemetery and every burial ground if necessary. And many of the Arisen are also potent necromancers. United we will create an army so vast that no mortal force could stand against it.” 
249“An army of walking corpses.” 
250“I am sure they will not object. After all, they are already dead. Only the gods and the Arisen live forever.” He let those words and that thought hang in the air for a moment. Most mortals were eventually seduced by its power. Even if he never offered to make them one of the Arisen, they would begin to think about it. They would begin to see the possibilities of what pleasing him could bring. No fear of ageing; no fear of the grave. No fear of having to leave this world behind. It was this promise more than anything else that made them give themselves up so willingly. It was a coin that only his kind could demonstrably offer. He thought he saw the temptation occur to her, and he could tell by her expression that she dismissed it. He was not worried. Many mortals did the first time, before they truly had time to think about it. Once they did… 
251“The forces of Chaos may object as well. They seem hell-bent on having the world themselves.” She gestured at the window, to the bloated face of Morrsleib glaring down garishly from the sky. 
252“They will be thrown back, as they have before. United, the Arisen will have the power to do that. They are possibly the only ones who could. Do you think the decaying kingdoms of mankind have the strength?” 
253“They will have strength enough to stop you. Just as von Carstein was stopped at Hel Fenn.” 
254He smiled, showing her his teeth, all of them. She shivered. Partly from fear he was sure, but also partially from desire. “Hel Fenn? I remember it well. Von Carstein should never have fought there. It was a bad site for a battle. No place to retreat except the swamp. He was confident we would not need to. Foolish…” 
255“You were at Hel Fenn?” He could see the dawn of knowledge in her eyes. She was beginning to realise what he was, what he was capable of offering. She now knew he had been present at a battle fought over two centuries ago. 
256“I am still here,” he said. “How many of the so-called victors can say that?” She had no answer. There was none. 
257  
258“We’re getting closer to the beastmen at last,” said Marek. Felix looked at the tracker through the gathering twilight. His weather-beaten face was tense with suppressed excitement. All of the Kislevite lancers looked ready for combat. Max stretched his limbs and Felix thought for a moment he saw a faint nimbus of light play around the wizard’s flexing fingers. 
259“I hear the sound of fighting up ahead,” said Gotrek. Felix heard nothing but that did not surprise him. The Slayer’s ears were keener than his, just as his eyes were better than a dwarf’s in daylight. 
260“Who is fighting?” Felix asked. 
261“Men and beasts and Chaos warriors. The name of Khorne is being chanted, but we will soon put an end to that.” Felix wished that he felt so certain. Ivan Petrovich nodded. His lancers broke into a trot. Felix cracked the reins and urged the ponies forward. Soon he could hear the sounds of battle himself. 
262  
263Blood stained the snow. A group of men armoured like Imperial knights made a last stand in the centre of the clearing. They were attempting to protect a coach. Men-at-arms lay dead in snowdrifts, their pikes fallen from their nerveless fingers. All around them were beastmen, horned horrors, part man, part goat, clutching weapons in their misshapen fingers, stamping on the fallen with their cloven hooves. Their eyes gleamed red with bloodlust. Froth dripped from their mouths. 
264As Felix watched a horse whinnied with terror. The rider, gaudily caparisoned in red and gold, was tipped from the saddle. A massive beastman clutching a standard depicting a bloated hungry moon face, tipped with a human skull, strode forward and drove the iron-shod base of the banner into the man’s chest with a sickening, squelching sound. The man gurgled as he died. 
265The beastmen turned, alerted by the sound of hooves crashing through snow. Ivan bellowed orders to his men and twenty lances dropped into the ready position. The Kislevite horse thundered forward and crashed into the unprepared ranks of the beastmen. They went down screaming, impaled on lances, trampled by iron-shod hoofs. Gotrek and Snorri were right behind, weapons ready, irresistible as thunderbolts. Max chanted a spell and the clearing became bright as day. 
266A glowing solar disk appeared over the wizard’s head and then, at a word from its creator, bolts of searing light erupted forth, burning the fur from the beastmen and filling the air with the smell of charred flesh. 
267Felix barely had time to rip his sword from the scabbard and climb down from the sledge before it was over. The savage beastmen, unprepared for such an onslaught, broke and ran for the woods. Most of them did not make it. They were overrun by the horsemen or slain by Max’s mystical bolts. Gotrek and Snorri finished off the wounded, looking utterly disgruntled. 
268“Hardly a proper fight,” said Gotrek. 
269“Beastmen are not what they used to be when Snorri was a lad,” said Snorri. “They would have put up a bit of a fight then.” 
270Felix was glad they had not. Slowed by his illness, and worn out by the chill, he wondered if he would have survived a battle with a beastman. Best to push such thoughts aside. He strode over to the carriage the knights had fought so hard to defend. Even as he did so, one of them, a huge man with a mane of golden hair, strode between him and the vehicle. He raised his blade, obviously intending that Felix come no closer. Felix shrugged and stopped. 
271“We mean you no harm,” he said. Gotrek and Snorri clumped over to stand beside Felix. They did not look quite as unthreatening as Felix would have wished. They were obviously still keen for a fight, and perhaps this knight would give them one. He certainly looked as if he were considering it. Felix thought he’d better say something before things got out of hand. “In Sigmar’s name, put your weapon down. We just saved your lives.” 
272The four surviving knights had gathered around the gold-haired man. From the way they looked to him for their cue, Felix gathered that he was their leader. 
273“We were doing fine by ourselves,” he said eventually. His voice was rich and commanding and filled with utter self-assurance. He seemed to believe every word he said. 
274Just what I need, thought Felix, another aristocratic idiot. There was something odd about the man’s accent, a thickness that was not quite Imperial and not quite Kislevite. A stress that reminded him of the way characters spoke in old books. 
275“The way your men threw themselves on the beastmen’s spears was all part of your strategy then, was it?” Gotrek asked sarcastically. “A great plan.” 
276Felix thought the knight was going to raise his sword to Gotrek. He was tempted to let him. If this idiot wanted to throw away his life fighting the Slayer why should he interfere, he thought uncharitably? He wiped his nose on a fold of his cloak and waited. 
277“What is going on here, Rodrik?” asked a woman’s voice from within the coach. “Why aren’t you thanking these kind strangers for their aid against those fiends?” 
278“My lady, their manner is insolent and lacking in true courtliness. You should not sully your chaste ears listening to their words.” 
279Gotrek and Felix exchanged glances. If Felix had not known better he would have guessed the Slayer was amused. “I think it is you who are lacking in knightly graces, Rodrik. A truly chivalrous man would express gratitude under these circumstances, not look for excuses.” 
280The knight looked crestfallen and when his gaze returned to the Slayers, he executed a perfect courtly bow. 
281“I apologise for my manners,” he said. “My only excuse is that I let my concern for the safety of a fair lady overcome me. I beg your pardon.” 
282Gotrek spat on the ground at his feet. He was not one to accept an apology graciously. To his credit, Rodrik did not even blink. Max limped over. He looked even more tired and drained than usual. Working his magic on the beastmen must have cost him dearly. 
283“It is unusual for people to be abroad in weather like this, with the land so dangerous,” he said. The knight looked at him suspiciously. Felix had been around the wizard for so long he had forgotten how much many ordinary people disliked sorcerers. 
284“I could say the same about you,” Rodrik said. There was more intelligence behind the answer than Felix would have given him credit for. Perhaps he was not as stupid as he looked. 
285“We have a mission,” Max said suavely, although a pained look passed across his face. “A quest, you might almost say.” 
286It was a well-considered response. Felix could see that Rodrik was intrigued. Quests were the sort of things knights understood, particularly ones like Rodrik who appeared to think he was living in some courtly romance. Felix had heard that there were still some like him, but he would never have believed it until now. He had thought only Bretonnians went in for that sort of thing. “And what might that be?” 
287“A fair young lady of our acquaintance has been kidnapped by an evil sorcerer. We intend to rescue her or avenge her.” The words should have sounded ludicrous but the way Max said them invested every word with weight and seriousness. Felix could tell Rodrik was impressed. 
288The curtains of the coach window were drawn back and a pale, beautiful face cowled in black and partially obscured by a thin mesh of veil looked out at them. “If it would not delay you too long in your quest, perhaps we could offer you shelter for the night. There is a keep not too far from here where we are expected. The least we can offer you after your efforts on our behalf is a hot fire and warm spiced wine.” 
289Not even the Slayers seemed ready to object to that. 
290Rodrik and his men rode ahead of the coach. Ivan Petrovich’s scouts rode ahead of them. The sledges brought up the rear. 
291“I notice they did not tell us what they were about,” said Felix. 
292“Doubtless we will find out soon enough, manling,” said the Slayer. 
293  
294“It’s like a haunted castle in a Detlef Sierck melodrama,” murmured Felix. The Slayer looked at him. Felix wondered if he knew who the playwright was. “I don’t like it.” 
295The keep clutched the top of the hill on which it stood, like a hawk on a perch. There was something predatory about it. It made Felix think of robber barons, bandits and other things less pleasant from old stories. The scene was somehow ominously familiar. He told himself not to let his imagination run wild. He was sick, it was cold, and any place in this icy land would look sinister. The place looked strong; the walls thick. The turrets of the inner bailey looked built to resist a siege, and yet there was something about it that suggested other things. Felix thought of torture chambers, ghosts with clanking chains and wicked old barons threatening heroines with a fate worse than death. 
296“It’s a castle, manling, and a strong one. Some good stonework there, for human work that is.” He might have guessed the dwarf would see things in the most prosaic terms possible. Not a terribly imaginative people, Felix thought, though at this moment it was a trait he wished he shared. There was something about this place that set his nerves on edge. 
297“It makes me nervous,” Felix said. “There’s something about the style of the building that…” 
298Even as he said the words, it came to him. He remembered where he had seen the likeness of this keep before. It had been in a book of horror tales he had read as a boy, tales set in the land of Sylvania. This place was an almost exact replica of one of the keeps in the book. It might have been the original model for the picture. He hoped that it was only the memory that made it seem so sinister. 
299  
300The town beneath the castle was mostly ruined. The destruction was not recent, Felix could see. Most of the buildings had tumbled down decades ago. The city looked as if it had been built for a population of five thousand and now held only a tenth of that number. Even in the city centre, on the main thoroughfare leading to the castle only about one in every three houses appeared occupied and those seemed to be half rubble. The people were surlier and more brutish than any Felix had ever encountered. They wandered through the near-deserted streets listlessly, with no sense of purpose. The air stank of rot and human excrement. 
301And this was Waldenhof, a large and prosperous town, by local standards. Felix decided he would not like to live here. 
302The road led up the steep hillside towards the grinning gatehouse. Even as they approached the entrance, the gateway reminded Felix of the mouth of a great beast, and the portcullis of its fangs. A shiver ran down his spine. 
303Fever, Felix told himself, but did not quite believe it. 
304  
305“Welcome to Waldenschlosse,” said the man who waited for them in the courtyard. He was a tall florid aristocrat, garbed in a slightly antiquated style. The padding of his tunic’s shoulders and codpiece had not been fashionable in the Empire for half a century. Felix had only seen its like in old portraits. The others around him were garbed in a similar fashion. Somehow it suited their slightly antiquated manner of speaking. “We thank you for the service you have rendered my sisterin-law, the Countess Gabriella, and my son Rodrik. It seems that without your intercession we would not have the pleasure of greeting her now. Nothing we could do can express our gratitude for your kindness, but we will do our poor best.” 
306“I am Rudgar, Count of Waldenhof, and you are my most honoured guests. I hope before you leave that you will discover the true meaning of Sylvanian hospitality.” 
307Felix’s mind reeled a little with shock. They had come further than he had thought, or, indeed, would have wished, if they had crossed the borders of the ill-famed province of Sylvania. It was not a place he had ever harboured a strong desire to visit, not even in high summer, and without the beastmen filling the woods. It was a place of very evil reputation. 
308More introductions followed, but Felix’s head still spun with the fever and he remembered none of them. He did recall noticing that the Countess Gabriella was looking at him, and, despite her widow’s veil he could see that she was a very beautiful woman. 
309  
310“Your health,” said Count Rudgar, raising his glass. Sweat glistened on his bald pate. The tips of his long moustaches drooped into his wine. He tipped his glass back and downed it all in one long swallow. A silent servant glided forward to refill it almost automatically. 
311Felix had to admit that he felt better now after a few hours sitting at the dining table in the great hall, near a warm fire, his stomach filled with beef and roast potatoes and capon and gravy. Haifa bottle of the count’s fine wine had done wonders too, and left him feeling a little better disposed to his surroundings as well. He could see that most of the others did not quite feel the same way. 
312Only Gotrek glared around suspiciously with his one good eye, as if expecting armed enemies to attack him at any second. Nothing unusual about that. He normally looked that way, but it was an unwelcome reminder to Felix that perhaps he should keep his guard up as well. Max was not drinking, and although the sorcerer chatted amiably enough with the Sylvanian nobles Felix could tell he was not entirely at his ease either. He saw Felix looking at him and nodded as if to say that he, too, shared his companion’s suspicions of the place. 
313The Kislevite horse-soldiers and Snorri Nosebiter dug in with a will however, throwing back food and wine as if this was their last chance at it. Come to think of it, it might be. Ivan Petrovich shared the table with them. His men had another table down the great hall with the off-duty castle soldiers and the other troops. 
314Felix was surprised to find that they and the countess’ party were not the only guests. It seemed many Sylvanian nobles were visiting Waldenschlosse, though why they should choose to do this in the middle of winter eluded him. He had read too many stories and seen too many plays in which terrible things happened at feasts in Sylvanian castles for his own comfort. Even through the pleasant warmth of the wine in his belly, part of him half expected to hear an order given that would have hidden warriors fall on the guests in an orgy of bloodshed. Such things were all too common in the tales. 
315He looked around trying to put faces to names once more. This time he was sure he had got things right. The frail old man on his right, skeletally lean and with a full head of pure white hair was Petr, Count of Swartzhafen. He seemed pleasant enough, mild-mannered and polite, but there was something about his eyes, a haunted quality that made Felix think that here was a man who had seen things that few mortals had. Facing him across the table was a tall man in his prime. Kristof, Baron of Leicheburg, had pure black hair and an arrogant hawk-like face dominated by blazing black eyes. To his right sat Johan Richter, a good-looking young man who shared something of the Count of Swartzhafen’s haunted air. From what Felix had gathered, all of them were important noblemen in this part of the world, and reading between the lines, all of them were scared. All of the assembled company except Gotrek raised their glasses to the toast. Felix felt as if eyes were on him, and looking to his left saw the Countess Gabriella was looking at him appraisingly, her blue eyes startlingly clear above the veil. 
316“And to the health of our most unexpected and most welcome guests,” said Rudgar. “They have my gratitude for saving the life of my son and my esteemed sister-in-law.” 
317Rodrik looked a little embarrassed by this, but kept his mouth shut. Doubtless he did not want any more lectures about gratitude from his father or the countess. Murmurs from around the table agreed with the count’s words. Whatever else you said about the Sylvanian nobility, Felix thought, they were certainly polite, in an old-fashioned courtly sort of way. 
318“Now that we have eaten I suggest we get down to business,” said Baron Leicheburg. His voice was deep and resonant, the sort of voice that could fill a theatre or a room, or rise effortlessly over a battlefield. Felix envied him it. “I have not come all this way through the worst winter in two hundred years merely to sip your wine, old friend, no matter how fine a cellar you keep.” The count inclined his head graciously at the compliment and spoke at once. 
319“Aye, there is the rub. It is the worst winter in two centuries and not just from the snow. Wolves multiply in the forests, beastmen clog the Emperor’s highway, and other things, worse things are stirring once more.” 
320Felix was not sure he liked the tone of the count’s voice. It made the hackles on the back of his neck rise. Count Swartzhafen raised his fist to his mouth and gave a dry, desiccated cough. “You are saying the ancient curse has returned to trouble us once more?” 
321Felix glanced over at Gotrek. The Slayer had sat up like a hound that scents prey straining at a leash. Doubtless he thought there was work here for him. Great, thought Felix, as if getting Ulrika from the clutches of a dark sorcerer was not bad enough, now they were going to get themselves mixed up with some ancient evil. Just what he needed. 
322“Can you doubt it?” said Richter. He leaned forward and placed his goblet carefully on the table but his eyes blazed with a near insane intensity. Felix was not sure he wanted to know what could put a look like that in a man’s eyes. “The signs are all there. A merchant saw witch lights burning on the Dark Moor two weeks ago. Black coaches have been sighted on the Old Road to the Red Abbey. Something had been disturbing the graves at the cemetery in Essen. On my way here I entered the crypt at Mikalsdorf, and found it empty. Grave robbers had been at work there.” 
323“That does not sound good,” said Count Swartzhafen mildly. Mirthless laughter from the rest of the nobles greeted this pronouncement, which also caused the men-at-arms to fall silent at the other table for a moment and glance at their masters. Only for a moment though, and then conversation was resumed. 
324Baron Leicheburg glanced at them all and continued. “Maidens have started to vanish again in the Grim Wood, and the peasants have started hanging bundles of witchbane and bloodroot over their doors. Normally I would have thought nothing of it. The winter has been so bad, and the Chaos tainted so numerous, this would be reason enough for their precautions, but black-garbed men with pale faces have been seen too.” 
325“I don’t think there can be any doubts,” said Rudgar. “The undying ones have returned.” 
326Something in the man’s tone made Felix shiver. “The undying ones?” he asked. He guessed that he already knew, but he wanted to be sure. 
327“The followers of von Carstein, the drinkers of blood,” said Johan turning his blazing gaze upon them. 
328“Vampires,” said Max Schreiber. “You are talking about vampires.” 
329Rudgar gave him a bitter smile, a mere flashing of teeth with no mirth in it. “This is Sylvania,” he said. “The land of the Vampire Counts.” 
330Silence fell once again. Not even the servants moved. It was as if someone had laughed at a funeral or voiced an awful truth that everybody thought but no one had dared put into words until that moment. 
331Wonderful, thought Felix: evil sorcerers, the coming of Chaos and now the return of the Vampire Counts. How do I get myself into these things? 
332“More wine anybody?” asked Count Rudgar to break the silence. His moustaches seemed to droop even more. He looked like a man who had just been told that his family had contracted the plague and there was a good chance he had caught it himself. Felix knew exactly how he felt. 
333Max glanced down into his still full wine cup as if he could see the secrets of the future there. Gotrek rubbed his massive hands together almost gleefully. Ivan Petrovich looked even more grimly determined to find his daughter. Felix stifled the urge to moan. 
334“There will be time enough for these discussions later,” said the Countess Gabriella, her musical voice sounding cool and amused. “Perhaps our guests would care to tell us what brings them here in this time of troubles.” 
335Max looked at Felix as if asking which of them should explain. Felix gestured for Max to speak. Doubtless the mage could tell the tale better than he. Max spoke of the kidnapping of Ulrika and their pursuit across the frozen lands. In the telling he was forced to speak of the siege of Praag and the Chaos invasion. 
336The Sylvanian nobles remained silent for a time after he had finished, then looked at each other. Their faces were calm for the most part, but Felix was certain he could see fear in their eyes, and by now he was certain that these were people who did not frighten easily. 
337“It sounds like the end of the world,” said the Count of Swartzhafen eventually. 
338“We live in evil times indeed,” agreed Baron Leicheburg. “More evil even than I had imagined.” 
339“The Emperor will be summoning his armies,” said Max. “I am sure that come spring he will move to meet the foes.” 
340“Be that as it may,” said Rudgar. “None of us will be moving with him.” 
341Felix felt a vague sense of outrage. Nobles were always ones to talk about their rights and privileges. As he recalled they had some duties too, and one of them was to defend the Empire when called upon to do so. Of all those present it seemed Rodrik was the only one who noticed his looks, and he had the good grace to look embarrassed. 
342“It is not that we don’t want to,” he said quickly. “I could ask for nothing more than to ride by the Emperor’s side into battle but our duty is here with our people. If the undying ones have crept once more from hiding it is our duty to see that they are cast back into the pit from which they crawled.” 
343The last part of his speech was said with a great deal less confidence than the first part. Felix was not surprised. If his history was correct, the last time the Vampire Counts had risen it had taken all the military might of the Empire and its allies to cast them down, and that had taken many years and the loss of countless lives. 
344“I agree with young Rodrik,” said the white-haired old Count of Swartzhafen. He coughed dryly once more. “It will do the Empire no good if the Emperor marches to meet the spawn of Chaos only to find an army of undying ones on his flank. Actually, I fear it would spell disaster.” 
345Felix was no expert on military matters but it sounded plausible. With such a powerful foe before it, any threat to the Imperial lines of supply or to flanks would be catastrophic. And now he recalled other things about the armies of the Vampire Counts. Their followers tended to be walking corpses animated by the darkest of sorcery. The snows of winter would slow them not at all. Indeed it would be a time when they were at their strongest. Even as they spoke the forces of darkness were gaining a mighty ally. 
346“The best we can do for the Empire is to smash the undying ones before they grow to their full strength, and then march to the Emperor’s aid.” 
347“Let us pray that is possible,” said the Countess Gabriella. All of them made the sign of the hammer over the table save for Gotrek. He just grunted and took a swig of his wine. She leaned forward over the table and a feral gleam entered her cold blue eyes. “It seems to me that the gods smile on us. It is not by chance that our friends came here today.” 
348Felix saw Gotrek and Max turn to look at her. Ivan was deep in his wine but something about his manner told Felix that he too was listening intently. “What do you mean?” Max asked. 
349“The name Adolphus Krieger is not unknown to us,” she said. 
350Max sucked in his breath. “He is a necromancer?” 
351“Worse. He is one of the undying ones. A very dangerous progeny of the Carstein bloodline.” 
352“And what is that exactly?” Felix asked. He felt he had to say something to conceal the fear that swept through him. 
353Krieger was a vampire! It explained a lot about him: his uncanny quickness, his incredible strength. And maybe there was a connection too between him and the killer who had stalked the streets of Praag, draining bodies of blood. He remembered how Nella, the street girl, had mentioned the smell of cinnamon, and the pomander Krieger had carried in the vault. 
354The countess’ laugh was silvery. “Forgive me, Herr Jaeger: sitting at this table it is sometimes easy to forget that not everyone shares our obsessive interest in, and knowledge of the undying ones. If you are a Sylvanian noble, it is something you grow up with.” 
355“I thought most Sylvanian nobles were vampires,” said Gotrek nastily. It was not the most tactful thing to say but it was what Felix had always heard anyway, although most of his knowledge on the subject had come from a nurse who liked to terrify the children under her care with tales of horror. 
356In response to the Slayer’s words, the temperature at the table seemed to drop. Rodrik’s hand stole towards his sword and Felix felt sure that only a cool glare from his father prevented the youth from challenging Gotrek on the spot. 
357“Your knowledge is a little out of date,” said Baron Leicheburg. He studied the Slayer as if he were a nasty insect that had just crawled onto the table. If Gotrek cared, he gave no sign. He took another swig of the wine and belched loudly. This time it took his father’s hand on his shoulder to prevent Rodrik from surging to his feet and issuing a challenge. There was a look of concern on the older man’s face. He most likely could guess the outcome of that challenge as well as Felix could. “I can see you are keen to correct me,” Gotrek said. 
358“Two centuries ago, you would have been absolutely correct,” said the Count of Swartzhafen. “Two centuries ago this land lay under the heel of the Vampire Counts and their allies. After Hel Fenn they were… exterminated, and the Emperor gave these lands in fief to trustworthy vassals.” 
359Felix remembered reading something about the subject in the University Library in Altdorf. The book had said nothing about trustworthy vassals though. It had said that the lands of Sylvania were given to impoverished noble houses, and second sons keen to own land who could not get it any other way. The book implied that you would have to be very desperate indeed to want to rule over any part of the province. 
360“I have heard tales of vampires in Sylvania far more recently than Hel Fenn,” said Max. “Reliable sources have informed me they have ruled large tracts of this land until even quite recently. I believe the Templars of the White Wolf besieged Castle Regrak ten years ago when it was discovered that the occupant was a blood drinker.” 
361“Regrak was a blood drinker,” said the Count of Swartzhafen, “but he was as mortal as you or me. He merely thought that consuming the blood of virgin youths would keep him young and give him mystical powers. As far as I know it did not. Believe me, if he had been a vampire, the Templars would have had considerably more trouble burning down his manor.” 
362“Nonetheless, our learned friend is quite correct,” said the countess. “There have been other instances of the undying ones ruling in Sylvania since Hel Fenn, as we all know only too well. If the number of these instances is less than popular rumour would have the ignorant believe it does not change the essential truth.” 
363“You haven’t answered my original question, countess,” said Felix. He realised from his tone of voice and the slurring of his words that he was actually getting quite drunk. Not surprising really. He had been ill for days, and not taken any wine for the length of their journey. He was out of practice at drinking. “What did you mean by the Carstein bloodline?” 
364Again Felix was surprised when Max replied. He could never quite resist showing off his knowledge when given half a chance. “Scholars of these things believe the undying ones can be… classified is perhaps the best word, into several bloodlines. These are believed to be descendants of the original vampires of the city of Lahmia in the kingdom of Nehekhara created by Nagash over three thousand years ago. Each bloodline is supposed to share some of the traits of its progenitor and to have different strengths and weaknesses depending on its ancestry.” 
365Felix saw the countess staring at Max with a mixture of amusement, respect and interest. He felt a little jealous. She certainly was a very good-looking woman. Suddenly he felt disgusted with himself. What was he thinking? Ulrika was in the hands of something far worse than a madman and a dark magician, and here he was lusting after another woman. The more cynical part of his mind told him that feeling ashamed would not in any way change the facts of the situation. 
366“You are a very learned man, Herr Schreiber. I am surprised. These are not matters of common knowledge. We must discuss how you came to acquire such scholarship some time.” 
367Max nodded his head condescendingly. “Thank you,” he said. “I have studied much dark and forbidden lore and—” 
368“Nonetheless, you are wrong in one or two particulars.” 
369“Wrong?” 
370The vampires were not created by Nagash. They were mighty mages in their own right who acquired some of his knowledge in the long wars of the Dawn Ages’ Max looked dubious but remained silent. 
371“That was an age at least as fractious as our own.” 
372“The Carstein bloodline?” Felix prodded, hoping still to get an answer to his original question. 
373“It is one of the major vampiric bloodlines,” said the countess. “In the Empire it is perhaps the major bloodline.” 
374“The name is certainly the most familiar,” said Felix dryly. “What with the wars of the Vampire Counts and all.” 
375“That is why the bloodline is known as the Carstein line. The original Vlad von Carstein was the most famous of all the counts, and popular legend gives his name to all of his progeny.” 
376“You sound as if you disagree with this?” said Max, ever the scholar, quibbling over a minor point of terminology not discussing a mass murderer whose insane plans of conquest had resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. 
377The countess gave a small shrug, a gesture Felix associated with the wealthy Bretonnian merchants who often visited his father’s premises. “I do not see that it matters. We know little of von Carstein’s antecedents. He was the first of his line who achieved notoriety. Since then, his descendants have been quite active, particularly here in Sylvania.” 
378“It looks like they have become a lot more active just recently,” said Felix. “I wonder why.” 
379“I think that is something we need to find out,” said Count Rudgar. “Many lives might depend on it.” 
380Not least our own, thought Felix. He forced himself to concentrate once more in spite of the wine and the heat and the feeling of wellbeing brought on by consuming rich food for the first time after many days of hardship. “You seem to know a bit about Adolphus Krieger,” he said, trying not to slur his words too much. “Would you care to share your knowledge with us?” 
381“Later,” said the countess. “It’s been a long day and I am sure we are all weary. The matter will wait for tomorrow. There are some things best discussed when the sun is high.” Under the circumstances, Felix could not fault her reasoning. 
382  
383The chamber was large, chilly and dominated by a huge portrait of a cold-eyed Sylvanian nobleman who seemed to study Felix with murderous intent. Briefly, he considered checking the rooms for secret passages. In the old tales Sylvanian castles were riddled with such things but the room was too cold and he was too drunk to bother. He did take the precaution of latching his door and leaving his sword propped against the wall within easy grasping distance of his bed. 
384As he drifted off into a cold and fitful sleep, he could have sworn he heard the distant howling of wolves. 
385  
386SEVEN 
387  
388  
389It was dark. The coach slid through the night silently and swiftly. Behind them, the wolves padded along in the snow like wraiths. Their eyes burned. Their breath billowed forth in clouds. They looked at once beaten and fierce. There was something deeply unnatural about them now, as they slid further and further under the domination of the vampire. 
390Ulrika knew how they felt. She was confused. Her emotions were awhirl and it sometimes seemed to her that the darkness of the night had invaded her mind and her soul. She hated Krieger. She loathed him. He was arrogant, supercilious, sure of himself, domineering, contemptuous of those he deemed beneath him, which consisted of most of the world. She was sure that what he planned was evil, and yet sometimes she wanted to be part of it. 
391When she stopped to think, she knew that she must get away, that somehow she should escape from the coach and flee or find some way to kill him. 
392And yet it was impossible. He was too strong, too powerful. Often she had tried to strike him with her knife, and he had taken it from her as an adult might snatch a toy from a child. Twice she had tried to flee over the snows, into the depths of the winter woods. She had raced off, uncaring of whether she died of cold or starvation. 
393Once he had simply followed her trail, overtaken her in the darkness and carried her back to the coach. She could no more resist being snatched up than a mouse could have resisted a cat. The second time, she thought she had got away clean, but the cold had bitten through the thin clothing she wore, and she had passed out in the snow. She had woken to find herself back in the coach, warmed by some unnatural means, and quite certain that he could have overhauled her at any time, that he was toying with her, that he had let her think she had escaped just to be able to dash her hopes further. The most astonishing thing was that none of the vampire’s servants tried to stop her. It was as if they had been commanded not to interfere. 
394She had kept her eyes peeled for a village where she might break free and find shelter, but they never stopped in one for long, and Roche or the others purchased all of the supplies while she was held immobile in thrall to his master’s burning gaze and unnaturally strong grip. She could not even begin to make herself scream or shout for help, and that too made her wonder. 
395There was a darker side to her captivity, she acknowledged. In the vampire’s burning embrace there was an ecstasy the like of which she had never known, a pleasure fiercer than anything she had ever experienced. She had heard that some devotees of the daemon god Slaanesh became addicted to certain drugs and became completely dependent on them. She was starting to suspect that she knew how they felt. There were times when she found herself looking forward to the coming of night with longing, and times when she was disappointed when Krieger did not wish to sip her blood. There were times when she felt jealous when she saw him descend from the coaches of one of his followers, with that sleepy sated look on his face. 
396And worse yet, she suspected that he knew this. Certainly the amused glances he gave her implied as much as his talk. He seemed very certain of this; very sure, as if he had done this hundreds of times before, and watched hundreds of women become his mindless slaves. 
397That thought brought a spark of resistance to her mind. She was not going to be anybody’s mindless servant. She was not going to become his willing victim. If he thought she would, he was in for a surprise. Some way, somehow, she would find her way out of this trap and then… 
398And then what? There were other things to be considered as well. She was a long way from home, with no money or equipment or friends. She was sure they were in the wicked land of Sylvania now, a place of dark legends — not a place to be stranded alone in the depths of winter. There were the wolves loping along steadily behind them. Without Krieger’s protection they might well tear her limb from limb. She glanced out into the gloom and saw Krieger there, striding along among them, a predator among predators. 
399With the sight of him, the darkness in her thoughts returned, and with the darkness, temptation. Of late he had taken to talking to her more softly of offering her things. Not bribes, not gold or jewels, but power and immortality. He did it in a mocking, teasing way, so she could never be sure whether he meant it, or merely intended to torment her before killing her. 
400She was not interested in such offers, she told herself. She did not want to become immortal at the price of her soul. She did not want to unnaturally prolong her life at the cost of others’ blood. She had no desire to learn the darkest secrets of sorcery. No. She wanted none of these things. There was no temptation there. 
401But at times she had found herself considering things. If she became immortal, she could some day become his equal, she could learn his secrets, and make her escape or extract her revenge. Unlife would eventually grant her that power, she was sure. That was the only real temptation there, or so she tried to convince herself. Unfortunately, she was not sure it was exactly true. 
402Sometimes when he talked, he seemed to be giving her glimpses into a greater, darker world, one possessed of an ancient and terrible beauty, ruled over by an aristocracy of the night, who held court in shadowed palaces, served by legions of more than willing servants. He talked of the far places he had been, and the things he had seen there, more places than any mortal could visit in a lifetime she was sure. 
403He had seen the Land of the Dead, and the great Black Pyramid of Nagash at midnight. He had heard the whisperings of the dead men as they stirred within the tomb cities. He had visited the edges of the Realms of Chaos and they seemed to hold no terrors for him. He had visited Bretonnia, Estalia, Tilea and every one of the known lands of men. He had talked with famous painters, and poets, as well as kings and queens and lesser rulers. He had discussed philosophy with Neumann, and playwriting and poetry with von Diehl and Sierck and Tarradasch. 
404He possessed a knowledge and a sophistication that made every man she had ever met seem shallow and venal. Even Max did not possess his depth of knowledge. Of course, she thought, Max had not stolen centuries of lives from innocents to acquire his scholarship either. 
405Krieger strode up to the side of the coach and wrenched the door open. The night’s chill entered with him. He reached out and touched her cheek with one icy hand. She flinched away but not as quickly as she would have liked. 
406“Have you thought about the question I asked?” 
407“You are not a teacher and I am not your pupil,” she said. “I do not need to answer any of your questions.” 
408He smiled, showing teeth like any normal mortal’s. The killing fangs were still retracted. “I did not ask you to answer. I asked you to think about it,” he said quietly. “Actually, I know you have thought about it. How could you not?” 
409Again that smug self-assurance, again that certainty that she could not but do what he wanted. The annoying thing was that he was right. He had a way of putting things that, combined with the situation itself, made it impossible not to think about what he wanted her to. Once again she felt like a fly snared in a particularly strong and subtly woven web. She ignored him, knowing that to say anything would be to grant him another victory. He shrugged and glanced out of the window into the moonlight. 
410Despite her efforts to keep them out, the questions he had asked her blazed through her brain. It was as if his presence transmitted them into her mind by some mystical power. He had asked her what the difference was between him and her. He preserved his life by taking the life of mortals. She preserved hers by taking the lives of cattle, birds and other living things. 
411The answer had seemed so simple at first. He killed people, sentient things with loves and hates and thoughts and passions. He had asked her how she could not be certain that animals did not feel the same things. After all, once she had said her old dog had understood her. 
412“Are you prepared to kill to defend yourself or your family? You don’t need to answer. I already know what you will say” She spoke just to be contradictory. “Of course I would.” 
413“What is the difference between doing that and killing to prolong your life?” 
414“The difference is that I would not be the aggressor. I would be defending myself.” 
415“What about to protect your land?” 
416“I would fight to protect it.” 
417“So you are saying you value your land more highly than another person’s life.” “If they tried to take my land, yes.” He shook his head and gave her a mocking smile. 
418“And if your allies call on you to fight, you would kill to protect their lands?” “I would be honour bound to.” 
419“So now your honour is worth more than another person’s life. I think I am more honest than you. I can truthfully say I value my existence more highly than I value theirs.” 
420“That is your privilege,” she said. “What happens when you run into someone who feels the same way about you?” 
421“You already know the answer.” 
422Ulrika fell silent. She knew his questions were just another one of his games, designed to make her feel inferior and weak, to break down her resistance. She could not understand why he bothered, other than perhaps because he got some sick sadistic pleasure from it. 
423She did not regard herself as having a particularly philosophical turn of mind. Such a thing was hardly a necessity for the daughter of a frontier nobleman of Kislev. All she needed to be able to do was manage an estate and wield a weapon, not be able to answer complex ethical riddles. She felt out of her depth here, confronted with a puzzle that was way beyond all her previous experience. 
424She was willing to admit that eternal life and eternal youth were not without their attractions. 
425But the price being asked here was too high. 
426Beside her, Adolphus Krieger smiled as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. 
427She really wished to put a dagger through his heart at that moment, but she suspected that if she could, it would make no difference. He seemed so invulnerable. 
428  
429Max watched the sun rise from the walls of Waldenschlosse. It did not cheer him. The meat he had eaten last night sat in his stomach as if made of lead. The weakness he had felt since recovering from his investigation of the Eye of Khemri stayed with him. He summoned a splinter of power, and wrapped himself in it, to keep out the chill, to warm himself. His old masters would have shuddered to see him use power in such a way but, right at this moment, he did not care. 
430The warmth spread over his skin and brought a flush to his cheeks but it did not touch his heart. It was no wonder; the view from the castle was enough to chill the blood of any man. The keep stood atop a great rocky crag. As the shadows of night retreated he saw the corpse of the town. That was the best way he could describe the ruined and half-deserted township. Waldenhof seemed less like a living city than a prison or a camp in which the refugees of some terrible disaster huddled, waiting for the next dreadful doom to descend on them. 
431In the distance, beyond the tumbled-down town walls, lay a seemingly endless dark forest. There was a brooding sense of presence about it, as if ancient evil things still lurked there, waiting to strike. It was said the woods of Sylvania had been a haven for creatures of darkness since the time of Sigmar. Max found it easy to believe. Not even the plumes of smoke rising from the snow-covered hovels below reassured him much. The town looked even less prepossessing by daylight than it had the night before. 
432Max had thought he would have slept well last night. After all, he had had a real bed and a real room heated by a real fireplace. He had not done so. His sleep had been full of nightmares. His body had become so accustomed to hard ground that he had constantly shifted on his mattress in a futile search for rest. The room had seemed stuffy and it had been hard to breathe. Perhaps he was becoming ill, but his routine monitoring of his physical health had shown no signs of it. His protective spells seemed to be working. He doubted if he was coming down with a flux or plague. It must simply be worry and exhaustion. 
433He invoked the location spell on the Eye of Khemri. It had stopped moving, as it often did at this time of day. Well, at least he had answered one mystery. If Krieger were a blood drinker, that would explain why he travelled mostly at night. Max prayed that finally the vampire had reached his goal and they would soon overtake him. It seemed logical that they would: Sylvania was most likely his destination. The question was, what horror did he plan when he reached his eventual goal? He surely intended to use the Eye for some unspeakable purpose. 
434Max saw Felix emerge onto the battlements. He looked considerably the worse for wear. He was pale and sweating, despite the cold. His hair was lank and his beard unkempt. The tattered red cloak was drawn tight about his shoulders. He gave a great hacking cough that made his whole body shudder. He shuffled along the battlements towards Max like an old man, moving very cautiously. The wizard was not surprised. The stone was slippery, and it was a long drop to the hard flagstones of the courtyard below. 
435“Morning, Max, you’re up early,” he said. His voice was hoarse, and Max was sure he could hear a wheezing noise coming from his chest. 
436“I did not sleep well.” 
437Felix smiled. “You look how I feel.” 
438“I could say the same about you,” said Max. 
439“This is a depressing place.” 
440“You can say that again.” 
441“And it’s a depressing time. The winter is deep. The hordes of Chaos are on the march. The forces of the undead muster, and we’re right in the middle of it. It’s funny — when I was a child I always wanted to have adventures like the ones I read about in books. Now I find myself having adventures and I wish I was a child back in my father’s house again.” 
442“These are dark times,” said Max. To his surprise, Felix burst out laughing, and kept laughing till his mirth ended in a spasm of coughing. “What was that about?” Max asked. 
443“You really do sound just like a wizard should sometimes, Max. Would you care to make some ominous prophesies now?” 
444“I don’t think you are in the right frame of mind for them. Maybe I will wait till it’s dark and the wolves are howling outside. Maybe then you’ll shiver appropriately at my oracular pronouncements.” 
445“I think I’m shivering quite enough at the moment.” 
446Max turned and looked away towards the horizon. In the distance, he could see a huge plume of dark smoke rising. “What is that?” he asked. He answered his own question. “Most likely just the fire from some townsman’s hut.” 
447Felix shook his head. “No. The billows are too big and too dark. It’s no normal fire. Not unless he has set fire to his whole street in an effort to keep warm. Not that I would blame him if he had.” 
448A horn sounded from one of the nearby watchtowers. The call echoed through the courtyard and was answered from other towers. 
449“It would seem we are not the only ones who have noticed,” said Felix. 
450Within minutes, a company of men-at-arms had assembled in the courtyard. “I suppose we had better go and help them investigate,” said Felix without much enthusiasm. He coughed long and hard before shuffling towards the stairs. 
451Even as Max watched a mass of people appeared before the castle, emerging from the tumbled down streets of the decaying city. They looked as if they had been running for their lives. There were raggedly clad men, women clutching babies to their breasts, and small children. A few of the men clutched pitchforks and other weapons. Some had pitifully small sacks over their shoulders that Max guessed held a few possessions. All of them seemed to be scared. The villagers in the huts below emerged from their homes to meet them. After a few seconds of chatter they began to shout for their masters to open the gates. 
452  
453“It seems there has been another raid in the night,” said the countess. She strode over and glanced at Max and Felix. Max looked at her. She was pale and very beautiful, very much the languid aristocrat, and there was something about her that he disliked. “Rudgar and his men will ride out and investigate, although I doubt that they will find anything. The creatures will have melted away into the woods by now. They always do. They are very good at it.” 
454Even as she spoke, Rudgar, Rodrik and a group of knights thundered past, going hell for leather through the snow into the woods, looking for all the world as if they were out hunting. A few even let out wild whoops of excitement, and blew upon their horns exactly as if going to hounds. Max was not too impressed by their grasp of tactics. Why warn your foes that you are coming? He had never suspected the count and his son as being the brightest of men and here was proof of it. Gotrek and Snorri Nosebiter were stomping down the stairs now, hefting their weapons and looking as cheerful as men on their way to an Elector countess’ ball. 
455“Better hurry,” he said ironically. “Otherwise you’ll miss the battle.” 
456The two grinned as if he was not being sarcastic and began trotting in the direction of the smoke. Felix coughed behind his hand, and began to move off too. Max supposed he had to fill the conditions of his oath. 
457“Wait,” said the countess. “Get horses from the stable. We’ll all get there quicker.” Max noticed that he seemed to have been included in that. He found himself moving towards the stables almost automatically. There was something very subtly commanding about the countess. 
458  
459It was a twenty minute ride through the snow-covered streets to where the outskirts of the city touched the woods. All around rotting buildings loomed, frightened people glancing out from shadowy doorways. Max’s breath steamed in the air. The horse raced along smoothly underneath him, great muscles bunching and uncoiling. Riding was exhilarating, and he thought he might be able to understand the behaviour of the young nobles earlier. 
460“Your face is very grim, Herr Schreiber,” said Countess Gabriella. “Any particular reason, or are you always this way?” 
461Max forced himself to smile, and to relax a little. He might not like the countess much, but there was no need to be rude. It served little purpose. And really, who was he to judge her? He hardly knew the woman, after all. 
462“I am worried. About Ulrika and about Adolphus Krieger.” 
463“You have every reason to be. He is a very wicked man.” 
464Max glanced over at her. In the cold clear morning light, he could see that she was not as young as he had first thought. Over the veil, small lines were visible at the corner of her eyes. Expertly applied make-up almost concealed them but they were there. And there was a sheen to her black hair that suggested to Max that it was dyed. She was older than he was by ten years at least, he guessed. 
465“Are you talking from personal experience?” Max was not sure why he said that, the words just slipped out. He could see Felix give him a warning look. Perhaps his tone had been a bit insensitive, he thought, but he could not help it. The woman brought out the worst in him for some reason. 
466“You could say that,” she said. “He is an old enemy of my husband’s family. Or rather, they are old enemies of his.” 
467“Why?” 
468“The Emperor granted us the castle that he had occupied before the Wars of the Vampire Counts, before everyone knew what he was. He resented that a great deal, and he swore to take it back and have revenge on my husband’s entire line.” 
469“He certainly knows how to hold a grudge,” said Felix. There was a note of mild irony in his voice. 
470“You don’t understand, Herr Jaeger. You have no comprehension of the way the undying ones think. They look like mortals, but they are not like mortals. They are not sane, as you would judge sanity. What they are twists their minds. They are no more comprehensible to most people than a spider would be, if we could read its thoughts.” 
471“That’s an uncomfortable idea,” said Felix, and the tone of irony was gone. 
472“The undying ones are disturbing things. They are predators and mortals are their prey. They are driven by needs and drives that are incomprehensible to the living.” 
473Max fought down a shiver. Somewhere out there Ulrika was in the hands of a creature like this, and that was the best he could hope for, if the thing had not simply slain her out of hand and drunk her blood to sustain its unnatural existence. Somewhere deep in his heart red-hot anger began to blaze. If that had happened Adolphus Krieger would pay; it would not matter how long it took, Max would hunt him down and make an end of him. It did not matter how powerful the creature thought he was, he would discover there were other powers in this world. 
474Max reached out and touched the weave of his location spell again. It was still there. He could still feel it. Suddenly, he just wanted to be away from here, for the chase to be on once more. They were wasting time here. Every heartbeat might prove vital. He pushed the thoughts back. This woman could tell him things that might help. It was always best to know your enemy, particularly if they were as powerful and dangerous as he feared Adolphus Krieger might be. Surely remaining here for a few more hours would not make that much difference, lust the extra rest would let them move faster over the next few days. Surely that alone would make this delay worthwhile. 
475He tried to convince himself, but he still felt guilty. “Tell me more of Adolphus Krieger,” he said. 
476“Little enough is known of him. He was one of von Carstein’s most trusted minions. He led armies in the field for him during the Winter War. It is said even von Carstein feared him. He vanished after Hel Fenn. Many thought he had perished with the other undying ones. My husband’s family did not.” 
477“Why?” 
478“Things happened. My kinfolk died under mysterious circumstances, and always after reports of someone who looked like Krieger had been spotted in the area. Some thought his ghost had returned to haunt the family. Others knew he still existed and was taunting them. The undying ones can afford to take a long time over their revenges, and they like to spin these things out. Compared to them a cat toying with a mouse is merciful.” 
479She spoke on, telling bloodcurdling tales of Krieger’s misdeeds, and anecdotes from her family history. As Max listened he began to build a picture of Krieger that chilled the blood. And this was the man who had Nagash’s amulet! Putting aside rescuing Ulrika it occurred to Max that it would be a very bad thing to allow the Eye of Khemri to stay within his clutches. 
480Felix listened to Max and Gabriella talk as he rode. His cough was worse. His lungs felt clogged but he managed to stay upright on the horse. He kept his eyes peeled studying the surroundings. If there were beastmen about, he wanted to see them before they saw him. These half-abandoned streets were perfect for an ambush. Idly he wondered where the Slayers were. They had not overtaken them on the road, but he would not have put it past Gotrek and Snorri to have taken a shortcut. 
481His nostrils twitched. From up ahead he could smell burning. It seemed that they were closer than he had thought. A pity. He had a few questions he wanted to ask of the Countess Gabriella. She seemed the best informed of all the Sylvanian nobles, although he supposed it was quite likely that any of them could answer his questions. There was a lot he wanted to know about the undying ones, and the Carstein bloodline, particularly since he felt a cold certainty that one of these nights he was going to find himself in some out of the way place hunting Krieger or others of his ilk. Such episodes had all too frequently punctuated his career as the Slayer’s henchman. 
482He wanted to know how many of the tales concerning vampires were true and how many were old wives’ tales, and it seemed to him that the Sylvanians were best placed to be able to answer them. No time like the present, he told himself. 
483“Countess, is it true that the undying ones are much stronger than ordinary men, strong enough to rip a man’s heart out with their bare hands?” 
484If Max was displeased with this interruption he did not let it show. He looked at the countess expectantly. She considered for a moment. 
485“Some of them certainly are. Krieger is… if the old tales are to be believed.” 
486Wonderful, thought Felix. I stood in a room with a man capable of rending my flesh with his bare hands, and I was quite prepared to fight him. I may have to do so again. 
487“Why do you say ‘some of them’?” Max asked. It was a good question, and Felix wished he had thought of it. 
488“The undying ones vary in their characteristics far more than humans. You hear many stories of them, and it’s a certainty that all of them have some basis in fact. It’s just that not every tale holds true of every blood drinker.” 
489“Can you give me an example?” 
490“They are said to be unable to abide the sign of the hammer, or to pass any window barred with daemonroot. In some cases this is true. There are documented reports of the undying fleeing from priests of Sigmar when presented with holy symbols. But equally there are believable accounts of them tearing apart priests who confronted them, and trampling on the holy signs and laughing.” 
491“I would be surprised if these tales involved the same vampire though,” said Max. The countess looked at him with some respect. Felix wondered what the wizard’s point was. He wished his head did not hurt quite so much. He wished the motion of the horse did not make him quite so nauseous. 
492“You would mostly be correct, Herr Schreiber. And where the stories do overlap there is always the possibility of confusion.” 
493“There are some simple possible explanations,” said Max. “Such things might be completely dependent on what the individual creature itself believes. It happens all the time with wizards. Some can only cast spells when they have their favourite staff. Some believe implicitly that their spells will have no effect on certain things like priests or people bearing the sign of the hammer and, strangely, this is the case. Even though other wizards have no difficulty doing this whatsoever. Magic is in many ways as much about confidence and willpower as it is about tapping the currents of magic, and certainly the undying ones must be even more steeped in magic than even wizards.” “You are referring to Karel Lazlo’s theory of belief systems,” said the countess. Max smiled. 
494“I would have thought I was the only person in a hundred leagues to know about that book, much less to have read it.” 
495“In Sylvania we know the utility of much strange lore, and we set ourselves to acquiring it.” 
496Felix’s head reeled but he still had questions he wanted answered and he wasn’t about to let these two get side-tracked into some long-winded discussion of what some centuries’ dead philosopher thought, no matter how much it might have interested him under normal circumstances. 
497“Is it true they die if exposed to sunlight?” he asked, once again forcing his way into the conversation. 
498“Again it varies,” said the countess. “Some become very badly burned by daylight, some die, some seem able to bear it without major damage. All accounts agree, though, that unless they have just consumed a great deal of blood, or enhanced their powers with magic, that they are considerably less formidable during daylight. No one knows why.” 
499“I have read that some of them are capable of going abroad by daylight even, provided they protect their skins from exposure,” said Max. The countess adjusted her veil and looked at him. 
500“That is most likely true too.” 
501Felix wondered how much of what he thought he knew about the creatures was true and how much of it was conditional, or applied only to some and not to others, or was merely an old wives’ tale? He pushed on. 
502“Can they fly or transform themselves into bats or wolves or other animals? I have read that they can.” 
503Both Max and the countess stared at him for long moments in silence. He could not make up his mind whether they were giving his question serious consideration or looking at him as if he were an idiot, but he met their gaze evenly. His question was not stupid if his life might depend on the answer. Eventually the countess spoke, “It is said that there were some of the Carstein bloodline who could transform themselves into creatures of the night.” 
504Max considered for a while. “There is no reason why it should not be possible. Some wizards can manage the same trick using certain transformational spells. I have never seen it done, but I see no reason to doubt that it is possible. Many strange things are given the proper application of the correct forces.” 
505Things were looking worse and worse, Felix thought. It was possible that Krieger possessed all the powers that legend ascribed to the blood drinkers, and it was equally possible that none of the protections of which the tales spoke might work against him. He tried telling himself that he was looking at things in the worst of all possible lights but often in the past the worst had happened, so this was no comfort. 
506Where was Gotrek, Felix wondered? The power of that ancient axe would certainly be a reassuring thing to have around right now. 
507  
508The building still burned as they rode up to it. Thick oily clouds of smoke rose from the peat walls of the nearest huts. Felix had heard the living conditions of the peasants in Sylvania were even more squalid than those of such people elsewhere, and here was evidence of it before his very eyes. Farmers around Altdorf kept pigs in sties that looked more inhabitable than some of these huts must have been. 
509Felix had heard that things were hard in Sylvania, and that the lives of the peasants here were bywords for brutishness. Looking at this he could believe it. He had never seen dwellings so small and squalid. The peasants who had come filtering back when they realised the knights had arrived were smaller, thinner and more unhealthy looking than any human beings Felix had ever seen, and most of them bore pockmarks or possessed wall eyes or the look of congenital idiocy. Was there something in the soil here that twisted human life, he wondered? 
510He had not realised he had spoken out loud until he saw Max looking at him. “The taint of dark magic is very strong in Sylvania,” said the wizard. “And the soil was said to have been contaminated terribly by the warpstone starfall that preceded the Great Plague of 1111. Maybe that has affected the people, although this is probably neither the time nor the place to speak of it.” 
511Felix nodded his head. He had visited the Chaos Wastes and thought that there could be no worse place in the world, but now he was starting to have his doubts. The mark of darkness was much more obvious in the Wastes, but in some way the very familiarity of Sylvania made it seem worse. This was part of the Empire. These people were citizens of his native land and yet ruinous magic had tainted their lives in many ways and on many levels. He wondered what his own life would have been like if he had been born here. 
512Thinking of the somewhat eccentric appearance and manner of the nobles he had met, he wondered if they were at all different from their people. Perhaps they were changed on the inside the way these folks had been altered on the outside. Perhaps there was some truth in all those tales of madness set in this accursed province. He shook his head. He was making too many assumptions based on too few facts. He was letting the depressing atmosphere of this decaying place get to him. 
513He rode up to where some of the villagers were prodding a corpse. Or what at first looked like a corpse. He looked again, reined the horse in and dismounted then shouldered his way through the small knot of people around the body. Maybe once it had been human, although it must have been a very lean and evil-looking man. He prodded it with his boot and the head rolled to one side. The face was shocking, as much for the ways in which it resembled a man as for the ways it did not. The skin was greyish and flaky with an oddly reptilian quality although Felix could not quite put his finger on what made it so. 
514The yellowish eyes were much larger than normal, and seemed to bulge out of their sockets so that the eyelids could not contain them. The face was very long, and very lean, and the jaw was very narrow. The mouth grinning in death’s rictus was full of teeth that were discoloured and far too sharp. The nails on the hands were long and claw-like. 
515“What is it?” he asked quietly. 
516“It’s a ghoul, manling,” said Gotrek, the crowd parting around him. “An eater of manflesh.” 
517Felix was sickened. Like all the citizens of the Empire he had heard tales of these foul cannibals who gorged themselves on the meat of corpses but he had never really expected to encounter one. 
518“Goetz killed it yer honour, wiv ’is pitchfork,” said one of the peasants. “Just afore two o’ this thing’s mates grabbed ’im an’ made off. I guess we’ll find his bones cracked for marrow one o’ these days.” 
519Now, Felix really did feel nauseous. It was disturbing enough to see the bones of those who had been killed and eaten by beastmen, but if legends were correct this ghoul here had once been human till he developed a taste for forbidden meat. 
520“Look’s a bit like Wilhelm, this one,” said another peasant with a sort of dull curiosity. “I always did wonder what ’appened to ’im.” 
521“You’re saying you knew this thing?” said Felix incredulously. 
522“Maybe. Wouldn’t be the first around here to try a bit of sweet pork if you get my drift. Winter is long and sometimes food is scarce. Who can afford the butcher’s bill?” 
523Felix did not know what horrified him more, the information the man had imparted or the casual way he had said it. Seeing Felix looking at him askance, the man flinched and added, “Not that I’ve ever tried it myself, you understand.” 
524The thunder of hooves announced the arrival of Rudgar. “These creatures are either very desperate or very confident to be attacking the town itself.” 
525The Countess Gabriella’s voice was chill. “I fear they are growing very confident.” 
526At that moment, the ghoul’s eyes flickered open and it let out a chilling malevolent laugh. “The Time of Blood is here,” it cackled and lunged upward at Felix. Before he even had time to step back, Gotrek’s axe had parted the thing’s head from its shoulders. There was surprisingly little blood. 
527The peasants had fallen back muttering with horror, making the sign of the hammer, and other wards that Felix did not recognise. “The thing was dead, I knows it was,” said the peasant who had spoken of sweet pig. 
528“It is now,” said Gotrek and spat on the headless corpse. 
529  
530“It certainly looked dead when I poked it with my boot,” said Felix, as they strode through the ruins at the edge of town. Here the walls were almost the height of four men and tipped with spikes in places. Of course, in other places there were huge gaps, where the stonework had tumbled and not been rebuilt. It was easy to see how the things had got in. 
531“Anyone can make a mistake, manling,” said Gotrek. 
532“It might have been dead,” said Max. “Perhaps there was some residue of dark magic left within it, which allowed it to come back to a semblance of life one last time.” 
533“Maybe,” said the Slayer. “Or maybe it was just wounded and faking.” 
534“You’re most probably right,” said Max, but he still sounded a little dubious. Felix wondered if the atmosphere of this place was starting to get to the wizard as well. Normally Max Schreiber was quite sceptical. 
535“Vampires, ghouls, beastmen; what next?” muttered Felix. 
536“Some of these peasants look like they might want a good meal of sweet pork,” said the Slayer nastily. 
537“They just look like they could use a good meal,” said Felix. 
538“No need to concern yourself with these scum,” boomed Rodrik, striding up the muddy street. He had obviously overheard. “They will get by. Their sort always does. Most likely have a whole sackful of turnips they should have used for taxes buried in their midden piles.” 
539“A whole sackful? Of turnips?” said Felix softly. His irony was obviously lost on the young knight who just nodded sagely. 
540“These villains are scum, pure and simple. Steal their liege lords blind, rob a passing stranger for his shoes and use them to make soup. If you don’t treat them with the lash they’ll go right back to their old ways. They were too long under the Vampire Counts.” 
541Too long under the likes of you more like, thought Felix, all the reasons why he disliked the aristocracy of his homeland coming flooding back to him. He gazed at the young knight with unconcealed distaste. If Rodrik noticed he gave no sign of it. 
542“There’s nothing much more we can do here. Best get back to the schloss,” said Rodrik. 
543Felix nodded. They had better things to do than stick around and help this upper class brute oppress the peasants. Still, he had to admit, some of the peasants were looking at him rather hungrily. 
544  
545Max was happy to be back on the road again, though less than pleased that Countess Gabriella had decided to accompany them, with Rodrik and his fellows as escort. It seemed that their routes ran together for many leagues. If what the countess claimed about Krieger having a claim on her husband’s lands was true, then perhaps they might find themselves allies. 
546The conference of nobles had ended inconclusively. They had agreed to send aid to one another if attacked, but it seemed that the plan was mostly to remain within their castles till the end of winter and then summon their vassals and muster their armies to scour the land. In truth, there was very little else for them to do. Armies would not be able to march in the deep winter and keeping any large force supplied would be next to impossible. Only the desperate or the driven would be abroad now. Max smiled grimly. People like ourselves in other words. And those in the service of the dark powers, he added after a moment’s consideration. 
547He wondered how much chance the Sylvanian nobles really had against any force Krieger might muster. Max doubted that it was good. This was a poor, infertile land, and could not support many people. The size of the nobles’ forces was considerably smaller than any that might be mustered elsewhere in the Empire. He doubted that all of the rulers at the meeting at Waldenschlosse together could muster as many troops as the city guard of Praag. That was not an encouraging thought either. 
548There had been some talk of hiring mercenaries as well but Max doubted that anything would come of it. No mercenary in his right mind would want to come to Sylvania for the sums these impoverished nobles would offer, and even if they did most would, doubtless, soon be far more lucratively employed by the Emperor in the campaign against Chaos. 
549Max dismissed these thoughts and gave his attention to his surroundings. Snow crunched beneath the hooves of the ponies. The Kislevite warriors rode in a column, silently scanning their surroundings with wary eyes. Max did not blame them for their low spirits. He himself had never seen a more ominous-looking wood. The trees were sickly and, where not covered in snow, were blotched with some sort of parasitic mould that glowed in the shadows. The place was oppressive and deathly quiet save for the sounds made by the advancing party. 
550He shivered. This was the road to Drakenhof, a place with as bad a reputation as any in the world. At Drakenhof, the scourge of the Vampire Counts had first arisen. At Drakenhof, the first of the infamous von Carsteins had raised his banner and proclaimed himself ruler of Sylvania. The castle itself was said to have been built on a particularly ill-omened site, a nexus of terrible dark magical energies, a place so woven around by evil protective spells that any mortal who spent time there went insane. It was said that the siege engineers who had been set the task of destroying the place by the Emperor Joachim had gone mad, and devoured each other. All things considered, it was not a place he was keen to visit. Unfortunately it seemed likely to be the ultimate destination of Adolphus Krieger. It was a disturbing thought. 
551At least, whatever else they might have been, the folk back at Waldenschlosse had been generous with their supplies. They had replenished the stores of grain and hard tack on the wagons out of their own meagre stocks. They had an ulterior motive, Max supposed. If this expedition had even the faintest chance of ridding them of Krieger then it was worth their while supporting it. Judging by the looks they had received, as they rode out, not too many rated their chances highly. 
552Max had other reasons to be grateful. While at the keep he had taken advantage of the library and learned a great deal of obscure knowledge concerning Sylvania and the Vampire Counts. The family chronicles of noble houses here were for the most part as dry and dull as those of aristocratic families elsewhere but some surprising nuggets of information could show up. 
553Mannfred von Carstein had had the whole approach to Drakenhof lined with the crucified forms of his enemies. One dark autumn evening he had them all set alight to illuminate his triumphal procession into the town. Many of the victims had still been alive when the torch had been set to their oil-soaked bodies. What sort of maniac would do that sort of thing, Max wondered? 
554Unfortunately, the answer was all too obvious, when dealing with members of the Carstein bloodline. There seemed to be something tainted in that brood, as if an ancient curse of madness inevitably descended on its members. Not that any of the undying ones were exactly sane. From his other readings, Max knew that almost all of the bloodlines suffered this in some way. Max wondered if the vampires would see it that way though. 
555How could he judge? Their lives were so long and their perspectives so skewed by what they were that maybe to them their behaviour was normal. If you had lived for centuries by treating people as cattle then maybe using them as torches would seem natural. Somehow Max could not quite convince himself of this. He thought it far more likely that the creatures were so saturated by dark magic that their minds and their souls, if they still had any, were warped by it. It was a well documented process that occurred to dark magicians and those who trafficked with the Ruinous Powers. There was no reason to assume that vampires were immune; quite the opposite, in fact. 
556Max did not know where all of this speculation was leading him except perhaps to the fact that he knew several spells of unbinding and dissipation against dark magic, and that these might prove most useful against a creature which owed its existence in part to those baneful energies. In some ways too this was a tactical problem. If Krieger was one of those who were affected by sunlight then Max knew several spells for replicating the effect of the sun too. Those might prove very handy as well. This was a problem that needed to be considered from all angles. The stakes were too high to allow for any errors of judgement. Not only his life but Ulrika’s and all of their party’s might depend on such things. 
557  
558* * * 
559  
560“So, you have written poetry?” asked the Countess Gabriella. Felix nodded, wondering why she had asked him to join her. Surely she had not asked him here simply to discuss poesy. He glanced out into the gathering gloom before nodding. Rodrik rode along beside the coach. He caught Felix’s eye upon him and glanced back with a look that could only be described as jealous. Felix turned to look away. The last thing he wanted was any trouble with the hotheaded young noble. 
561He felt quite sleepy. The motion of the coach on its runners was lulling him into a daze. The countess’ coach was warm and the cushioned leather seats a lot more comfortable than the hard bench on the supply sledge. The countess herself was far more pleasant company than the Slayer, although that wasn’t saying much since, on most days, so was a dead badger. To be fair to the woman, she was a lot better company than most people he knew — witty, erudite and charming. 
562“And where was it published?” He looked over at her. Behind her veil her eyes seemed to glitter in the dim light. The subtle, spicy smell of her perfume filled the coach’s interior. 
563“In Altdorf, by the Altdorf Press. In their anthologies of new Imperial poetry for the most part.” 
564“So you wrote it in Imperial, not Classical.” 
565“It’s the modern manner,” said Felix, a little defensively. Like most educated men he could read and write quite competently in the old tongue if he had to, but the idea of writing poetry in it had no great appeal. Too many of the great masters had used the language, and that invited unfavourable comparisons. “Most publishers these days are aiming at the vernacular audience. It’s larger.” 
566“Quite,” said the countess, a little sharply. “But Classical is a much more elegant language, don’t you think?” There was something a little challenging in her tone. Felix felt as if he were being quizzed by his professors back at the university. 
567“I don’t know that I agree,” he said. “I think it’s the choice of words that makes a statement elegant, if that’s what you wish, rather than the language it’s written in. Certainly I can think of just as many bad poems written in Classical as Imperial. More, actually, since it was the language of scholars and poets for so much longer.” 
568“Interesting,” she said. “You are a most unusual young man, Herr Jaeger, with an original turn of thought.” 
569Felix looked at her to see if she was being ironic. He had just told her what most intellectuals and professors would have told her. It had been something of an orthodoxy for the past twenty-five years. Yet there was no trace of mockery in her voice or manner. He supposed it was possible. Sylvania was after all a backwater place, far from the mainstream of intellectual life. Most of the books back in the Waldenschlosse library had been hand-written, copied by scribes rather than set in movable type. Considering the explosion in publishing since Johannes of Marienburg introduced his printing machine over a century ago that was unusual. Felix had heard someone say more books were now printed in any given year than had been scribed in all of Imperial history before the introduction of printing, and more new books were published in any year than had been written in any previous century. He did not know if that was true, but it certainly sounded correct to him. He mentioned this to the countess just for something to say. 
570“Yes,” she said. “Things used to be so different. Once you could keep up with all the new trends in literature and philosophy and natural philosophy. Now, sadly it’s impossible. The world is racing forward at a much faster pace, and I fear it’s rushing headlong toward no good final destination.” 
571She sounded very definite about that. “I think the expansion of knowledge is a good thing,” said 
572Felix. “I think the more we can learn the better.” 
573She sighed. “The confidence of youth.” 
574Felix was not sure he liked her tone. He did not feel very young these days. He worried that his experiences had aged him prematurely. The countess continued speaking as if she had not noticed his frosty look, although he was certain that she had. She was a very observant woman. 
575“Do you think it’s good that knowledge of the dark cults is spreading? Or that soon the secrets of the darkest sorcery will be available to any lout who can read, where once they were the preserve of those who knew their dangers and their costs?” 
576“The wizards’ guilds and the temples still hold their secrets close,” said Felix. “So do the engineers and the alchemists.” 
577“How much longer do you think that will continue? How much longer do you think the world has?” 
578That was a fair question, Felix thought. He had seen the armies of Chaos on the march. It was all too likely that they were living in the final days. All the bright promise of natural philosophy and magical research might well never be fulfilled. Instead, the whole of the Old World might be ground under the iron-shod hooves of the Chaos hordes. Still, you could hardly blame the spread of printing for that. The countess watched him intently, as if deeply interested in his answer. 
579Felix felt as if he should say something reassuring, that the Emperor would triumph, and everything would turn out all right in the end, but he had seen too much to believe it. The forces of Chaos might have been halted at Praag but that was a temporary setback for them. They would soon recover and push ever deeper into the lands of men. 
580“I don’t know,” he said eventually. “These are dark times.” “Darker than you think,” she said. 
581  
582Felix clambered down from the coach, oddly disturbed by his conversations with the Countess Gabriella. She had a way of making him think about the things he did not want to, and she was a very erudite woman in her old-fashioned way. She seemed particularly interested in him as well, and he was not sure why. He would have said it was in the normal way a woman was interested in a man, and yet there was a reserve about her, a holding back, a quality of waiting and watching and judging so intense that it seemed abnormal. A most peculiar woman, he decided, trudging back through the snow to the supply sledge. 
583He drew his cloak tight against the wind. At least he felt a little better. His nose had stopped running, his cough no longer scourged his body and brought tears to his eyes, and he was not quite as feverish as he had been. Perhaps the stay at the castle had done him some good after all. 
584He clambered back up onto the sledge beside Gotrek and took the reins of the pony. 
585“Best be careful, manling. There’s a fellow who looks like he might want to slip a dagger into your back.” The Slayer sounded amused in his own bleak fashion. Felix glanced around and saw Rodrik glaring at him, his handsome face contorted by what might almost have been hatred. It looked as if Rodrik were jealous of the time he had spent with the countess. 
586“Rodrik’s too honourable to put a knife into my back,” Felix muttered. 
587“He might try a sword into your belly then.” 
588Felix laughed. “I don’t think now is the time to be fighting duels for the hand of the countess.” 
589“He might disagree with you.” 
590“I’ll worry about it if it happens.” The Slayer chuckled maliciously. “Might be too late by then.” 
591  
592“It smells a bit fusty” said Roche. 
593Adolphus Krieger looked around the entrance hall of Drakenhof. It looked good. His servants had undone some of the damage done by those vandals two centuries ago. The scorched walls had been rebuilt, the vegetation clogging the gateways had been removed and the huge tree growing through the roof had been chopped down. A fire burned in the hearth. He did not need the heat but he liked the look of it. Unlike many of his kind he did not take the fear of fire to great extremes. It was a good beginning, he decided. 
594“It smells wonderful,” said Adolphus, and meant it. “It smells like home.” 
595He was surprised by how much that meant to him. He felt as if his decades of rootless wanderings were over. He sensed the flow of old magical energies course through the stones. This was a place of power where he could do what he needed to do. Here he would take the final steps on the road of his destiny. 
596Ulrika entered the chamber. She looked pale and she staggered a little. Her eyes had the glazed ecstatic look that so many mortals got after the dark kiss. She looked at him with a mixture of resentment, hatred and longing that had become familiar down the centuries. 
597“Show the girl to the guest chambers,” he said to the chambermaid. The faint flicker of jealousy that appeared in the woman’s eyes amused him. She was one of his most faithful servants and bore herself with appropriate modesty although once she had been the proud daughter of one of the noblest houses of Kislev. She was beautiful but she had been too weak to interest him for long. 
598What was he going to do about Ulrika, he wondered? She was beautiful, intelligent and ambitious, and in his own cold way, he liked her. Her blood enchanted him, and there was a latent viciousness in her that he thought would make her truly one of the Arisen. Perhaps it was time for him to create a get. Perhaps he would grant her the gift of immortality. Not yet though. She was not quite ready. She still had to be won round to his point of view. If he granted her the final kiss, she might well go mad, or kill herself, or worse yet break free of him entirely and go her own way. He did not want that. It defeated the whole point of the exercise, which was to have someone at your side to go through eternity with. Thinking about himself and the countess, he did not know if he wanted to face that. 
599Of course it was inevitable she would leave. All gets eventually did. He had himself broken with his progenitor and made his own way out into the world. It was better if that did not happen too soon though. Still, if all went according to plan with the Eye of Khemri that was not something he needed to worry about. Using its power, he could well bind her and any others among the Arisen he wished to his will. 
600How the countess would regret ever sharing that knowledge with him! He chuckled. He would make his honoured progenitor sorry she had ever spoken of it all those long years ago. Of course at the time, it had been necessary to hide the desire that burned in his heart for the Eye. He had needed to acquire power and knowledge before making the break from the elder vampire and that had taken decades of quasi-servitude. It was not that he hated the countess for it. It was just that her cloying affection and concern for his wellbeing had reminded him too much of his own mother’s overpowering interest in him. It had enfolded him and choked him and made him feel trapped and imprisoned. Just thinking about her brought those feelings back. 
601Soon now, he would not have to worry about her or any others of the Arisen. The ancient enchantments Nagash had woven around the Eye of Khemri would see to that. 
602  
603EIGHT 
604  
605  
606Adolphus finished chalking the pentagram onto the floor. Around the edges he had made the symbols of all four of the great Powers of Chaos. He himself stood within a triangle in the centre of the pentagram. The scared young girl lay naked and bound before him. The Eye of Khemri glittered between her breasts. He could see the panic and bewilderment in her eyes. Only yesterday she had gone to sleep in her parents’ hovel near the castle. Tonight she had awoken in its deepest dungeon, spirited away by his servants. 
607The witch-knife glittered sharply in his hands. She looked as if she wanted to scream. 
608Adolphus chanted the names of the Dark Gods, invoking their presence, as the ritual prescribed. The girl began to thrash, terror overcoming even the potent compulsion to obey he had laid upon her. Perhaps he should have bound her physically. Perhaps he had been too confident in his own abilities. He pushed the thoughts aside. Any loss of concentration now might prove fatal. 
609Dark magical energy rose all around him. To his magesight it appeared reddish, blood-like, droplets of it dripping from the stones of the cellar walls and flowing around the boundaries of the pentagram. To the girl’s mortal eyes, nothing would have changed, but she seemed to sense what was going on and whimpered. 
610Adolphus breathed deeply. Dark magic had a scent uniquely its own, like blood but more so. It made his skin tingle and his brain buzz. He felt the beast start to stir inside him. What was happening? He had not felt like this since Praag. Why was the fury within him emerging now? 
611With an enormous effort of will, he fought the bloodlust down. He could not afford any loss of control for now. The girl started to rise. If she broke the edges of the pentagram, the dark magic would surge in uncontrollably. Worse, some of the daemonic entities that it attracted might enter too. Adolphus was not sure even his strength might prevail against such things, at least not until he had the Eye attuned. 
612He strode over to the girl, still chanting, and grabbed her by the throat. He lifted her easily with one hand despite the feeble beating of her fists and feet against his body. He raised her until her eyes were level with his and his gaze struck her with the impact of a hammer. Her pupils dilated, her mouth fell open slackly and soft whimpers emerged from her mouth as her whole body went limp in his grasp. Easily, he lowered her to the desecrated altar once more. 
613Ripples appeared in the tide of dark magic, taking on the shapes of evil entities. The ritual was starting to attract daemonic presences: huge hounds with great fleshy crests on their necks fought with clawed androgens; monstrously obese, pustule-covered things writhed on the floor in combat with strange disks whose edges were covered in eyes. They battled over a small proportion of the energy he drew up from the dark depths beneath the keep. It was enough to give them shape and form. Now even the girl’s mortal eyes might be able to perceive them as shimmering shapes in the darkness. The beast howled within his breast, desperate for the combat that would ensue, even though that combat would most likely end in his destruction. 
614He needed to progress faster. If he did not use the power he had gathered before the creatures fully manifested, terrible things might happen. The dark magical energy rushed in through the gaps in the point he had left at the northern edge of the pentagram, the arm of the star that pointed towards the Chaos Wastes. Ancient Nehekharan poured from his lips as he continued to chant the words of the ritual. His thoughts were inexorably drawn into the necessary configuration for the spell to be complete. The torrent of words continued even as the evil presences surged around the pentagram’s edges, attracted now to the souls they sensed within. 
615Adolphus fought down panic. He was not the best of sorcerers. There were mages who could have accomplished what he intended without the rituals and the extra power he needed to draw from the ancient evil beneath the keep. Perhaps he had made a mistake; perhaps he had attempted something beyond his ability. Perhaps this was the end. 
616No! He would not let that happen. He steeled his will and continued the chant he had memorised so long ago. He moved the knife through the elaborate ritual gestures, thrusting it in the direction of each point of the star in turn before finally raising it high above the girl and then plunging it into her heart. 
617She gave one long despairing wail as her soul was drawn from her body, and her blood splattered the altar. At that exact moment Adolphus felt the dark thirst within him. The beast wanted to lap up that blood. He fought with the urge and let the blood flow, until the trickle overflowed the altar and reached the floor. It touched the streams of dark magic and began to sizzle and dance, droplets jerking upward from the paving stones. A fine red mist filled the air inside the pentagram. From outside the spell walls Adolphus thought he heard the thin wailing and howling of the daemons. He continued to chant and gesture, guiding the twisting writhing mist until it touched both his flesh and the Eye of Khemri. 
618At that moment, a link was formed between him and the amulet. He sensed the power within it, and the ancient spells. He felt almost as if he was being sucked into it and he fought against it as a swimmer fights against the current of a raging river. 
619Then suddenly it was done. The amulet was his. He began the ritual of dismissal and the energies he had summoned began to drain away. The daemonic entities fought against it but there was nothing they could do to stop the process. As the flows of dark magic departed they were left high and dry like fish flopping on the bed of a sun-dried lake. One by one they disappeared, returning to whatever extra-dimensional hell from which they had come, leaving Adolphus alone with his prize. It pulsed in his hand as he attuned it to his own mystical energies. 
620As he did so he noticed lines of force shimmering through the night, so faint as to be almost invisible, leaving the pentagram through its open edge and flowing away towards the distance. These did not have the feel of the power within the amulet. They felt more recent, and bore the signature of a different wizard. Well, no matter. Adolphus reached out with the witch-knife and cut them. In a heartbeat they unravelled. 
621The amulet was his now, and he was about to use its power to serve his ultimate purpose. The dead girl looked up at him with empty sightless eyes. He reached down, dipped his fingertips in her blood and raised them to his lips. The blood tasted very sweet. 
622  
623Felix saw Max crumple forward and almost fall off the supply sledge. He jumped down from his own seat, leaving Gotrek clutching for the reins, and raced forward. 
624“What is wrong?” he asked. The wizard looked pale and drained. Sweat crossed his brow and he gave every impression of being a man in extreme pain. 
625“The spell I placed on the Eye of Khemri was just broken,” he groaned. “It was not a pleasant feeling.” 
626“Can you still find it?” Max shook his head despairingly. 
627“No. I can’t sense it anymore.” 
628“Do you have any idea where the Eye might be?” Slowly and painfully the wizard nodded. 
629“I know the direction we must go. I can give a bearing from here, judging by the position of the sun.” 
630“That won’t be much help. This trail winds its way through the forest. We can easily lose the way.” Max gritted his teeth and nodded once more. 
631“It gets worse,” he said. 
632“Oh good,” said Felix. “Tell me all the cheering details.” 
633“Just before my spell was cut I had a strange sense that something was happening to the amulet. I could sense a surge of power, and a soul screaming in terror. I suspect that Krieger has used the darkest of all magic to bind the amulet to him. I think he sacrificed someone.” 
634From Max’s expression, Felix could tell they were both thinking the same thing. “Ulrika?” “I don’t know,” said Max. “Maybe.” 
635“Damn!” said Felix, crashing his fist into the side of the sled. The pain of hitting the wood helped bring him back to his senses, and get control of his mounting panic and anger. He looked at Max again. The magician did not look too healthy. 
636“Are you all right?” he asked. 
637“I will be. Whatever Krieger has done, I intend to punish him.” 
638“I will help you,” said Felix, wishing he felt nearly as confident as he sounded. 
639“First we will have to find him,” said Max. 
640“Something tells me that it won’t be too difficult. He came all the way to Sylvania for a reason, and I think we can both guess what it is.” 
641“To claim the whole bloody province, and that’s just for a start.” Even as he spoke, Felix knew Max was right. The wars of the Vampire Counts were about to start all over again. 
642  
643Max hunched forward in his seat, barely able to handle the reins. Fortunately the weary ponies could almost be trusted to follow the path themselves. The cold wind bit into his face, bringing tears to his eyes. He could not find the energy to recast a spell of warming. It was all he could do to keep himself upright and concentrate on breathing. 
644At first there was a niggling sense of loss. The link to the Eye, which he had held onto for so long, was gone completely. Even when he had not been concentrating on the thing, he had always been aware that it was there. Now, he could not feel its presence. After a while he realised that he also felt better. It was as if he had just had a tooth pulled, one that had been giving him niggling pain for weeks. 
645In a way he was relieved. His contact with the ancient evil within the Eye of Khemri, no matter how far removed, had been oppressive, and had cast a pall over his spirits. Now, despite the circumstances he felt almost cheerful. It was difficult to keep a smile off his face, despite his worries over Ulrika and what the vampire might be doing. He knew this was not right, but he could not help himself. It was as if he had just started to recover from a long illness. The whole world looked somehow brighter. 
646  
647Ulrika looked at the talisman glittering on Adolphus Krieger’s chest. Somehow, it made the vampire look taller, more commanding and more confident even than he usually did. He smiled at her in a way that was almost friendly. She shook her head and looked away, wondering why everything in the room seemed sharper and clearer to her sight than it normally did, despite the darkness. What was happening to her? She was not sure she wanted to know. 
648She glanced around the strange throne room he had brought her to. It was buried deep within this haunted castle with its strange corridors in which time and distance seemed to become all twisted. There was a stillness about the place such as you found only in the oldest of temples, and a sense of brooding evil power that left her in no doubt that she was at the heart of the wickedness that enshrouded this place. Ancient suits of armour filled the niches, clutching old but still serviceable weapons. 
649Overhead, amid the enormous beams of a gigantic vaulted ceiling, she thought she saw something move. Vast shadows seemed to shift above the huge chandelier, independent of the light being cast. There was a terrible sense of presence about the place that she very badly wanted to ignore. 
650“It begins now,” said Krieger, mounting the massive dais and lounging back on an enormous throne of carved and polished wood. The back of the throne was sculpted to resemble the wings of a massive bat or dragon. Over Krieger’s head loomed the skull of an enormous bat. Glowing rubies gazed from its eye sockets. 
651Krieger’s voice was deeper somehow, more resonant and thrilling. It was difficult not to believe someone who sounded like that. She fought the compulsion, reminding herself that he was an evil, soulless bloodsucker. Somehow she could not manage the vehemence she once had. It was hard to think of anything save the pleasure of his last embrace. She wondered how that could have happened, then dismissed the thought as irrelevant. 
652It had happened and she needed to fight against it. That was all she needed to know. 
653“The talisman is mine now, Ulrika. Soon I will be the Prince of Night.” 
654“I do not know what you mean.” 
655“The talisman was created by the Great Necromancer himself in the ancient days. One of its many attributes is to increase its wearer’s… influence over the Arisen.” 
656“Why?” 
657“Nagash feared the growth of their power, and saw them as potential rivals. He made the talisman and with it bent many of the Arisen to his will: they became his hounds, creatures that are feared to this very day. The amulet was lost when Alcadizaar overcame him. It has .drifted down the ages born by fools who were too blind to see what it was. All that is ended. Tonight, I have claimed it for my own, just as I have claimed von Carstein’s throne for my own.” 
658“How do you know it will still work after all this time?” 
659“Not for nothing was he known as the Great Necromancer. The things he made do not lose their potency. He was the greatest sorcerer of his age, the greatest necromancer of any age. No one ever understood the magic of Undeath like he did. I know the Eye works. I can feel it. You are already responding to its influence.” The tone of his voice shocked her. She had never heard anyone sound quite so triumphant. 
660“What do you mean? Why should I feel its influence?” She suspected she already knew the answer. 
661“Because every night for the past three nights you have taken a step closer to joining me. It seems only fair that I should have someone by my side to enjoy my triumph. You will be the possessor of eternal life.” 
662Her mouth felt suddenly dry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run shrieking from the hall. She wanted to drive her knife into the chest of this undead ghoul. And a surprisingly large part of her was almost pathetically grateful for the offer. 
663“No,” she forced herself to say. 
664“Yes,” he said, springing on her, his fangs emerging, his eyes glowing with a hellish light. She tried to dodge but she was dazed and slow. He caught her easily. His fingers burned on her neck. She grabbed his wrists and tried to pry his hands away but he was far too strong. Slowly, he bent over her, as if he was about to deliver the gentlest of kisses. His eyes blazed redly. His canine teeth gleamed like ivory. She could see they were long and sharp as needles. 
665A surge of ecstasy passed through her body as his teeth bit into her neck. Strength drained from her along with all will to resist. Slowly her vision darkened, and her hearing dimmed until all she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat. She felt a bloody finger being forced into her mouth and she sucked at it as greedily as an infant at a mother’s breast. 
666Even as she did so, the darkness continued to gather. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears like thunder and then stopped. 
667  
668“At least this village has an inn,” said Ivan Petrovich Straghov gloomily, staring up at the sign of the Green Man. “It certainly beats camping out in the snow for another night.” 
669Felix was not sure he agreed. The Green Man was an enormous fortified structure overlooking another nameless and partially ruined Sylvanian hamlet. His limited experience of this land’s towns and villages had not left him filled with any great desire to spend time in them, although he had to admit the howling of the distant wolves made even this squalid place seem an attractive option. 
670He sniffed and looked at Gotrek. 
671“They will have beer,” said the Slayer, as if this was reason enough to spend a night in a fleainfested hovel. 
672“Snorri likes beer,” Snorri added, by way of clarification. 
673“I’m glad you told me that. I would never have guessed.” 
674“There’s no need to be sarcastic, young Felix.” Felix reflected miserably that one of the worst things about his lengthening association with Snorri was that the dwarf’s capacity to detect sarcasm had improved greatly with practice. “A pint or two is just the thing to drive off the night chill.” 
675A pint or ten more likely, thought Felix, but did not voice the thought out loud. He realised he was just arguing for the sake of being contrary, to give vent to his anger and anxiety over Ulrika and their quest, and his own misery in his illness. He was not being constructive, or helpful, and anyway, it appeared that his opinion mattered not at all, since everyone else in their party appeared to be in favour. 
676All the tales of dark, haunted Sylvanian inns he had read as a youngster returned to him. They were often the haunt of murderers or monstrous vampires who preyed on innocent travellers. He felt like making dire pronouncements about how they would all regret this, but he resisted. There was no point other than to increase the pall of gloom that had already gathered over their journey. 
677Inside, the inn was not as bad as Felix had expected. The building was made of stone, perhaps an indicator of more prosperous days in the region, although Felix could not ever recall hearing of any time when Sylvania was prosperous. 
678The thin crowd of folk within fell silent at the entrance of the party of knights, Slayers and over a score of Kislevite horsemen. The landlord, a fat barrel of a man with cold calculating eyes in a jolly face, came round the bar to greet them. He rubbed his hand nervously on a soiled apron, obviously unsure whether they were customers or a bandit band. 
679Rodrik informed him of their purpose, and requested rooms for his companions and a separate chamber for the countess. Felix and Max took separate chambers. The Slayers and the Kislevites elected to remain in the common room. Actually, several of the horse archers elected to remain in the stables with their mounts. A number of obscene jokes concerning the love of the Kislevite cavalryman for his horse sprang to Felix’s mind but he tactfully restrained himself from telling them. 
680Felix studied the patrons. This was a relatively prosperous inn for this part of the world, he realised. Few in the common room appeared to be locals. Most looked like merchants and their bodyguards, although it seemed to be a bit early in the year for them to be on the road. 
681A few looked like noblemen down on their luck, the sort of shabby genteel men who you always found in the remoter parts of the Empire, cheating the locals at cards and making outrageous demands based on their supposed superior status. More than a few looked like mercenaries, hardfaced dangerous men in worn armour. Most of them had a hungry, hopeful look. They reminded Felix of a pack of starving wolves scenting a wounded deer. 
682In one corner, sat a priest of Morr, in his black robes, a cowl obscuring his face. His presence was such a cliché in melodramas that Felix almost laughed. Instead he strode up to the bar, and ordered ale for himself and the dwarfs. Ivan Petrovich was already seeing to the comfort of his men, and Max and the nobles had disappeared upstairs to inspect the rooms along with the countess. 
683As he leaned on the bar, one of the dingy-looking men at the corner table sidled over to him. He was dressed in a tattered fur cloak and hat, and the soiled finery of those who belonged to the nobility. His eyes were quick and fear-filled, his face was gaunt and narrow, and his Adam’s apple was very prominent. 
684“Just got in?” he asked. He had the look of a man gauging whether Felix would offer to buy him a drink or not. His accent marked him as a noble, or someone who had learned how to pretend to be one. He licked his lips. “Where have you come from, sir?” 
685Felix noticed the man’s fingers toyed nervously with the pommel of his longsword. The hilt was absurdly over-decorated. It went all too well with the man’s pretentious tunic and codpiece. “Waldenhof,” said Felix, more to be polite than because he was interested in anything the man had to say. The man quirked an eyebrow as if to say both he and Felix knew that Felix was kidding. Felix refused to take the bait. 
686“And yourself?” he asked. 
687“Here and there,” said the man. It was Felix’s turn to smile ironically at him. Felix turned to watch the barman pour the drinks, hoping to indicate by this the conversation was over. “Just came up the road from Leicheberg.” 
688“You’re travelling at a bad time of the year,” said Felix. 
689“I could say the same about you,” muttered the stranger. 
690“I have urgent business in these parts,” said Felix. 
691“Must be. I can’t help but wonder what urgent business might bring twenty Kislevite horsesoldiers, a pair of Slayers, a wizard, some Sylvanian knights and the Countess of Nachthafen to the Green Man on a winter night like tonight. And an educated man like yourself as well.” 
692Felix looked at the man with a bit more interest. He was not as drunk as he seemed, and his eyes and mind were quick. His count of the Kislevites was accurate. Felix kept his expression bland. “Urgent business,” he said. “Must be,” said the man. 
693“What brings you here?” 
694“This and that. Itchy feet, a desire to see what was beyond the next hilltop, some family problems.” 
695“Family problems?” 
696“A dispute with my brothers over an inheritance. I needed to put some distance between myself and the ancestral manor.” The man spoke confidingly and flashed a quick, calculating look at Felix. 
697He seemed to think that by sharing a confidence, he would get Felix to do the same. Felix had encountered men with such a manner before, in the underworlds of Altdorf and Nuln. Most of them had been professional informers. “You know how it is?” 
698“Not really” said Felix. “I always got on well with my brothers.” 
699“It’s a bad thing when kin fall out over an inheritance,” said the man. He gave a long practiced sigh, but he did not look at all bothered. 
700“I imagine so,” said Felix. “I mean it must be bad to bring a man like yourself to this out of the way place at this time of the year.” 
701The man’s nervous gaze flickered around the room. He looked down at the counter-top and started drawing circles with his fingertip. “I count myself lucky that I got here,” he said in an ominous tone. 
702“Why?” 
703“Buy me a drink and I’ll tell you,” he said. “If you’re going south you will want to hear it.” “Give me a hint.” 
704“The undying are on the move,” whispered the stranger, in a portentous manner. 
705“Really?” said Felix ironically. “Tell me something everyone doesn’t already know.” 
706The stranger smirked. “Ghouls are gathering in the forests. The old castle at Drakenhof has been reoccupied. I saw strange lights flickering in the windows as I passed. We saw the lights in the woods and thought we might be granted shelter for the night. In this cold, any place is better than a tent. But when I saw those lights I thought differently.” 
707“We?” 
708“The lads over there at the table were with me. We were all travelling together. Safety in numbers is a good maxim but never more so than in Sylvania at a time like this.” 
709Felix looked over at the group the stranger had indicated. They were a rough looking crowd, down at heel mercenaries by the looks of them. He hadn’t seen such a fine collection of cauliflower ears, broken noses and missing teeth since he left Karak Kadrin, the city of Slayers. 
710“They don’t look to be the sort of men to be scared off by a few lights,” said Felix. Quite the contrary, he thought, they looked exactly the type to be drawn to them to see if they could rob anybody in the vicinity. 
711“You would have been scared if you saw them, and maybe even your Slayer friends too. Those lights were the work of evil magic, I have no doubt whatsoever.” “You’re an expert on evil magic then,” said Felix. 
712“There’s no need to mock, friend. Anybody could have told these lights were the work of something wicked. They glowed green and sputtered, went out and then started to glow all over again. They seemed to float through the woods.” 
713Felix thought this sounded fairly convincing when compared to his own experience but he kept a disbelieving look on his face. “When was this then?” 
714“Three nights ago.” 
715Felix nodded. That would be the night Max said the spell linking him to the Eye of Khemri was broken. There was a pattern here, even if the stranger knew nothing about it. Maybe he should make the man recount his tale to the wizard. He decided to tell Max himself and wait and see what the wizard said. 
716“So you’re saying avoid Drakenhof keep,” said Felix. 
717“Like the plague. How about that beer then?” 
718Felix saw the barman looking at him. He nodded. 
719“This is going to be good,” said the stranger. 
720  
721“What did the tailor’s dummy want?” asked Gotrek, a little too loudly, as Felix set down the beers. Felix recounted the man’s tale in a low voice. 
722“I think we’ll be visiting this keep,” said the Slayer. Snorri Nosebiter nodded enthusiastic approval. 
723“I knew you were going to say that,” said Felix. 
724  
725“It fits,” said Max. He had listened intently as Felix finished the barfly’s tale. Felix got up and walked over to the window. It was shuttered against the chill. He listened for a moment anyway then glanced around the room. It was surprisingly well furnished for such an out of the way place, although all the furniture looked ancient. The bed was a four poster carved with disturbing-looking dragons. The wardrobe was big and heavy and reminded him too much of a coffin. 
726Max sat on a claw-footed chair and regarded him with a clear-eyed gaze. 
727“I imagine Krieger would want to cast any spells in what had once been a place of power filled with dark magic, and Drakenhof is said to be that. And that was the very night when my spell was broken. A suitably potent and far-ranging spell might manifest itself with a display of lights such as he described.” 
728“It all fits a bit too well, don’t you think?” “What do you mean?” asked Max. 
729“I mean, what are the chances that this fellow downstairs just happened to be passing the keep with his mates on the very night this occurred, and then just happened to be here tonight to tell us about it?” 
730“Such coincidences do happen,” said Max. “But I see what you mean.” 
731“Coincidences, Max? Come on. It’s the dead of winter. Why would someone of his sort even be on the road? If he really were what he claimed then he’d have found a nice tavern somewhere in Middenheim to hole up for the winter, and you’d need a big spade to dig him out. I tell you, I didn’t like his look at all. He was a weasel, and I’ve seen his sort before.” 
732Max had the tact not to ask where. Instead he stroked his beard for a moment and then drummed his fingers on the armrest of the chair. 
733“You think maybe Krieger sent him? That he’s laying a false scent to get us off his trail?” 
734“I don’t know. Maybe he’s figured out how to make the talisman work for him and he wants us to walk into a trap.” 
735“This is all just speculation, Felix.” 
736Felix smiled grimly. “This is a land that lends itself all too well to speculation.” Max nodded his head in agreement. 
737  
738The lantern flame flickered and went out. Felix cursed the gust of chill air and the shoddiness of the device. It looked as if it had been lighting the way for guests since the time of Great Plague. He moved through the darkened corridors, one hand out touching the wall so that he could find his way in the gloom, walking his fingers along the stonework to feel when they encountered a doorway. The cool plaster beneath his fingers reminded him of the simple silly games of his childhood, and he smiled a little. 
739He knew his room was the third door on the right from the top of the stairs. He had to hunch low because of the sloping roof of the inn. It reminded him of the cramped conditions on the airship Spirit of Grungni which in turn reminded him of Ulrika. The thought sent a little surge of pain through his heart. Suddenly he sensed a presence ahead of him in the gloom, and his hand slipped to the hilt of his sword. 
740“Be calm, Herr Jaeger. It is only me,” said Countess Gabriella. By all the gods, Felix thought, the woman must have eyes like a cat’s to be able to tell who he was in this gloom. “I would like a word with you in private, if that is possible.” 
741“Certainly” said Felix wondering what exactly she meant by that. He had some experience of ladies requiring a private word at this time of the evening. You could never tell. Cool, dry fingers closed on his, tugging his hand away from the sword hilt, and she guided him with surprising strength through the corridors. He heard a key click in a lock, and saw her silhouetted in the doorway of her room. She was very slender, he noted drunkenly, but her figure was surprisingly good. She stepped inside and gestured for him to follow. 
742The chamber was the best in the inn, finely furnished in an antique fashion. A faint smell of cinnamon fought the mustiness in the air. Felix doubted this room was used all that often. The countess closed the door behind him, and he heard the key turn in the lock once more. He had a sudden panicky feeling of being trapped. She gestured for him to take one of the overstuffed armchairs and relaxed into one herself. 
743Felix remained standing, his sense of unease growing, as he listened to the wind whistle past the windows. He started as a particularly strong gust rattled the wooden shutters. 
744“Do sit down, Herr Jaeger! I assure you I mean you no harm.” The countess sounded faintly amused. Felix suspected this small, slight woman could do him a great deal of harm if she chose to, but he slumped down into the chair, and let his long legs stretch out towards the fire. 
745“What is it you want to talk about?” 
746“You appear to be a sensible man, Herr Jaeger, and you seem to have encountered more than your share of… unusual situations.” 
747Felix smiled wryly. He doubted that he would be following Gotrek Gurnisson around if he was the former but the latter was certainly true. There were times when he was surprised his hair had not turned white with the horrors he had seen. “Perhaps.” 
748“And I think you are a discreet one.” 
749“Is this a situation that requires discretion?” 
750“Please, Herr Jaeger, this is not what you think. I am about to entrust you with a secret that might cost both our Jives.” 
751Felix felt his smile widen. There was something about Sylvania that inspired the melodramatic as well as the terrible. 
752“I assure you there is no cause for amusement.” 
753Felix could not help himself. He laughed. For a second the countess looked like she was going to rise and slap him but he waved her away. Felix spluttered. “No. Please I am sorry. It’s just here I am in a Sylvanian inn. Outside the wind scratches at the windows, the candles gutter and a beautiful woman is about to let me in on a terrible secret. I feel like I am in a Detlef Sierck play. If only a wolf would howl, things would be perfect.” 
754“You have a very strange sense of humour, Herr Jaeger.” 
755“It comes from reading too many tall tales when I was a youth. I am sorry. Please what is it you wished to tell me.” 
756“First, can I ask you for your word that you will pass on nothing of what I tell you here unless I ask you to?” 
757Felix considered this. “As long as it would not cause harm to myself or my comrades.” 
758“You are a cautious man. That is good.” 
759“It should also tell you I mean to keep my word as long as my conditions are met. Why make them otherwise?” 
760“Quite,” she said dryly. “Although it’s also the sort of thing a good liar would say.” 
761“You are the one who asked me here. You are the one who wants to tell me secrets. You must already have some ideas concerning my trustworthiness.” 
762“You are quite correct,” she said. “I pride myself in being a good judge of men. In my life I have made very few mistakes on that score.” 
763“You seem to be a woman possessed of formidable powers of judgement.” 
764Felix was quite serious. There was something about her that inspired respect. He steepled his fingers and leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees. He looked at her closely, trying to study her features through the veil. “What exactly is it that you wanted to tell me.” 
765“Tell me, do you believe all you have heard about the undying ones?” 
766“In this place, at this time, I don’t have much else to go on,” he said honestly. 
767“Do you believe they are all what you would call evil?” 
768“What I would call evil?” 
769“Herr Jaeger, this is not one of your Altdorf university debates. We are not here to split hairs or discuss how many daemons can dance on the head of a pin. Time is getting short and many lives are at stake.” 
770Suddenly Felix had an inkling of where this was going, and he fought the urge to reach immediately for his sword. He doubted that it would do him any good if what he suspected was true. 
771“You have very good control over yourself, Herr Jaeger, for a mortal. But rest assured if I meant you harm I would have done it before now.” 
772Felix looked at her in horror, as if a gigantic spider were seated in the chair opposite him, not a small and attractive seeming woman. He felt like he was very close to death. He was very suddenly sober. 
773“A pity,” she breathed softly. “Still to business. Not all of the undying are the monsters you believe them to be.” 
774“I find that hard to believe,” said Felix. 
775“Why — because they drink the blood of humans to continue their existence? That does not mean they are all murderers. Believe it or not, there are many humans who give their blood willingly. You would be surprised by the number in your own Empire who have done so.” 
776“I doubt that there is any wickedness done in the Empire that could surprise me.” 
777“Don’t be so parochial, Herr Jaeger! What two consenting people do together in privacy is between them, providing they harm no one else.” 
778“That depends on how consenting one of them is.” 
779“I do not have time to debate the ethics of this with you. I need your help. A monster is loose and he must be stopped. You and your friends can do it with my help.” 
780“Why should I trust you?” 
781“You don’t have much choice. You need my help if you are going to find Adolphus Krieger and stop him before he becomes too powerful for anything short of the Lords of Chaos to stop. You need my help if you are going to free your woman from his influence. Which, to be frank, by now I judge is impossible.” 
782Felix felt his heart skip a beat. His mouth felt dry. “Why do you say that?” 
783“Because by now she is either a bloodless corpse, hopelessly enthralled by him, or she is his consort, and I judge the latter option most unlikely unless she is a most unusual and striking woman.” 
784“She is.” 
785The countess shrugged. It was a human gesture but Felix felt as if he had just watched a spider shrug. He watched her with a kind of horrid fascination. He supposed a worm might watch a bird like that, or a rabbit a fox. 
786“You are a vampire,” said Felix. He felt proud of himself. He had wanted to say the words for minutes but forcing them out had seemed somehow dangerous. The countess clapped her hands together ironically. 
787“Very good, Herr Jaeger, no one could accuse you of being slow on the uptake.” Felix felt his fingers tighten on the pommel of his sword. 
788“I should warn you this is an enchanted weapon. I do not know if it can affect your kind but I am willing to try if you provoke me.” 
789“I know it is a magical weapon and a formidable one, albeit not nearly so formidable as that rather terrifying axe your friend carries. They are among the reasons I think you have a chance of stopping Krieger if you are quick.” 
790“Why are you prepared to help us against one of your own kind?” 
791“Believe it or not, Herr Jaeger, we are as different and as fractious as humans. We are just a lot fewer. Most of us would prefer to live in some sort of harmony with your kind. You are far more numerous and in the past centuries have gained too much power for us to want anything else. Most of us wish to be left alone with our flocks.” 
792“Flocks?” 
793“Admirers, willing victims, whatever you wish to call them, Herr Jaeger. See — I am being frank with you.” 
794“Fine. Most of you, you say.” 
795“There are some who dream of a return to the elder days, who would have us rule the night as they believe we once did. Mostly they are young and don’t realise that we never ruled the night in the way they think. Things were never that simple.” 
796Felix’s mind reeled with all this new information. He had never considered that vampires might be as filled with fear of humans as humans were of them. What she was saying did make sense. 
797Humans did have the numbers, and the ability to operate in daylight when the undying were weakest, and they did have powerful magic too. 
798The countess studied him for a moment, as if gauging the impact of her revelations, and then she continued to speak. “As I have said, there are those who believe that we should claim our ancient glories, no matter how often they are told that such things never were. Adolphus Krieger is one of them.” 
799“I believe you.” 
800“Good. We are making some progress.” 
801“Tell me — does the count, and those other nobles at Waldenschlosse, know what you are.” 
802“Yes. There is a pact between those Arisen who would avoid a return to the ancient wars, and the current rulers of Sylvania. We have no wish to see a pogrom initiated against us.” 
803“What about Rodrik?” 
804“He and his followers are part of my flock.” Felix paused to digest all of this information. It was almost too much for him to take in. He found it difficult to believe that he was sitting here calmly discussing such a thing with the countess, and not either attacking her or trying to flee the chamber. A thought struck him. “So the count and his friends were concealing something from us.” 
805“Why should he let you in on all of his secrets? You are strangers, after all. He has no reason to trust you.” 
806“And you have?” 
807“I have no choice. I know what Krieger is doing.” 
808“And what exactly is that?” 
809“He intends to unite all of the Arisen behind him and fulfil an ancient prophesy of our kind. A prophecy made by a madman and destined never to be fulfilled, but that will not stop Adolphus from trying.” 
810“Given what you have already told me, it does not seem likely that he can do it.” 
811“Herr Jaeger, he possesses the means to do it. You have seen it, touched it.” 
812“The Eye of Khemri?” 
813“If that is what you wish to call it. It would be better to call it the Eye of Nagash.” 
814“Is it really so powerful?” 
815“I believe it to be so.” 
816“Why?” 
817“It was created by Nagash to bind my people to him. It can call them over a great distance and compel obedience if the wearer is strong enough.” 
818“If?” 
819“You have doubtless heard tales of how the Arisen can impose their will on mortals.” Felix nodded. 
820“It takes a great disparity in willpower for the binding to take place and even then it is only temporary in most cases. To be frank, this is why I have not tried to bind you or your companions. I doubt it could be done without your consent, not without creating a blood bond. It is a less wellknown fact that the Arisen can do the same to each other. Among its many gifts the Eye magnifies this ability in one attuned to it. It works far more effectively for one of us than it ever did for the Great Necromancer. Perhaps due to the affinities we have for each other. We are all, at base, of one blood after all. Whatever the reason, by using it Krieger really could summon us all and bind us to his will. In fact, I think he has already started the process. I feel a… tugging at the corners of my mind even as we speak. I do not doubt it will grow stronger over the next few nights as he grows more powerful.” 
821“How do you know all this?” 
822“Does it matter?” 
823“Yes. I want to know what we face here.” 
824“Herr Jaeger, I have lived a very long time. I have studied much strange and obscure lore and I have had many many centuries to assimilate it. Believe me, along with most of my kind I have an obsession with the Great Necromancer and his works. I have read all of the supposedly forbidden books — van Hal’s translations of the Nine Books of Nagash, the Book of the Dead, the Forbidden Grimoires of Tal Akhad. I have travelled to the ancient places to collect knowledge of him. I have walked the sands of the Land of the Dead and visited the pyramids of Khemri. It would take me more time than we have to explain how I sifted through all the lies and myths and distortions and eventually put together the pieces of the puzzle. You will just have to trust me when I say what I am telling you is true.” 
825“It seems I have little choice. Perhaps I should ask Max to join us.” 
826“Perhaps later. At the moment, I would prefer this to remain between us and give you a chance to prepare your companions. It would be better for us all if they did nothing rash.” 
827Thinking of what Gotrek would do if he found out there was a vampire in their midst, that seemed the wisest course for the present to Felix. If the countess was a potential ally it would be best if her head remained attached to her shoulders. Or, he reminded himself, if she was very powerful, perhaps it would be best if the Slayer did not achieve his long-awaited doom until after Ulrika was free or avenged. He could see from the way the countess nodded that she already took his agreement for granted. Was she really so good at reading him, he wondered? He supposed that after living for centuries she might have gained such a gift for understanding mortals. He gestured for her to go on. 
828“The Eye was created by Nagash in ancient times specifically as a weapon to be used against my kind, when he feared we might challenge him for domination of the ancient world. He even used it to bind some of the Arisen to his service. That is when we learned of the power concealed in it. Fearing what might happen, the rest of the Arisen fled as far and as fast as they could and hid themselves with whatever spells they could muster.” 
829Felix listened enthralled as she told tales of ancient intrigues, of the war between Nagash and the skaven and the eventual dispersal of the Great Necromancer’s treasures. She spoke of the disappearance of the Eye until its return in the possession of Mannfred von Carstein and how he used it to forge the undead force that fought the War of the Vampire Counts. She claimed it was the loss of the Eye at Hel Fenn that had ended those wars as much as the slaughter of the counts. 
830“Of course, after the fact,” she continued, “It is easy to see what happened. Most of the Arisen believed the Eye destroyed or lost forever after Hel Fenn and were glad. The Eye must have been found by one of the mortals after the battle, and he took it as part of the spoils of war, a memento of that terrible conflict. Not being a magus and having no idea of what it was he held, it became merely a family heirloom. Eventually some of the heirs, needing money, sold the collection and it came onto the open market. It then passed from hand to hand till it ended up in Andriev’s collection.” 
831“How did you and Krieger come to know about it?” 
832“Alas, not all the Arisen believed the Eye lost. Some coveted its power. Adolphus Krieger was one such.” 
833Felix looked at her. And what about you, he thought? Did you want this thing for yourself? Again she seemed to read his mind. 
834There are some of us who feared the return of the Eye, Herr Jaeger. We feared the rise of another von Carstein. It would be the end for many of us and we are already too few. We cannot afford another War of the Vampire Counts’ 
835“You are saying you have no interest in the Eye of Khemri yourself?” Felix did not quite understand why he was taunting this woman who most likely had the power to kill him where he sat but he felt the need to do so. “If it fell into your hands you would not use it?” 
836“I would do my best to destroy it, or at very least, take it to a place where it would not be found for a long time, if ever.” 
837“Really?” 
838“I don’t expect you to believe this, but I have sound reasons for not wanting to use the thing.” 
839“And what would they be?” 
840“The Eye was created by Nagash. It contains part of his power, his spirit, if you will. Over time it corrupts anyone who uses it and leads them to disaster. Nagash was jealous of his creations. They will not truly serve any but him.” 
841“Surely Krieger knows this.” 
842“Perhaps not and even if he does, perhaps he does not believe it. Or perhaps he believes he can master it. Or perhaps he is already subtly under the thing’s domination. He was close to von 
843Carstein and was exposed to its influence centuries ago.” 
844“Perhaps we should simply sit back and wait for this dire fate to overtake Krieger then.” 
845Felix wondered what he was going to do. There seemed little choice but to go along with her suggestions. Until she proved false she represented a potential ally and one who understood their enemy far better than they could hope to. Still, he realised he was reluctant to trust this undying predator. He felt rather like a deer trying to negotiate with a wolf. Perhaps that was why he felt the need to keep chipping away at her position. 
846“I would have thought your kind would gladly do anything to aid the victory of the Dark Lords of Chaos. Are you not their spawn?” 
847“We are not the creations of the daemon gods any more than you are, and they love us no more than they do you. They require only souls and slaves. Some of the Arisen have served them in the past, but then so have many of your kind. We have learned from the mistakes of those who thought they could somehow get the Lords of Darkness to serve their ends better than your sort.” 
848And there was some truth in that too, Felix guessed, at least the part about many humans having given their souls up to the evil ones. The countess leaned forward and gazed at him intently. So swift was her movement that Felix backed away, startled. 
849“Look, Herr Jaeger, it is really very simple. Either you believe me or you don’t. Either you trust me or you don’t. I am the one who has taken all of the risks here. There are those of my own kind who would see my existence ended if they learned what I have told you here. You could tell your friends what I am and they would doubtless help you destroy me. I suspect they have the power. Herr Schreiber is a most powerful wizard and in all my long existence I don’t think I have ever seen a weapon more powerful than Gotrek Gurnisson’s axe.” 
850“I could, if you let me leave here alive.” 
851“You can go now if you wish. I will not stop you.” 
852Felix almost rose but he was reluctant to put her words to the test. After all, they were exactly what she would say if she wished to take him off guard. He would be at his most vulnerable trying to open the door, with his back partially turned to her. Maybe he could call for help now but her apartments were a long way from the others, and the walls were very thick. With the wind gusting loudly outside perhaps no one would ever hear him. 
853He spoke again, as much to buy himself some time to think as because he was interested in the answer. 
854“When I listen to you I sense something personal in your animosity towards Krieger. What is the real reason you want us to go against him?” 
855To his surprise she laughed. “I had not thought I was so transparent. I have grown so accustomed to reading mortals that I have ceased to believe that they might be able to see through me.” 
856Somehow, Felix doubted this. He was beginning to believe that this ancient immortal never did anything without a reason, that all of her acts were the result of long deliberation, and that if she had given something away it was because she wanted him to see it. He decided that it would be better to keep such thoughts to himself. Instead he said, “You have not answered my question.” 
857The silence was long and at first Felix thought he had misjudged the situation and that she was not going to answer. 
858“Krieger is my creation. My child if you like. I made him what he is today, to my lasting sorrow. In a way, he is my responsibility. He would have been dead centuries ago had I not intervened in his life, and we would not have to worry about any of the things he is doing now.” 
859“What do you want from me?” 
860“I want you to help me with your companions. I do not want to have to fight with them while I struggle with Krieger.” 
861Felix rose from the chair and headed for the door. She made no move to stop him. He saw the key was still in the lock. “I will think on what you have said,” he said as he opened the door. “Do not think too long, Herr Jaeger. The hour is getting very late.” 
862  
863As Felix made his way back to his room, he was troubled as well as frightened. I le felt as if he had had a narrow escape. And what was he to do with the information she had given him, and about the request she had made? 
864Surely she must see she had placed him in an impossible position. Max Schreiber might accept what she was and ally with her, but he did not think Gotrek and Snorri Nosebiter would. He could imagine the Slayers’ response to the fact there was a bloodsucker in their midst. They would attack first and think later. Ivan Petrovich Straghov and his men were no more likely to accept the vampire than the dwarfs. They were from the marches of Kislev, which did not breed men who would compromise with the darkness. 
865Whatever she was, the countess was intelligent. She must already know all this. What did she hope to gain? Turning things over in his mind, he could not uncover anything. Just because he could not see any advantage for her, did not mean there was not one there. 
866It was only after all these thoughts passed through his mind that Felix realised that he had in part accepted her case. He was not going to go rushing to the Slayers and inform them about her, at least not until after he had considered all the implications. Still, he realised he needed to talk to somebody. 
867  
868“The countess is what?” exclaimed Max Schreiber. 
869“Keep it down,” said Felix. “I don’t want the whole tavern to know.” 
870An aura of fire played around the wizard’s hand and Felix saw that Max was seriously considering storming off to the countess’ room. Under the circumstances, it was the last thing Felix wanted. A confrontation between a powerful sorcerer and a vampire might leave the whole inn in ruins. He was starting to regret telling the wizard all that the countess had shared with him. 
871“I can’t believe you are just standing there, Felix. There is one of those monsters in this house, and you do nothing.” 
872“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” 
873“I would have thought gathering a mob and storming her room would be more appropriate.” 
874“You are the last person I would expect to hear talking that way, Max. A wizard should have some sympathy. After all it was not that long ago when people felt the same way about your kind.” 
875“I think I resent that, Felix. I don’t see any connection between mortal sorcerers and undead mass murderers.” 
876Felix shrugged. It had been an undiplomatic thing to say but he was still shocked by Max’s response. The wizard normally showed more self-control. Perhaps the strain of the past few weeks was telling more than he let show. Felix wanted to respond hotly to Max’s words himself but someone here needed to keep calm, and it looked like he was the one chosen by circumstances. “I am sorry I said it then, Max, but think about it. What if she is telling the truth? She might be our best ally against Krieger.” 
877Suddenly Felix felt a chill run through him. Max stared hard at him and he looked as if he was contemplating violence. It was all Felix could do to keep from drawing his sword. “Has she enchanted you?” the wizard murmured. “Are you bound to her will?” 
878Felix flinched as Max gestured with his hand. A trail of glowing fire followed the wizard’s fingers as he sketched an intricate symbol in the air. It hung there glowing. Felix shut his eyes but the afterimage of the rune seemed burned onto his retina. He was tempted to lash out at the magician but he wanted an answer to the wizard’s question too. He did not feel as if he had been put under a spell, but how would he know? Perhaps the binding prevented those who had been bound from noticing it. 
879After a few seconds he heard Max exhale softly. He opened his eyes. The wizard looked calmer. There was a thoughtful look in his eye. “There are no persistent enchantments on you that I can detect.” 
880“You would know about such things better than I,” said Felix. Max walked over to his bed and slumped down on it. His roomer was smaller and meaner than the countess’. Felix sat down in the only chair. 
881“What are we going to do about her?” 
882“If you are really seriously considering accepting her aid, I don’t think telling Gotrek about this is such a good idea,” said Max. 
883“That thought has already crossed my mind,” said Felix. “I don’t feel good about it but right now I think our first concern should be rescuing Ulrika. And preventing whatever Krieger is up to.” 
884More of the tension drained out of Max. “I agree. The question is, can we trust the countess? What if she simply desires the Eye for herself? She could be just as bad as she claims Krieger will be if she has it.” 
885“I know. I think it would be best if we ensure she does not get it. I think it would be advisable to trust her no further than necessary, and if one of us keeps a wary eye on her at all times.” 
886“You seemed to be doing a bit more than that already.” 
887“She’s a fascinating… woman.” 
888“It might be best if you stopped thinking of her as that.” 
889“Believe me I already have. Just being in the same room as her made my flesh crawl.” 
890“I have heard that some men enjoy the company of the undying. There are rumours about Detlef Sierck for instance.” 
891“Some men might, but I am not one of them. I don’t like the idea of anyone looking at me like I might be their next meal.” 
892“Glad to hear it. What about the knights? Our impetuous friend Rodrik and his companions?” 
893“We should assume they are completely under her spell.” 
894“It seems she was very forthright with you.” 
895“It seems that way but she has travelled with us for a few days. Do you think it’s possible that a few of our companions might have been ensnared?” 
896“It’s possible. I will check on the morrow.” 
897“Discreetly.” 
898“Yes.” 
899Talking in hushed voices they spent several hours discussing their plans. In both their minds the possibility of treachery was foremost.