'You're right, Ignace. No one who'd met the Warmaster could say such things,’
'So the question then becomes, why would Erebus say that Temba had said it?'
'I don't know. Why would he?'
Karkasy swallowed some of the meat on his plate and washed it down with a drink of the white liquor.
Why indeed?' asked Karkasy, warming to the weaving of his tale. 'Tell me, have you had the "pleasure" of meeting Aeliuta Hergig? She's a remembrancer – one of the dramatists – and pens some dreadfully overwrought plays. Tedious things if you ask me, but I can't deny that she has some skill in treading the boards herself. I remember watching her play Lady Ophelia in The Tragedy of Amleti and she was really rather good, though-'
'Ignace,’ warned Loken. 'Get to the point,’
'Oh, yes, of course. My point is that as talented an actress as Ms Hergig is, she couldn't hold a candle to the performance given by Erebus today,’
'Performance?'
'Indeed. Everything he did from the moment he entered this yurt was a performance. Didn't you see it?'
'No, I was too angry,’ admitted Loken. That's why I wanted you there. Explain it to me simply and without digressions, Ignace,’
Karkasy beamed in pride before continuing.
Very well. When he first spoke of Davin's noncompliance, Erebus suggested taking the matter somewhere more private, yet he had just broached this
highly provocative subject in a room full of people. And did you notice? Erebus said that Temba had turned against him, Horus, not the Emperor: Horus. He made it personal. '
'But why would he seek to provoke the Warmaster so?'
'Perhaps to unbalance his humour in order to bring his choler to the fore, it's not like he wouldn't have known what his reaction would be. I think Erebus wanted the Warmaster in a position where he wasn't thinking clearly.'
'Be careful, Ignace. Are you suggesting that the War-master does not think clearly?'
'No, no, no,’ said Karkasy. 'Only that with his humours out of balance, Erebus was able to manipulate him,’
'Manipulate him to what end?'
Karkasy shrugged. 'I don't know, but what I do know is that Erebus wants Horus to go to Davin's moon,’
'But he counselled against going there. He even had the nerve to suggest that others go in the Warmaster's place,’
Karkasy shook his hand dismissively. 'Only so as to look like he had tried to stop him from his course of action, while knowing full well that the Warmaster couldn't back down from this insult to his honour,’
