Marcus had read it three times since arriving in Veltharr that morning — discovering that the mission had already taken place, that the partially collapsed Catacombs were the only physical testimony of what had happened inside, that the Heralds had withdrawn, and that Cael — Inquisitor Cael, level 89, twenty years of service without a single failed operation — had let Carter's team go.
*Cael let them go.*
Marcus read that line for the fourth time.
*The bearer of Fragment 1 disrupted the Void Heralds' ritual. The companion evolved into a form without precedent in Temple records. The bearer of Fragment 4 ceased to be a bearer within the Catacombs — exact circumstances unknown.*
*Cael let them go.*
Aurum murmured something.
Marcus didn't answer immediately.
He kept looking at the report.
He thought about the novice tournament. About the final. About the two hundred and one fights — one more than the two hundred he had counted up to that day.
