Soul Drinkers: Annihilation by Ben Counter

Author:Ben Counter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2020-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

‘The legends, the superstitions of your Chapter, are nothing more than stories to the ears of outsiders. But you know they are the soul of your Chapter, the collective admonishments and inspirations of every battle-brother who has gone before you.’

–Daenyathos, The Borders of Moral Endurance

Queen Dyrmida watched from the walls of the space port. Her retinue of soldiers had known better than to dissuade her from putting herself at risk, She had left the relative safety of the command centre to take to the battlements. It was her duty to watch Astelok die, for she had made the decision to sacrifice it.

A dark pall rose over the city. Most of it was dust from the terrible path the Undying war engine had chewed through Astelok’s heart, but there was also smoke and flame, and bursts of green light like lightning. Most of the palaces of the city centre were obscured by the dust, but the few she could see were in ruins, their walls pushed in and their roofs sagging.

‘Your majesty?’ said Kavins, who had been chosen for the duty of accompanying the queen to the top of the walls. ‘The people have asked for you to address them.’

‘What can I say to them?’ she asked. ‘That their homes are destroyed? That the troops that stayed behind are dead? They already know those things. And what of the future? Should I tell them that we will depart for a safe haven that may not exist?’

‘I do not know, your majesty,’ said Kavins uncertainly.

Dyrmida waved a hand dismissively. ‘These are not matters for anyone to concern themselves with save myself. It is my responsibility. Of course I must speak to my people. They must be calmed and reassured. It is the least they deserve from me.’

Astelok’s space port was a series of huge rockcrete circles, covered in docking clamps and fuelling rigs, and marked with warning strips corresponding to the landing gear of various types of Selaacan spacecraft. Hangars for equipment and vehicles were dotted around the space port, and a tall multi-spired building contained the command centre, which, in peacetime, saw orbital controllers guiding down trading and passenger craft, welcoming them to Astelok in the name of the queen.

Now the space port was a miserable makeshift city. Maybe three hundred thousand people were making their homes there, sleeping wherever they could or gathering to pray, talk, or simply sit in silence. The soldiers had set up tents everywhere they could, almost covering several of the landing pads, but there were only enough for the children and the infirm, and some of the women. The men gathered together as if they were soldiers, too, mustering in units, ready to defeat the Undying scourge. Perhaps, eventually, they would have to do exactly that.

The ruse, the sacrificing of Astelok, had worked. Dyrmida’s plan had been a success, but she could take no triumph from it. The Undying forces had been focused on forcing their way through the city, where the Soul Drinkers

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