Corax: Soulforge by Gav Thorpe

Author:Gav Thorpe
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2013-06-29T22:00:00+00:00

IV

ATLAS’S MAIN TEMPLE chamber was filled with tech-adepts, attending to the damage control circuits and mechanisms that commanded and monitored the barge-city’s defences, energy grid and a dozen other vital systems. Agapito had escorted Loriark and the other magi of Third District to Corax a few minutes earlier, along with an entourage from other precincts. These were swiftly led back out again as they bombarded the primarch with questions and demands. Now only Loriark, Firax and Agapito remained, and between them sat the former Magokritarch Vangellin, hunched in a chair with his natural hand held across a dented metal chestplate. He glowered at Corax.

‘Your victory will be short-lived.’ Exposed by his ripped robe, his sallow skin was covered with spots of thick, drying blood. ‘Do you think I freely gave in to Delvere’s demands? He wields a power greater than even a primarch.’

‘The power of the Omnissiah?’ said Agapito, standing beside his lord. ‘Your Machine-God will save him from vengeance?’

‘The power of the warp.’ What little could be seen of Vangellin’s cracked lips twisted in a sneer. ‘The warp unchained.’

‘You have seen this for yourself?’ grated Loriark. ‘What manner of creations is the Archmagos forging on Iapetus?’

‘What did you learn from the memory stores of your companion?’ Corax asked, ignoring the Magokritarch’s posturing. ‘Did he know what Delvere is planning?’

‘Nothing more than we could have guessed,’ replied Loriark with a shake of the head. ‘Delvere is long-studied in the mechanics and arts of the warp and with the aid of the Word Bearer, Nathrakin, is creating new engines to harness its power.’

‘Not only to harness it, but bring it to life, to give it divine mechanical form!’ snapped Vangellin. ‘The warp sustained - yes, that is what he has achieved. The synthesis of material and immaterial. The symbiosis of the physical and the incorporeal. Even as he threatened me with its power, he showed me the heights of greatness to which Constanix can now aspire. We will rival Anvillus, Gryphonne, perhaps even Mars itself when our power is revealed.’

‘More powerful... than the sacred... Red Planet?’ Even with his laboured words, Firax’s incredulity was plain to hear. ‘If you believe... such lies then you... are a fool. It is rights, that we resisted your... delusions.’

Corax turned away from the others and stared out of the shattered remains of the window. Dawn was spreading across Atlas, now strangely peaceful in the pinkish light. Vangellin had been true to his word of surrender, formally handing power to Loriark in exchange for his life. The fighting had lasted only a few minutes more as word had spread that order had been restored, the speed of the command network as swift to restore peace as it had been to break it. Loriark had sent a brief statement to the outer districts explaining that Vangellin had been accused of techno-heresies and would face judgement by his fellow magi in due course. Freed from the threats of Vangellin the other district temples had been swift to acknowledge Loriark’s claim, backed as it was by more Raven Guard arriving from orbit in the dawn hours.

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