Ben Counter - Galaxy in Flames

'No, Warmaster,’ said Fulgrim.

'Exactly. The Isstvan V phase of my plan is the most critical,' said Horus, stoking the dangerous embers of Fulgrim's ego. 'Even more so than what is happening below us. I can entrust it to no other. You must go to Isstvan V, my brother. All depends on its success,’

For a long, frightening moment, violent potential crackled between Horus and the primarch of the Emperor's Children.

Fulgrim laughed and said, 'Now you flatter me, hoping my ego will coerce me into obeying your orders,’

'Is it working?' asked Horus as the tension drained away.

Yes,’ admitted Fulgrim. Very well, the Warmas-ter's will be done. I will go to Isstvan V,’

'Eidolon will stay in command of the Emperor's Children until we join you at Isstvan V,’ said Horus and Fulgrim nodded.

'He will relish the chance to prove himself fur­ther,’ said Fulgrim.

'Now leave me, Fulgrim,’ said Horus, 'You have work to do,’

SIXTEEN

Enemy within

The Eightfold Path

Honour must be satisfied

Apothecary Vaddon fought to save Casto's life. The upper half of the warrior's armour had been removed and his bare torso was disfigured by a gory wound, flaps of skin and chunks of muscle blown aside like the petals of a bloody flower by an exploding bolter round.

'Pressure!' said Vaddon as he flicked over the setВ­tings on his narthecium gauntlet. Scalpels and syringes cycled as Brother Mathridon, an Emperor's Children Astartes who had lost a hand in the earlier fighting and served as Vaddon's assistant, kept presВ­sure on the wound. Casto bucked underneath him, his teeth gritted against.pain that would kill anyone but an Astartes.

Vaddon selected a syringe and pushed it into Casto's neck. The vial mounted on the gauntlet

emptied, pumping Casto's system with stimulants to keep his heart forcing blood around his ruptured organs. Casto shook, nearly snapping the needle.

'Hold him still,' snapped Vaddon.

'Yes,' said a voice behind them. 'Hold him still. It will make it easier to kill him.'

Vaddon's head snapped up and he saw a warrior clad in the armour of an Emperor's Children lord commander. He carried an enormous hammer, purple arcs of energy playing around its massive head. Behind the warrior, Vaddon could see a score of Emperor's Children in purple and gold finery, their armour sheened with lapping powder and oil.

Instantly, he knew that these were no loyalists and felt a cold hand clutch at his chest as he saw that they were undone.

'Who are you?' demanded Vaddon, though he knew the answer already.

'I am your death, traitor!' said Eidolon, swinging his hammer and crushing Vaddon's skull with one blow.

Hundreds of Emperor's Children streamed into the palace from the east, on a tide of fire and blood. They fell upon the wounded first, Eidolon himself butchering those who lay waiting for Vaddon's ministrations, taking particular relish in killing the loyalist Emperor's Children he found there. The warriors of his Chapter swarmed through the palace around him, the defenders discovering to their horror that their flank had somehow been

turned and that more and more of the traitors were pouring into the palace.

Within moments, the last battle had begun. The loyalists turned from their defences and faced the Emperor's Children. Assault Marines' jump packs gunned them across ruined domes to crash into Eidolon's assault units. Heavy weapons troopers and scout snipers amongst the ruined battlements shot down into the enemy, swapping tremendous volleys of fire across the shattered domes.

It was a battle without lines or direction as the fighting spilled into the heart of the Precentor's Palace. Each Astartes became an army of his own as all order broke down and every warrior fought alone against the enemies that surrounded him. Emperor's Children jetbikes screamed insanely through the precincts of the palace and ripped crazed circuits around the domes, spraying fire into the Astartes battling below them.

Dreadnoughts tore up chunks of fallen masonry with their mighty fists and hurled them at the loyВ­alists holding the barricades against which so many of their foes had died only a short while before.

Everything was swirling madness, horror and destruction, with Eidolon at the centre of it, swingВ­ing his hammer and killing all who came near him as he led his perfect warriors deeper into the heart of the defences.

Luc Sedirae, with his blond hair and smirking grin, looked completely out of place among the rusting

industrial spires of the Choral City. Beside him, Serghar Targhost, Captain of the Seventh Company, seemed far more at home, his older, darker skin and heavy fur cloak more in keeping with a murВ­dered world.

Sedirae stood on top of a rusting slab of fallen machinery before thousands of Sons of Horus arrayed for war. War paint was fresh on their breastВ­plates and new banners dedicated to the warrior lodges flapped in the wind.

'Sons of Horus!' bellowed Sedirae, his voice brimВ­ming with the confidence that came to him so easily. 'For too long we have waited for our brother Legions to open the gate for us so we can put the doubters and the feeble-minded to the sword! At last, the hour has come! Lord Commander Eidolon has broken the siege and the time has come to show the Legions how the Sons of Horus fight!'

The warriors cheered and the lodge banners were raised high, displaying the facets of the beliefs underВ­pinning the lodge philosophies. A brazen claw reached down from the sky to crush a world in its fist, a black star shone eight rays of death upon a horde of enemies and a great winged beast with two heads stood resplendent on a mountain of corpses.

Images from beyond, conjured by the words of Davinite priests who could look into the warp, they displayed the Sons of Horus's allegiance to the powers their Warmaster embraced.

The enemy is in disarray,’ shouted Sedirae over the cheering. 'We will fall upon them and sweep

them away. You know your duties, Sons of Horus, and you all know that the paths you have followed have led you towards this day. For here we destroy the last vestiges of the old Crusade, and march towards the future!'

Sedirae's confidence was infectious and he knew they were ready.

Targhost stepped forward and raised his hands. He bore the rank of lodge captain himself, privy to the secrets of the Davinite ways and as much a holy man as a commander. He opened his mouth and unleashed a stream of brutal syllables, guttural and dark, the tongue of Davin wrought into a prayer of victory and blood.

The Sons of Horus answered the prayer, their voices raised in a relentless chant that echoed around the dead spires of the Choral City.

And when the prayers were done, the Sons of Horus marched to war.

Fire stormed around Tarvitz. Emperor's Children TerВ­minators raked the central dome with fire and the sounds of bmtal hand-to-hand combat came from the shattered gallery. Tarvitz ducked and ran as bolter fire kicked up fragments around him, sliding into cover beside Brother Solathen of Squad Nasicae

Solathen and about thirty loyalist Emperor's Children were pinned down behind a great fallen column, a few Luna Wolves among them.

'What in the Emperor's name happened?' shouted Tarvitz. 'How did they get in?'

1 don't know, sir,’ replied Solathen. They came from the east.'

"We should have had some warning,' said Tarvitz. That's Lucius's sector. Have you seen him at all?'

'Lucius?' asked Solathen. 'No, he must have fallen.'

Tarvitz shook his head. 'Not likely. I have to find him.'

"We can't hold out here,’ said Solathen. We have to pull back and we won't be able to wait for you.'

Tarvitz nodded, but knew that he had to try and find Lucius, even if it was just to recover his body. He doubted Lucius could ever really die, but knew that, amid this carnage, anything was possible.