Red Fury (Blood Angels Book 3) by James Swallow

Author:James Swallow [Swallow, James]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2011-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Caecus stood rigid as Dante turned away from the edge of the balcony to look directly at him. His legs were leaden, rooted to the spot. The elation he had tasted only moments ago was now ashes in his mouth, the perfect ideal of his Bloodchild warped and destroyed. Failure. Another failure.

‘I was so close!’ he whispered. ‘I…’

When Dante spoke, it was a blade twisting in Caecus’s heart. ‘Apothecae Majoris, I have indulged this fantasy of yours beyond the point of rationality. You have shamed yourself, and shamed your Chapter with this monstrosity.’ He pointed at the remains down in the fighting pit.

‘I only wished to…’ He gulped down air, finding it hard to speak. ‘I was so certain…’ Caecus cast around, looking for support and saw only measuring stares from the other Chapter Masters. He groped for an explanation, for any vague thread of justification. ‘Perhaps I was too hasty. The woman Nyniq was correct, we should have run more trials before–’

‘Enough,’ said Dante. The Lord of the Blood Angels was furious, but it was a cold, cold fury tainted with disappointment and weariness. As he spoke, the full and complete scope of Caecus’s error became clear to the Apothecae. ‘You will remove yourself from this place and return to the Vitalis Citadel. The method of your censure will be decided on another day, but for now you will do as I say.’ Dante’s face darkened. ‘Make no mistake, Caecus, for this is not open to interpretation. This is my command to you. End your pursuit of the replicae project and terminate all works connected to it with immediate effect.’

‘I have several nascent Bloodchild clones still in situ,’ he breathed, the admission forced from him by his master’s steady, hard gaze.

‘Destroy them all. No trace of these abominations are to remain.’

Caecus fell to one knee, desperate to find some words he could say to show contrition, to make Dante understand of the pure motives behind his vision. ‘Lord, please…’

‘No trace,’ repeated the Chapter Master, with finality.

Bowing his head, Caecus found the energy to nod but do little else. His mind churned as he caught sight of the mess of flesh and bone that was all that remained of the first Bloodchild. It hardly seemed human now, just a smear of crimson and offal; the traces of a hideous, malformed freak. Dante was correct; he had shamed himself, with his hubris and his folly, and worse still he had tainted the sacred ground of the fortress-monastery by daring to bring the flawed clone into its hallowed halls. All this he was guilty of, made worse by the fact that the successor Chapter Masters had been there to witness it. I have not only made myself a fool, but my master as well.

Sentikan was speaking. ‘Lord Dante. I think we understand now why you chose not to disclose this line of research. None of us wish to follow the path of the Raven Guard or the Space Wolves toward taking beasts into our ranks.

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