The Lords of Borsis by L J Goulding

Author:L J Goulding [Goulding, L J]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: necrons, goulding, world engine
Publisher: The Black Library
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Alarm bells rang throughout the palace, though for whose benefit they were intended was a mystery. If, indeed, the witless multitudes that served the Magadha dynasty understood the great political upheaval that was about to begin across the Bor Enclave, they seemed not to care.

There was an old adage that Amontar couldn't exactly recall - something about the lower orders and their fascination with unimportant matters. As he led his own honour guard along the grand avenue to Turakhin's throne room with handfuls of dim-eyed commoners regarding them vacantly as they passed, he supposed that such wisdom might have felt particularly poignant.

Not to worry. He would include it in his victorious address to the people, perhaps as a sly barb at their expense.

Hixos's thralls had proven as good as the slave-lord's word. They had deactivated the great shield generators that protected the palace district, allowing Uluszekh's Doom Scythe wings to strafe the outer defences before the ground troops moved in. Ghost Arks had moved slowly through the streets of the capital, their grim clarions heralding the imminent end of the overlord's reign as the confederate Legions advanced.

Open war was not an elegant affair, but it was permitted under the forms of martiality as a symbolic show of force. In these things, the old ways mattered a great deal - whether by duellist, general or diplomat, the conflicts between the noble households had always been settled in just such a manner, since the earliest days of the Triarchy.

Following their thrall guide, Uluszekh and a cohort of his Immortals emerged from the immense hypaethral structure in the precinct beyond the grand avenue. The Tyrant of Ghyr was clearly not accustomed to walking into battle unseen and unchallenged, but with victory so close at hand he was also clearly quite willing to endure the indignity of it. He hailed Amontar as the two parties met.

'Greetings, friends. Fate smiles upon our enterprise, does it not?'

With his dagger concealed behind his back, Amontar nodded respectfully. If he could have forced a smile, then he would have.

'Indeed. We encountered little resistance - the vizier held true to his promises.'

A flash of heavy beam-weapon fire lit up the skyline, somewhere off towards the equatorial generator sinks where the fighting still apparently raged on.

Uluszekh gestured to the great throne room doors. 'Will you lead the way?'

Amontar snorted. What kind of fool do you take me for, he thought, but managed to be far more diplomatic in his response.

'It would be unseemly for either of us to be seen to enter first, under the circumstances.'

The Tyrant nodded. 'Together, then. We have nothing to fear from the regent any longer.'

Their warriors drew back the vast, graven doors on heavy iron chains, and the two lords strode into the throne room side by side. Flanked by their household guard, they were a sight that could have driven even a phaeron to surrender.

But the throne was empty.

No lychguard stood sentinel over the grand dais, no Immortal cohorts were arrayed to repel them.

Somewhat confused, Uluszekh directed his warriors to spread out through the chamber's expanse.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.