Theater 3, Chapter 6 cont.

Season Three, Chapter Six

Shades of Grey - Part Three
“For it is Father Nurgle to whom we give praise, for it is he will claim us all !
When the puppet pretender falls from the gate, and the path of the four is open, the Father will come to collect us, rid us of these forms that bind us, unite us all through decay, dissolve us all till we are one !”

“Who in Kell’s name is Father Nurgle ?” Whispered Carolynn, though a sideway’s glance at the whitening face of Nathan told him he probably could live a long and fulfilling life without knowing the answer.
“All I know,” said Nathan, “Is what I heard from Jahicham, the old Seer of the Herders of the Lead Lands. He was the longest lived of us, but kept himself to himself, ling in a hut at the entrance to a small cave way up just above where the trees climb. People say he could see things that are yet to pass, and so people would take him gifts in return for his ‘Seeing’. That is how he lived, though he was sleeping with the stones before you ever came to Bronze Hearth. Folk say he warned of Dark Gods, four of them, who he said commanded ’Ruinous Powers’. Power to corrupt men through their base desires, their fate, anger, lust and despair. The God of despair they also referred to as Grandfather or Father, for he was the eldest and the bringer of pestilence, disease and decay, so was one of the most terrible, for he could strike all things down. It is said that there were some debased tribes on Zalthar that used to worship him for the power he could give men, but power with a cost, a power that could destroy a mans mind. There were many terrible tales told around the fires during the long darks. Ben may know some, for he has a mind for such things, I preferred to forget them.”
“What would the Lead Barons want to evoke such madness for ?” asked Carolynn
“The power I suppose.” said Nathan,” They may not know of the madness, such things’ tend to be overlooked by those power hungry individuals, especially those who know their power will not last. Zalthar will again become mined out, and they know that, and so even the thought of pacts with these Dark Gods may seem better to them than losing their power!” 

Below, a mournful chanting had begun again, it was clear whatever was going on was far from over.
“If we believe that the Barons or others are seeking such pacts, we need to see what is happening. We cannot go to the Council without more than just some overheard chanting by persons unknown Nate ? Trust me, from what you have said, I’d rather not know, but we have to do some very serious business with these people, trade that will affect how, Kell even if some of us get through the snows !”
“I know, and you are right, but that certainty does not change the fear of these Gods I learnt from those tales all those cycles ago. They are entities that cannot be trusted and want no less than to enslave all men to their cause !”
“Well they shall not have you, me, Jed nor any of our people, but I cannot sit by and risk their interference in matters upon which all of the Herders of the Lead Lands may soon depend !”

“Don’t get me wrong my friend,” said Nathan, “I will do all I can, but you need to know how deep the fear runs in me and a great many others who can remember darker times on Zalthar. Bronze Hearth was not always the place of light and laughter it has become, for many cycles it was beset by darkness and surrounded by enemies. Have you never wondered why we still have a twelve strong team of high herders out dark and light, with enough firepower to start a small war ?. When was the last time you saw any of those herders firing so much as a single round to do anything more than scare-off a pack of Lope-Cats ? I can assure you though it was not always so, I can still remember the relief of counting in the night shift at light break and realising we had only lost one that dark. What was worse still is that sometimes we never did find their bodies ! It was only the coming of Lord Samuel that saw the end of such things. 
He formed the first Company of the PDF, the Zalthar Defence League, real fine troops they were, not these goons you see here today, they are a disgrace to the uniform.
The Hives knew nothing of the struggles in the wilder places of Zalthar. That is one of the reasons why, despite so much space, the early Governors’ positively encouraged that form of Imperial expansion, keeping people in spaces that could be more readily defended and controlled. When we return to Bronze Hearth I will ask Ben to tell you more of the Civil War here and the Wars of the Wilds that followed for many years after ! But enough now of my warbling, you are right we must go and I will follow you into the worst this world can throw our way, you should know that by now my friend !”
“I know, and you are right. There is much of this world I do not understand, not meant to understand or even know of, for as you say the Hives were designed as much to keep things in as keep them out !” and with that Carolynn clasped a rung and swung himself out over the central ladder, swiftly followed by Nathan, and together they began their decent.

Jed on the other hand was getting a very different introduction to Grey, courtesy of Josephs elder sister, Hannah, however even she could not disguise a town, become city that was close to boiling point. Twice since dark Martin, Hannah’s father, had needed to close the thick planked and corrugated iron clad outer gates to his inn due to hostile mobs coming to blows in the streets nearby, wrecking havoc in their wakes whilst the PDF struggled to keep a semblance of order beyond the city centre. That they had tied down tighter than a drum and folk that attempted to interfere with that paid heavily for their folly. Hannah had taken Jed up to the third floor roof for a grandstand view of Grey and he had gazed out over a central district that from above looked more like a fortress. In the back of his mind was the silent prayer that Carolynn and Nathan were keeping out of trouble, though part of him was very doubtful. Hannah had also explained to Jed that more and more mines were failing in Grey as seams were depleted , which in turn had made competition for profitable shafts so fierce and violence such a common occurrence, the Baron’s were drafting in more and more PDF every light. Even with such measures in place Jed could see this was a city fast coming to an end as one. Soon there would not be the wealth to sustain it, at which point it would begin to shrink, or explode and all he was seeing pointed to the later. Hannah’s father Martin explained later that he was desperate to get his family clear, but everything they owned was tied up in the Inn which he was finding impossible to sell, no-one was buying at this time of uncertainty and he was struggling keeping his family safe ! It was increasingly clear the PDF’s priority was not protecting the masses, but keeping the Baron’s safe in their ivory towers, clear and distinct form the experiences of the many. Jed made a note to pick Carolynn’s brains when he returned, surely he would have some suggestions.
 As Carolynn and Nathan penetrated deeper into the structure, not only did the chanting became louder, but they began to detect an awful smell that grew along with the noise, and at first, neither could place it. It was not until they had climbed down about five stories, that Nathan reminded Carolynn about the time after the Sigma Mine explosion, the Morac that stampeded and were found dead several days later that he recognised what it was. It was the air of decay, the stench of death. Within that stench though was also the stink of neglect and despair that had permeated his entire childhood in the Hive, a sickly odour as foreboding now to him as an adult as it had been then to a child. It was the scent of his nightmares, his sleepless nights and of all the bad things that had ever happened in his life. it made his stomach heave, leaving a bitter acid taste of bile in his throat and beads of sweat across his brow. It was hot and clammy this far down in the draft of smelters’ and hot lead, so he signalled to Nathan that he needed to take five, try and clear.., to. A flurry of morbid thoughts crossed his mind, petty worries, childhood concerns, things many of which he thought he had forgotten, like breaking Ms Kalenski’s window. Where had that come from, there wasn’t even an association for…But there didn’t need to be did there
“Nate, you feel OK ?” he asked.
“Yeah, fine considering it stinks and is hot as Hades in this shite-hole !” came Nathan‘s whispered reply, followed by equal concern.
“Why‘s that, you not feeling to bright ?”
“I think something or someone down here is trying to f%$k with my head. Well not my head in particular, just altering thoughts, the bad ones ! It’s trying to increase feelings of fear and fuelling anxiety by messing with memories, so given how you feel about this you need be wary Nate. I may be able to fight it, but you won’t and try as I might I cannot use what witch sight I have to help, so if you begin to feel things are getting worse than they should, tell me and we’ll get out, try another approach yes ?”
“Sure, but you looked worse than I feel, so if you’re good to go I guess I am.” and with that they continued on their way down.

The access shaft was older where they‘d paused and narrower, the walls covered with a thick dust in ochre streaked hues the colour of Grey’s smog. The cable bundles were loose in places, new wires strung covering gaps in the old and the pipe work was no longer separate but intermingled and leaking, turquoise scabs of verdigris clustered around the joints and the smell was cloying. From the next horizontal crawlspace, the chanting was loudest yet, so with just a moments hesitation, Carolynn slid in and was staring down through a vent into the cavernous space of a smelting hall, filled with row upon row of robed figures, all facing a hooded and similarly robed figure who stood facing them, arms outstretched, flanked by two initially indistinguishable shapes. Carefully, Carolynn ran his finger up the right hand seam of his cape until it rested against the flap of a pocket, from which quietly withdrew his monocular, an object of rare quality * he had won from some fur-traders on their way through Bronze Hearth several cycles past now. 

* It was engineered on Athemar, a Forge World renown for the quality of the Lenses and Prisms in the Optical Instruments it produces. The method used to manufacture Athemarian lenses is known only to a select cadre of Tech Priests, with each only ever being instructed in one stage of the process by their predecessor. A victim of its own paranoid secrecy and greed, Athemar also used to manufacture several ranges of high quality precision weapons, but unforeseen deaths and accidents broke the chains of knowledge and so the skills were lost !

Carolynn’s monocular used Prisms, and so was smaller and weighed but a fraction of conventional binoculars or telescopes with the same optical properties, perfect for when his kit was just what he could carry !
What he saw almost lost him his grip on it as the indistinguishable shapes became distinguished before him.
“Kell !” his stomach heaved again and he rolled onto his side hand across his mouth, stifling the risk he may cry-out or vomit.

The indistinguishable shapes were what had been the young man and sole surviving woman from the lead wagon, or at least they had been, and the remaining resemblance was ebbing fast. Their already beaten and broken bodies were now strapped to tubular metal frames, the only thing holding them up, each frame anchored in the centre of a circular steel “dish“. Their faces bore rictus grins, eyes wide and lost in madness as their flesh seemed to roil pulsate from within. Their arms and legs seemed to be decaying before Carolynn’s eyes, streaks of grey green discolourment spreading inwards to claim any patches of remaining healthy flesh. Sliding back along the crawl space, in hushed tones he gave Nathan a brisk explanation of what he had witnessed, how the two were paraded, their accelerated decay part of some grotesque “ritual” or something of the like.
“You could just end it, two shots and…” began Nathan, but Carolynn lifted a finger to his lips to silence him.
“I feel exactly the same way, for Kell’s sake I was in there with a gun at my side and what would have been a clean shot. And yeah, it would end it for them, but also for Jed, you, me, probably that guy Martin at the Inn and his three kids for sheltering Terrorists. Then there would be some kind of diplomatic incident with Bronze Hearth that would see them slapped with reparations for sending assassins to Grey and so it would go on.!”
“Yes, I know how it goes, it’s just..
“That being able to do nothing makes you feel like shite,” offered Carolynn. “But they will not get away with it, not so long as we can get word to Lord Samuel. Their tune will change once the Inquisition gets its hands on them !“

The chanting began to rise in fervour, their diabolic ceremony headed towards its inevitable conclusion and Carolynn knew they needed more if they were going to sink this disgusting cabal of heretics.
“Pass me that monocular of yours will you ?“ asked Nathan, at which Carolynn must have looked concerned, for he explained “I couldn’t look, but I might be able to help our case, look !”
Nathan took out his ever present tool kit and did what he did so well. Using some of the off-cuts of wire he had picked up from where the work had been going on at the top of the shaft, wire most wouldn’t even notice, he was able to connect a digital picter to the digital display of Carolynn’s monocular, set it to record and Carolynn slid back into the crawl space to get the evidence they needed.

The ceremony moved on, becoming ever more frenzied, until the chanting was little more than individuals hysterically ranting as they swayed drunkenly in exhaustion. Their “High-Priest” stood motionless, arms reaching for the stars rambling incoherently through the froth and bubbles of foam flecking his lips as the ruinous powers left him.
By his side, the racks were empty, the straps hung loose and the dishes were full with purification. In each there had formed strange shapes, both human in aspect but twisted, malformed with pale green mottled and diseased skin, cruelly clawed limbs, wide tooth filled maws and a single milky white eye in the centre of their foreheads below one, the other two’s upwardly curving horns ! They were not creatures of Zalthar, but foul things in league with Jahicham the Seer’s Dark Gods, and as the ceremony reached its fanatical climax, both approached the High-Priest from whom they took a piece of parchment, before disappearing off through a hitherto unnoticed door at the back of the Hall. To have communed with such “Daemon’s” was true Heresy indeed ! Carolynn needed no more, so secreting the modified monocular, he crawled back out of the side shaft. The two of them then rapidly ran through a well practiced drill, checking their weapons and kit, ensuring all was present and correctly stowed away for the journey back, for there could be no delays or hesitation if they were to succeed. “Ready ?” said Nathan.
“Ready !” confirmed Carolynn, and they were off !

End of Part Three

Mk