Early in the morning, Camilla, Alexandra, and Amon met for breakfast. The sorcerer was calm, Alexandra was worried about the upcoming preparations, and the priestess was joyful and excited.
"I can't wait to bring Netikerti the good news," said Camilla with a radiant smile. "She will have the support of none other than Tem... Amon! Just like in the tale of the good batyr. A batyr is a knight, as we would say," the priestess explained, seeing the confusion on her companions' faces. "Do you want me to tell you the story? It's very romantic! In the end, the batyr marries a beautiful girl and takes a huge harem with many depraved concubines. Ugh!"
Camilla dreamily rolled her eyes.
"Stop babbling and eat," Alexandra said irritably, looking at the priestess's nearly untouched plate. "In the desert, there won't be tasty food, so we'll talk business for now."
Camilla obediently fell silent and started eating.
"We'll take only crackers and salted meat," the mercenary announced seriously. "A good stockpile, enough for two weeks, maybe three. We'll need plenty of water as well."
"Why?" Amon asked, not hiding his surprise. "The priestess walked the entire path in one week on foot. With riding animals, the journey won't take long, and we can replenish supplies from the monsters. They're not going to leave us to die from hunger and thirst!"
"They won't," Alexandra confirmed with her mouth full. "On the contrary, they'll try to feed and hydrate us with all their might."
"Can mamono poison us? I don't think they'd choose such a complicated method," Amon reasoned. "If the monsters decide to deal with us, they have enough strength to do it openly."
"Oh, I completely forgot you've never been to the realms of monsters," Alexandra said with a touch of self-satisfaction. The girl smiled contentedly and said, "Let me explain everything. Remember I told you about demonic energy?"
"Yes," Amon nodded. "It is released during copulation."
"Not just that," the priestess interrupted, taking a bite of meat skewered on a two-pronged fork and smiling sweetly.
"Eat!" Alexandra snapped at her. Camilla blushed and started chewing quickly. "It's a bit more complicated. Demonic energy for mamono is like life force. They all emit it, through their breathing or however it works—who knows. It's just that with men, there's much, much more. And where there are a lot of monsters, there's a lot of demonic energy. So much so that it permeates everything: the earth, the water, the air. That's why you can't eat or drink anything from monsters. You'd instantly ingest this filth."
Amon put his utensils aside. Alexandra's words made him pause for thought.
He had completely forgotten that the kingdom of lustful women resembled a radiation-contaminated zone, poisoned by invisible radiation. Moreover, in Pandemonium, Amon had received a huge dose of sweet poison and now, according to the mage, was teetering on the brink of turning into an incubus. However, the space marine believed the mage was exaggerating the problem.
The sorcerer's superhuman body had handled the radiation well, except for the partially lost gifts of Chaos. Amon didn't feel sexual attraction to either the Fallen Goddess or the beautiful priestess, let alone Alexandra.
His mind, however, was in worse shape. The sorcerer noticed that his temperament had softened considerably, and his endless paranoia had weakened. On the other hand, this might not have been caused by demonic energy, but by the absence of the Warp and the loss of psyker abilities that allowed him to see the world without embellishments. But then how could he explain the two recurring episodes?
'Demonic energy has nothing to do with it,' Amon reassured himself. The Chaos space marine was known for his overconfidence, and he simply couldn't believe that any local "energy" could affect him the way it did ordinary mortals.
'The Warp used to balance my personality. Without the call of the Immaterium, my mind is a bit unstable. It'll undoubtedly return to normal after a while. But with the radiation, I still need to do something—there's no guarantee that after a critical dose, I won't turn into a lustful slave to the monsters.'
"Alright, so the food situation is clear," Amon agreed with the mercenary. He took a fruit that resembled an apple and started tossing it in the air. "What about dealing with the demonic energy? Is there any way?"
"Don't fight it," Camilla purred sweetly, gazing affectionately at both Alexandra and Amon. "You must embrace it with your whole soul and heart, and then open yourself to your love!"
Alexandra shot a quick glance at the priestess, but Camilla's plate was already empty.
"I ate everything," the priestess said, smiling sweetly.
The mercenary snorted and shoved the rest of her portion onto Camilla's plate.
"I don't want any more," the priestess protested.
"You must," Alexandra said firmly. "There are protections," she declared. "Amulets. Look."
The girl reached behind her collar and pulled out three small round objects resembling medals. Amon caught the apple, placed it on the plate, and leaned forward: the sorcerer had a serious weakness for magical items.
He carefully took the amulets, which hung on a thin but strong metal chain, and held them closer to his face, examining the fine engraving and the inscriptions.
"Judge, True Goddess, those who judge me, overcome, Bright Protector, those who fight me," he read aloud. "Looks like a quote from some holy book," he said, looking up from the artifacts.
"That's right," the mercenary confirmed, and recited mechanically, without expression:
"Judge, True Goddess, those who judge me, overcome, Bright Protector, those who fight me. Lift your sword and shield, don your armor, punish my enemies, say to my soul: I am your salvation, purity, and light."
At the sound of the psalm, Camilla grimaced in disgust, as if she were a noble maiden hearing a crude, tavern joke, while Amon allowed himself to smile slightly.
The saying reminded him of a passage from the Book of Lorgar, picked up from a Word Bearer Legionnaire, shot in the back, and ironically sacrificed to the same Dark Gods he had so fanatically served. In the Book of Lorgar, instead of "Bright Protector," it was the Undivided Chaos, but the general meaning was quite similar.
"These used to be the best amulets, the most powerful in the world," the girl said, and Amon thought he detected bitterness in her voice instead of pride. "Now they're almost completely drained. And there's no place to recharge them—ordinary mages and priests would just break them. There's only one place that knows how to handle such delicate artifacts. But I won't go back there."
"Good!" Camilla exclaimed approvingly. "It must be really bad! Swords, enemies, purity. Ugh!"
This time, the mercenary remained silent. Amon carefully inspected the amulets' reverse side and released them.
"Drained... No, don't explain what 'drained' means. What's more important is whether these amulets can protect me?"
"Us, Amon," the girl corrected him and, for some reason, shyly adjusted her tail. "Women are just as vulnerable as men. I've seen soldiers—both men and women—sent to mamono territory, throwing themselves at each other like lunatics, screwing right on the ground, in the dirt and dust. After that, women turn into succubi, and men into incubi."
"Does the command know about this?"
"Of course."
"Absurd," Amon muttered irritably. "Why send men and women together if they are more vulnerable that way? Why not send just men? Or just women? Is this some kind of clumsy sabotage?"
"That's the tradition, dating back to ancient times," Alexandra shrugged. "I never really thought about it."
"It doesn't matter," Amon waved his hand. "How should we divide the amulets?"
"Two for you, one for me," the girl answered without hesitation. "They're leaking badly, but it's not my first time going on such an expedition. I'll manage!"
The sorcerer quickly considered the consequences of this decision. If Alexandra weakened, or worse, couldn't control her emotions, he would lose the only combat-ready member of the team. If things took a dangerous turn, he would be completely defenseless. Amon frowned.
"Let's do the opposite," the sorcerer said. "I don't want the demonic energy to turn me into a slave of lust, destroying my personality. But without you, I'd be lost... Two for you, one for me."
Alexandra gave him a doubtful look. She wanted to say something, but at that moment, Camilla intervened:
"Amon, but demonic energy doesn't destroy personality at all! Someone's been lying to you. This sweet energy, it's good, it's kind. It reveals your desires and thoughts that you should stop being ashamed of," the priestess said slyly, looking at the mercenary, and breaking into a childlike smile.
"When I woke up as a Fallen Goddess priestess, I just saw everything from a different angle, I understood and accepted everything, and it became so easy! All contradictions disappeared, like a dream. I became whole, see? What feelings are you hiding? What are you afraid to admit to yourself?"
"Nothing," Amon said suddenly, sharply. "I'm whole, and I hide nothing from myself."
He irritably stood up and said:
"We need to go. We've discussed everything we need. Enough talking."
The priestess stood up after him, followed by the mercenary.
"You go," the girl quickly said, grabbing the priestess by the sleeve. "We'll talk about our own, womanly matters."
Amon looked suspiciously at the tense mercenary and the confused Camilla, but finding no reason why they couldn't be left alone, agreed.
"Just not long. I plan to leave today."
"Just a few minutes, no more," the mercenary assured him.