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Karl’s command, stood at attention on either side of the ramp leading up into the barge, their body armour glittering in the
morning light. They had, she knew, arrived fresh from wiping out a Freehold stronghold in the Montos de Frenezo. Most Freeholders had long since fled Redstone, but a few fanatics stayed behind to
strike against the Demarchy.
    The hull sealed itself behind them as soon as they entered the Grand Barge, a deep bass rumble then running up through her feet and into her bones as the fusion-driven turbines began to power
up.
    They were under way.

FOUR
Gabrielle
    There were endless civic duties to be performed en route, as the barges slowly made their way one by one downriver and away from Port Gabriel. She duly performed her part,
having been trained for this day throughout her life. The final ceremony did not come to a close until the sun was long sunk beneath the horizon, and then it was time for Mater Cassanas to
accompany her to her temporary quarters aboard.
    Barely a minute had passed before a knock came at the door. Karl entered as soon as Mater Cassanas opened it.
    ‘I’ll speak with the Elect alone,’ he told the older woman. ‘I’ll let you know when you can return.’
    ‘I don’t know what you’re planning to do when we reach Dios, Pater Petrova, but—’
    ‘Take care, Mater Cassanas,’ said Karl, ‘not to say anything you might regret. Your boy lives or dies by my word.’
    ‘For all I know he’s dead already,’ she spat, rounding on him and visibly shaking with anger. ‘How would I know?’
    Karl studied her with clear contempt, and Gabrielle waited, heart in mouth, to see what he might do next.
    He first made sure that the door was properly closed behind him, then made a gesture in the air to activate his Tabernacle link. In response, a bubble of light appeared before him, and within it
Gabrielle saw a ragged-looking man aged probably in his late twenties, who was crouching on a dusty floor somewhere with his back pressed against a wooden post. His dark eyes were full of defeat,
while a patch of hair on one side of his head was still growing out again where the faith chip had been extracted from his skull. His face was barely illuminated by a single lamp hanging from a
piece of twisted wire, but the torn remnants of his Demarchy insignia were visible on one dust-specked shoulder.
    Cassanas’s son was, as Gabrielle knew, a member of the same elite guard that Karl commanded. He had been officially missing in action for some months now.
    ‘Believe me,’ Karl said to the old woman, ‘he’s in just about the safest place he could be right now.’
    Gabrielle wondered what in the world he meant by that, but it didn’t seem like the right moment to ask questions.
    ‘I don’t believe you,’ said Cassanas, but her voice sounded full of defeat. ‘How do I know this isn’t just a fake recording?’
    ‘If you prefer –’ Karl took a step closer to her – ‘you can watch his execution in real time, right now – if you don’t get the hell out of here and
leave us alone
.’
    The last shreds of defiance fled Cassanas’s expression, her fingers busily working at the buttons of her robe as if she wanted to tear it off.
    ‘Please,’ she said, her eyes full of despair, ‘at least let me speak to him just the once.’
    Despite herself – and despite the long hatred she had built up towards Cassanas over the years – Gabrielle nonetheless felt an unexpected stab of pity for the old woman in her
anguish. There were times when Karl could appear immensely cruel and heartless, as if in reality he was someone quite different from the gentle and passionate lover she had come to know.
    ‘Here,’ said Karl, extending the bunched knuckles of one hand towards Cassanas before flinging the fingers wide, thus sending a small, glowing icon from his hand to hers. The icon
hovered in front of Cassanas, then vanished when she reached out to it.
    ‘That’s everything you need in