Blood and Fire (Space Marine Battles) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Author:Aaron Dembski-Bowden [Dembski-Bowden, Aaron]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2014-12-15T00:00:00+00:00
V
Death Sentence
âKhattar.â Ekene made a curse of the name.
âKhattar,â several of the others echoed. They were unhelmed, their dark faces bronzed by the flames. As rank and file troopers, they seemed reluctant to look at me for long. I caught them making occasional glances in my direction, at my tabard, heraldry, or the polished silver of my skull faceplate.
âThat was no war,â one of them said.
âNothing but a slaughter,â chimed another, from the other side of the fire. Their way of retelling tales seemed be almost ritualistic. Every voice was equal. Everyoneâs story mattered.
Ekene was leading the storytelling gathering. âI was never present at meetings of Chapter command,â he said. âBut I was there. I was on Khattar.â
âI was there,â the others chorused, in their low voices.
Around us, Lions patrolled between the hulls of the few remaining tanks left to the Chapter. The vehicles were worn down by gunfire, with smoke taint darkening their cerulean paintwork. Ekene and his brothers could have been spirits themselves, drifting among the memories of their dead Chapter.
âKhattar was a world of priests and preachers,â he began. âOf followers and the faithful.â
âAn Ecclesiarchy world,â I said. They did not regard it as interruption. Most of them nodded, and Ekene smiled.
âAs you say, Reclusiarch. A world in thrall to the ivory tower priests of the Imperial Creed.â
âBut it soured,â one of the others added. From the scrollwork on his shoulderguard, the warriorâs name was Jehanu. He looked young, scarcely out of his Scout trials. Space Marines show their age in their scars.
âTheir faith rotted on the vine,â Jehanu said. âAnd they called for us.â
âThe priesthood fell into deviancy,â Ekene took over, âas so many do, in so many of our tales in this Final Age of Man. They prayed to the Gods behind the Veil, and their dark untruths carried the faithful masses away from the Emperorâs light, spreading to the highest echelons and furthest reaches.â
Jehanu interjected again. âYou ask what could those priests have chanted to poison the souls of a whole world?â
Were the Lions mission briefings relayed in the same warrior-by-warrior retelling of facts? A curious custom.
âBlasphemy,â said another Lion with an amused snort. âBlasphemy and lies, compelling enough to sound like truth to a society weary of their prayers going unanswered.â
The Lions nodded. I wondered how true that was, across the galaxy. The Emperor was immortal and mighty beyond reckoning. But he was no god. Mankind â in its blessed ignorance â worshipped him as one.
Yet false gods cannot answer prayers. How tempting it must seem to those sects and societies far from Terra to seek other answers when pleading with the Emperor brings only silence.
âWhere were the worldâs defenders, I hear you ask?â Ekene showed his teeth in a feral shadow of a smile. âThe planetary defence forces did not rise up to purge the revolt. They joined it. And more were still to come: Imperial Guard regiments in nearby systems did the same â such was the ferocity of Khattarâs blasphemy.â
âApollyon,â Jehanu spoke up again.
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