Knights of Macragge by Nick Kyme

Author:Nick Kyme
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-27T15:03:42+00:00

Farrodum

At first, Arna Reda had been glad to leave the Emperor’s Will. The ship had become a tomb, wreathed with dark memories. She had almost died several times during her tenure as armsman, and though she did not entirely leave behind every ghost that prowled its echoing corridors, to see sky again, to feel air and rain – it had been a relief. And she had hoped it would leaven Vanko’s spirits, too. His mood had grown ever darker since what had happened in the sanctum, and she worried that Barthus might have imparted something to him, intentionally or not.

The journey from the upper atmosphere had been… unpleasant, but she had undertaken combat drops before. Besides, they had survived and, though battered, the air – the sky that she craved – had unfolded before her. That relief was fleeting as the icy wind sawed through her clothes and storm cloak. It touched the bones, chilling them. Bleak was not a strong enough word, Reda decided, and she soon blamed Vedaeh, who had insisted on bringing her and Vanko as her aides or companions. She didn’t know which.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Vedaeh, shivering against the cold and barely keeping pace as she clung to Reda’s shoulder. ‘Had I known…’

Reda instantly felt ashamed at her unworthy thoughts, realising they sprung from her concern for Vanko. He trudged a few steps ahead, bridging the gap between the Space Marines and the natives who walked sullenly behind them.

‘He’ll come around,’ said Vedaeh, guessing Reda’s thoughts.

‘I’ve never seen him like this,’ she confessed. ‘He’s different… We’re different.’

‘What we endured in the warp, the things we all saw, felt. No one emerged unscathed, Arna. The dreams do not go away, but they fade to the point where we can tolerate them.’

‘I saw my father,’ said Reda, apropos of nothing.

‘On the ship?’

‘Yes, he was there, his face always in shadow but I knew it was him. At first, I thought he was haunting me, a manifestation of the warp, my grief made real.’

‘How did he die?’

‘I have no idea. He left us when I was young, tithed to the Guard, our world’s contribution to the engine of war.’

‘You sound bitter.’

‘Just tired. He was proud to serve. So am I, though I chose service defending a starship rather than fighting on a battlefield.’

‘You seeing him, you think it was something other than the warp bleeding into your dreams?’

‘Perhaps. I don’t know, but it felt different, or started to, like he was warning me. Guiding me.’ She glanced across and found Vedaeh looking at her. ‘Is that possible?’

‘If it’s what you believe.’

Reda looked down. ‘I don’t know what I believe any more,’ she admitted. She glanced ahead. Her partner trudged on, his cloak fluttering in the wind. ‘I only know that Vanko is in pain and I can’t help him, and that this damn world is colder than a Fenrisian’s arsehole.’

Vedaeh laughed, louder than she’d intended, and drew a glance or two from the natives behind them.

Reda pulled her cloak tighter around her neck as the wind began to bite.

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