James Swallow - The Flight of the Eisenstein

At the corner of his vision, he saw the witchseeker back away a few steps, as if she were afraid to be too close to him. The Regent's vision fixed Garro like a spotlight, sifting through his spirit like sand. He tasted a greasy, electric taint in the air. The Death Guard met it and did not resist. He had not come this far to keep secrets.

The Emperor protects,' said the Sigillite slowly, as if he were reading the words from the page of a book. 'He does indeed, Astartes, in ways that you cannot begin to comprehend.' Malcador paused, musing. 'I have heard the words of Rogal Dorn, examined the evidence of your testimony and the mnemonic records of the Lady Oliton, and thus I will be direct. Garro, you came home in hopes of seeking an audi­ence with the Master of Mankind so that this warning could come to his ears. This will not be.'

Garro felt a flash of disappointment. Even after all that had happened, he still kept the light of hope alive. 'But he will hear the warning, Lord Regent?'

'You cannot come to Terra, so Terra comes to you.' Malcador nodded at the staff. 'I have heard the

warning and that is enough for the moment. The Emperor is indisposed as he engages in his great works within the Imperial Palace.'

Garro blinked in surprise. 'Indisposed?' he repeated. 'His sons turn against him and he is too busy to learn of it? I do not understand-'

'No,' said the Regent, 'you do not. In time, these matters will become clear to all of us, but until that moment, we must trust in our master. The message has been delivered. Your obligation has been com­pleted.'

Garro saw Qruze tense. 'Is that why he is here, Lord Regent?' The Luna Wolf nodded to the Custodian Guard. Are we to be dealt with, to be removed from the field of play?'

Malcador was very still. 'There are many on the Council of Terra who suggested that just such a reso­lution should take place. Matters of men's loyalties once thought to be solid are now in flux.'

Garro took a step forward. 'I will say to you, lord, what I said to the primarch Dorn. Are not our deeds enough to convince you of our fealty? I know you can see into the truth of a man's heart. Look into mine, and tell me what is there!'

A hand emerged from the folds of the robes. 'There is no need, captain. You have no call to prove your­selves to me. After your ordeal, I felt that you were owed the truth. I came here to give it to you in per­son, so that there would be no misunderstanding.'

And now?' asked Qruze. 'What of us, Lord Regent?'

Aye,' said Garro, clutching the icon in his grip. 'We cannot stay here, watching the stars and waiting for the day that Horns comes seeking battle. I request…' He fixed the Regent with a hard glare. 'No, I demand that we be given a purpose!' Garro's voice began to

rise. 'I am an Astartes, but now I am a brother with­out a Legion. Alone, I stand unbroken amid all the oaths that lie shattered around me. I am the Emperor's will, but I am nothing if He will not task me!'

The Death Guard's words echoed around the glass tower and Kendel's novice shrank visibly to hear them. Malcador gestured with the eagle-head staff. 'Only in death does duty end, Astartes,' he said, with a hint of satisfaction, 'and you are not dead yet. As we speak, the Lord Dorn assembles his plans to oppose Horns and the primarchs he has turned to his banner. Lines of battle are being drawn across the galaxy, arrangements for a war of such magnitude that mankind has never known.'

'What will our place be in it?'

Malcador inclined his head in a tiny gesture. There is a matter to which you will be set, not today, perhaps not for many months, but eventually. The Warmaster's disposition has made it clear that the Imperium requires men and women of inquisitive nature, hunters who might seek the witch, the traitor, the mutant, the xenos… Warriors like you, Nathaniel Garro, Iacton Qruze, Amendera Kendel, who could root out the taint of any future treachery: a duty to vigilance.'

'We are ready/ said Garro with a nod. 'I am ready'

Yes,' replied the Sigillite, 'you are.'

He found Voyen in one of the meditation cells, care­fully ministering to his wargear. The Apothecary bowed slightly to him. Garro noted immediately that Voyen's robes were the plain, unadorned clothes of a citizen petitioner, not the duty mantle pf an Astartes. The sewn patterns of the two-headed aquila and the skull and star of the Death Guard were absent.

'Meric?' he asked. We prepare to leave and yet you have kept yourself isolated from us. What's wrong?'

Voyen halted and glance at his commander. Garro saw something new there, a kind of defeat, a melan­choly that was etching into the lines of his face. 'Nathaniel/ he began, 'I have read the tracts you gave me, and I feel as if my eyes have been opened.'

Garro smiled. That's good, brother. We can draw strength from them.'

'Hear me out. You might disagree.'

The battle-captain hesitated. 'Go on.'

'I have kept this from you, from all of the others. What happened at Isstvan, what Horus and Mortar-ion did, and then Gralgor and Decius…' He took a shuddering breath. To my very core, brother, these things shook me.' Voyen looked at his hands. 'I found myself frozen, my weapons useless.' His eyes met Garro's and there was fear there, true terror. 'It broke me, Nathaniel. These things, I fear I may be a part of them, responsible…'

'Meric, no.'

'Yes, brother, yes!' he insisted. Voyen pressed something into his palm and Garro studied it: a bronze disc embossed with a star and skull symbol, crushed and twisted. 'I must atone for my dalliance with the lodges, Nathaniel. The Lectitio Divinitatus has shown me that. You had me promise that if the lodge ever compelled me to turn from the Emperor, I would reject them, and so I do! The lodges were part of all this, you were right to shun them!' He looked away. 'And I… I was so very wrong to join them/

The leaden certainty in his voice told Garro that no argument would shift his brother from this path. What will you do?'

Voyen indicated his wargear. 'I relinquish my hon­our as an Astartes and warrior of the XIV Legion. I have had my fill of death and treachery. My service from this point on will be to the Apothecaria Majoris of Terra. I have decided to dedicate the rest of my life to search for a cure for the malady that claimed Decius and the others. If Grulgor did not lie, then that horror may already be spreading among our kins­men, and I must hold true to my oath as a healer above and beyond my oath as a Death Guard.'

Garro studied his friend for a long moment, then extended a hand to him. Very well, Meric. I hope you will find victory in this new battle.'

Voyen shook his hand. 'And I hope you will find victory in yours.'

'Nathaniel,'

He turned from the window of the observation gallery and gasped. The woman stepped out from between the two Silent Sisters and touched him on the. arm. 'Keeler? I thought you had been taken.' She smiled a little, and he studied her. She seemed fatigued, but otherwise unharmed. 'They have not hurt you?'

'Is there ever a day when you don't concern yourself with the welfare of others?' she asked lightly. 'I have been allowed a moment of respite. How are you, Nathaniel?'

He threw a look back at the curve of Terra beyond the armourglass. 'I am… uneasy. I feel as if I am a dif­ferent man, as if everything that led up to the flight from Isstvan was just a prologue. I am changed, Euphrati.'

They were quiet for a moment before he spoke again. 'Was that you? In the citadel, when Decius

broke free, and then again out on the surface? Did you warn me?'

"What do you believe?'

He frowned. 'I believe I would like a straight answer.'

'There is a bond,' said Keeler quietly. Tm only just starting to see the edges of it myself: between you and me, between the past and the future.' She nodded at the planet. 'Between the Emperor and his sons. All things, but like all bonds, it must be tested to keep it strong. That moment is upon us now, Nathaniel. The storm is coming.'