...and we thank the staff of the Permanent Undersecretary of Non-Consular Affairs, Foreign Office, for their help in deciphering the following fragment retreived by agents of the Detective Department after the terrible events of the Summer of 1870. We share their opinion that the pages in question came from the diary of the notorious assassin referred to previously as "Master Tandu." It is our belief this excerpt refers to the events of 1st June of that year.

...upon our return discovered that the office was no longer secure. The Actuary was oblivious to all disturbances, being engrossed in his accounts. How someone can be so brilliant yet fail to perceive six initiates and a pair of witches nailing the body of a vetala* to the wall of the next room after imprisoning an evil spirit inside a mystic symbol is beyond comprehension. Yet, that is precisely what had happened just before we returned from our mission.

I and seven warriors secured the area while the Actuary and his assistants packed the vital records and prepared to abandon the office. Magic hung in the air like the stench of rotting flesh, so I was not terribly surprised that the two warriors who took point did not detect the traitor, Salmalin, lurking in the shadows. I attempted to take him unawares, but could not. Salmalin has clearly passed the eighth transcedent affinity.

Confronting each other in the darkness, I accused him and his English masters of defiling this sanctuary with the unclean flesh and the foreign spirit. He replied that he and his associates had been trailing a group of iniates who had stolen these things from the home of English sorcerers. Salmalin suggested that these iniates had arranged this confrontation between us so that I would do their dirty work for them, killing him and his masters, expending my strength on them, so that these others could take advantage of me later.

I immediately realized that he was correct, but could not admit such a thing. I told him, instead, that while this might have been intended as a trap by my enemies, it was actually a precious gift. It would afford me the pleasure of executing the dishonourable Englishmen who had murdered the Master. It had also given him one last chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the goddess, to return to the path of Kali and take his rightful place in the cycle of fortune.

Salmalin replied that the goddess has set him on a new path, that returning to my side would violate Her wishes. She had sent him back from the dead, he claimed, to make restitution for evils that had been done in the goddess's name.

I could not allow such an insult, implying that the Master had led us from the true path of Kali's will, go unpunished. I regretfully told the warriors that if Salmalin would not renounce his allegiance to the English dogs, he must not be allowed to leave the building alive.

They fought bravely. I had intended only that they keep him from escaping while I beat some sense into him. Unfortunately he was even faster than I had expected. And he was accompanied by the English curs. They came charging into the room most noisily. At least two of them were armed with guns. The sorceress, the seeress, and the sorcerer were all three in attendance, as well. Even Korati, one of the Master's favorites, had fallen under the sway of the same dread power that has taken Salmalin from us.

In a matter of moments the seven warriors were dead, and though I had wounded Salmalin greivously, I had also sustained serious injury myself. Over the sound of battle I was nearly certain I had heard the sound of the iron bar being slid into place as the Actuary closed the other exit behind him and fled. If his escape was to be successful, I would have to delay the English for a few minutes more. I abandoned dignity and fled, going through the north wall and leading them away from the Actuary's escape route. We had wounded enough of them that only the two most foolhardy followed me, and I soon lost them in the dark tunnels.

Salmalin is totally lost to us now. Korati too, I fear. I had such hopes for them both. I was incorrect in my previous assessment. Salmalin hasn't just mastered the eighth affinity. He has surpassed the tenth and perhaps even the eleventh. No student of mine before has ever acheived more than the ninth affinity. Korati, I think, has similar potential. Their loss is a terrible blow to the cause.

However, I can not let sentimentality or pride get in the way of the mission. They have allied themselves with the murderers of the Master. They must share in the horrible retribution which those murderers have earned. Now that he has nearly fallen into the hands of our enemies, the Actuary finally agrees with me both he and the Concubine must be protected as the Master once was protected. We must stand together if we are to bring back...

Thus ends the fragment we have recovered. Please refer to pages 23-32 of Mr. Frazer's report on the organizational structure of the factions in the wake of Jerrold Moriarty's death for the significance of the persons named herein.

* vetala - in Hindu legend, a vetala is a corpse which has been animated by a malevolent spirit, and preys upon the living to sustain it's unnatural existence. Perhaps related the the ghul of Arab lore, or the vampire of Balkan legend.

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