C. Goto - Dawn of War

“How could I not have seen this, Isador?” asked Gabriel. “How is it that I am most blind when it matters most?”

Isador looked at the pain in his friend’s green eyes, the faint light of torches dancing in them in the darkness. “Your intuition was right about Tartarus, old friend-that is why we stayed on this planet… Or, are you not talking about Tartarus at all?”

“I should have seen the rot before it started to spread-I was blind for too long. I put my own world to the torch, Isador-our world. How many innocents died on Cyrene, so that the heretics would burn? And yet… here I am again, at somebody else’s doorstep, flourishing the executioner’s blade so righteously…” Gabriel trailed off, unable to finish his thought.

“Blessed is the mind too small for doubt, Gabriel,” said Isador, managing a faint smile for his friend.

“I have no doubts!” snapped Gabriel, a little too sharply “I still believe in the purity of the Imperium… in the sovereign might of the Golden Throne… even in the guidance of the Astronomican itself,” he added, almost as a confession. He looked around for a moment, wondering where Prathios was.

“It is in yourself that you have lost faith, my friend,” said Isador, finally giving voice to a concern that he had harboured ever since Cyrene.

“No, Isador. Not in myself, only in what I see,” replied Gabriel, his eyes still searching for the company Chaplain in the night.

“And what is it that you see, captain?” asked Inquisitor Toth as he strode in between the two friends, cutting off their conversation.

Gabriel twitched visibly, shaken a little by the sudden arrival of the inquisitor. But he recovered quickly and drew himself up to his full height as he addressed Mordecai.

“I see conspirators and liars more concerned with their own agenda than with the will of the Emperor, inquisitor,” he said, making no attempt to hide the venom in his voice.

“And you expect me to break down and confess to being such a heretic?” responded Mordecai with a snort and a brief laugh. “I am not so easily cowed by your accusations, Marine, and I have nothing that I must confess to you.”

“You lied to me!” shouted Gabriel, stepping closer to the inquisitor and making Isador reach for his shoulder to restrain him. “You lied to me, and many good Marines are dead because of it.”

“They are better off dead with pure hearts than caught in this warp storm, captain. If you really feel that accusations are an appropriate subject of conversation with an inquisitor, then I might accuse you: their deaths are all on your head, captain, for I warned you to leave this world and you ignored me. I told you about the storm, but you had to go looking for the taint of Chaos, as is your wont, it seems,” said Mordecai, calm and calculating as usual.

“Your words still ring untrue, inquisitor,” countered Gabriel, although he had to acknowledge the literal truth of them. “I know that you are not new to Tartarus-I know that your masters at the Ordo Xenos have been here before.” Isador withdrew his hand, evidently shocked at the risk Gabriel was taking-confronting an inquisitor with the knowledge of an eldar witch.

For the first time in their acquaintance, Gabriel saw Mordecai flinch. “I am not in the habit of explaining the affairs of the Emperor’s Inquisition to Space Marines, captain. But yes, you are right, the Ordo Xenos has been watching Tartarus for longer than you might imagine.”

“What are they watching, Toth?” asked Gabriel, his contempt fired by Mordecai’s confession.

“They are watching for signs of unspeakable horror, captain,” replied Mordecai, his tone softening even as Gabriel’s hardened.

“Would these be the same horrors pursued by the Alpha Legion?” he asked, almost spitting as he recalled that the inquisitor had claimed to feel no taint of Chaos on Tartarus.

“There are no coincidences on Tartarus,” began Mordecai, almost to himself. “There is only the storm that winnows the faithful from the heretic.”

“And are we faithful men, Toth? Are we good servants of the Emperor?” bit Gabriel, challenging the inquisitor.

Mordecai looked down at his feet for a moment, hefting his heavy warhammer from one hand to the other, swinging it like a metronome, as though trying to keep pace with his thoughts.

“This world is cursed, captain,” he began, as though he had reached an important decision. “Three thousand years ago an artefact of ancient and evil power was lost here. The forces of Chaos seek this artefact-they have sought it for centuries, but they have never been in possession of all the pieces of the puzzle.”

“Until now,” offered Gabriel, encouraging Mordecai to continue.

“Secrets are hard things to keep, captain, as the Blood Ravens themselves know well. The events of that day three thousand years ago drew the attention of many eyes, some of which have not aged as rapidly as our own. For them, it has simply been a matter of waiting for the right time to return to this world. Not long ago, an Imperial excavation team accidentally uncovered a marker-the first of a series of coded markers. I’m afraid that the Inquisition was not quick enough to silence news of this find, and it quickly found its way into ears that should not have heard it. This marker indicated the location of the altar that you yourself discovered in the valley. From then on, it was a simple matter of following the trail.” Mordecai was on a roll now, evidently relieved to be getting this off his chest.

“And this artefact, what is it?” asked Gabriel, trying to cut through the irrelevant details-time was short.

“It is a stone-a small gem called the Maledictum. Inside is contained a daemon of great power-a daemon prince, born of the forces of Chaos itself,” replied Mordecai with sinister force.

Gabriel was shaking his head, trying to make all of the pieces fit together. It didn’t make sense. “How is it possible that the citizens of Tartarus did not know all of this? These markers… and the artefact itself must lie buried beneath their own cities. Why do their records contain no mention of any of this?”

“When the warp storm last visited Tartarus, three thousand years ago, it drove the local population into insanity. When the Imperium resettled the planet, it did so as though for the first time. Lloovre Marr himself cleansed the planet of all survivors of the storm-it is said that the rivers ran with blood. All traces of the previous colonists were eradicated. Lloovre Marr and his comrades built over the dark places without ever knowing what lay beneath,” explained Mordecai.

“That is why the history books begin so precisely in 102. M39?” asked Isador.

“Yes, the previous records were all expunged by the Inquisition,” replied Mordecai. “And thus the people of Tartarus remained ignorant of what lay beneath them, even when they built a network of underground tunnels as escape routes from the capital city.”

“Knowledge is power, inquisitor,” said Gabriel, quoting the motto of his Chapter with a wry smile. “The Inquisition’s secrets may have hobbled the people of this world.”

“If this Maledictum stone is as powerful as you say, inquisitor,” said Isador, his interest piqued, “would it not exert some kind of effect on the people even whilst it is buried?”

“A good question, Librarian,” replied Mordecai. “The ancient text in the Registratum Malfeas suggests that the daemon within the stone may be imprisoned, but it is not without power, particularly if its thirst for blood is satiated. It is possible that the stone could affect the affairs of Tartarus-it is certainly affecting them now.”

“And what about the eldar?” asked Gabriel, as he realised that the words of the eldar witch had proven true. “Do they seek this power for themselves?”