Firedrake by Nick Kyme

Author:Nick Kyme
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2011-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

II

Paths Unknown...

Those dark eldar whose bodies didn’t litter the warehouse floor had fled. Some had sped through the portal that still shimmered like a lidless, black eye bridging reality and the other world beyond. With their ambush beaten and the return of Praetor and the Salamander survivors, the xenos’s will was broken. The defeat and capture of the haemonculus was the final act that routed them.

‘They took them,’ said Brother Honorious. ‘Chaplain Elysius and the others. They took them into that.’ He was pointing at the portal.

He and the rest of the survivors were in the warehouse with He’stan and the other Firedrakes. It grieved them to see their slain battle-brothers. Some of the 3rd Company had already started to bring them down.

He’stan shared a dark glance with Praetor. The two of them stood with Honorious as he delivered his report. ‘It’s as I feared, brother.’

The veteran sergeant wasn’t wearing his battle-helm. His face was hard as stone.

‘What happened?’ he asked Honorious.

‘There was no warning. All of our sentries and alarms were bypassed. They bled out of the very shadows themselves.’ He looked as if he wanted to say more but stopped himself.

‘Go on, brother,’ Praetor told him. ‘You are amongst friends here. There’ll be no judgement, save that of the primarch.’

Honorious licked his lips, as if deciding how he should proceed. Like Praetor, he went unhooded. There was a large gash down the right side of his face where a dagger had struck him. It left a jagged line of gummed blood. The dents and rents in his armour were everywhere. He’d fought hard before he’d been taken. To be subdued whilst his brothers suffered, it would not have been easy for a warrior like Honorious to bear. He was loyal to the Chapter, as loyal as any. It made what he said next even harder to countenance.

‘Despite the surprise attack, the xenos could not have bypassed our defences without help.’

Praetor’s eyes widened in disbelief.

‘You are saying you were betrayed?’

Honorious nodded.

‘By whom?’

‘I don’t know, sergeant. But I set those flares and posted sentries myself. We could not have been taken unawares without them being tripped, without someone raising the alarm.’

Praetor looked to He’stan for an answer, but the Forgefather had none to give.

‘Make a pyre for the dead,’ he ordered instead. ‘Night Devils and Fire-born will share the same flame. They fought and died together, so too shall they return to the earth the same way.’ He looked Honorious in the eye. The battle-brother found it hard to meet He’stan’s gaze, but held it to his credit.

‘Gather your fallen and prepare the Rites of Immolation. Do you know how to?’

‘I have seen the Chaplains do it before. I know enough.’

He’stan clapped him on the shoulder. The gesture seemed to give Honorious immediate strength. ‘Go then, brother. We will take it from here.’

Honorious bowed his head before going to join the others reclaiming the dead.

‘They are wounded,’ said Praetor when he was gone.

‘Aye,’ He’stan agreed, ‘the 3rd have been through much these past years.

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