Jain Zar: The Storm of Silence (Warhammer 40,000 Book 2) by Gav Thorpe

Author:Gav Thorpe [Thorpe, Gav]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Games Workshop
Published: 2017-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

11

Racing through the passages of the Swiftriver, Jain Zar could feel the influx of daemonic energy strengthening. The infinity circuit conduits started to darken and chill, creating ice-covered vein-like structures in the walls that crept along the surface, seeking to enclose everything in their web.

The temperature had dropped drastically – not that she was inconvenienced by such things – so that the mist clung to her armour as she ran, dappling crystals across her cuirass and leaving icicles matting the flowing mane of her helm. Snow crunched underfoot from the haywire environment systems while corsairs loomed out of the freezing fog, shadows that turned into pale, panic-stricken figures.

Many of the outcasts followed her, forming a trail like the tail of a comet, unsure what else to do. Others formed pockets of resistance, drawn together for mutual protection, weapons ready as they eyed the walls with suspicion and spun at every random creak and flicker of shadow.

‘Where are you going?’ one of the outcasts demanded, stepping out from a chamber in front of her.

‘Main energy transfer,’ she said as she glided past. ‘Cut off the incursion at its source.’

‘But that’s where they’ll be the most powerful!’ the corsair called after her.

She reached the main passage down the spine of the ship. Dozens of crew milled to and fro, swords and pistols seeking foes that had not yet manifested. Their breath came in clouds, their limbs quivering with the cold. Some had put on gloves and thick coats, others endured the falling temperature with staunch looks, lips bloodless, eyelashes rimed with ice.

Amidst the bubble and babble of their spirits Jain Zar could feel the burgeoning well of Chaos power engorging the ship’s system.

Someone in the crowd called out. ‘There!’

She skidded to a halt at the corsair’s shout. The outcast pointed back along the arterial route, towards the ceiling. Jain Zar felt the onrush of energy before she saw the visible symptoms. A harsh laugh on the edge of hearing. A growing vortex centred on her.

Answea had been wrong; it had not been Maensith’s unprotected mind that had brought them. It was the presence of the Phoenix Lord.

Jain Zar accepted this with some satisfaction. It would make what she had to do easier if the daemons were willing to come to her rather than having to chase them down.

Crystal deposits formed along the veins in the walls, thickening, becoming lines of jagged shards as they raced from the far end of the corridor. They arrowed towards Jain Zar before exploding into clouds of splinters in the mist-filled air. Accompanied by hideous screeches each shower of pale thorns coalesced into hard-edged figures of diamond, sapphire and ruby. They had wide oval eyes and claws for hands, their legs more like those of a bird than an eldar.

Jain Zar met the first wave of attackers with the Silent Death, black flames melting away the mist, the spinning blades turning crystal bodies to falling clouds of multicoloured slivers.

More came, shrieking along the walls before bursting into gem-bodied incarnations, falling upon the corsairs as well as the Phoenix Lord.

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