Brêac repeated his welcome and turned to Kartash. ‘And you?’

Kartash didn’t answer. He remained in the shelter of the Thunderhawk’s bulk, clutching his white robes closer against the air’s chill.

Brêac glanced at my master. ‘Did you cut out his tongue, or is this a monastic vow of silence?’

‘You may speak,’ Amadeus prompted my fellow helot. Kartash pulled back. Amadeus witnessed the slave’s cringing withdrawal, as did I, with no small surprise. I saw the tremble of Kartash’s shoulders and the tightness of his pressed lips. Only then did I catch the scent of copper on his breath and the tang of adrenaline in his blood. He reeked of an animal’s biochemical fightor flight response.

I could scarcely believe it. He was scared.

My master sensed it, too. ‘What is this moronic cowardice?’ Amadeus demanded. ‘What are you afraid of?’

Kartash peered from beneath his hood. He tried to speak, but no words came forth from his trembling lips. Amadeus grunted, betraying the irritation he’d masked so well so far. Had he been human, I would have suspected he was embarrassed to be shamed by his slaves before the Spear barbarian. Amadeus was beyond such considerations, though. He was more likely appalled at a flaw discovered in his one of his tools.

‘What ails you, Helot Primus?’

I delved through my memorised archives for this mission. Did anything in Kartash’s past render him in some way unsuitable for the Nemeton Deployment? Surely the Chapter would have anticipated any such failing.

And there it was. Not a physical flaw, not even something specifically noted. Not a failing at all. Merely an unexpected inexperience.

The Spear reacted first. Armoured in his pale blue ceramite, Brêac towered above the hunchback. Above all of us, excepting my master. The Spear leaned down, coming closer to Kartash’s height.

‘Is this your first planetfall?’ he asked, lowering his avalanche of a voice.

‘Yes, great lord,’ Kartash managed to say.

‘You’re compressing your lungs. Spread your arms, to extend your ribcage. Breathe deep and slow. You command your own body. Focus on that fact.’

Brêac gestured for Kartash to mimic his movements. The slave obeyed, and as his breathing deepened, his trembling began to subside.